Maybe a little off-thread, but remember that RAF officer rank titles owe much to naval usage, effectively being inherited from the RNAS.
Even if the US had had the atomic bomb in, say, January 1945, it may well not have dropped it on Berlin for the same reasons it did not drop atomic weapons on Tokyo.
There was seen to be a need for some sort of Japanese government that could sign an act of surrender. Had Japan’s government been decapitated by a nuclear strike, the eventual surrender may have been far more drawn-out and messy: Japanese forces in the Pacific were in steady retreat, but they were by no means defeated and it was only the direct order from the Emperor that brought the fighting to a swift conclusion after the second bomb was dropped.
By the same token, it suited the western allies to have a sort of German government in Flensburg in the final days of the war with sufficient authority remaining to tell German forces in countries like Denmark and Norway that they should surrender forthwith.
It may well be that in the hypothetical case of the US having an atomic weapon in Europe in January 1945 cities like Hamburg, Kiel or Frankfurt would have been more likely targets.
It’s all here:
It was actually moved from Hendon to Cosford four years ago, it says.
*Ahem, gentle cough*
Pegasus or Twin Wasp for a Sunderland. ‘Twas the Seaford that had Hercules.
But magnificent footage all the same.
It might only be a replica, but it is a flying one.
http://www.seqair.com/Hangar/Zuccoli/Legends/Legends.html
Still reckon there’s little to beat the Amiot 143, though.
A Norwegian-based Arado 234 of 9/KG76 apparently flew a reconnaissance mission over Scotland on May 5 1945.
One wonders why, with the war so obviously lost and the Norwegian units well removed from the fighting in Germany. One final flight on a spring day with nothing better to do? Or did the German forces in Norway seriously believe they could hold out a bit longer for better surrender terms?
[edit: I’ve just found another source that dates the flight a few weeks earlier on April 10. Anyone know better?]
Even though you say there was nothing on the sensor, it looks like a dust spot to me. There’s any number of helpful web pages out there telling you exactly what to look for, and decent camera dealers will often have a while-you-wait sensor cleaning service.
Have you got an example you could post? Also what camera were you using?
If you stand by the road just above the reservoir, you’ll be well-placed to catch the Lanc as it approaches the dam, with the hill behind it. That’s where my picture was taken from five years ago.
Otherwise, there are fairly well-marked rights of way over the Derwent moors opposite, which will give you plenty of top-side view as the plane passes over the dam beneath you.
As for car parking, it can be very, very tricky. Either arrive extremely early by car and park by the dam, or do what I did and arrive by motorbike, weaving through the cones blocking the approach road access to the dam from the A57. Police were in attendance and they didn’t bat an eyelid. Otherwise, there’s a car park on the A57 about a mile and a half to the east of the dam, or on the A6013 by the side of the Ladybower reservoir, but I suspect both will fill up pretty quickly.
Heavy going, I know, but at least it’s not being spun one way or the other:
Just click on the English tab at top right and all will become clear! In summary form, anyway.
And yet more in the same vein, plus, I suspect, a bit of Photoshoppery. Anyone want a job with History in Orbit as a professional aircraft recogniser?
I see they’ve finally got their act together, at least as far as identifying the aircraft. The spelling penny appears not to have dropped, yet, and the escorts still look a tad close,
I’ve gone back to the slides I took as a teenage plane spotter. Yes, there were five Beverleys at the 1968 BofB display at Abingdon, which makes 20 Centauruses at full volume :eagerness:
Edit: I’ve found the notes I made at the time. The five-Beverley formation was XB285, XB286, XB288, XB290 and XL131, with XB287 in the static display