Pete TrumanOK, so what about the first supersonic, multi-engined true bomber, The Hustler perhaps, bit of a leap forward if so.
Pete TrumanIf we are talking level flight, and a jet, it may have been the F100A,
or the Lightning.
I seem to remember reading that one of the British “V” bombers went supersonic in a dive.
If so, that must have been a thrilling ride!!!!!!!
I had it on good authority from a serving RAF Harrier pilot at the time, that one of the Falklands Blackbuck Vulcans broke it’s refuelling probe off while topping up from a Victor and headed for Brazil.
On the way, it was pursued by Argentine Mirages and dropped to sea level, going supersonic on the way down, it apparently cleared the Brazilian coast at very low altitude and very high speed before landing at Rio? and being impounded for a while. After the weapons were removed ( must have been a failed mission ), it was allowed to leave.
I bet someone on here knows the registration number and whether it has survived.
Pete TrumanConcorde was not an all British design, even the name was French in the end, and I’m not knocking France as it is my favourite country.
We must all vote for the Spitfire, or possibly the Routemaster, as I like buses as well as as a/c and steam locos and …………an infinite list ending with Penny Smith, or maybe she should be first, as long as she does’nt sing of course.
Pete TrumanAdrian
Just arrived back from Notty Uni having taken my ‘restored back to life’ son back, and judging by the hugs and kisses from stunning girls that leapt on him and caused me to have to look at the floor, he’s having a dogs life.
Anyway, on the way back, drove around Sampford Airfield and found a lot of buildings that aren’t listed, there are also mysterious clumps of pine trees on some of the sites, there is also a brand new building going up on Wrights yard, only one building of which looks original. Due to the amount of work that I did on that area when I was working for RCA, I think that they may have some interesting OS maps of the area, and they have a reproduction agreement with the OS, so I shall go in there, see me old mates and get some copies which I can send on to you.
A photographic and bicycle tour of this site could be very fullfilling, I shall prime the camera and wait for warmer weather, has anyone done a proper recent survey of this site because it looks very interesting.
Passed your old man’s house and he was outside chatting to someone in a car, in fact there were 4 cars outside, does he ever change his clothes!
On the way back I had a look at Tollerton ( Nottingham Airport), which looked very run down and a mess.
I also called into Huntingdon to go to the supermarket and passed the gates of Alconbury which still has the dramatically posed F-5 Aggressor, is this real or a reproduction, it didn’t look real to me, I didn’t realise that the USA still had such an interest in the airfield, what do they do there.
Pete TrumanBut how many of these engines are left, I saw in a previous thread that there was a severe shortage of Bristol Hercules engines with regard to the restoration of the Scottish based Beaufighter, but with all these constant Spitfire/Hurricane restorations are Merlins hard to come by or are they easily reconditioned, do BBMF hold massive spares stocks from internal sources that were never got rid of.
What about German engines, ie the DB for the 109, there can’t be many of these about.
I also notice that restored/new build Yak3/9’s seem to be powered with Alisons, so the massive number of soviet engines produced must have been made back into Zlins or, shudder, Trabants.
Pete TrumanForgot about this thread, lets do the kid justice, he got all his questions right and scored 17 points. I managed 16, I couldn’t remember the name of the designer that took over from Mitchell though, still can’t.
Pete TrumanIn 1986, Conningsby had a 50th anniversary of the Spitfire airshow which featured every current flying example, or so was said, which I recall was 7, as well as static a/c, some of which were gate guards. I am sure that one of these had been the Spitfire from Wattisham and possibly the one from Coltishall, but there were others, unfortunately I have to take my son back to Uni today so I don’t have time to check out my slides, I remember that it was so hot that day, that apart from my pal getting sunstroke, they were concerned about the merlins overheating prior to take off.
The Batemans had a cooling affect though.
Does anyone know which Spitfires flew that day or have a list of the ones on the ground, most of which were gate guards from all over the place. I believe that the fliers were 4 from the BBMF, Mk2, Mk5 and 2x Mk 19, Spencer Flacks red G-FIRE, Rolls Royce Spit and either MH434 or Shuttleworth Mk5, surely there must have been others flying at that time.
