OK so whats the best guess for the the very last RAF base to close. My guess would be-

1. RAF Habbaniya.
2. Kabul International.
3. Innsworth.

Anyone think of any others.

Petrus,
I have no exact info’ but I seem to recall that there were articles in the old Air Enthusiast magazine (the monthly issue)from 1971 onwards-I certainly remember articles on Kurt Tanks post war efforts being written about.

Crosby on Eden

My late dad’s logbook for June 1943 shows he flew Beauforts 998,9819,449,129,130,9958,1014 & 135 all with F/O Guthrie or F/Lt Graham as instructor. The Beaufort File( Roger Hayward)shows 998 to be DW998 CODED K (which was SOC 23/6/45).130 was EL130 coded Y.The book does mention that prior to the introduction of single letter codes in mid 1942 9(C)OTU used multi digit letter/number codes and later two digit codes which incorprated Greek alphabet letters eg (delta [similar to an upside down Y]A, another was (X looking like an italicised X)A and also (X)C.Unfortunately Roger Hayward mentions that not serial numbers are known for these aircraft.
Hope this helps some.

Kenneth Wolstenholme-They think its all over-it is now-flew Mossies with 105 Sqd.

I have a second hand copy of “The Bristol Beaufighter Crash log” compiled by David J.Smith-I found it second hand in MAMs bookshop. Interestingly this does not include this incident though it does record over 800 other accidents FF incidents to the Beau in UK. Jerry Scutts Crowood book on the Beaufighter mentions Beaufighters T4637 NG-O, R2073 & R2136 as aircraft flown by Chisholm-perhaps a look at the AIRBRITAIN RAF serial number books would give a clue (I think these were compiled from the aircraft record cards.

Revisionism-too much highbrow talk here for me-I’m sure you’re all very correct in your quotes but didn’t this thread start off by expressing the fear that a remake of the Dambusters film would end up trashing reputations and the efforts of those that took part. Isn’t revisionism just a form of propaganda to sell books/make films or build reputations for academics/thinkers/politicians. I don’t believe that the Dambusters should be remade as a film because whatever happens it would lose that feeling of the time as was expressed in so many films of the Powell/Pressburger genre-the world was different then, good/bad/ugly but it “was”.

More Mossie photos

From my late dads personal collection when he was a driver (aeroplane) with 248 post war.

USAF in the Cook Islands

Dave Homeward wondered about the Americans in Samoa as well as the Cook Islands. I’m currently re-reading “The First Team” by John Lundstrom(US Naval Institute Press) which covers the USN carrier war from Pearl Harbour to November ’42. There are many references in both volumes to the USN task forces using Nukualofa Roads (Samoa) as a safe anchorage from before the Coral Sea Battle and well into 1944. Lundstrom’s researches are from US and Japanese records the latter showing the IJN plans for 1942 to include both the occupation of Port Moresby, and more to the point of the thread, Tulagi and the Solomons as a precurser to taking New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa. I can only guess that the US forces created a Cook Island base as a fall back as they knew of the Japanese plans From ULTRA feedback.