19th October 1941

(PS. Interesting that now there’s enough Hurricanes in the UK to film with. Now THERE’S a remake worth doing. – No Hoof or Mark though 🙁 )

Absolutely………. 😀
Although, rather than re-makes, with the now healthy population of Hurris, P-40’s and even a few DB engined Buchon’s, plus the Flug Werke 190’s, I’d love to see a good film made about the campaigns in the Western Desert……. 😀 😀

Although, I admit that servicability/safety issues would be a problem filming with valuable warbirds out in the sand/dust of the desert…… 🙁

It’s worth remembering that a squadron of LANCASTERS were flown under the Brittania Bridge and Menai Bridge connecting Anglesey to the mainland in preperation for a low level raid on Germany.

Exact details escape me but Duisberg (as a target), 1942, and a Sqn Ldr Middleton or Nettleton come to mind.

Now THAT must have been worth seeing!

Couldn’t do it nowadays – since the Brittania Bridge was rebuilt, the new frames apparently produce dangerous eddies (like it was safe before)…

Adrian

Oh, No.1 wing shape over Britain for recognition, during early W.W.II? Lysander. NOTHING like it!

To the average “man in the street” during wartime, all fighters looked pretty much alike as they flew overhead. ME109, P51, Hurricane, the wing outline was essentially the same. The Spit on the other hand was something else again. Any schoolboy could say with some certainty whether the aircraft he was watching was a Spit or not. IMHO, this is one of the reasons for the fame of the Spitfire.
What make you think that people’s memory stops at the end of the B.O.B?

Sorry Alan, you misunderstand me. Point one. Schoolboys were rating the Hurricane, NOT the Spitfire in Spring 1940. The Spitfire, then, had achieved little compared to the Hurricanes. In Autumn 1940, the Spitfire had made some ground, in fame, but was not as famous then as we regard it having been today. (Note tenses) That’s hindsight. (Sources – Mass Observation, recordings in the IWM collection, contemporary newspapers etc…)

At the end of the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane (according to contemorary accounts) was THE British fighter, the Spitfire a second. I wasn’t talking about the justified growth of fame of the Spitfire through the rest of W.W.II.

Personally, I find the ‘same old same old’ on Spitfires boring – because there’s more interesting stuff for me. Having sat in a Defiant turret, I think that that those brave brave men are so easilly written off by such remarks as you have just made is a crying shame – I’d rather have flown a Spitfire in the Battle, but most never got the chance. Many were killed in ways that seem useless today. Does it belittle their sacrafice? I’m sure we agree not.

…thanks chaps…

PoC the TV series used – erm – Hurricanes? No, Spitfires, because it was possible. I’m glad they made the series, even with Spitfires, but I wonder how many people who saw it now believe that the Battle of France had (only) Spitfire squadrons. I rest my case m’lud.

(PS. Interesting that now there’s enough Hurricanes in the UK to film with. Now THERE’S a remake worth doing. – No Hoof or Mark though 🙁 )

Good points there James.

For the record, the quote I posted above was referring to pilots flying Hurricanes. 🙂

Well said that man….. 🙂

So hats off to the Heartbeat writers for using a Hurricane rather than the obvious choice of a Spitfire in Sunday’s episode…..or was their arm twisted 😉

Er, Daz, that’s the point!

Because people have heard of a Spitfire, all the aircraft all become ‘Spitfires’, then that’s all anyone is interested in, and the rich diversity that is real history becomes a tale of an important but single type – which is innacurate and, frankly, dull.

Remember in the Battle of Britain, it was Hurricanes that achieved the kills – more than everything else put together – and ‘Hurricane’ was the name on people’s lips at the time. Afterwards, the Spitfire (yes, an important type – this isn’t about relitive merit, but about memory and history) became ‘the’ fighter, to the extent that he Hurricane is regarded as ‘obscure’ by the man on the street today. (Never mind the Defiant, Blenheim and all the others that played their part.)

It’s reflected here – ANY thread featuring Spitfires runs and runs – other types? 10% of the interest if they are lucky.

Don’t get me wrong, the Spitfire’s a great aircraft. But, frankly, T-shirt and move on time – there’s a lot more aircraft and history to lean about, IMHO!

“Some fool has had a go at the bridge at…Thionville??”

(Trying to remember what Rex says in the second episode – that’s what it sounds like, at least!!)

Great story, cheers Melvyn. Reminds me of ‘Piece of Cake”. Where was that bridge I wonder.

Speaking of flying under bridges… here is an extract from the interview I did with Wing Commander Ron Watts, from his time as an instructor in the UK: http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Ron%20Watts%20Main.htm

“Early on, when I first went to Ternhill – Ternhill was in the Midlands, reasonably close to the Welsh border – one pupil came back and told his mates he’d found a viaduct in the Welsh hills, and he’d flown underneath it. And once again, I hesitate to say, but it was something like 20 of them killed themselves. And probably that original fellow hadn’t done it, he was just saying it. But they got low down and the winds probably caught them, or what ever. They just crashed one after the other. Terrible.”

A fine example of ‘Spitfire Snobbery’.

I think it was more a case of mistaken identity – to the average bystander, a plane speeding up to them at 200mph with RAF camouflage and roundels on it is bound to look like a Spitfire…

Would have loved to have been on the bridge at the time!! 😀

Look forward to hearing about the ‘Rearwin Bridge” shortly.

🙂

A fine example of ‘Spitfire Snobbery’.

I remember reading about that one – interesting tale. The Tomahawk lost a good portion of its port wing, but the fact that it got home shows you just how strong they were!!

There were pics of it, too, but can’t recall how long ago the article was 🙁