Most Secret War by Dr R V Jones.
An amazing book about the ‘ battle of the beams ‘ and radar from a young man who had the ear of Churchill if needed.
My favourite anecdote from the book is about a Ju 88 built from crashed 88’s during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz that Farnbourough flew, but could never quite figure out what was wrong with it until a helpful German prisoner offered to look it over and see that all was well. He burst out laughing when he saw that Farnbourough had used wings from two different marks of 88, but didn’t notice they were each of a differeing size…. 😀
Excuse the slight thread hijack, but does anyone remember a scene from the film Reach For the Sky in which a German soldier hits his ‘foot’ with a rifle butt ? Last time I saw the film this scene wasn’t there. Just wondering if my mind is going or they edit it for TV for some reason.
Thanks
For a newbie, can anyone enlighten me as to the other Typhhon surviving parts that are suggested could make a complete Typhoon ?
Anyone ?
Anyone know if all or any PR photos are kept as a record and catalogued in any way ? Any info at all on searching ?
Thanks
There was a Ju88 late model nightfighter which defected by prior arrangement and was met by a waiting escort of Spitfires and taken to, I think, RAF Dyce in Scotland. This is described in detail by Eric Brown in his fascinating book “Wings of the Luftwaffe”. Brown also describes the arrival of a Fw 190 which appeared over, I think, RAF Chivenor (I’ve lent my copy of Brown’s book to German friend so I can’t check), did a victory roll and landed straight off the roll to be greeted by a quick-thinking NCO with a Verey pistol pointed into the cockpit. The pilot had, indeed, mistaken the Bristol Channel for the English Channel!
In the book, Most Secret War by Dr R V Jones, he relates the story of the Dyce Ju 88, but slightly different to how you describe. He says the crew were ordered to shoot down a civil courier flight from Sweden to the UK and that this order was part of the reason to fly to the UK. He also says he tried to get the Spitfire pilots a DFC for not shooting down the Ju88 and for escorting it into land.
He also talks about a Ju88 built at Farnborough from various crashed aircraft. Some of the captured crews who didn’t side with the Nazis were offering to help, some even to fly the aircraft and demonstrate all the equipment. One was asked to look at the Farnborough built 88 as it never flew quite right. The willing German looked at the aircraft and laughed when he saw they had used two different wings – one shorter than the other – in their reconstructed 88… No idea how trued that it, but that’s how it’s told in the book.
There is also mention of ( I think ) a He111 that was tricked into trying to land in the UK by using a radio becon to fool German aircraft they were over France. I’ll have to dig the book out and check that part and also the part where he mention a Dutch national ( again, I think ) that flew to the UK in the middle of the war from an aircraft kept in a barn.
He also says an SN2 fitted Ju88 landed at Woodbridge by mistake in July 1944. In the two mentions in the book of this, the date is given as both the 13th and 15th.
3 FW190’s attempted to land at West Malling airfield thinking they were in France. 1 crashed short, another spotted his mistake after landing and tried to take off but was damged by ground fire and crashed, the other survived intact and was tested at RAE Farnborough.
Is there any other reference to the Dyce Ju88 being a planned defection ?
Regarding my earlier mention of the Dutch national who flew to England, well, it was infact a Dane by the name of Thomas Sneum who flew a Hornet Moth.
Not really helping with the original question, but this old BBC docu called Secret War does feature an interview with both Boot and Randle.
the one with a sharks mouth?
I don’t think so , although it may have been.
Slightly related, but would anyone know of a Lightning cockpit that was held by a RAF recruiting team in the early 1990’s. I was still at school then and there was one at Bexleyheath swimming pool car park,Kent, as part of some local show or other. Was just wondering if it’s still about as it helped fuel my interest in aviation after sitting in it.
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Typhoons. Got some nice jet noise in Greenhithe, Kent too.
From another forum
http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2012/01/19/typhoon-jets-to-fly-over-borough-in-olympic-test-113046-30159343/