Any WWII airplane history experts?

[jjeffries]

Dear Silver911, please keep sharing...first hand knowledge trumps all else, completely fascinating to read your experiences.

My Dad worked for Bristol > Bristol Siddeley > R-R, then MTU. He had a collection of books and allowed us to put our grubby little hands on them, things like 1950's copies of Jane's All the World's Aircraft.
A number of times, we went to the then-museum at Staverton, Glos., a cold, damp hangar that housed gems such as the Saro jet flying boat and a Mossie. He imbued us lads with the love for all this stuff. On holidays in France (with the loathed 1500 Maxi and older Bailey caravan), we'd divert if we saw an airport or place my older brothers had read about in After the Battle magazine. In the early 70's, there was still so much WW2 gear left in France. Sorry for the personal ramble, but this is all such good fun.

[silver911]

You' re welcome... it was a very brief 'episode' and nothing remotely as detailed and in depth that what your father experienced.
It was fun to have everything in one place..pretty much all at the same time....Spits/ Yak/ Buckers, Tiger Moth and Stampe.. plus a Cap 10, Cessna 180, Pilatus P2and a few replica WW1 planes built for film work. At one point there was Morane Saunlnier hangared with us... plus the owner's Birch silver with black leather interior DB5.... those were the days.

[Gary71]

Great knowledge!

My tenuous link to any of this is the office I work in is one of the machine shops where the Merlins were built. Luckily it’s been refurbished (inside) but the outside still looks much the same.

Most of the building still has an open ceiling so it all still looks exactly the same, but with ramps and cars

[jwhillracer]

Dear Silver911, please keep sharing...first hand knowledge trumps all else, completely fascinating to read your experiences.

My Dad worked for Bristol > Bristol Siddeley > R-R, then MTU. He had a collection of books and allowed us to put our grubby little hands on them, things like 1950's copies of Jane's All the World's Aircraft.
A number of times, we went to the then-museum at Staverton, Glos., a cold, damp hangar that housed gems such as the Saro jet flying boat and a Mossie. He imbued us lads with the love for all this stuff. On holidays in France (with the loathed 1500 Maxi and older Bailey caravan), we'd divert if we saw an airport or place my older brothers had read about in After the Battle magazine. In the early 70's, there was still so much WW2 gear left in France. Sorry for the personal ramble, but this is all such good fun.

Yes, definitely keep telling, Silver 911.

jjeffries, there is now very interesting (and warm and dry!!) museum on the old Filton airfield in Bristol which has a collection of all of the Bristol badged transport, cars, trams, buses, but of course mainly aircraft, aircraft engines and missiles. Most of this is in a completely refurbished old hangar. Next to it is a complete new building housing the last Filton-built Concorde to fly, along with interactive displays, technical info and Concorde artefacts. It's a great timeline display of everything aeronautical built in Bristol from the earliest wood, string and linen to the latest Airbus manufacturing units.
Have a look at - https://aerospacebristol.org/

Cheers!
JW

[jjeffries]

Thank you very much JW. I will get there one day.

Not in any way as grand or all encompassing, but if any of you find yourself in the Hartford, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts area (maybe 25 miles between the two, both sited on the Connecticut River), which were home to what's been described as the Silicon Valley of the Late 19th/Early 20th century era, we have some excellent museums here, including the New England Air Museum neam.org, and the Springfield Armory www.nps.gov (it's part of the National Park Service system... incredible history of weapons; the armory was created by Geo. Washington.... and was in the thick of weapon development and production all the way through the 1970's. I found especially fascinating how America grabbed and built upon German technology (as mentioned above). All kinds of great stuff. NEAM is a really good aviation musuem including engines. Remember that Hartford is also home to Colt and Pratt&Whitney. Some excellent art museums, too!

