So are there no photos of Valiants at Wittering with 40-gall drums on wheels placed under the major ‘drip points’ to catch the fuel which dripped out and would, otherwise, have eaten the hardstandings away?
And are there no photos of Valiants using RATO? And are there no records of the discarded RATO hot ironmongery falling on to farmer’s fields twixt Cuckoo Lodge and Tixover Grange off the end of the westerly runway? The bog-standard Valiant (with max fuel and a bucket of Instant Sunshine on board) couldn’t get off from Wittering if the engine icing conditions were about (roughly Oct-Mar – Russians please do not attack us during this period!). Can’t remember what the precise conditions were, but I think t/o conditions with ambient temp less than 4C and the RH greater than 95% – occurred fairly often at Wittering.
And I couldn’t even tell my parents why I was getting petrol rations for my motorbike at the time!!!
HTH
Resmoroh

One of the more “couth” airshows (and there aren’t too many of those!), especially if the Station hosting it was in the Group of which one was a Minor Cog! Good fun!!
Resmoroh

Needs the money, the fame, and the public acclamation. Therefore, needs psychological help. QED.
Resmoroh

Tin Triangle,
Your hope that “I’d rather they concentrated on getting the props, casting, locations, Lancasters, main storyline and script etc believable and accurate.” is – as you full well know – not likely to be achieved within the limits of criticism on this Forum. However brilliant the re-creation may be (Black Labs names aside) there will – I guarantee it – be those who will cavill that “The oxygen mask used was not issued until 6 months after the time of OP CHASTISE”. Or some such equally fatuous niff-naff and trivia.
The whole point of the original film was very strongly made when, at the close, Gibson walks away saying “I have some letters to write”. The technicalities were brilliant, the (then) CGIs were a bit primitive, but the casualties were far, far, more important. Any remake is totally irrelevant, and only designed to part your hard-earned money from your wallet. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive.
Respectfully (to the 617 Sqn casualties)
Resmoroh

Waghorn41, Hi,
Oh dear, Oh dear.
Having started my Met Office/military career at Wittering (and I lived in Peterborough!) I know what you mean! It would, undoubtedly, have been quicker/more effective to send a wagon to the source. But you are in danger of invoking one of the most dangerous things of all – Common Sense!! You must rid yourself of this urge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Resmoroh

OG, Hi
Definitely ‘AOG’ means ‘Aircraft On Ground’. In the V-Force days an AOG spare part often meant a car (or motorcyclist) being sent to the manufacturers to fetch whatever.
It was still in use on Op CORPORATE. While on Ascension we ‘blew’ a small (but vital) circuit-board in the satellite receiver. We signalled UK for a replacement. SRAFO ASI said “Put ‘treat as AOG’ in the signal”. We did. The spare arrived next day! We later learned that some ‘Erbert at the manufacturers had been hauled out of bed in the middle of the night to get The Bit to Lyneham in time to catch the next Herc to ASI!!
It means “Do Not ‘Ang About”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HTH
Resmoroh

Moggy,
You must do Knossos – it puts a lot of things (including WW2, and aviation) into perspective.
You must also (possibly with the Lady Moggy?) walk high up some ajacent hillside from your Mrs Miggins’s. Carry something heavy in your back-pack. The sun will be shining, the insects buzzing, etc, and all might seem to be well with the world. Then imagine the same scene with 2 foot of snow and a howling wind. That’s how many Cretans kept out of the clutches of the Germans – the horrific pix we’ve just seen showed what happened to those who didn’t.
I did a similar journey many moons ago. We got to a tiny hamlet high up some hillside. I had no local lingo – they had no English. There was a well. I motioned to some old guy “Could I take some water?”. He shook his head. In next to no time it seemed like half the inhabitants were there. Bread was produced (the crust would have defied AP ammo!), cheese was produced (the smell should have been outlawed under the Geneva Convention!), and wine was produced (it would take the enamel off your teeth!!). One of the best lunches I’ve ever had. We couldn’t understand each other – but with a bit of miming and facial expressions everybody was soon falling about!!
Yrs Aye
Resmoroh