And not to forget all the female auxillary pilots of WWII… They flew everything including the big four engined aircraft.

It should be saved – deffo. I think it looks fascinating as it is – would make a great exhibit in a smaller museum (would probably still end up outside though!). Who knows… in 30 years time it might be the subject of a amajor restoration.

Larry Donnelly was a great guy and write one of the best known books in Whitley’s. I’m really looking forward to reading his final work – funny, I have often thought about bomber commands role in the BoB in the past and it was Larry that wrote it up.

Blue skies larry.

Very sad news reached me today of the recent death of Larry Donnelly, author of The Whitley Boys and The Other Few, which details the contributions by Coastal Command and Bomber Command during the Battle of Britain.

Larry served in RAF Bomber Command during WW2 as a W/Op A/G with 10 Squadron. I had the great pleasure of meeting him last year and had hoped to see him again in a couple of months time but sadly it is not to be.

There are drawings for the Whitley, but not a complete set – I doubt there is a complete set for the Hampden either. This is the reason so much emphasis is placed on recoveries and reverse engineering. To build a batch of airworthy Whitley’s would be a very difficult job – many of the systems parts are vitually unobtainable and we have hoovered most of the available ones up. It would be great though, of course!

Todd – did you hear that Mr Reynolds had died? Very sad news.

Cees,

They’ve done a pretty bang up job on the Hampden here in British Columbia. Considering it was an absolute wreck after they pulled it from Patricia Bay. I had a good look at the airframe not to long ago and it looked fairly straight forward. The Whitley on the otherhand…There’s a question for Elliott! Are there complete drawings for the Whitley????

Cheers,

Todd

Excellent work as usual funhouse. Keep up the good work!