Thanks for putting the tighar side of the story on the Forum Ric, your website looked a little gung ho at first viewing but your intentions are clearly honourable! Still a little expensive for my teacher’s pockets mind, but it needs to be done properly.
You’ll probably need volume 3 of the Blitz, May 1941 to My 1945, although it has very little about Falmouth in it, or the 1941 incident. It’s very thorogh but does have omissions like any big book. The local historian Robin Hood might know something but I don’t know his contact details.
The ‘Blitz then and Now’ is always a good start for Luftwaffe losses, nothing for that night listed. Will look for Falmouth later. What’s your interest?
Interesting about the Sea Hurricane C of G. Seafires presumably had the same problem but this was countered with a great big lead mass balance bolted to the engine bearer on the starboard side. A few have turned up on Seafire III digs. Has anyone got under the cowling pics of Sea Hurricane?
Now the press release is out here’s a photo. Looks complete apart from guns, covers and probably cockpit contents. Easy to dig around but will be full of heavy wet sand. Picking it up without emptying and disassembling will probably leave nothing but a well meaning collection of scrap. Refer to pictures of Calais Spitfire for full horrible possibilities. I would still, however, be pleased to turn up on the day with bucket, spade and expansive trousers.:)
Thanks very much for the replies, I was wondering if it the logo looked like this decal on the throttle quadrant, but apparently not. The crash has took the lettering off the the middle bit, sod’s law. Thanks again, All the best, Ian.
Once heard an interesting talk from a guy at the patents office in Newport. He claimed that German bomb fuses, being very clever, had been patented. EOD, or their equivalents of the time simply went to the patents office and consulted the drawings. Having said that he also had a story about and intelligent cat flap patent being turned down because walter the softy’s dog had been illustrated using one in an old issue of th Beano. If it’s been thought of before you can’t patent it.
Apologies for the dodgy quality. I’ll try and do better in daylight. This is out of an ex Battle of Britain Spit Mk1 N3221 which blew up over Pendoylan, Glamorgan on 6th Feb 43 killing Flying Officer Fleming RAAF. Inevitably it looks different to the illustration. Approx measurements of the tube are 152 mm long by 43 mm diameter.The tubes will take a 1.5 inch very cartridge. I can’t imagine how it fitted inside the fuselage. Lots missing but its a start.
The Air Intelligence Branch, or at least their collection, was stationed at Kenly at the end of the war. At some point all the data plates they had taken from axis aircraft were dumped. Lanscaping in the eighties left (quite literally) thousands of Luftwaffe, Japanese and even Italian data plates strewn about. Some even had their provenance written on the back in pencil. A gentleman from Croyden had animal feed sacks full of them. That might give Time Team something to look at!
Here’s a pic of the discharger bit. One came out of P7533 at Birkenhead but I’ve not got a picture. I have another, bent and corroded, from a 53 OTU Spit but it would require ‘some’ restoration. For a long time I thought it was a Coffman starter.
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