My dad did his national service with the RAF between 1957 and ’59.After doing the usual gravel crushing (drill) etc at Crail in Scotland,he was sent off to work in West Berlin.That’s all he’s allowed to tell me-very hush hush!I have tried to prise it out of him,but so far I’ve been unable to extract any more.
His father and uncle were ‘Pongoes’ in the Great War.His Uncle Joe served in Greece with C-Company of the 11th Batalion of the Worcestershire Reg.t.He was killed in April 1917 whilst off duty-he was relaxing with some of his mates in a cafe,awaiting to be allotted a ship home,when a terrorist bomb exploded,killing him and a number of others and demolishing the cafe.
Joe’s brother,My Grandfather James,served on the Western Front. I’m ashamed to say I know very little about his service career,although I do know that he was awarded a medal for conspicuous gallantry at a place called Cency.I’m still researching,but that’s all I know for know.There is also a story that he and his Company shot down a German recce aircraft which crash landed behind thier trenches.

The Mk.II Lancs were faster and had a better climb rate then the Merlin powered versions.It’s drawbacks,as said before,were it’s ceiling (although this was only 2 or 3k short of the Merlin versions) and a higher rate of fuel consumption,however this latter characteristic was counterbalanced by the Mk.II’s higher performance,giving both Merlin and Herc powered Lancs the same approximate range.

“(I don’t look as good now as I did then either)

Moggy”

Niether does she.:eek: :p 😉

“does this supernumary member of crew have a name?”

Charlie perhaps? 🙂

Beautiful shots Ken,that Spit shot is quite something.Thanks for sharing them . 😎

I think the problem with MH434’s markings that folks are referring to is the style of the roundals.The white ring on the underwing and fuselage roundals is a little broader than on the origanals,and I think the red dot is also enlarged,giving the roundal an odd look.I’m not bothered about it really,but you do notice it occasionally.

Think my mount would just have to be Spitfire 1A R6915 from IWM Lambeth,a genuine BofB veteran woth 609Sqn and the highest scoring survivor with atleast 6 kills,most of those in the hands of Noel ‘Aggy’ Agazarian,the French/Armenian who made quite a name for himself wherever he went.Sadly he was killed in a tank-busting Hurri in the Western Desert a year or so later.
Would be grand to see old ‘915 brought down from the rafters and flown if only for one last time.
Good luck getting that collinder of a Mk.22 flying again Mark12,didn’t know you could put so many holes in one Spit and still have it more or less in one piece!

Hi Peter,
It depends what you mean by ‘out of the way’.She’s been parked between the hangars for a couple of years,and was still there at the time of Legends this year.Before that she was parked beside the Shackleton and Victor,which I presume is what you mean by the ‘normal line-up’?Think she was moved to bring her closer to the restoration hangar for some work to be done a while back. She’s the first thing you see when you walk in over the Bailey bridge and she looks mighty impressive.

If I won £1million I think I’d probably do what Kev was suggesting,or invest it wisely to make even more cash and then start buying up warbirds. Richard Branson once said the easiest way to become a millionaire was to start out as a billionaire and go into the airline business!I think the same holds true for warbirds.
There are stacks of machines I would like to buy/save/restore,but the Anoka Gannet and D ick Melton’s Walrus project are two that spring to mind.