Seems Mr. Jones has retired for the evening…

Don’t go to any trouble, but I do like a nice single malt scotch. Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Oban…of course a vodka martini can be very nice…

After seeing the schedule that you have planned for us I don’t think there will be any time for cocktails!

Lagavulin, Ardveg or the other one from Islay!!!!!!!

Yeah Yeah you keep saying that.

If the Sea Fury isanything like as loud as a P-51 then you had probably a had a bit too much Scotch before you got in 🙂

Yeah, Patty has an impressive collection of fine wine, Beer and Whisky.
It seemed impolite to refuse.
It’s pretty loud in there but the headphones kept it under control.

I still sometimes think, did that really happen to me.
Apparently it did.
Great!
Andy

Oops, my bad…

Lloyd George and…and…and that other guy

Herbert Asquith–you tart.
Don’t you know anything about your country’s history?
Oh sorry, I forgot your not British you just spend 48 weeks a year here.
Later
A…

Will it be at Legends?

When I implement my new 2005 policy of refusing to travel more than two miles in any direction to see aircraft fly, it will need to be at The London Gliding Club open day on Dunstable downs.
Should look impressive operating off that big grass field.
A…

In. Your. Face.
😀

Damien,
are you not impressed and dare I say moved by the very gracious way I was able to admit I was less than perfect?????
😉 😉 😉 🙂 🙂 🙂

How about the Burger King Beech?

Spud-U-Like Spitfire??
Heinz 57 Hurricane???
John Lewis Lancaster????
The list is endless.
Cheers
Andy

PS On the Lanc you could have the motto ‘Never knowingly undersold’ on the inside of the bomb bay doors so the words are displayed on those passes with the bay doors open.

PPS What the f*ck does ‘never knowingly undersold’ actually mean?

Andy, you’re hitting the irony fairly heavily tonight.

I’ll be happy to see this ‘plane back in the skies. A wartime scheme would be lovely, but it’ll still be a flying P38 whatever the colour.

Robbo
It doesn’t bother me what colour any of them are painted in.
They’re all just toys for the amusement of a few anyhow.
So I don’t care really.
Cheers
Andy

The First Instalment

Hi all,
As I said I would, I’m working my way through ‘Fighter’ by Len Deighton and on page 69 I came across the paragraph that originally started this whole thread and my re-visit to Mr Deighton’s work.
As promised I will report back here with my full report on the book, which I have to say is much better than my apparently somewhat flawed memory would have me believe. However the paragraph on the Ruhr Raids of May 15th 1940 still seems somewhat controversial to me and for that reason I want to revive our previous discussion on the paragraph. I’ve reproduced the paragraph in full below in full below.

Mr Deighton says:-
“The French had argued desperately that air attacks upon the Ruhr could have no effect upon Guderian’s armoured invasion of France. The French were entirely right. The RAF official history admits that the bombers ‘achieved none of their objects. Industrial damage was negligible’ and goes on to explain that the greatest benefit expected from this opening shot of the strategic bombing of Germany was ‘an informal invitation to bomb London’. By this means it was hoped to divert the German air offensive away from French ground forces. To what extent this motive was arrived at after the raid failed to be anything better than a provocation, can only be guessed”
The reason I’ve put the last part of the paragraph in italics is that I was a little concerned as to where Mr Deighton sourced this last statement.
The previous sentence is almost direct quotation from the official history but this part isn’t. My question was therefore this. Did Deighton hang a small but significant piece of his own opinion on the end of the paragraph? If he did he planted a seed in the readers mind that might lead one to believe that this was official policy.

My first port of call was ‘The Right of the Line’ by John Terraine (Sceptre Ed. 1988) who quotes Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal who at the time was CIC Bomber Command.
Portal dismissed close support as incapable of affecting this air situation, “whereas the bombing of objectives in Germany was likely, not only to damage the German war machine in general, but to force the Germans to withdraw fighters and flak from the front to the rear, and to divert their bombing offensives to objectives in England”. (AHB/II/117/5(A) , p 278.-Via Terraine The R.O.T.L).

Tonight I’ve also consulted ‘The Bomber Command War Diaries’ by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt (Viking 1985) and they have a slightly different and significant slant on events.
They point out that the German bombing of Rotterdam on May 14th may have had some influence on the decision to attack Germany on the following night and as the reader can see below, this new strategic offensive was short lived.

They do agree that the raid of May 15th was a very significant event in Bomber Command’s war.
“That date, 15th May 1940 was another of the great turning points of Bomber Command’s war. The R.A.F. commanders could finally start implementing their pre-war plans and the true strategic–bombing offensive against Germany began that night when most of the 108 aircraft allocated to operations were sent to industrial targets in Germany; it was the first occasion that more than 100 aircraft were dispatched. But the realities of the situation prevailed and, after only five nights of industrial bombing, the night bombers had to be brought back to attack bridges and communications nearer the battlefront. The full moon period in the second half of May was fully used for this purpose”. (P.40 BCWD.—Middlebrook & Everitt)

Middlebrook and Everitt also point out that the Blenheims of No 2 Group Bomber Command were very active in attacking tactical targets throughout the period.
So in closing for tonight, I can have no real objection to what Len Deighton has to say in his book (up to the point I have read) and have to confess that he seems to be fairly accurate in his telling of events in May 1940 so far.

Tomorrow, was the Stuka very influential in the Spanish Civil War (?) and the failings of the ME109.

Cheers
Andy
PS Gnome, is this the sort of thing you wanted. It’ll take six months at this rate!