Hi All,
I would also like to add that you can actually get hold of a T-shirt commemorating this outstanding event of the two Lancasters flying in the u.k. from:-http://www.warhistorystore.com/products/lancaster-2014-uk-tour-t-shirt
I realise these are from a Candian site officially supporting the whole Lancaster crossing but well worth the money when you consider that most company over here only produce T-shirt up to XL in a lot of cases these go all the way up to 5xl for us rather larger than life fatties they also come in seven colours.Geoff.
I stumbled on these whilst looking for T’s. Sizes are only up to 2XL but 19 colours.
http://www.cafepress.co.uk/mf/79759745/lancaster_tshirt?productId=879856837
Bumper sticker complete with Spitfire for company.
http://www.cafepress.co.uk/mf/79587589/spitfire-and-lancaster_bumper-sticker?productId=877382502
Please be aware if ordering from Café Press that these come from the USA. I ordered 27 July and had a vague delivery estimate of Jul 31 – Aug 5. I got them on Aug 8 tracked and signed for via DHL and Yodel.
Another bit of luck was getting a print signed at the Wings Museum by some of the Bomber Boys back in April and what should the print be of?
I have a map showing how the ABC jammers fitted into the Radio Countermeasures plan for Overlord, my interest being the 101 Squadron Lancasters that were fitted with them. The map also shows the squadrons involved in the various Titanic operations from which 29 bombers simulated a fake airborne invasion in the Caean and Cap d’Antifer (Paris) areas. I can’t see 550 Squadron mentioned though in the Cap d’Antifer (Paris) area, only 138, 161 and 149.
However a 550 Squadron Lancaster (LL811 J-Jig ‘Bad Penny III’) was supposed to be the first aircraft to drop its payload to mark the start of the assault on the Normandy beaches. The crew of the Lancaster were to be later awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French for its role in Operation ‘Overlord’. Perhaps 550 Squadron had it’s mission changed at the last minute or did a combination of bombing and “Gingerbread” drops.
The gingerbread men were made of jute cloth similar to that used for sandbags. They were approximately 80 cms high in the shape of a man. The legs and arms were closed with string, and they were filled with sand for weight. The back pack containing the canopy was made with four overlapping triangular sections which closed by means of a cord passed through brass eyelets. The canopy had a diameter of approximately 130 cms. They were dropped during the “Titanic” operations on D-Day with around 200 dropped to create a diversion.
550 Squadron had three “Ton Up” Lancasters which achieved more than 100 sorties in wartime operations. EE139 “B-Baker” (The Phantom of the Ruhr), ED9O5 “F-Fox”, and PA995 “V-Victor” (ex-“K-King”, The Vulture Strikes). W5005 “N-Nan” nearly reached the 100 but had to ditch in the Humber estuary on returning from its 94th sortie.
My wife and I had a brilliant time at Wings and would recommend it to anyone to pay a visit. Although we faced a tidy drive from near Stansted and the drudgery of the M25 we found it well worth the trip and having the Bomber Boys there was an added bonus.
It would be hard to single out any one display as so many were excellent. However I had seen pictures of Doodle Bugs and their ramps and V2s on their launch pads but it was the first time I had seen the underground factory and the prisoners in the assembly areas working on them. The “Dora” room is deserving of its “parental discretion required” warning. It was certainly a very moving, powerful and emotive display.
My father flew with 101 Squadron so the display of the log book and artefacts relating to W/O G.H.Studd, a rear gunner with 101, was of particular interest.
To be able to walk through the inside of the C-47 Dakota and experience the old aircraft smells and feel a sense of what the paratroopers on D-Day went through with the sounds and sights from Band of Brothers helping to add to the atmosphere was very thought provoking. I don’t think I could have just sat there with flak coming through the thin walls of the fuselage.
As luck would have it we called in to the High Beeches tea room for a nice cream tea before heading home and ran into the Bomber Boys tucking in to a well earned lunch. We had a chuckle when three of them sat at the next table that were late arrivals were asking directions to get back to the museum. It turned out two were navigators and were asked if they were lost without their G.
A few pictures from the day.
70th Anniversary of the Nuremberg Raid 30/31 March 1944
101 Squadron lost 7 out of 26 aircraft sent
The cross was “lit” as dusk fell and as NX611 ‘Just Jane’ did a taxi run in the gathering darkness the old airfield took on an air of what it would have been like back then as they set off into the unknown. It was a very moving and fitting tribute to those that didn’t return.
As mentioned before I took one of my spare bomb arming spools to Norway to donate to the Tirpitz museum. Don’t ask me how but I had ended up with 4 of them but have now whittled them down to 3. I had searched high and low to try and find pictures of them in situ and had found numerous bomb bay pictures but none had a close up of the spool.
However thanks to considerable help and string pulling by Stephen Elsworth, one of the B.B.M.F. volunteer hanger tour guides and with the co-operation of the flight commander and chief maintenance officer, I was given access to the bomb bay of Lancaster PA474. Here are the results. You can see that these don’t have the steel wire fitted to the spool, possibly to save weight.
This is one of my spools with the wire partially unwound and under spring loaded pressure ready to retract if I release the button under my forefinger. This would have been done electronically by a solenoid in the spool housing. The pin that arms the bomb, when pulled out, would be attached to the spiral clip just where the stores label is tied on.
This shows a couple of bomb arming spools attached to bomb cradles. The winch that was used to load the bombs into the bomb bay is just behind. Picture taken at East Kirkby.
These are various types of bomb fuse and the picture was again taken at East Kirkby.
Thanks Howard. I don’t know where the time has gone since we got back from Norway. It was certainly an action packed long weekend going to the B.B.M.F. for a V.I.P. hangar tour, then East Kirkby for the Nuremberg event, followed by the Blue Bell Inn & Petwood in Woodhall Spa before heading over to you at Newark and finally home.
Here are a few pictures from the Tirpitz museum in Tromso, Norway.
The museum is housed in an old underground bunker.
The reason the destruction of the Tirpitz was such a high priority for Churchill.
Without the X-craft damaging the Tirpitz who knows what the outcome might have been?
Part of the submarine net that was protecting the Tirpitz.
Damage from a Tallboy that narrowly missed it’s target.
Sequence of shots of the bomb strikes.
Items from a Lancaster that had crash landed on one of the earlier raids.
Well it’s been a while but after my trip to the Tromso Tirpitz museum in Norway at the beginning of March and a visit to Lincolnshire for the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg raid it is time for some more posting.
Here is a taster of what’s coming.
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