Any Aeroplane Buffs Here?

[Erichalfbee]

This is an interesting read:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-polish-pilots-who-flew-in-the-battle-of-britain

Thanks for That Philip
An interesting read
My father shot two enemy planes down. I remember as a child berating him for "only" two and he got quite stern with me and said so many pilots never made it. They were churning out pilots from school and planes from factories and so many perished.
Interesting last paragraph
My father remained in the UK but his brother who had joined the Navy and had been on the Atlantic convoys returned to Poland whereupon the Russians sent him to a Siberian camp along with his mother, my gran. It was ten years before he managed to get out and finally return to the UK where he finally settled.

 

[pargyle]

Thanks for That Philip
An interesting read
My father shot two enemy planes down. I remember as a child berating him for "only" two and he got quite stern with me and said so many pilots never made it. They were churning out pilots from school and planes from factories and so many perished.
Interesting last paragraph
My father remained in the UK but his brother who had joined the Navy and had been on the Atlantic convoys returned to Poland whereupon the Russians sent him to a Siberian camp along with his mother, my gran. It was ten years before he managed to get out and finally return to the UK where he finally settled.

My wife's uncle was in the navy on Russian convoys... his favourite expression was 'there's no cold like the Russian cold' there is a photo of him somewhere stood next to the forward gun and the ice sheets hanging off everything are just unbelievable
I didn't know what my dad did .. he was in the army and in north Africa and Italy- all he ever talked about was picking oranges off the trees in Italy , seeing the pyramids in Egypt and the forces tour of the holy land he did instead of coming home on leave... it was very late in life that I discovered he was in bomb disposal and mine clearance and crawled most of the way up Italy from the landings clearing a path through minefields and making the many booby traps left behind safe ..
To look at him and talk to him you would never know it - He must have been very lucky or very skilful as most of his colleagues didn't survive. Looking back at his life I am convinced he had PTSD but it did not really get treated as such in those days. He was at monte cassino and spoke very highly of the polish corps who finally succeeded where everyone else had failed...I find it difficult to visualise anything that the generation before ours went through... people moaning at present because the current restrictions on their liberty would do well to think what real hardship our parents had to endure ... 10 years in Siberia after the Russian convoys- how did you ever get through or over that?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yes ...not a buff but I know what it is ... used to see them regularly around Abingdon dropping paratroops out of the back door with a variety of other equipment on training exercises.

https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircraft/hercules-c130j/
I too thought they had been phased out ...

Driving down to an Icelandic horse show in Verwood a few years ago I got stuck in stationary traffic somewhere near Oxford. The pause was relieved by a series of parachute jumps taking place as we waited for traffic to move again.

 

[pargyle]

Driving down to an Icelandic horse show in Verwood a few years ago I got stuck in stationary traffic somewhere near Oxford. The pause was relieved by a series of parachute jumps taking place as we waited for traffic to move again.

Yes ... I used to see them regularly just after you turn off the M40 onto the A34 there was an old airfield off to the west that they used to use... very entertaining if you were stationary.. distracting if in the move ! Going up the A3 towards guildford there used to be a tank driving range and quite frequently cars on the A3 were used to train the gun crews to practice tracking their guns- quite disturbing when it first happened to me - seeing a tank clearly aiming its gun at my vehicle and following my progress up the A3 !

 

[Amari]

Thanks for That Philip
An interesting read
My father shot two enemy planes down. I remember as a child berating him for "only" two and he got quite stern with me and said so many pilots never made it. They were churning out pilots from school and planes from factories and so many perished.
Interesting last paragraph
My father remained in the UK but his brother who had joined the Navy and had been on the Atlantic convoys returned to Poland whereupon the Russians sent him to a Siberian camp along with his mother, my gran. It was ten years before he managed to get out and finally return to the UK where he finally settled.

My father, being a Quaker, was a conscientious objector. He was lucky (?) to have a fairly easy job during the war as a hospital administrator. Other COs had a rougher time - my uncle pre-war was a laboratory scientist and sent as a labourer to a pig farm.
I would not be a CO but, to this day, I cannot imagine myself having the courage that servicemen displayed in the two world wars.

 

[Swarm]

Anyone seen the film Hacksaw Ridge?
What that CO managed to achieve in one night, alone, is beyond belief. I caught the end of the film so had no idea it was based on a true story. The account of that boy's achievement in the end credits had me in tears. I made a point of watching the whole film.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Have seen the parachute training flights in Oxfordshire too.

During the runup to the 2012 Olympics we were involved in a lot of the contingency training for 'security' protocols. stood off old Harry and Studland bay quite a bit playing with the SBS, watching them parachute out of a Hercules into the water then making their way ashore.
We also spent many an anchor watch off Studland pretending we hadn't seen them sneaking around the bay watching us.....watching them!!

 

[The Poot]

Anyone seen the film Hacksaw Ridge?
What that CO managed to achieve in one night, alone, is beyond belief. I caught the end of the film so had no idea it was based on a true story. The account of that boy's achievement in the end credits had me in tears. I made a point of watching the whole film.

There’s a documentary about him that I’ve seen, with interviews with survivors of the struggle. Several admitted to treating him with contempt prior to conflict and were in tears as they recalled their prejudice. One soldier who had lost both legs and was written off by another medic, was attended to by him in the heat of the battle, recovered and lived into his 70’s.
A truly remarkable story.

