RAF in India, Thunderbolts ID?

sorry, my bad typing – I meant green and brown!
Be interesting to know how many preserved aircraftt in the UK wear the SEAC scheme?

The RAF Museums Thunderbolt II is in SEAC camo, which is brown and grey, I think the lighting has effected the colour cast of the photo.
To me it looks so much better for it, you don’t see many types preserved in RAF SEAC colours.

Actually brown and green (Technically Dark Earth and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey)

… two tone brown on the RAF museum jobby, gives it some character I think….

The RAF Museums Thunderbolt II is in SEAC camo, which is brown and grey, I think the lighting has effected the colour cast of the photo.
To me it looks so much better for it, you don’t see many types preserved in RAF SEAC colours.

I agree

Yeah thats the same one BGS, must have moved to Hendon in the reshuffle. Looks so different (IMO better) than the usual USAF metal schemed ones.

I waited to get the 1/72 Corgi in the SEAC colours, the lighter “green/grey” not the two tone brown on the RAF museum jobby, gives it some character I think….

Yeah thats the same one BGS, must have moved to Hendon in the reshuffle. Looks so different (IMO better) than the usual USAF metal schemed ones.

did they move it to Hendon or do they have two?

HPS, Im slightly surprised that I was the first to answer as it isn’t my ‘area’. However I’m interested in 42 sqn, and its association with Thunderbolts, my eyes lit up when I first saw the pics!
Cosfords Thunderbolt (KL216) carries the same colour scheme as the above pics, or at least It did when I last saw it 12 years ago!

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/collections/aircraft/republic-p-47d-thunderbolt-ii.cfm

Got me digging as well, did Cosford last year, cracking place, but didn’t recall it – but this shows at Hendon?

This really caught my eye….

A friend provided these pics he’s scanned from the collection of his wife’s late father, a WW2 pilot in the RAF – he’s the young chap kneeling over a map, with colleagues, foreground.
Can anyone ID the squadron markings and the aircraft type? I think they’re Thunderbolts but don’t know much about those, so… And any other comments would be welcome.
Thanks, HPS

I had an English teacher at school who died 1983/84 – name of William Elford. Real old NON PC type (well, PC wasn’t invented then…) saw himself as a Falstaff type figure, anyhow, ex RAF fighter pilot, flew Hurricanes and P-47’s in the far east. We never knew when the stories blurred, but he always claimed 5 kills (I can’t trace him in aces high etc) and an escape from a japanese POW camp (boys own ?) he later remustered and flew Hunters, left just as Lightnings came into service. Great teacher, perfect for a bunch of 14 year olds to worship, thought for a moment he may have been in the pics.

Thunderbolts, please! Some amazing shots on that site, indeed the above photos feature with all the info Ive added!

Thanks, more interesting stuff! The name isn’t right, though: he was Sergeant Fred W Hammond of Washwood Heath, Birmingham… My chum just checked on the IWM site and seems to think he’s identified correctly for the relevant pic, so maybe a bit of a mix-up; he explains, “(Fred Hammond) flew raids over Burma from Chittagong and a place on the coast in western India – Vishakapatanam or something similar.”
And I’ve been promised a look through the box of pics/goodies sometime soon, so maybe there’ll be more P-47 pics.
Regards, HPS

Sorry about that! The caption came from Geoff Thomas’ book on RAF Thunderbolts. I’d forgotten the IWM stuff was now on-line – there are some nice P-47 shots in there!

HPS, Im slightly surprised that I was the first to answer as it isn’t my ‘area’. However I’m interested in 42 sqn, and its association with Thunderbolts, my eyes lit up when I first saw the pics!
Cosfords Thunderbolt (KL216) carries the same colour scheme as the above pics, or at least It did when I last saw it 12 years ago!

Thanks for the additional info. Do you mean the P-47 in the 2nd (right hand) pic with that “A” code is from 42 Sqn?
Glad to hear about the Cosford machine – I’ve never visited, but plan to when it’s convenient, will make a point of seeing the P-47.
Regards, HPS

Presumably your friend’s wife’s father was Squadron Leader Hawkins? That’s the caption given for the kneeling officer. The croutching officer is Group Captain Chater.
Copies of Both Photos are in the IWM Collection (the first IWM-CF201, the second IWM-CF1242.) They were taken at Chittagong. Be nice to see more RAF P-47 pics!

Thanks, more interesting stuff! The name isn’t right, though: he was Sergeant Fred W Hammond of Washwood Heath, Birmingham… My chum just checked on the IWM site and seems to think he’s identified correctly for the relevant pic, so maybe a bit of a mix-up; he explains, “(Fred Hammond) flew raids over Burma from Chittagong and a place on the coast in western India – Vishakapatanam or something similar.”
And I’ve been promised a look through the box of pics/goodies sometime soon, so maybe there’ll be more P-47 pics.
Regards, HPS

HPS, Im slightly surprised that I was the first to answer as it isn’t my ‘area’. However I’m interested in 42 sqn, and its association with Thunderbolts, my eyes lit up when I first saw the pics!
Cosfords Thunderbolt (KL216) carries the same colour scheme as the above pics, or at least It did when I last saw it 12 years ago!

Presumably your friend’s wife’s father was Squadron Leader Hawkins? That’s the caption given for the kneeling officer. The croutching officer is Group Captain Chater.

Copies of Both Photos are in the IWM Collection (the first IWM-CF201, the second IWM-CF1242.)

They were taken at Chittagong.

Be nice to see more RAF P-47 pics!

Thunderbolts they are. WK is 135 sqns code and they operated Thunderbolt Is from May 1944 to May ’45, mainly from India and over Burma.
Cracking pictures by the way, any more?

Thanks for that very prompt info, which is useful. I’m surprised there weren’t more responses, actually, since there are so many WW2 buffs around: maybe most people here are more into all that plane-restoration (worthy, certainly) and collecting bits of old Spitfires. I wouldn’t wish to inflate the value of queries such as mine, but all these collections of old pictures and so on from WW2 need to be identified pretty soon: WW2 veterans are getting on, and thinning out, and before too long they’ll be as scarce as WW1 veterans… My dad was in the RAF in Burma, 1944/45 (not aircrew) and I have a suitcase full of memorabilia, loads of photos & negs, which I mean to scan before they all go moldy. There’s one pic in particular that I recall of him sitting on the wreckage of a Jap plane brought down at Mingaladon or one of the other stations he was at, must ID that aircraft. I can’t ask him since he died in 1984.
Regards, HPS
BTW I hope to have some more of those P-47 etc pics sometime.

Thunderbolts they are. WK is 135 sqns code and they operated Thunderbolt Is from May 1944 to May ’45, mainly from India and over Burma.
Cracking pictures by the way, any more?