The Halifax has small access panels in the floor at each bomb shackle location and it was possible to manually release a hung up bomb that failed to release for electrical reasons.

In North America we see Transport trailer mounted bleachers which can seat around 150. They fold out to provide a couple of ‘low’ rows off one side, 3 or 4 rows over the trailer bed and a couple more fold out over the ‘high’ side, to give seating about 50 feet long and 8 rows deep. Set-up and break down are very fast and the rental is very affordable. Rental cost/weekend is fixed and the delivery distance charge is then added.

That Halifax u/c casting!

Hi Cees,

We tried to borrow the Halifax u/c casting from the RAF Museum and they could not find it. They did tell us that it had come from the lobby of the Dowty/Messier building when they had ‘packed it in’.

The RAFM could find the paperwork but not the actual casting. Later we discovered that YAM had borrowed it and they kindly provided us with the moulds they had used to cover their undercarriage.

There was another undercarriage leg ‘allegedly’ in New Zealand and they wanted us to locate an old, rare, aircraft engine for them and then they would consider an exchange. They declined to provide us with photographs of the alleged undercarriage leg!

Peter, I was in the workshop working on the Anson fuselage – glueing of course!
I did find the time to get a piece of cake.

Visit to Trenton.

Peter, you mean that you came into the Museum and you did not say hello to me! You could have had a personal tour of the Halifax and the area! I could have even added you to the luncheon!

I will have to check the pictures to see if I am in any of them!

Looks like a control mass balance, aileron, maybe, similar to the Halifax?

Night formations

No moonlight that I can remember as we could not see any aircraft nor any formation lights. Certainly the night of June 5/6 1944 was not a moonlit night and not only did they fly in the ‘stream’ formation to carry out their ‘O dark hundred’ drops, some were towing gliders!

Surely there must be a few pilots or C-47 aircrew from that era still around who could give us the details on how it was done.

Sandy Barr of the http://www.644squadron.com web site used to tow gliders with his Halifax, in his book he indicates that he towed a glider on the D-Day attack, but he does not give his takeoff time other than to say it was early morning.

C-47 nightime formations.

True, the bombers did not fly in any formation at night, but I remember that on the build-up to D-Day that, every night, huge formations, allegedly 60+, of C-47s flew over our village practicing for the the D-Day airborne landings. There were no navigation lights visible from the ground so I assume that they had ‘station keeping’ lights.

Why over our village in Bedfordshire? They were led by a local resident, Wing Commander Jefferson. No collisions occurred anywhere in our area.