Pete TrumanVery impressed with the concise information and it’s good to know that Mr Grey is prepared to address the issues to this forum of enthusiasts in that some owners in his position probably wouldn’t neccesarily give a damn about making any sort of explanation.
I am sad about the departure of the Hurricane, I was hoping for a max appearance of Hurricanes at the Spitfire do next September, however by all accounts there seem to be so many on the stocks at the moment that it will be soon replaced and will be a good advert for the type in the USA, which I assume that it is where it’s going.
As for the Beau, I would rather see the Tigercat, much as I love it, sold on to finance the restoration, it really has no historical place here, and I would prefer to see the Beau take it’s place in the air.
Pete TrumanI know some ‘persuasive’ people who might be prepared to ‘negotiate’ for a price.
Fancy a whip round.
Otherwise, how about a large crane and artic in the middle of the night, I can borrow some Rotweillers to keep the obviously pleasant, helpful and conservation minded man at bay.
Pete TrumanOne thing we didn’t see was the bridge and superstructure, I presume that it must have fallen off too. If there was a great big hole where the bow had been I thought it would have been fairly easy to steer in the submersible and look in the hangar, but I’m no expert on steering these things.
Pete TrumanNo question, after 50 years of airshows it has to be the Lightning, poor old thing, welcome to Thundercity where these beasts are understood and loved.
Pete TrumanWembly Stadium??????????
Good idea, it could drop Sven on to the touchline via the bomb bay.
Pete TrumanI’m not sure about the sleepers ….scapa flow, royal oak….some information about tho block ships….
Although no doubt meticulously planned, probably through ariel recconasance, I think that Captain Priam just took a flyer on this one and happened to be in the right place at the right time. I believe he was disapointed that the only capital ship in Scapa Flow was the Royal Oak, the rest of the fleet being out of harbour at the time, a sleeper would have been able to inform him of this and therefore an attack may not have been risked for the sake of one elderly battleship, when havoc could have been wreaked amongst the whole fleet, which was Priams intention.
Pete TrumanJDK
I agree with you that the German airfields in Norfolk are a myth, however why are you so convinced that landings wouldn’t have taken place there. You obviously have more knowledge on the subject than me, ( that book will be my next Amazon order ), however, there must have been some lateral thinking German commanders who knew that a south coast landing would have been an unsurprising bloodbath for them.
Given the sophistication of the equipment used at D-Day, the amount of naval and air superiority, there were still blips ie, Omaha, my old man even ran into trouble at Arromanches on D + 1.
Given the crudity of the ‘landing craft’ and lack of experience and planning of this sort of exercise I think that even with the depleted resources of the British Army and the possible destruction of the RAF, an attempted landing on the south coast would have been a total disaster for the German military and they knew it.
It always seemed to me that a lesser defended place with poor communications such as Norfolk would be an ideal target.
Did you know that the old A10 through the centre of Cambridge was reconstructed in reinforced concrete during 1940 so that any tanks and military convoys etc being rushed through to North Norfolk wouldn’t damage the historic colleges, particularly Christs College, by vibration caused by a normal road surface. A few years ago the local authority decided to dig it all up and I was commisioned by Christs to carry out a survey of the building structure to ensure that no damage was caused by this roadwork.
Pete TrumanBritsh military thinking during the war was that the Germans would invade via Norfolk, my father was on artillery coastal defence duties at Overstrand for over a year, they even stripped the secondary armament off the old battleship Iron Duke and installed it along the coast.
The most likely place for invasion was considered to be along the beaches of the North Norfolk Coast, particularly around Weybourne and Holkham Bay, if you’re not careful, you can still cut your feet to pieces, as I did once, on the sand engulfed barbed wire. Another considered spot was Ancaster Bay where a very extensive bunker system still exists under the dunes.
Unfortunately my old man is not around to confirm this but he always said that the powers that be were paranoid about an invasion through Norfolk, he should know this, he was there and a senior NCO as well, who was very good at ferreting about by all accounts.
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