The P-51 was Welsh.. and other stories.

T’ Yorkshire P-51:
Built fr’m best Sheffield steel.
Fuelled bah best Barnsley coal.
Styled aft’r whippets.

Makes y’ proud, eey by gum. 🙂

FP570 N500HP, ex SAAF 6414 Private Anoka County 04/2011
FP579 N500LN Private USA 10/2012

These two have both been converted into Howard 500s, so technically not a Ventura anymore. Both are owned by TPAero (AFAIK).

Quick Correction…

Ken Bowen claimed to be of Welsh stock.. but he was born in Hull, Yorkshire!

Good choice of birthplace, that man.

The P-51 (or at least the practical engineering) was from YORKSHIRE.

Still a few Venturas left kicking around

AE841 6066 Stored Swartkop, South Africa 02/2012
AJ311 Museum, stored Wright-Patterson Museum 05/2011
AJ469 6130 Museum, stored Cosford Museum Store 02/2018
AJ504 6112 Museum Swartkop, South Africa 02/2012
AJ508 6120 Stored Swartkop, South Africa 02/2012
FD580 N1000X, ex USAAF 41-38032 Restoration Sanford 06/2008
FP570 N500HP, ex SAAF 6414 Private Anoka County 04/2011
FP579 N500LN Private USA 10/2012
FP607 F, 6432 Preserved, outside Edenvale, Johannesburg, South Africa 10/2010
FP608 N137U Private Anoka County 07/2006
FP641 Bu34880 Private Mexico
FP649 Bu34903 Private Galveston – Scholes Field
FP682 6447 Museum Ysterplaat, South Africa 02/2010
FP684 Bu34967 Private Swartkop, South Africa 04/2009
JS942 N130P Private Chandler – Memorial Airport 02/2011
JS956 6534 Stored Swartkop, South Africa 05/2007
JT861 6487 Stored Swartkop, South Africa 02/2012
JT867 6498 Museum Swartkop, South Africa 02/2012

Thanks alertken!

Yes, Addams didn’t buy – or even formerly accept – anything. But he is pictured in the US press shaking hands after test flights, climbing out of cockpits in his tweeds etc – he was the presence on the ground, representing the ministry if not actually being it. He was asked to test the Hudson pre-order, and it appears he had a similar role with the Harvard as well, from a North American Aviation in-house magazine report of the time. I am sure there were other personalities attached to other manufacturers – Addam’s ‘patch’ was California – Lockheed, NAA, Vought (he was all over the press testing a Vanguard) and Consolidated (he was expected – again according to an in-house magazine – to have travelled on the first Model 28 (Catalina) to cross the Atlantic, but I can’t find out whether he did or not).

So no overall say, but much more glamour!

(Concorde was Welsh, too. Its UK Father, Morien Morgan was in RAE’s 1950s Taffia)

Re Harvard/Hudson, Addams, Marsden…neither “bought” anything.

PM Chamberlain, April,1938, sent the Weir Mission to US (J.R.Weir, Hon. AC, had been in technical charge of G&J Weir’s production of 1,142 aircraft in WW1): that led to Harvard and Hudson orders, to NA declining to build Curtiss P-40 and scheming (to be) P-51, and to much more. Weir and G/C A.Harris (yes, him) were the selectors, Air Ministry Dep.Sec Sir Henry Self the Buyer: 1940/42 he was DG/Br.Air Commission reporting, through UK Ambassador Lord Halifax (ex-Foreign Secretary), and (1942/43) UK Minister Resident in Washington J.Llewellin (ex Minister of Aircraft Production) to MAP/London. (1940-42, Deputy, 42-5/45) DG/BAC was Sir R.Fairey (yes, him). BAC’s team included Production Acceptance Test Pilots and Quality Inspectors. Their advice was needed, not always taken: so, if Addams reported problem X, to which the firm asserted an imminent fix for kit urgently needed…

Many BAC turkeys included anything by Brewster or Vultee; UK-based Procurers had a full, fair share,too (was it Botha: Boscombe: “entry to this a/c is difficult. It should be made impossible”).

Good to see some focus on the personalities, the Aeroplane current series on pilots is helping balance the subject .

