I have never heard that story but it sounds like a myth. The Pe-8 landed at RAF Tealing, near Dundee and I believe it also flew to Prestwick from there. I have some notes about this somewhere.

Nick, the best way to deal with the football team problem is to tell the press and stir things up!

Cone of Silence perhaps?

Bob, the terraced layout was adopted on the 1930s terminal at Liverpool’s Speke Airport. It was a popular pastime for Scousers to go and watch the aeroplanes right up to the 1980s when the airport moved to an adjacent site. The old terminal is now a hotel.

Could be Mount Ararat which used to be in Armenia but is now part of Turkey.

I believe that after a certain point in the war, all aircrew were made up to at least sergeant rank. This was to ensure that they got better treatment in PoW camps, eg weren’t expected to work as allowed by the Geneva Convention for the lower ranks.

In a rather juvenile prank, poor Nick apparently threw a firework in the street and shouted “Up the IRA!” A passer-by took exception to this and punched him, resulting in Nick falling and hitting his head on the kerb, with fatal results.

Re Atcherley’s Swift, he flew it at Hawarden when with 7/57 OTU 1940-ish. I always thought it was G-ABUS but stand corrected.

Letters ahead of the 98 prefix are:

A
B Fuselage
C

D
E Wings
F

G Undercarriage

J Tail Unit

K Flying controls

L Engine installation

N Electrics

P Fuel

R Radio

S Services

Q Hydraulics

Z Miscellaneous