Morning all, just a quick brain pick if I may.
My old mate Doug Sturgeon who sadly passed away a couple of years ago had a fascinating RAF career beginning as a pre-war armourer on 19 Sqn at DX then trained as a pilot (twice!) at Sywell before going on to Whirlwinds with 263 Sqn thence Typhoons and Mossies.
On 25th February 1947 he was ferrying a Tempest V from (I think) El Adem, when it developed an engine fault and he had to bail out over the Med. He floated in his dinghy for a number of days before being picked up by a Royal Navy ship (he punched a Petty Officer but that’s another story)
Long story short, I would like to make a model of his Tempest – would it be in silver or camo at this stage and does anyone know the serial number of the machine involved?
TT
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 6th February 2019 at 20:26
Absolutely brilliant thank you Mr Rat- old Douggie meant the world to me, he left me his Caterpillar badge from this incident in his will. This is brilliant info- thank you again- top man!
TT
By: Reckless Rat - 6th February 2019 at 17:22
25 Feb 1947 – unit “1FU” – NX255 – Engine failure off Benghazi
The Typhoon & Tempest Story, Chris Shores & Chris Thomas pg 216
Although note that this has the wrong year (1946)
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 6th February 2019 at 13:13
Sky Dancer, thats brilliant thanks very much for your kind help! ATB TT
By: Sky Dancer - 6th February 2019 at 12:03
Hi TT,
Can’t tie down the serial number, but in that timeframe it (technically) would have been a Tempest VI.
Colour scheme in that timeframe should still be the wartime dark green/ocean grey/medium sea grey colour scheme, with a sky tail band and wartime Type “C” national markings. The overall silver scheme was introduced in late 1947.
This is only very generalised info – for specifics, Chris Thomas is one of the Typhoon/Tempest experts and I am sure he will be able to tie down a serial number, individual code letter (“JV” was 6 Squadron’s code) etc.
Think he used to be on here, he is certainly active on the Britmodeller forum.
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February 6, 2019 at 11:04 am