 

[The Poot]

Thanks for That Philip
An interesting read
My father shot two enemy planes down. I remember as a child berating him for "only" two and he got quite stern with me and said so many pilots never made it. They were churning out pilots from school and planes from factories and so many perished.
Interesting last paragraph
My father remained in the UK but his brother who had joined the Navy and had been on the Atlantic convoys returned to Poland whereupon the Russians sent him to a Siberian camp along with his mother, my gran. It was ten years before he managed to get out and finally return to the UK where he finally settled.

My dad was skipper of an Air Sea Rescue motor boat. One Canadian pilot survived being shot down when the German pilot kept circling the boat and dipping his wings to indicate where the Canadian was in the sea. (Often they would try to shoot up the boats).
The Canadian, upon rescue was only concerned that his petrol coupons had been destroyed as he was due to go on leave!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

My dad was skipper of an Air Sea Rescue motor boat.

A lot of the design and building of the RAF Air Sea Rescue boats was down to TE Lawrence (of Arabia) he was stationed at RAF Mounbatten near Turnchapel in Plymouth sound. There's a blue plaque on the house where he lived during his stay there - right on the turnoff down to turnchapel village, next to the Victorian postbox.
RAF Mountbatten continued to be a training centre for the Air Sea Rescue boats and seaplanes until (I think) the 1980's, many of the older commanders I sailed with did their training there.
The aircraft hangars are still in use as maintenace sheds for yachts

 

[pargyle]

A lot of the design and building of the RAF Air Sea Rescue boats was down to TE Lawrence (of Arabia) he was stationed at RAF Mounbatten near Turnchapel in Plymouth sound. There's a blue plaque on the house where he lived during his stay there - right on the turnoff down to turnchapel village, next to the Victorian postbox.
RAF Mountbatten continued to be a training centre for the Air Sea Rescue boats until (I think) the 1980's, many of the older commanders I sailed with did their training there

As a child in the 1950s I used to go to Bridlington on the East coast for my holidays - in those days there was still a number of ASR Launches based in the harbour there .. beautiful lines and they could move as well ... some still around in various places but converted to hiuseboats mostly where they survive

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As a child in the 1950s I used to go to Bridlington on the East coast for my holidays - in those days there was still a number of ASR Launches based in the harbour there .. beautiful lines and they could move as well ... some still around in various places but converted to hiuseboats mostly where they survive

Still a few actually afloat and sailing, we did a 'daring rescue' of one off St Aldelm's head (quite a few years ago now I must admit) The launch had been berthed at Goodwick (Fishguard harbour) and an ex copper had spent his retirement cash on her, and without much maintenance was motoring her round to the Solent. The old girl was feeling her age and we had just heard a conversation on the VHF between him and a fisherman who had noticed that he was battling a ten knot tide whilst doing only six himself 'I'm fine' was his call, but when we sidled along (after having a quiet word with the coastguard on a private channel) not only was he moving backwards but was taking on water. we quickly got a salvage pump across and stayed with him until the lifeboat took over. As we were chatting he told us that when tied alongside the main harbour wall at Goodwick, the fast Cat ferry had screamed in and the wash was so fierce it had lifted the launch out of the water and dumped it on the hard - obviously being made of plywood, quite a few od the panels had sprung!!
I have come across another few during my circumnavigation of the British isles, including an MTB (still with the petrol engines and grey livery) and a few convertede HDML's (one of which we saw at queenborough was actually converted after the war and became the first vessel in the 'modern' customs fleet and my commander had served on her as a trainee!!

 

[The Poot]

A lot of the design and building of the RAF Air Sea Rescue boats was down to TE Lawrence (of Arabia) he was stationed at RAF Mounbatten near Turnchapel in Plymouth sound. There's a blue plaque on the house where he lived during his stay there - right on the turnoff down to turnchapel village, next to the Victorian postbox.
RAF Mountbatten continued to be a training centre for the Air Sea Rescue boats and seaplanes until (I think) the 1980's, many of the older commanders I sailed with did their training there.
The aircraft hangars are still in use as maintenace sheds for yachts

He apparently just stood and stared for ages at the layout of the engine bay and came up with a new design out of his head.

As a family we saw the Lawrence film and when the whipping scene started, my Dad exclaimed “so that’s how he got them”.
Turned out my dad had shared a billet with him and the scars were very noticeable, but Lawrence would not elaborate on how he‘d got them.

Another film “The Sea Shall Not Have Them” partly starred my dad‘s boat, but the RAF crew were kept out of sight. His over riding memory of the film making was the star moaning that the RAF uniform was “very scratchy”.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

His over riding memory of the film making was the star moaning that the RAF uniform was “very scratchy”.

it was the same material that the Custom's APO's uniforms were made of in the 1940's through to the 70's. Hence new recruits being called (so I was told)'scratchies'

 

[gmonag]

it was the same material that the Custom's APO's uniforms were made of in the 1940's through to the 70's. Hence new recruits being called (so I was told)'scratchies'

It was "hairies"

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It was "hairies"

might have been in the RAF (or hairy mary's actually) but with us in the Senior Service they were known as scratchies. Some of the old stagers were swinging the lamp on our private facebook page a few days ago and mentioned them