I took my son to the Forest of Dean steam railway today and while looking around thier museum,there was a section devoted to the Severn railway bridge which was destroyed in the sixties,what caught my eye was a small write up about an A.T.A. woman pilot flying under the arches while delivering a Spitfire from Castle Bromwich to Whitchurch, Bristol.Apparently several other pilots did it aswell.Anyone heard of this or any pictures of it?
By: hunterxf382 - 14th February 2011 at 12:43
Sorry – guilty of slipping off-topic with my original post with the Youtube Vids 😮
Never implied they were of the Severn rail bridge – I was watching a clip of the demolition of the correct bridge and found those other clips on the sidebar, and got kind of sucked into the whole ‘flying under bridges’ thing…
Regarding the Clifton Suspension Bridge incident – I was told about that as a child when being driven past the precise spot where it went in… as my grandfather was on 501 Sqn at the time 🙁
By: |RLWP - 14th February 2011 at 11:56
That Bulldog vid looks a little ropey, as said – trees!!
Wrong bridge (as pointed out by Beermat)
Severn Railway Bridge:
This shows the damage caused by two barges hitting it in the fog
Richard
By: kodak - 14th February 2011 at 11:36
That Bulldog vid looks a little ropey, as said – trees!!
By: Beermat - 14th February 2011 at 10:45
Richard Hillary mentions doing it (the old Severn bridge, that is) in “The Last Enemy” – it was a regular sport at his OTU – No 5 (later 55), Aston Down. The remarkable number of losses from that unit and 52 OTU around the site of the old bridge (which had a variable vertical clearance, from lots to not enough dependent upon a very large tidal range) might have had some connection to this.
To clear up any ambiguity – this is the Severn Railway Bridge, demolished in the late sixies, and not either of the current bridges. Most spans were 100 feet, while two (I think) were nearer 300 feet. The challenges for Spitfires (span 36ft 10 in) were the smaller arches (actually not arches but roughly square). I doubt you’d want to try a Wellington through one of these!
By: Wellington285 - 14th February 2011 at 10:20
Back in the 50’s a Vampire from Filton flew under the Clifton suspension bridge but sadly crashed when it hit the cliff side killing the Pilot and a few years back a hot air Balloon from the Balloon festival safely flew under it.
Ian
By: mike currill - 14th February 2011 at 09:33
Grandad took his Oxford and Anson under it too! Once found a mossie coming tuther way!
I bet that was brown underwear time.
By: QldSpitty - 14th February 2011 at 00:34
Then I found more, and it got slightly more worrying
Trees!!!!:eek::eek:
By: adrian_gray - 14th February 2011 at 00:05
At the other end of the country (Wales), do I recall correctly that a SQUADRON of Lancasters was flown under the Menai Bridges as part of the preparation for a low level raid? Nettleton and Augsburg come to mind, but I am dredging round in the depths of my mind here!
That must have been some sight and sound…
Adrian
By: hunterxf382 - 13th February 2011 at 23:58
Thought about this thread when on Youtube…. wasn’t expecting to find this though 😮 Read the text by the poster especially the consequences…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVC1maoFY-c&feature=related
Then I found more, and it got slightly more worrying 😮
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ju2D5XTDt8&NR=1&feature=fvwp
By: Amarok - 13th February 2011 at 22:34
1980’s Ray Hanna
Ray Hanna ‘Piece of Cake’ 😀
By: Gingie - 13th February 2011 at 22:07
Not the Severn Bridge but still gorgeous?
By: Rocketeer - 13th February 2011 at 21:54
Grandad took his Oxford and Anson under it too! Once found a mossie coming tuther way!
By: hunterxf382 - 13th February 2011 at 21:52
Scroll down this page for the bit about the RAF watching, and the Wellington mentioned 😮
http://glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/Gloster%20Meteor%20IV%20Argentina.html
On another occasion an attempt by Second Lieutenant Deheza and Lieutenant Romero to fly under the 312 feet main spans of the Severn Railway Bridge was thwarted at the last moment when they realised that their approach was blocked by high tension power cables! Luckily the two jet pilots managed to pull up and fly over the bridge rather than crash into it, although during World War II a detatchment of RAF police were billeted at the Severn Bridge Hotel at Sharpness specifically to take the numbers of any British aircraft attempting the same stunt. This was not before a Vickers Wellington – wingspan 86′ 2″ – had passed under the iron structure!
By: wieesso - 13th February 2011 at 21:44
quote: ‘…the bridge about eighty feet above the water, had a space of forty-eight feet between vertical supports; the Spitfire has a wingspan of about thirty-seven feet.’
‘Aces, Warriors & Wingman: The Firsthand Accounts Of Canada’s Fighter Pilots In The Second World War’ by Wayne Ralph
By: D1566 - 13th February 2011 at 19:51
I seem to remember reading in a history of the bridge that the RAF put a permanent guard on the bridge (to take note of A/C markings) after someone flew a Wellington under it!
By: Peter D Evans - 13th February 2011 at 19:41
Reproduced from our good friend Wikipedia quoting “Spitfire Women of World War II” by Giles Whittell [Harper Perennial, 2007] as its source:
“In Spring 1943 a flight of three Spitfires was being delivered by ATA pilots, including one woman, Ann Wood, from their Castle Bromwich factory to Whitchurch. As it was low tide, the lead pilot Johnnie Jordan decided to fly under the bridge. Some time later, Ann Wood repeated this underflying – without realising that this time it was high tide and there was 30 ft less headroom.[4] This was not the only instance of pilots buzzing the bridge; it was seemingly so common at one time that a local policeman was tasked with recording serial numbers”
Cheers
Pete
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February 13, 2011 at 7:21 pm