A little more WW2 stuff. . .

[Phil Perry]

Vertical aerial photograph showing Handley Page Halifax B Mark III, LW127 'HL-F', of No. 429 Squadron RCAF, in flight over Mondeville, France, after losing its entire starboard tailplane to bombs dropped by another Halifax above it. LW127 was one of 942 aircraft of Bomber Command despatched to bomb German-held positions, in support of the Second Army attack in the Normandy battle area (Operation GOODWOOD), on the morning of 18th July 1944.

 

The crew managed to abandon the aircraft before it crashed in the target area.

 

https://media.iwm.org.uk/ci...

 

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[kaz3g]

Awkward!

 

 

[Phil Perry]

My mate Wiggy had an Uncle who flew in WW2, here is his response to an article about the P51. . .

 

The P-51 was pivotal in the fact it had the range to escort and protect bombers, the first fighter to be able to do this over long range missions.

 

As with all "best of" categories it depends on introduction timing numbers produced etc and for many fighter types the niche usage they were employed for, the war record of the 109 is outstanding, but it must be remembered that a huge amount of the kills it achieved were on the Russian front against antique aircraft, hence the number of aces that came from that theater of war.

 

I had a personal reason to follow up on the war career of my uncle in WW11 , he started out as a Flight Sergeant with No 3 Squadron in Hurricane 2Cs, flying out of a grass field near North Weald on night fighter missions before radar, like looking for a needle in a haystack is the description given, but was sent to the middle east in Hurricanes at first in ground attack roles, he returned in late '44 to lead 3 Squadron again as Squadron Leader and was flying Hawker Tempests out of Newchurch in Kent.

 

His last mission was a scouting one after the landings along the Dutch coast looking for V2 sites that were often on mobile gantries , one was espied raising it's launcher and the attack was lead by my uncle , sadly over the site there was a huge explosion that took his plane and him out for good.

 

I did a lot of research on all this and before they departed several colleagues including one who was in his wing on that mission gave a picture of that day in a way that can only be described as inspiring.

 

But the reason I write this is about the aircraft, the Tempest at low nd medium levels was without doubt the best piston engined fighter in the war, and was used very successfully against V1s, sadly the losses after the landings in the coastal areas of the continent were horrendous and many including my uncle never made the end of war despite lasting so long.

 

There are several projects to get a Tempest in the air again but none at the moment exist in this country, here is a film of that aircraft and the magnificent sound of it's engine.

 

This is a good Documentary about the Tempest. And several other things. . I Hour and nine mins runtime. . . so get a couple of tinnies or a large mug of cocoa. . . .

 

 

 

[Mick]

Awesome video Phil. I am a long trem fan of the Tempest & taht is the best video,on it that I have seen!

 

 

[johnm]

what was the reason for the 24 cylinder Tempest ................ what was its advantage ?

 

you could argue that a V12 spitfire was as fast - if not faster - or even say a P51

 

they all seem as vulnerable as each other (re coolant system) - probably how much ordinance they could carry - would of thought a P51 would be equal (or not far behind)

 

 

[cooperplace]

I just looked up the record of my relative who flew Hurricanes as night fighters for 18 months then Typhoons, (181 and 247 squadrons) then was shot down over Munster, March 1945, force marched the length of Germany, and survived, dying a couple of years ago aged 93. A comment in his record from his S/L, RJ McNair: "His untidy general appearance is more than offset by his operational knowledge which has been of great value".

 

His record lists his training in "low attack and rocket, Milfield, England, Hurricane VI, 17 hours"

 

There's an entry 13/3/45: "missing"; he said he was very lucky to be shot down during the day, as he'd previously been a night fighter for 18 months. He made a forced landing, obviously impossible at night.

 

They were amazing guys.