RE: Sit on my lap rescues

Moggy, I’m truly concerned. This is a matter of great interest and importance, in the study of aeronautics and aviation history. You really must find some way to overcome this constraint, and continue your research …

RE: Looking for history of Hawker Hurricane V7166

Snapper:

I have a copy of Francis Mason’s “The Hawker Hurricane”, which has a few lines of history on many, but not all, the Hurricanes ever built. There is no individual entry for V7166; but the following is what it says about the batch which that example would have come from:

“Hawker Hurricane Mark I (Gloster built). Third (main) production batch of 1,700 aircraft built by Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd, Brockworth, Glos., during 1940-41 under Contract No 85730/40/C.23a. All aircraft with metal wings, Merlin III engines, and DH variable-pitch or Rotol constant-speed propellers. Production divided into four production runs: Part I: 500 aircraft. Delivered between July and November 1940. … [including] V7156-V7195.”

One thought I would have is that if the aircraft was built as early as 1940, it would have been unlikely to be in front-line use by 1943 — examples of that age would, by that time, be in use, as you say, as hacks or trainers or on other second-line tasks.

Hope this is interesting, even if not quite what you were looking for. Regards,

Snoopy

RE: Canada Aviation Museum Collection – the Lib

Thanks, Andy. Reassuring info, that! Yes, I’d love to see the photos if you can manage to post them.

Do you know the Warbirds of India site? A little info about that particular airframe is here, if you’re interested:

http://www.warbirdsofindia.com/ovb24-2.html

Regards and thanks again for the info,

Snoopy

Congratulations!!

Fwiw, let me add mine … Congratulations, Uncle Keithmac; and hats off to the system that produced people who can still remember the old school nickname of every individual nut and bolt they worked on!! Do keep sharing these piccies and memories, won’t you? All the best,

Snoopy

RE: DVD’s

Hi Kev:

Must have been a great Christmas!! 😉

Can you recall, does the DVD include any footage from Burma, or ACSEA generally?

Regards, and have a good New Year … with Ashley’s 5 Jan party coming up, I’ve no doubt you will!!

Snoopy

RE: Dambusters meets Star Wars … and 633 Squadron?

>
>Waves of three aircraft attack, line abreast down a valley /
>trench.
>
>

Interesting parallels, Munnst.

I have also read that the Death Star attack sequences in Star Wars were inspired by “633 Squadron” — attacking down a narrow valley. Have you heard this one?

Regards,

Snoopy

RE: British film … Piece of Cake??

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 18-09-02 AT 09:04 AM (GMT)]>
> …
>
>I couldn’t help noticing your statement about the accuracy
>of Piece of Cake.The book and the TV series were actually
>very controversial, and a copyright lawsuit was even begun
>against Derek Robinson,the author of the book,because it was
>felt that he had copied vast amounts of material from
>Sqn.Ldr Paul Richey’s autobiography ‘Fighter Pilot’.There
>was a strong case on Richey’s side,and the case would
>probably have been won if Sqn Ldr Richey had not passed
>away. The TV series was apparently just as bad,the makers
>recieving a large number of complaints when it was
>shown.It’s worth noticing that it has never been repeated.
>
> …
>

Ant and others:

Sorry for the late participation and the off-topic question, but I’ve previously put questions about “Piece of Cake” a couple of times, here and on the General Discussion board, without response, so please give me some licence:

I know “Piece of Cake” was controversial, both the book and the TV series, but in your opinion, was the problem infringement of copyright (which argues that it was, in fact, pretty accurate), or Derek Robinson’s slightly less-than-uniformly-heroic depiction of the RAF fighter pilots of the time? I’ve read a lot of criticisms of both the book and the TV series, many obviously from veterans who knew what they were talking about, which seemed to me not arguing that Derek Robinson got anything wrong, but just that he was not being sufficiently respectful to the RAF.

I have read the writings of both Wing Commander (I believe that was his last rank, not Squadron Leader) Paul Richey and those of Derek Robinson, and I have a lot of respect for both. For those who’ll forgive my eternal quest for India connections, Wg Cdr Richey served later during WW2 in India, and wrote with respect about the contributions of the fledgeling Indian Air Force in the Burma theatre, so I’m pre-disposed in his favour if anything!! I just wonder if all the criticism of Derek Robinson is justified — some of it has seemed a bit knee-jerk to me.

What do people think? Regards,

Snoopy