Congratulations and good luck! 🙂
I must pay a visit sometime.

Battle of Britain Prophecy

I had the task of organising the Annual Battle of Britain Dining In Night at a certain RAF Station in Lincolnshire in 2001 (unfortunately something dreadful happened t’other side of the pond a few days prior to the function which subdued things a little) and we reproduced this poem on the menu card. Needless to say, it has been repeated since. Indeed, IIRC, Gerald Stapleton was our Guest of Honour a couple of years ago! When I first joined the RAF, such dining-in nights (as opposed to cocktail parties) were rare, I’m pleased to say that most RAF units now commemorate the BofB with a formal Dinner, which is good for our ethos and culture.

Brewster Buffalo

Many thanks for the photos and links chaps. Stormbird, yes I do like the RAF Buffalo, in fact I’ve just finished a 1/72nd kit in that livery (well RAAF in fact) with the somewhat unusual “split” underside colour scheme of half sky half black. My next model will probably be a Buffalo in the Netherlands East Indies scheme then a Finnish one is a must!

Percival Prentice

I have been reading about this aircraft, (I don’t remember it in service!) which was designed to accommodate 2 students, one sitting next to the instructor and one behind. Powered by a Gypsy Queen in line engine (I think) it was thought of by several RAF pilots as being underpowered with the streamlining of a garden shed. One quote I have seen in print was that many thought the Prentice to be “some lind of a bad joke”. Anyone know more about the virtues and vices of this somewhat ungraceful (in some eyes) machine?

RAF Halton – Happy Days

🙂 I very much enjoyed flying from Halton (club ac parked where the Twin-Pin is photographed) during my tour there from 1998-2000. Sadly, it had ceased to be No1 Sof TT by then (moved to Cosford) but was the home of the Trg Dev Supp Unit (TDSU) (where I was based), the RAF Police School, The RAF Recruit Trg School, the Airmens Command Sqn, the RAF School of Catering, the Joint Services Dental HQ and Admin Officer and Supply trade training schools. Even now, it is still a very busy trg unit.
Whilst it is true that the Halton site was once owned by the Rothschilds (Halton House made a rather grand Officers’ Mess – at least the public rooms!) it was actually purchased outright by the Air Ministry in 1918 as a member of the Rothschild family who had inherited it did not really want it because, so it goes, “I cannot grow rhodedendrons there” (the soil being chalk). The Chilterns are chalk but the airfield lies on clay and can get very damp in wet periods! It was a choice between training officers or a home for Trenchard’s Apprentice Scheme (the Brats), the latter was decided upon. RAF Halton used to sell a very interesting book about the history of the place and probably still does – I ought to buy one!

Foiled by Technology!

The system has just told me that my picture is far too large (243KB) to attach so that’s that I guess! Don’t have a clue how to change that so please disregard above post! 😮

🙂 Many thanks for posting the photos, even the “tender first” ones!

Locomotives named after aircraft & squadrons

What a great thread! vintage aircraft and locomotives too! Although a GWR afficionado myself (hence my user name – spent much of my spare time at Toddington,Glos at the Railway!) I have always liked Oliver Bulleid’s air smoothed casings (it wasn’t streamlining as such, the locos were designed to go through carriage washing plants) although they were a pest to work on and, as an earlier poster has said, all 30 “Merchant Navy” class and several of the slightly smaller Battle of Britain and West Country classes were rebuilt to a more “standard” design in the 1950s. How the Southern Railway got away with building these 4-6-2 (pacifics) during WW2 has never really been answered, as everyone else was building 2-8-0s and other freight classes for the war effort.
The GWR was the 1st of the “Big Four” railway companies to name locomotives after WW2 aircraft during 1940-41, renaming 12 “Castle” Class 4-6-0 locomotives as follows: 5071 Spitfire, 5072 Hurricane, 5073 Blenheim, 5074 Hampden, 5075, Wellington, 5076 Gladiator, 5077 Fairey Battle, 5078 Beaufort, 5079 Lysander, 5080 Defiant, 5081 Lockheed Hudson, 5082 Swordfish. Of these, only 1 survives today, thanks to Barry Scrapyard in S Wales and that is 5080 – Defiant. It normally lives at the Bham Railway Museum at Tyseley and visited Toddington about 14 years ago.
Several Bulleid Battle of Britain Class (and West Country) locos also ended up in the same yard and also survived to be restored. Those that can be seen today are: 34051 Winston Churchill, 34053 Sir Keith Park, 34058 Sir Frederick Pile, 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair, 34067 Tangmere (This came through my home town on the ECML at speed a few months back, awesome) 34072 257 Sqn, 34073 249 Sqn, 34081 92 Sqn. The Bof B class have very attractive nameplates, a metal scroll style name with an oval coat of arms (as in Winston Churchill) or Sqn badge (as with 92 Sqn). As you might expect, many of the original nameplates survive and they fetch in excess of £30K at auction! We bought our ex GWR steam locomotive (a 2-8-0) from Barry Scrapyard in 1980 for around £8K but it isn’t yet in working order! Sometime soon perhaps!