Historic picture, which I came across today .

[Phil Perry]

I was browsing twitter for some sensible content ( difficult - a little like Herding Cats. . .)

 

This shows some members of 342 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, taken at an Airfield near to Lincoln in 1941. The pic has been digitally colourised.

 

 

I don't know any history of this squadron, nor whether they were Fighter or Bomber command. ( I'll keep looking )

 

 

[old man emu]

Once again the Colonials come to the defence of Mother England.

 

No. 452 Squadron RAAF - Wikipedia

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Once again the Colonials come to the defence of Mother England.

 

No. 452 Squadron RAAF - Wikipedia

Thanks mate,. .I was going to Wiki the Sqn but was forced to go down to the pub by one of them Flying Ace blokes as it was his Birthday. . . ( just got back but was expecting one of you Ne'er do wells to check out that Squadron. . .you guys rarely fail to impress me with your diligence and attention to detail. . . .)

 

The 'Birthday Boy' was a veteran of the Falklands war, . . a 36 year old Ex-Harrier pilot who shot down 3 Pucaras, and damaged one Super Etendard which crashed into the sea. The Brits were able to save the ejected Argie pilot, as he ditched only a few miles out from Port Stanley. . .matey was pleased that he had survived.

 

I first met him at the Isle of Man TT races, in the early 1990s when, after flying in, in his Dad's ultralight , he foolishly agreed to sit pillion on a Triumph Rocket three, three cylinder 2.3 litre bike behind me. . . in order to carry the flying club's order back to the camp from Ramsey to Andreas Airfield from the Chinky and Curry shop in Ramsey ( seven miles ) which we accomplished in four minutes, . . with yours truly riding like an absolute nutter, and him hanging on for dear life on the pillion. . .( don't worry the bike had a substantial backrest for the passenger) . . .he said he'd never been so terrified in his life. . .( I hope you're listening, you Argie Pilots )

 

I can truthfully say, that this was the ONLY genuine British fighter pilot that I have ever frightened.

 

#Edit. . I forgot to mention that he is now flying Airliners, and that his wife is also a senior first officer on a different airline, , ( Both Airbus, him A-340 and her A-320 ) I wonder what they talk about after hours .... ?

 

 

[onetrack]

Phil, there is no RAAF 342 Squadron, OME has put you right. The AWM is the final authoritative source of all things war-related, and here is the list of RAAF Squadron numbers used during WW2 - along with their codes.

 

RAAF: Squadron Codes | The Australian War Memorial

 

 

[kgwilson]

They must have been given that old rusty iron Nissen Hut to remind them of home.

 

 

[onetrack]

I doubt very much whether the Nissen hut cladding was rusty, it's only been coloured that drab brown, as a guess - because the person doing the colouring did no research.

 

The galvanising of WW2 was exceptionally durable - to the extent that many of the Nissen huts still survive admirably today.

 

Post-war pre-fabs are hut property

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Phil, there is no RAAF 342 Squadron, OME has put you right. The AWM is the final authoritative source of all things war-related, and here is the list of RAAF Squadron numbers used during WW2 - along with their codes.

 

RAAF: Squadron Codes | The Australian War Memorial

Wouldn't argue with you Sir. As I said in the original post, I picked this photo from a Twitter site, of a guy who likes OLD photographs.. . .I will send him your thoughts on this ( with your permission of course ) He got the Airfield right though,. . . I mean the one quoted by Peter, ie RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey in Lincs.

 

Simon's site is Tunnelbreeze.com, Twitter Only from what I can gather,. . and he gave me permission to copy / paste the picture. He has an 'Aviation' section, which I will check out later. I briefly saw one of those it was a Biplane taken in the 1920s - 30s with a bloke and a Lion cub on the wing. . ( ? ) captioned 'Flying Circus'

 

He has an eclectic taste in Photographs, Anyone recall the Brit TV show 'Coronation Street' in the seventies ? It was on TV when Wifey and I lived in Melbourne. . .although the plots were around four years behind the UK. . . Again, it ha been digitally colourized. . .

