Browning machine gun/Al. Deere ????

Thank you all for your various imputs, So can we say definitely a gun from Al Deere’s ,Kiwi 11 recovered by Ken Ward and the North East Aircraft Recovery Museum from a wreck site at Kirklevington.

[any idears of the dig/recovery date] sorry to be pedantic but i guess that time spent reading Egyptology has rubbed off]

Is there a record of the dig? any chance of piccies??

geoff

yep a North East Aircraft Recovery Museum Label for sure !!

That looks like Ken Wards writing….I think it is Kiwi 3 which was lost up north and was quite a big dig (others involved were probably Alan Downing and Max Elliot)

Yep definately one of Ken’s labels !

Am I right in thinking that Al Deere stopped naming his A/C “Kiwi”, as originally he thought it would bring him some luck, but after a while it dawned on him that it might not be?

….did it really come from the crash site of Al Deere s Kiwi 11????

Apparently he got up to Kiwi eleven, but I think we really mean two… 😉

Am I right in thinking that Al Deere stopped naming his A/C “Kiwi”, as originally he thought it would bring him some luck, but after a while it dawned on him that it might not be?

That looks like Ken Wards writing….I think it is Kiwi 3 which was lost up north and was quite a big dig (others involved were probably Alan Downing and Max Elliot)

Any pics? I just love to see Spitfires during various stages of construction (no provenance queries please:))

Cheers

Cees

I have some but they are not for publication yet.

Apology needed – posting before the first coffee of the day is nota good idea! The fuselage I referred to is the a/c that Al Deere collided with – Kiwi II is still a “project”. Yes, they were both well fragmented.

I really should have more coffee in the morning before posting!

Just to set the record straight, the aircraft which has been reconstructed is X4650. This aircraft was being flown by Sgt Howard Squire on 28th Dec 1940 when he collided with Al Deere who was flying X4276.

The remains of both aircraft were excavated over 20 years ago and parts have changed hands over the years.

X4650 now has a new fuselage, which has reached the fitting out stage, whilst X4276 is registered as G-CDGU to A.J.E.Smith but, as far as I know, has not progressed in terms of any reconstruction work.

I hope that sets the record straight.

TANGMERE 1940 thanks for your reply to my question I have tried to pm you but your box appears tyo be full

At the risk of being shot down for being a numpty (again) isn’t there a discrepancy between the dates given on the label posted by the original poster and the date given by Mark12? Or did the aircraft take 44 days to crash following the collision?

Regards,

kev35

Kev,

My error. 😮

Collision was 28 December 1940. Struck Off charge date was 4 Jan 1941.

I will amend my post.

Mark

At the risk of being shot down for being a numpty (again) isn’t there a discrepancy between the dates given on the label posted by the original poster and the date given by Mark12? Or did the aircraft take 44 days to crash following the collision?

Regards,

kev35

And the newly reconstructed fuselage of “Kiwi II” was having the final skins attached a couple of weeks ago ready for dispatch to it’s owner …

Any pics? I just love to see Spitfires during various stages of construction (no provenance queries please:))

Cheers

Cees

X4276 & X4650. 28 December 1940.

X4276 – Is it ‘KIWI II’ or ‘KIWI III’?

Mark

Unless I am mistaken, it was primarily the RR Merlin that was recovered. Very little else.

Apology needed – posting before the first coffee of the day is nota good idea! The fuselage I referred to is the a/c that Al Deere collided with – Kiwi II is still a “project”. Yes, they were both well fragmented.

Unless I am mistaken, it was primarily the RR Merlin that was recovered. Very little else.

And the newly reconstructed fuselage of “Kiwi II” was having the final skins attached a couple of weeks ago ready for dispatch to it’s owner …

Dave Smith (of Medway) recovered this wreck many years ago and so it is possible that this is from that aircraft. If you PM me I can put you in touch with Dave.