Ummmm …… clearly some people have too much time on their hands

😀

I apologise for the poor quality, but this b&w image is the wreck of Spitfire AD131 lost near St Omer on 12 April 1942.

Incredibly, the wreck was still there right up until the late 1950’s/60’s. It had gone by the time I went looking! The roundel seems to have been cut from the fuselage (possibly by the Germans?) and the wings lie in the background.

I wonder how many other Spitfires “almost” survived?

Any pictures of other near-surviving Spitfires?

Survival? if that’s survival then Michael Jackson is simply on vacation 😀

The Comper Conservatory experimental fighter didn’t serve in the Battle of Britain – that should be enough.

😀

Exactly! Just like the Moth is a “development” of the caterpillar so the Hurricane is a development of the Demon. At least for the sake of this analogy! First caterpillar, then moth. First Demon, then Hurricane. Has nothing to do with age but everything to do with progression.

So what was the De Havilland Caterpillar – an early Link type trainer?

😀

Seriously the first rule for a pilot who has bailed out in enemy territory where armed squads of soldiers or local militia would be after him was ditch the pistol, or if capture wasn’t appealing, then use it to commit suicide.

Anyone who thinks that a pilot on his own with a standard issue service pistol could put up a credible fight against soldiers armed with rifles has little or no real experience of firearms.

The service issue .38 calibre Enfield used in WW2 was regarded with derision by serious users of pistols. The popular Mk6 Webley was probably the best service revolver ever made and used in both wars, but it was basically issued to officers and was more a weapon used to shoot laggards on your own side when going over the top in that hell that was WW1 trench warfare, or in leading troops attacking some objective, than actually shooting at the enemy all of whom were armed with rifles and automatic weapons with much greater range, accuracy and striking power than a revolver or self-loading pistol, whatever its calibre.

Pistols were issued to airman as a part of their survival kit, but as I said the reality was that a couple of common soldiers armed with rifles are more than a match for any pilot armed with a revolver. They can stay out of pistol range and quietly go about their business of potting whoever it is who is silly enough to shoot at them with a pistol – it’s a matter of range and accuracy basically and the fact that over about 25 yards most people cannot hit anything with a pistol, especially if they are trying to evade capture, all the noise would only draw fatal attention. That is why so many of those who parachuted to safety wound up alive and well in POW camps. They may have been shot down but they were neither suicidal nor stupid, so they tossed the pistol – that’s why so many wound up as war souvenirs.

I do speak from some actual knowledge of pistols and their potential – I own quite a lot of quite serviceable working ones. Sure they look glamorous in a wild western sort of way but glamor ain’t much defence against serious firearms.

What a lovely aircraft, thanks for posting that.

Hi all,

Anyone with a suggestion where to find on the net (or in a book) a production list of the Beech Model 17, aka Staggerwing?
Kind regards

Coert

Try and get a copy of Staggerwing by Robert T Smith, privately published in 1967, this has details of every one built. It was a limited edition so it may be expensive.