Just been looking at the Warpaint website (http://www.warpaint-books.com) and see that the Blackburn Firebrand is the next one on the list. So just hold on in there a bit longer

Paul

The last flight of the Lincoln was on Tuesday 9th May 1967 from the Collage of Aeronautics at Cranfield to Southend.

The aircraft was one of the last to fly in the UK as it was not on charge with the RAF who retired thiers in May 1963 No151 Signals Command.

RF398 at Cosford is said to have made the last UK Lincoln flight in 1968 anyone know when the argies retired thiers?

Warpaint Avro Lincoln states last Argie flight to be 1 August 1967

Paul

Sounds an interesting chap, but I do wonder about the statement that 100 Sqn had Vincents rather than Vildebeests. As you say, every source I can think of states that they had Vildebeests. Whilst photos post 1940 are not plentiful, there are quite a few photos of 100Sqn planes in the 30’s and they are clearly Vildebeests. I cannot see any reason why they should have exchanged Vildebeests for Vincents. 100 Sqn together with 36 Sqn were there in an anti-shipping role to which the Vildebeest was far more suited. The nearest Vincents were in the Middle East and East Africa where they were still operational, so why transfer them to Singapore?

Further, I recollect that before Endau when 100 and 36 Sqns were sent in against Japanese shipping, there was a discussion as to whether they should attack with torpedoes or bombs. In the end it was decided to bomb as it was believed that the ships were not in open sea, but the discussion would have been pointless if they had been equipped with Vincents as they could not carry torpedoes.

It is true that the Vildebeest were not used operationally against the Japanese in a torpedo -carrying role, rather all operations were bombomng operations using bomb racks which were either very similar or identical to those used on the Vincent. Might this be a source of confusion?

I will check tonight to see if I can find anything that sheds further light on this.

I do feel that the men of 36 and 100 Sqn who flew Vildebeests against the Japanese, especially those that went in in daylight at Endau, deserve to be remembered far more than they are. Personally I have little doubt that if they had been in Europe rather than in the Far East in the opening days of the war there, there would have been the odd VC or two awarded.

Paul

I’ve been the last three years with my eldest, now 7, 4 when we first went. So for a parent’s view…

Traffic – expect to queue at least half hour to an hour if arriving towards lunchtime
Parking – is much nearer the action than at the big airshows. Also, providing it hasn’t been raining too much, there’s areas you can picnic not too far away from the parking but where you can still see what’s going on
Children’s things – no big play area with bouncy castles and dodgems like at some of the big airshows (big sighs of relief from many) but there are some things to occupy them, last year there was one of those vertical climbing walls where the kids are strapped in harnesses for when they fall off which was the highlight of the show for mine, a helicopter cockpit to trash, an Utterly Butterly plane to climb in etc.
Stalls – usual array of stalls and getting better each year, many with toys
Museum – when they get bored, go to the museum, not too far to walk, various things to see, can get reasonable priced food in the canteen and use the toilets and you can still see the flying.
Don’t know if you’ve been to airshows with them before, but my kid, especially when younger, would have been a nightmare without his ear defenders, still needs them for F16 and Tornado!

Enjoy, don’t know whether I’ll be able to make it this year

Paul

There is a picture of the prototype with floats at http://www.1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Braas/4177.htm

One of the Spanish ones (insofar as I can undertand the Dutch) on floats on water at http://www.go2war2.nl/artikel/161

These are both Hispano Suiza ones though.

Paul

There was a good article in Air Enthusiast, I think it was the first article in issue 1. Certainly weight was a problem in RAF Buffaloes. As often happened when foreign aeroplanes were ordered, the RAF required numerous equipment changes – armour, more ammunition, extra equipment – which made a marginal airframe overweight. It was reported that when they stripped a Buffalo of extra kit to try to squeeze more performance, they reduced weight by 1,000 pounds.
It wasn’t only the solenoids that were affected by the heat and humidity. The test report said that it was prone to overheating in an English summer! However, the report said, it might make a good fighter trainer.
Another preformance difference compared to the Finns was tht performance did fall off badly at altitude, whereas most of the fighting on the Eastern Front was at low altitude.
In the end, though, I tend to the view that whatever fighters had been available in Malaya and Singapore, there were so many factors against them that they would have performed poorly.

Paul

As this has gone off topic, wonder whether this thread will go missing. Then someone can start a Missing Missing Thread Thread

Sorry, Friday afternoon

Paul