Privately funded Spitfire and Typhoon

That would be cool, thanks.

Hi,
don’t mention whirlwind kits, I think I have almost everyone made !!
If you want , I will take a look in my photos, think I may have a few more of comrade in arms, won’t be this weekend tho’ , no hobby time left.
cheers
jerry

Hi Jerry,

Yes, it is that same photo. Thanks for pointing out the serial anomaly.

It is interesting to note that Airfix’s 1/72nd scale Whirlwind carried this scheme complete with the presentation name ‘Comrades in Arms’. I have original old Airfix kits of that plane in my cupboard.

photo of comrade in arms

Hi,
Just a quick correction / question,
Serial is wrong for the whirlwind ‘ P7012 ‘, probably a typo it was P7102.

Is it the usual photo of P7102, port side , 137Sq , codes P-SF,
with eddie musgrave standing with one hand on the fuselage ?

must admitt ‘bellows’ is an interesting subject which has taken up a lot of my research time…

cheers
Jerry

Fascinating stuff….. What’s in a name eh?

WINSTON CHURCHILL also rings a few bells with me. Not sure where I’ve seen it.

Henry sent me further info tonight after I asked if there was any possibility if the Ellis’s also donated a Spitfire (as reported). His reply is very interesting.

“There definitely wasn’t a Spitfire – and I think the reason for this was as follows. During WW2 there was an organisation known as the Fellowship of the Bellows which began in south America – Argentine/Brazil somewhere, and it was for ex Brits to donate money towards the aircraft funds in secret. A smal amount of money was donated by each member for every enemy aircraft shot down. A new member was a “puff”, after donating so much they were promoted to a “breeze”, and as they donated more money so the “wind” factor went up gale, hurricane, whirlwind, typhoon etc. You see now what I’m getting at? As Mr Ellis was not short of a bob or two, he may well have been a member of the Fellowship of Bellows – hence the reason he donated the Hurricane, Whirlwind and Typhoon – and not a Spitfire. “

It seems 32 Typhoons were ‘presented’, including the following for which the s/n are unknown.

ASTRIDA
BELLOWS BRAZIL [7 others in addition to JP918 and JP919]
DE BRUYNE
FIJI CIVIL SERVICE
FIJI VIII and X
GAMBELA
HLABEZULU
KASAI
LOMANI
MATABELE
MOGI
REV GRENFELL
SAIO
VAN GELA
WINSTON CHURCHILL

I wonder if all these were presentation names, really.
“Winston Churchill” seems to ring a bell. Wasn’t there an ex-Typhoon pilot who flew a Spitfire named “Winston Churchill”?
And “Hlabezulu” – wasn’t it the motto of a Typhoon squadron?

No problem Dave.

Geoff.

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for that. I contacted Mr Boot, and he very kindly replied with some great info. Here’s what he said…

“Mr & Mrs S.H.Ellis of Suva, Fiji donated £15,000 for the naming of 3 aircraft.
Typhoon R8200 “ISLANDS OF BRITAIN” 56 Sqn struck off charge 16-11-45
Whirlwind P7012 “COMRADES IN ARMS” 137 Sqn & 263 Sqn struck off charge 30-9-44
Hurricane V7776 “SPIRIT OF THE RFC” sent to Middle East (don’t know which squadron) struck off charge 7-5-41.”

He even supplied a great photo of the Whirlwind. If anyone has further info on the three aircraft mentioned I’m keen to hear. Odd that the reports I had said the Ellis’s had bought a Spitfire – it must have been the Hurricane instead. Unless there was a fourth plane.

Great names too, “Spirit of the RFC”, “Comrades in Arms” and “Islands of Britain”. Stirring stuff.

Dave,

If you try the contact email address at the bottom of the page I gave you, my mate Henry Boot will be able to help you I’m sure, especially if you are able to supply info in return. ‘Your’ Typhoon may be one of the known ones, & so would not be on the list I gave which only contains those presentation typhoons whose s/n are not at present known.

Three ‘Fiji’ Typhoons whose s/n ARE known are-

Fiji V – EK286 – no sqn listed in Air-Britain, SOC 31.8.46
Fiji VI – EK287 – 3 Tactical Exercise Unit, 55 OTU, SOC 28.5.45
Fiji VII – EK192 – no sqn listed, SOC 29.11.45

Geoff.

On doing more research I found that Sir Howard Ellis’s first name was Samuel. Then I ound this which seems to indicate he was an ex-RFC pilot, so it makes sense now why he spent so much on fighter planes. This is from the link below and extracted from the Auckland Weekly News

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~shamere/WW1.16EF.html

ELLIS, Flight Lieutenant S Howard, son of Mr. H Ellis of New Lynn, is in a German military hospital. He took part in a great aerial raid, which accompanied the opening of the Somme offensive. He writes: ” “I was brought down by an ‘archie’ (or anti-aircraft gun) on July 3; I was hit in the left leg which was broken and put me out of action and in the right cheek. The leg is more serious and that is only a matter of a few weeks. I was a bit seedy for a day or so but am now mending rapidly. I have been treated with most wonderful kindness by all ranks throughout, from the man who lifted me out of the machine, which was crashed, to the very able surgeon who now attends me.” [AWN 12.10.1916]

Thanks Geoff. I have only just this very minute learned that Howard Ellis was a lawyer in Suva.

So I don’t think his would have been Fiji Civil Service. I guess it’s possible that he worked for the Fiji Civil Service but I would seriously doubt a lawyer in the Civil Service would make make such money (legally at least) as he had spare to give away. I think he also had farming interests but I’ll look into this.

So by deduction I’d guess his donated Typhoon was more likely to be Fiji VIII or Fiji X (or both).

Does anyone know which squadrons the three Fiji aircraft flew with? Or any more about them?

Dave,

It seems 32 Typhoons were ‘presented’, including the following for which the s/n are unknown.

ASTRIDA
BELLOWS BRAZIL [7 others in addition to JP918 and JP919]
DE BRUYNE
FIJI CIVIL SERVICE
FIJI VIII and X
GAMBELA
HLABEZULU
KASAI
LOMANI
MATABELE
MOGI
REV GRENFELL
SAIO
VAN GELA
WINSTON CHURCHILL

See this page for more info & a contact email address to try (at bottom of page) http://www.sturtivant.freeserve.co.uk/spitfire/

Geoff.