Melvyn, there is a place called Sainte Véronique [or Sint-Verone], in Flemish Brabant, Flemish Region, Belgium. As Dunkirk is in Belgium, perhps this is the place? It is not on the coast though, it’s just east of Brussels.

Agreed Daz, and don’t get me wrong, the plane itself looks great. Just the paint work does not look right. I’m just picky about these things I guess through being involved with painting aircraft in a past life and knowing the right way is just as easy as the wrong way.

Didn’t the Dutch Air Force used to have a display for airshows where they rolled a Friendship? Did that ever loop too?

There was also the professionally made programme at the time called “Belle and the Glory Boys” which was the official behind the scenes promotion. It was pretty good, but mainly concentrated on the main actors. However they were very clever in pairing up the actoes with the real crewmen they were supposedly playing from the real Memphis Belle. I was unfortunate in missing about the first half as it was on one Saturday afternnon and I hadn’t seen it advertised, but I taped the end. It too has footage of the Binbrook crash. I was bitterly disappointed that this programme was not included as an extra on the DVD I bought. It was made by the same company so I can’t see why not.

Was this chap British that owned the compass Melvyn?

I wonder since he says 500M which I assume refers to metres, indicating perhaps he was French or something? Odd for a Brit to use metres in those days rather than yards.

This thread is perhaps a little ill-conceived, but it does raise a very valid question. Yes, we all want to smash Brad Pitt… but I am sure Ian is not the first person to receive physical threats via PM – and I can say that because I have received a physical threat and a heap of abuse from another member in the past myself. People need to know where they stand I think, in case it happens again. The moderators and webmaster need to make the rules perfectly clear.

In my case this occurred before the days of moderators, when that psycho freak Kenneth Williams was posting abusive messages all over the place about members of this forum because many of us were sceptical that he’d seen Doulas Bader home on holiday from a German POW camp. I had not even made a single attack on him in the thread unlike most people, but I made a witty remark he was too daft to get. It was not an attack on Williams and his ill-conceived fantasies. Itwas related to another person’s post, not his rants. He thought my joke was a genuine offer of assistance to his daft cause. It wasn’t.

When I had to explain that I’d made a joke – something he couldn’t see till it was spelled out – that was when he PM’ed me and went bollistic, saying he knew where I lived and he regularly comes to NZ so would track me down and hurt me bad, etc.

I have to say, it really was a shock. There were still people following his ridiculous thread who thought he was a nice old man and a caring veteran of the war, so I thought buggar him, I’ll expose what he’s really like, a nasty twisted violent old git. I posted his PM’s contents to the thread, so others knew he was threatening violence and ranting like a nutter at me. He never contacted me again thankfully, but I got some abuse from one or two members for breaking the privacy of a PM. Who cares, people like him need to be exposed and stopped.

If moderators were around then I’d have handled it differently and hoped they’d step in and do something. Can we hear what the clear plan of action will be when this occurs again please? Is it a warning or a banning?

Just a point Dave., the engines were Gipsy Sixes not Gipsy MOTH Sixes

I thought it didn’t sound right, but that’s what the book said. Cheers for the correction.

Who rebuilt the DH86 after the war? Was it De Havilland New Zealand that did this? If so, who for? Did it fly here after the war? I had not heard this.

“Engines: Four by 200hp DH Gipsy Moth-Six Mk I & 116 cylinder air coolled”

according to a book I have