Yes, it seems Addams was ‘the man on the ground’ on the West Coast, ultimately reporting to the Air Ministry, perhaps via Marsden?

The LA gossip columns recorded every week what parties Addams had gone to and with whom, between 1939 and his marriage in 1942. It seemed LA high society was fascinated by him. Apparently he and Bob Gross, Chairman of Lockheed, would talk about aeroplanes all night. Not sure how that works in terms of impartiality – but I reckon there’d have been quite a falling out when the Ministry refused the P-38’s being built for them at great expense – possibly due to his flight test report. Maybe the ‘talk’ was in fact negotiation.

I guess that S/Ldr Addams may well have worked with Arthur Marsden OBE, who had a key role in the purchase of US and Canadian-sourced aircraft for Britain. You can read about him here on my website:
http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Albert_Marsden.html

Regarding his judgement, it would seem that the several various references to rejection after testing by ‘RAF pilots in the US’ or ‘A British evaluation pilot in Burbank’ (Bodie) of the P-38 model 322-B without the turbo-superchargers and with mach-tuck and ‘flutter’ issues are probably down to Addams, though these pilots are never named. He was embedded into Lockheed at the time, though I imagine his position could probably be seen as quite awkward in situations such as this.

Thanks Bazv!!

I’ve been digging as well. He was the son of two well-known artists, Clifford Addams and Inez Bate. His dad abandoned his family citing ‘cruelty’ on the part of Inez. His younger brother died performing aerobatics in a Siskin in 1926, and in his memory Inez instituted a trophy for an annual 41 squadron aerobatic contest. Different times. His wife died in 1936, leaving one daughter Victoria Dawn, who went on to fame as the actress Dawn Addams, and then married an Italian prince. In LA, and while mixing with stars (Douglas Fairbanks Junior was a close friend) Addams married actress Aline Judge – one of seven of Judge’s marriages.

When he was posted back to the UK (To Milfield, where he was reputedly the only owner in the RAF of a tailored battledress) she divorced him for ‘desertion’ after shacking up with a Chicago ad man (victim number four). After the war he moved to Italy – somehow ending up in 1960 with the speaking part of ‘Corrado’ in the new-wave Antonioni film ‘L’Avventura’. It seems the film world is unaware that this part was, rather curiously, given to a retired RAF Group Captain rather than a professional actor. This was the only film role I can find, though he was senior advisor on ‘A Yank in the RAF’ back in 1941. So an exciting life generally.

Edit.. yep, definitely the same chap: [ATTACH=CONFIG]258677[/ATTACH]

James Ramage Addams
From a combination of Flightglobal Archive and RAF unithistories

Commissioned as P/O 17/12/24 (Flight mag 29/1/25)
Awarded AFC as Flt Lt June1931
Sqn Ldr 1/12/1936
(T) W/C 1/1/1940
(T) G/C 1/12/1941
Retired 3/7/1946

Looks like he had an exciting life as a junior officer and survived a couple of serious accidents,his nickname at one time was ‘Lucky’

The thing about the US neutrality acts is they only applied to ‘belligerent nations’, and that didn’t include the UK in 1938. Ironically it was only in September 1939 that the UK became unable to rely on the US for arms purchases.

Bolton-Paul made and installed the turrets in the UK – it made sense to do it that way, due to the weight.

I’ll look for other pictures of this aircraft – it featured heavily in the press at the time.

Yes, the turret; it looks ‘painted’ onto the photograph to me?

As I understand it the turrets of RAF Hudsons weren’t fitted until they arrived in the UK?

The turret?

I assume that is a dummy turret in place of the one the RAF would fit when delivered to Canada or the UK? Is this correct?

Something to do with the USA’s neutrality at the time?

To be fair, I don’t suppose that the Ventura was technically much worse than any other aircraft that the RAF was ordering in the 1940 period, with the exception, of course, of the Mosquito; the ‘problem’ with the Ventura was probably more to do with its employment over Occupied Europe rather than its design. Although a 100% loss-rate must be almost unique for a squadron-raid in any war?

By the way, has somebody been having a go at that Hudson in the photograph with 1940 photoshop?

If Addams was responsible for the purchase of the Ventura as an RAF light bomber he deserves a good kicking from the bereaved relatives of their crews.

Moggy