I’ve just browsed photos of “Red 14” and that’s certainly not the same scheme the PC2 was at Brawdy. I was at Brawdy from ’79 to ’84 but not sure which year during that time that I flew in the back… The colour scheme of RF+16 is certainly distinctive enough – but was it the only one to carry these colours? I’m going to have to go loft-bound and dig out the photo I have and scan it….
😎
I think you’ll find that the pilot you refer to as being associated with G-PTWO/RF+16 was Flt Lt Pete John who was Robs Lamplough’s display pilot at that time and it was Robs that owned that P2 at the point you mention. Pete was an instructor on the TWU at Brawdy on the Hawks and also flew Mustang G-BIXL (Blue nose and silver airframe at that time). The P51 later spent an extended period at Brawdy when it was grounded following the death of Charles Church in Spitfire ‘EE606’. The engine in G-BIXL was affected with the same suspected crankshaft defect as that in ‘EE606’ as both had come from the same engine overhaul facility IIRC. It was later flown home to North Weald following crankshaft replacement, and later flew as “Miss L” in Memphis Belle before being re-refinished in its original Bodney Blue nose scheme as “Miss Helen” finally coming to grief with a heavy landing following engine problems at Flying Legends a few years ago. Last seen at Filton.:(
Didn’t Bruce Lockwood take NH749/G-MXIV there one year? I seem to remember a picture of it with race numbers on. Probably in one of jeremy Flack’s books. What happened to him?
Shame that recent picture of “Miss Helen” is invaded by the resurrected
RM689, or is it ‘RM619’, err… the Spitfire formerly known as G-ALGT, erm don’t mention the RR Spitfire shhh…;)
The name on the nose of the Dak look like it was done with white electrical tape 🙁
As the person responsible for the colour scheme I can assure you it isn’t. The original was quite clearly done freehand using a small stencil gun and has the classic “grafitti” look about it. The company that have just painted the Dak were “not comfortable” about doing it freehand with a gun because of the risk of getting it wrong and ruining an expensive paintjob done to commercial deadlines and costing restrictions. So the original artwork was scanned and a vinyl stencil mask made by their graphics department and laser cut to have as rounded profile as the original. It may not be as fuzzy edged as the original but it is very close and used a high res tif of the original image from the IWM archive as its source. I am fully aware of differing methods of achieving the fuzzy edge, both freehand and using a manilla card stencil lifted slightly from the surface. However they decided against such a method. I hope that makes things clearer.:)
I am appalled that this genuine high-gloss scheme has been spoilt by the absence of the most essential detail marking of such a ’70’s retro-good-old-days polyurethane attempt. To be “authentic”, it really should be marked with “Confederate Air Force” beneath the tailplane…:rolleyes:
The Spitfire concerned is PL344 which was shipped by ARC from Duxford to the USA last September. The film crew were there the whole time and should have some excellent footage of it coming apart, into the container, loading on the ship and being re-assembled and re-flown in America. I believe they interviewed a few people while they were at DX (;)) and flew a veteran down from Scotland to talk about his time on the Sqn. I think I may know some of the characters concerned in this episode… 🙂
Nope, due to “red tape” it became a generic representation of a DX 19 Sqn Spitfire that appears in lots of the usual books, but obviously not the fabled book as that was a Mk1 not a Tr9. I still think it would have looked nice as AI-E myself or maybe it did…;)
The Canvey Island B-17 would have been the one which crashed off Canvey Point after a mid air collision with another B-17.
My late father grew up in Benfleet and witnessed this collision as a teenager. He recovered quite a few 0.5″ bullets and these were duly swapped at school etc, though we still have some. His abiding memory was of a flat bed lorry driving out onto the mud and a group of pikeys emerging and making off with the ball turret and sundry other items! Metal theft, even then! 😀
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