???

Why is everyone so excited about a replica with a dataplate?:diablo:

Come here and let me stick this gherkin up yer nose…:diablo:

What an absolutely outstanding achievement…!

Not too bad for a little fartarse country at the bottom end of the Pacific –and didn’t we do well in the Olympics?. What is it about this great wee country and aren’t we proud. Many thanks to Jerry Yeagen for seeing it through and the skill of all involved.

Well said Stan, talk about ‘punching above one’s weight’…! What with all the TVAL output, and now this. Terrific…!:). It has to be the most epic restoration yet…. Maybe there’ll be an ‘Operation Jericho’ film yet..! S

What about the others…?

Viv Belamy built this flyer, plus some taxyable non flying racing seaplanes. I think one was an Italian type. I think they were for Thorpe Park…? Does anyone on here know what happened to them…?

Terrific News.

It’s so wonderful to see this. The Mossie has to be the lovliest, greatest aeroplane ever designed….what an utterly fantastic effort by the Kiwis, I’m blown-away. Lets hope they rebuild some more – the historic aviation community in the UK is desperate to see a Mossie in the skies again….!

Three Cheers for Avspecs…! 🙂

It’s Still Happening.

As usual, there has been a lot of complete tosh posted above on this subject. I would suggest readers refer to ‘Alertkens’ excellent post to inhale a little reality. The best posting by a mile.

Hitler and his henchmen were free to capitulate at any stage. It was clear that they had lost the war from about about 1941. All the German aircrews knew this and, reading their autobiographies, it comes-up just about every time, even to the more fervently and politically inclined aircrew. (Nor was this realisation confined to the Luftwaffe.). The Nazi leaders were more intent upon saving their own necks. They knew that when the full extent of their barbarity was known to the world, their knecks were going to get stretched…. It was ALL on their heads.
No ‘blame’ can be ascribed to either Harris nor Churchill, much less the aircrews simply for the campaign.

The real issue here, is the specific – and quite deliberate – ignoring and diminution of the heroic efforts and sacrifices of Bomber Command in the aftermath of the war. Reading some of the daft posts here, one may see how, even today, this mentality is still alive.

Didn’t this get discussed at length a few months ago when this TV program was originally discussed…?
Anyway, the way BC was treated after the war was a stain on both successive governments and the RAF itself, for not fighting hard enough for the fair and honourable treatment of the crews.
Of course, there is a fine memorial in London now, but very few guys are left alive to appreciate it….
Given the huge losses and the very poor odds of survival for the crews, especially at the height of the campaign, it required a completely different kind of bravery to the fighter jocks. It’s amazing that some crews volunteered to do extra Tours…
As far as I recall, no official Campaign Medal was ever struck. Even the guys on the Arctic Convoys have, also very belatedly, recieved such an award. (The Russian Government finally shamed the MOD into it by awarding Russian medals to our seamen. Too late now for BC I’m afraid. 😡

Earplugs-In, Credit-Card Out…!

🙂
As a spin off from the Bader thread i wondered if people could recommend honest,accurate auto/biographies from both the Allied and Axis side.
Like most i have read the more famous ones and assumed they were accurate but now seems maybe not.:o

Thanks for any ideas 🙂

Firstly, I really wouldn’t allow the detractors to ruin the enjoyment of the many excellent books out there. Actual autobiographies are usually a very sound bet. After all, if THEY don’t know, know one will…! Many First Folios come-up absurdly cheaply on eBay….

Secondly – why limit yourself to Second World War books..????? Folks have been aviating for over one-hundred years now – that’s an awful lot of scope to rule-out, ninety-five years in fact…!!!….:diablo:

If axis books must be your meat, then consider;-
‘The Sky My Kingdom’, by the late and great Hanna Reitsch.
or,
‘I flew For The Fuhrer’, by the late Heinz Knoke.

Alied;-
‘Moonless Night’, by the wonderful, late lamented B.A.’Jimmy’ James. (The real story of the ‘Great Escape’, not the Hollywood fantasy…!)

However, there are some great interwar books available too, from ‘Dangerous Skies’, by the late A.E.Clousdon (Including racing G-ACSS, after it was rebuilt – really hair-raising…), to the quite rare ‘Scott’s Book’, by the iconic C.W.A.Scott, featuring his flight in G-ACSS to Oz’ in ’34, accompanied by the tragic Tom Campbell-Black….

Too Many Jesus Bolts.

There is a fundamental issue with this a/c. It’s overly complicated and if it gets one small bit of shrapnel in there, and can’t translate – where will it land..? Not on our new carriers, if they have no arrester gear. Not on another carrier if the a/c have no hooks. I think that the carriers should have arrester gear anyway. Belts and braces etc. They won’t of course, so, when they go wrong, which they will, millions of Pounds of taxpayers cash will end up in the oggin.