came across some photos of my father & ‘B’ flight Halifaxes 102 Sqdn Pocklington. See attached for interest. Brief details;
K-King, MkIII MZ770, pilot Gerry Geraghty. Later passed to 640 Sqdn.
also K-King, MkIII LW141, possibly a replacement for the above. with the advance through Belgium by our ground forces, the Halifaxes were used to take jerrycans of petrol to Brussels. They were turned around very quickly as they were vunerable to attack from air and ground whilst on the ground. To show that a faulty engine need not delay departure, the pilot took LW141 to the far end of Pocklington East-West runway and took off on 3 engines
L-London, MkII series I special HR911. Originally issued as N-nuts but bombs through port wing meant it had to go into the Handley Page hanger at Pocklington for major repair. Re-issued as L-London to replace one that had failed to return. Later, damaged again & sent for repair, coming out as S-Sugar with square fin & rudder. Has a large New Zealand fern painted below cockpit
M-Mother, MkVI RG505
P-Popsy, no details recorded.
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By: rrickoshae - 9th February 2014 at 19:10
What a pity,
Great pics though. The Hercules Halifaxes really looked powerful don’t you think?
Then again, I am biased of course:cool:
Cees
I’ve always thought that the Halifax, particularly the Hercules versions, were a beautiful aircraft but then, I’m biased too! Dave
By: CeBro - 9th February 2014 at 17:54
What a pity,
Great pics though. The Hercules Halifaxes really looked powerful don’t you think?
Then again, I am biased of course:cool:
Cees
By: rrickoshae - 9th February 2014 at 17:19
102 Squardon Pocklington
here are 2 more photos, K-King on B Flight dispersal (the crew hut was made out of a couple of large packing cases!) which gives a good indication of the size of a Halifax and Flt. Lt McPhail, the Australian driver of K-King.
Sadly, my father had to spend a short while in a home at the end of his life and the remainder of his fairly large collection of 102 Sqdn photos, which he always carried with him in latter years, were apparently thrown out with out of date newspapers.
Strangely, on leaving school, my first job was with the South West Gas Board and it turned out that my boss, Don Veal, had been a rear gunner with 102 but had been shot down and taken prisoner quite early on.
Dave[ATTACH=CONFIG]225293[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]225294[/ATTACH]
By: Blue_2 - 6th February 2014 at 10:02
Thanks for sharing these! Living in the heart of Halifax country, and passing Pocklington most weeks, it’s great to see them.
If you have any more….!
By: Steve Bond - 6th February 2014 at 08:47
Superb photos, many thanks for sharing them. Two friends of mine, both now sadly deceased, flew Halibags with 102 Squadron, so I must check my copies of their log books to see if any of these aircraft match theirs.
By: MindOverMatter - 6th February 2014 at 01:14
Great pictures you have there and very interesting. I went to the boarding school in Pocklington in the late 60’s and the old control tower was a welcome shelter for a crafty smoke and a place to socialise with the young ladies from the town. The school grounds ran alongside the airfield and we used to sneak out at night with a spare set of keys for the cadet R.E.M.E. garage and borrow the Land Rover for some spirited driving round the old peri-tracks. Our R.S.M. could never work out how we got through so much fuel on the odd official engine runs we did under his supervision after tinkering with the engine.
Farming and some industrial units were the only uses the old airfield was being put to back then. I managed to blag a helicopter ride for a birds eye view of the site when they held a trade exhibition for power and oil industry machinery on the airfield that I and a friend gate crashed. They were demonstrating the virtues of helicopters for pipeline and cable surveying and were taking the “suits” up for joy rides. Our school uniform was very smart and I was ushered over to the waiting chopper assuming I was the son of a “suit”. Needless to say I didn’t protest and quickly disappeared into the crowd afterwards and made my way back to school before the prefects noticed me missing.
As a school boy I could only wonder at all the history that was made and the lives affected by the old Pocklington airfield and it’s aircraft and crews. Much the same in later life when I visited my father’s old 101 Squadron A flight dispersal point at Ludford Magna and had a pint in the Black Horse that I know from his diaries his crew used to visit between ops.
By: rrickoshae - 5th February 2014 at 14:47
[ATTACH=CONFIG]225207[/ATTACH]and another original photo of an A MkVII, NA411, of 620 Squadron based at Aqir, Palestine.
By: rrickoshae - 5th February 2014 at 14:35
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Everyone that I’ve ever spoken to who ‘knew’ Halibags agrees with you.
I’ve attached a few original photos taken at the London Transport Aircraft Factory, Aldenham, Elstree which show a MkII series 1 under repair (looks to have had a new wing centre section) or perhaps at final assembley of sections brought in from elsewhere.
Dave
By: Paul - 5th February 2014 at 12:05
Thanks for sharing the pics, and good to see some ground crew trades there. My uncle Bob was an airframe erk at Pocklington.
I particularly like the MkVI. I can’t be the only one that thinks the later Mk’s of Hali were better looking than the lanc!
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February 5, 2014 at 11:46 am