 

Violet Carson ( AKA Ena Sharples, overlooking Old Trafford - Manchester , circa 1960 )

 

 

Phil.

 

 

[yampy]

Phil .. Reminds me of Armstrong and Miller , it’s a well bad War is it man , like firing guns and all that ?. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Ena in daylight , out of the Rovers and without a Milk Stout in hand . Anyone who thinks I’ve gone doolally needs to get on the YouTube is it and do a reccie and all that .

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Once again the Colonials come to the defence of Mother England.

 

No. 452 Squadron RAAF - Wikipedia

Very informative, OME. I spent a couple of months around Batchelor in 1989. The high-speed daily commute to work often took us along rough tracks that followed taxiways and airstrips carved out of the bush in Bluey Truscotts's day. The were still lots of rusty relics of that war laying around.

 

 

[IBob]

Ah dear ol' Ena.......face lark back o t'boos, an toof as ole boots...bless er, them were the days...........)

 

 

[old man emu]

I hear Coronation Street is ending. Seems the Council of Greater London Manchester wants to redevelop the area for trendy living, so all the old haunts have to be demolished.

 

 

[kgwilson]

Coronation Street was in Manchester. Eastenders was in London.

 

 

[old man emu]

Coronation Street was in Manchester. Eastenders was in London.

Corrected.

 

 

[cooperplace]

Phil, you never said that you're a crazy motorcyclist. Fascinating, as is the IOM. Amazing place, especially during race week.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Phil, you never said that you're a crazy motorcyclist. Fascinating, as is the IOM. Amazing place, especially during race week.

Amazing it IS indeed. . the week before (Practice week ) is also great. . . It's fun learning all the little back roads to get around the island when the circuit is active. . .

 

I stopped riding on 'Mad Sunday' though. . .bloody suicide mate. . . Mountain was open BOTH Ways until recently. . .loads of casualties. . .it's bad enough when it's ONE Way !. . . it's also a damn shame that so many riders ( and some spectators ) get killed every year. IOM is one of the most dangerous tracks in the world. . . A bale of hay in front of a dry stone wall don't help much if you hit it at 380+kph on a bike. . .

 

#EDIT I gave up bikes in 2009 after being knocked off it and bouncing along the tarmac on me arris for about the fifth time. . .repaired it ( VFR750 ) and flogged it to a mate in Spain. . . . tearful but necessary. . . then in Dec '09 some drunken Git hit me head on and destroyed my work van. . . . another sad story for another time perhaps. . .

 

Wow ! ! ! Had to go and look outside,. . . Hawker Hurricane just flew overhead at around 1,000 ft agl. . . Can't mistake the sound of that Merlin !

 

 

[yampy]

Phil . Some of my flying muckas in Brum tell me a Spitfire overflew Castle Bromwich today at about the same time . It was BOBMF Spitfire MK326 , a 1944 build model . Only 75 yrs old and still going strong . Lovely jubbly aer kid .

 

 

[cooperplace]

Phil,

 

if ever I'm your way we should catch up for a pint or 3. I lived in England for 4 yrs in the 90s: best beer on earth by a country mile. I used to ride Ducatis (still have 3, but just tinker with them). I'm only alive because I have an excellent guardian angel. Stories for another day.

 

 

[cooperplace]

or if you're in Adelaide of course, but the beer's not as good

 

 

[cooperplace]

we do have good wine tho'

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Phil . Some of my flying muckas in Brum tell me a Spitfire overflew Castle Bromwich today at about the same time . It was BOBMF Spitfire MK326 , a 1944 build model . Only 75 yrs old and still going strong . Lovely jubbly aer kid .

