Aerodromes

Two of the nicest Grass airfields I’ve ever seen are Newton in Nottinghamshire and kirton Lindsey in Lincolnshire. Beautifull examples of aerodromes, sadly, niether are in use as airfields now as far as I know. Although my first ever flight was in a Chipmunk from Newton in 19-hundred-frozen stiff.
Ahhhh happy days.

Some of you may remember me mentioning my neighbour, Alec Bance, in the past. Alec was a Lancaster mid upper gunner with 467 Squadron at Waddington during the Second World War. Alec was (I believe) the only English member of an otherwise all Australian crew, and flew no less than 21 missions deep into enemy territory, 16 of these in DV372, better known to her crew as ‘Old Fred’. Some of you will be familiar with ‘Old Fred’ as the Lancaster cockpit section on display in IWM Lambeth Road.

Alec was like so many of his generation, whose kindly, genial manner gave no indication of the experiences he had had during the war, the sights he had seen, and the losses he had known. A few years ago Alec was persuaded by surviving members of his crew to donate his flying log book to the IWM as some of the others had done. Last year I finally came face to face with the logbook, and it was certainly thought provoking reading following Alec’s progress from rookie to fully fledged mid upper gunner, with details of training flights so neatly detailed in black ink…and details of missions equally neatly detailed in red…it was very sobering to read Alec’s almost matter of fact recording of the numbers of aircraft that went on the raid…and the numbers who did not return…

Alec had not been up close and personal to a Lanc for sometime, and I planned to take him to visit PA474 and meet Fluffy and co at Coningsby earlier this year. But fate decided otherwise. In April, Alec suffered a serious stroke which sadly he was unable to recover from, and after 17 weeks, Alec left us last Friday.

Some of you know me quite well, and consequently know of my passion for aircraft (especially grubby Spitfires in need of a good polishing ;)) But it is the men like Alec who are the real stars of the show for me…the aircraft to me are a tribute and memorial to men like Alec…that’s what makes them so special. I know that everytime I see PA474 flying now, I will forever be reminded of Alec.

Fluffy and co, if any of you happen to go flying in the Lanc in the not too distant future, please could you do something for me (well for Alec really) remember for a minute think of that young man who climbed into that Lancaster mission after mission…not knowing if he would return…a man who was much admired and much loved, and will be much missed.

Thank you Alec and good night.

Becka

Nice thoughts Becka. I had a teacher at school, who unbeknown to me at the time was a Lanc mid-upper gunner, he was also a close friend of my dad.
He was shot down on one of the peenemunde raids and spent the rest of the war as a POW. Dad asked me one day when I was on BBMF if I could show one of his old friends around the bomber as he was once a Lanc crew member on 101 Sqn at Ludford Magna. When dad turned up at Conningsby with Geoff Gasgoine my old maths teacher I almost died. This was the first time since 1944 he had been close to the “best of the bombers” as he called it, never mind got back into his old seat.
it was good to see, these old farts deserve every respect.

God Bless the Bomber Boys.

AF

Richard Baker

Richard Baker the news reader and presenter of the Royal Festival of Rememberence was a Sea Fury pilot.

I’m trying to identify the airworthy P-40 that was used in the flick ‘1941’.

Tom Camp is listed in the credits as a pilot and I know that he owned a Kittyhawk I at the time. However, Frank Tallman has also been attributed to the film as a pilot and he also owned a P-40 or two during the same timeframe. But I believe that they were P-40Ns and I’m leaning towards Mr. Camp’s Hawk (AK979) as the likely suspect.

I know that the aircraft had a custom canopy fitted after being damaged during filming of ‘Tora Tora Tora’, retaining this canopy as late as 1975 and that Mr. Camp sold the aircraft in 1978. But I do not know when the custom unit was replaced again with a standard canopy; before or after the sale.

The airplane eventually wound up with Flying Tiger Line/Tiger International Inc, wearing an AVG paint scheme and here’s a sticking point for me… I seem to recall seeing an early 80s photo of the aircraft in this scheme with the custom canopy fitted, but the aircraft in the film (released in 1979) had a standard canopy.

My memory could be faulty, (I was about 12 or 13 when I first saw the photo) and I cannot locate said photo as confirmation either way.

Any information that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Fade to Black…

I think the P40 used belonged to Rudy Frasca, as far as I know he still owns it.
Mind you I may be wrong, it was only Rudy himself who told me.

AF

Well spotted Mark12 just been having a look and found a list for an air display at finningley for 1971 and most of the types in the pic’s are on it. Just wondering what the tailfin is under the red arrows though.

A Jaguar maybe? and a Victor.

Gentlemen.
At long last a thread about the engine runs on our Lancaster! 😀

The preliminary runs took place on June 20th with a very rough running merlin as a result. There were a couple of minor oil and coolant leaks but nothing a few turns with a screwdriver couldn’t cure, The most puzzling was the root cause of the rough running. After going through a list of causes for the rough running, it was decided that the timing must be out and that the engine required re-timing again. Off came the covers and the timing was rechecked and adjusted as per the mtce manuals. A couple of weeks later she was rolled out again and the engine was turned over and ran very smoothly. The sweet sound of a merlin was heard in Nanton and the first time the engine was run up on our Lancaster in 45 years!

The first photo was taken during the first run when the engine was running quite roughly. The second photo was another shot of the first engine run on July 20.The Third photo was taken a couple of days ago when the engine had been retimed.

Please ask permission before using the photos. 😉

Come on, what are you waiting for –

get the other three going as well, 4 sound better than one.

Dont tell my boss though. 🙂

Well done.

AF