1) MkIX (c or e subtype unkown, F/LF/HF also unknown) 229 Sqn RAF, 9R-Z (serial unknown). He crash-landed it on an ’emergency strip’ – maybe Manston or maybe ALG in France? – 23/6/44 after combat proported to have involved “bazi” weiss, an fw190 ‘ace’.

Lastly (but more of a two parter) i’d like to try and find the serial no. for 9R-Z. Then what sub-type IT was. 😮

The last might be a challenge but the reference to the crash landing and the specific date (if correct – fingers crossed!) might narrow down the seach considerably.

MH871 force-landed on ALG 23/6/44 F/O Armstrong safe (funny enough, in my notes it is 9R-O)
MH871 was a regular Mk IX (“F.IXc”) of late CBAF production batches.

Jagan
Thanks for your explanations of known/unknown. Your comment about paparazzi made me wonder if any of those guys back in 1939-1945 had any idea that one day their snapshots would be worth substantial money…

JDK
Methinks we had (more than once) this sort of discussion about price vs. value/reasonable vs. nonsense when talking about warbird industry, haven’t we?

bearoutwest
I’m happy because I can have a copy of the photo without having paid 1000 euros for it.
I’m not happy because I though something decent has been done, and Alex called it nonsense right away.
My general point was that if a photo is sold on ebay at a crazy price it doesn’t necessarily go to an awful greedy maniac willing to lay his hands on a rare tiem ahead of everybody else, to be able to yell “I got it!”. Sometimes it goes to people whose point is to make sure the photo gets much publicity, and is not locked away in someone’s safe for another 50 years.

italian harvard
Taking it personally, moi?
You have almost persuaded me about the reasonability of buying old watches at crazy prices, but for one thing: you called it a piece of machinery that runs great and keeps time like a digital watch. If that’s the bottom line, why not buy a digital watch that runs great and keps time like itself, and costs a fraction of that? A watch is a watch, of course it can look nice or not, have its history or not, but any watch serves its actual purpose if it runs OK.
On the other hand, a rare old photo of a little known object (like this) contains a lot of unique information that serves to expand the knowledge of researchers when they have a chance to study it carefully. It is this information that makes it valuable in cases like this, not the “darn piece of paper”.

picture collecting has become an increasing business lately, but 1.010 €uros for a print is nonsense.. I theorically would have spent the same amount for a negative, but not for a print..

Why is it nonsense with a print but not with a negative?

I’ve spent WAY more for rare Luftwaffe watches, but under a mere economical point of view there’s a market for them, while a print…

ebay proves there certainly is a market for photos, it’s just that you prefer watches. Many people (including myself) will tell you that spending thousands of euros on Luftwaffe watches is nonsense.

chapeau to the seller though, who surely at first made money with the magazines to publish it, and then sold it on ebay

Why do you accuse a decent guy of a dirty trick? The magazines (both of them) used the print that they together got on ebay.

Anyone think it might be a sun-bleeched olve drab? – Nermal

Perhaps for someone used to the Australian Foliage Green, even unfaded Olive Drab might look grey.

I know Eric for many years now. I’m prouwd to say that he is one of my friends. Yes he looks very young but I can tell you that ‘Old Crow’ is in very good and safe hands with him.

Eric, has several thousand of hours of experience, he is captain 767, 737; he flew A320, A330, T-6, Stearman, A-26, Skyraider, Stampe, Moth, Chipmunk, T-28, and many other types.

But over all other consideration, I flew with him and he his ones of those very few pilots that has this amazing feeling and skill who makes the all difference.

He is not THE pilot of “Old Crow” just by luck !
When you own such a plane, you do not chooze the first “junkey” to fly it.

But then, he has never flown the Spitfire (any Spitfire), so can he be regarded a real warbird pilot by this Forum’s standards?

“Seznam příslušníků československého letectva v RAF (1940-1945)”

is “list of personnel of the Czechoslovak aviation in the RAF (1940-1945)”

I sat behind him (and the passenger) in the display briefing, he only looks about 16 years old. 😀 😮

Neal

When I met him at Góraszka two weeks ago, I told him the last time I saw ‘Old Crow’ fly was at Leuchars back in 1994. He smiled and said “Oh, that long ago? I wasn’t even born at the time.”