I'm not up to Peter's standard in Guessing that plane stuff,. .. but I KNOW a Hurricane when I see one, but I dunno where it came from, it Could have been the BBMF one, but I only saw the bugger for around 12 seconds,. . . I think there is one at BREIGHTON airfield, 6 nm east of Selby power station cooling towers in Yorkshire. . . there are plenty of Old aircraft at that place,. including a couple of Mustangs, YAKs and some Brit built 1940s / 50s aircraft that I hadn't even heard of. . .etc. . .worth visit if you ever get over here. .

 

Lots of Spits in the UK now, not sure how many exactly, but HURRIBIRDS are very rare. . . .

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Phil,

 

if ever I'm your way we should catch up for a pint or 3. I lived in England for 4 yrs in the 90s: best beer on earth by a country mile. I used to ride Ducatis (still have 3, but just tinker with them). I'm only alive because I have an excellent guardian angel. Stories for another day.

I was lucky in OZ that I knew silly people who would lend me stuff. . .( ! ) I met a US Air force (Retired) bloke at a pub, we got talking and he was a Harley / Indian fan and he said he'd bought a British Vincent 998 Black Diamond and had it shipped from the UK. ( It wasn't. . it was a Black Shadow ) He asked me If I could Ride / deliver it from Adelaide to Brisbane. Which I did. . . Jesus it was a right bloody animal to start, with the advance and retard lever on the bars, which if you got this wrong, would kick an elephant over the front ( It Did, only I was quite Lithe and athletic back then ) . . . that thing could literally Out-accelerate ANYTHING on the road at the time, but it was a bit hairy, and I nearly lost it with tank slappers on a couple of occasions. .

 

Next job ( 4 months later ) was to fetch one of the first ever Honda 750/4 machines from Brisbane to Melbourne. ( For a mate of the yank) This bloke was like Milo Minderbinder from Catch 22. . .bought and sold all manner of stuff. . . better keep the rest of THOSE stories for the pub I think. . .. Especially the Aeroplane one. . ( Taps Nose ) Last fuel stop before Melb was at an Ampol service station at Wangaratta. . . several local yokels meandered over to have a look at the Honda, inspecting it all over. "Ey mate, Can we have a go ?" they asked. . .I said No. . Eff Off, It ain't mine sunshine. "Where's the kickstart ?" they asked,. . I showed them the button. . . .

 

They were horrified. . ."Electric Start ? ? ? ? . .You Wusss" Dunno whether they Really though that I was a Wusss, or because I told them to Eff Off. . . Oh well. . . I didn't end up bruised anyhow Probably because My arms made me look like a weightlifter, thanks to the Vincent workout. . .( Strange Place Wang. . .) My apologies to any Wangers on here,. .. no offence intended. . .

 

 

[Phil Perry]

or if you're in Adelaide of course, but the beer's not as good

we do have good wine tho'

OK Mate. . . . If I ever get to AUSTRALIA again,. . .I'll have LOADS of folks to look up. . YAY ! Don't mind a cold beer on a hot day, but I DO prefer WINE,. . .sparkling, and as dry as possible. Knew a supermarket wine rep who used to flog me the odd spare bottle of Champers from the Barossa. . . If I took him flying occasionally . . luvly stuff. . . Cava from that region is nice, and not as tarty s stuff we get here in the UK. . . looking forward to doing a trade deal if we get around to clearing out the Parliament and stringing all those duplicitous lying barstards up with piano wire from lamp posts along the river Thames. . .unless they give us what we voted for. . ( Another story for a different forum matey. . . )

 

 

[planedriver]

I have a second cousin who used to work on Spitfires and he turns 90 yrs old tomorrow.

 

Lucky bugger is being treated to a Spitfire flight out of Biggin Hill on Wednesday. (family pockets there, are a lot deeper than mine)

 

Guess who's green with envy?

 

I used to live approx midway between Biggin Hill and Kenley, so saw plenty of both Spitfires and Hurricanes flying around as a kid, so found the Wikipedia write-up very interesting.

 

Thanks for posting the link OME.