Public Service Announcement over. John

[neilbardsley]

I thought that only Hedge Funds were in Hartford these days

Thank for sharing 1 hand experiences chaps

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[911MRP]

I was fortunate to capture a voice recording of detailed recollections of 30 missions as pilot over Germany and France including the one that won DFC. Great detail. Hadn't spoken of wartime exploits in 60 years since leaving the service, even to his wife, but something triggered an outpouring from our conversation when I dropped on for a cuppa that day . I felt immensly privileged he had chosen me to tell his story. . He was 95 and out it all came. He flew out of Croft (near James neck of the woods ?) . Realising this was special moment I serupticiously pressed record on iPhone. Tales of being shot to bits over submarine pens, comrades being shot out sky including one inexperienced pilot who had panicked and queue jumped ahead of what was his slot on formation, how technology used was being tracked and used the lock in searchlights in on go, which he knew from experience was odd so " turned the bloody thing off", making pre mission test flights over his village that resulted his ear twisted by the village Bobby when next on home leave for scaring the local s by buzzing them , being reprimanded for leaving his crashed plane to get crew a full English breakfast at cousins farm after limping back from night mission just making to Flanborough Head and realising he was close to the family farmhouse, taxiing out and throttling down runway in parallel to people on train for night mission watching the expression on their faces of carriages etc , etc etc. Despite much damage and regularly limping back Never lost a single crew member in all those missions which is quite remarkable given the death rate in bomber command although he told me he had a technique to evade enemy fighters that served him well that was regarded as unconventional. Contrary to what portrayed if they missed they went on to another target rather than circling around. Only one of the peer group to survive all those missions ( last crew standing) and he was as intent on signing up for another round despite meeting his quota but said his CO persuaded him to use his experience and skills become a test pilot for development of next generation aircraft -- which he later realised saved his life I spoke to RAF Museum about my recording and they want a copy of file and transcription as he passed away soon thereafter. That generation had the right stuff. He had been in a reserved occupation as an electrical engineer in coal mine so didn't need to sign up for RAF but did with his best pal. Sadly that pal also from reserved occupation was killed in action and the pal's mother blamed him for encouraging that ( not true) so never spoke to him ever again. Since he hadn't ever spoken of it his DFC was not recorded on www list so I asked if oi should do that. He saw it and also lived to see the bomber command memorial in Green Park.. Also got him all his original records form national archives from microfiche giving the official records of his flights and debriefs. Tallies with his recollections. Also located a wonderful niche self published book about his squadron and recorded on press of going to Buckingham palace to receive the DFC. . His wife told me he spent much of his last months immersed in these things I'd found. Also put him in touch with son of his regular flight engineer who had been on most of missions; unfortunately the other old boy had only died the previous year so pity he hadn't piped up earlier as would've arranged a reunion

Respect to all these modest and brave men. Not sure Id've had their bottle tbh. RIP

Steve

[neilbardsley]

Thank you for sharing Steve and reminding me there where people inside these machines. You are bringing back wonderful memories of George. A member of the church I used to attend. Great story teller and a veteran of WWII. I think he was tail end Charlie on Lancasters. Humble heros.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. Hope to catch up in 2020 when I'm more mobile.

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[jjeffries]

Neil, the richy-rich part of Connecticut is Greenwich, absolutely hedge fund-ville with some mind-numbing wealth/financial power; that's the SW corner of the state and many people live there and commute into NYC each day. Oldsters may remember Gregory Peck in "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit"

Hartford is known as the Insurance Capital... has long been that and pretty much still is... I know many folks who work in that business. Just across the Connecticut River, in East Hartford is Pratt & Whitney, where so many thousands of those incredible radial engines used in WWII were built. It was P&W that brought my Dad here; he worked for MTU/Daimler, which along with P&W and Japan Aero Engines form IEA (International Aero Engines). It produces the V2500 which you'll find on many small Airbus airliners. Hartford is 2.5HRS from Manhatten and 1.5HRS from the center of Boston; an area not without its challenges, but from my perspective, a great place to live. John

[neilbardsley]

Reading a book by Anthony Price and Free French Aircraft markings were mentioned as the opposite to British colours. I've never heard of them before so sharing


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_French_Air_Forces

[Nine One One]

Neil,
Whilst you are at home convalescing, there was a programme on Channel 4 and I think its also been on Sky called 'Nazi War Machines: Secrets Uncovered’

There are four one hour programmes in total, which cover planes, tanks, submarines, and weaponry.

Interesting as it shows in fine detail the German mentality for precision engineering and the problems that caused in various climates. The intricacy of the builds, which hindered production, and how various companies took more than they should in development costs.......very interesting.

Should be right up your street and answer a lot of questions for you?

Hope you are getting better.

[neilbardsley]

Thank you just watched the first one

[veryporky]

The British stuff was very bespoke and as mentioned the airframe very hand made. A close friend has been full time on a spitfire resto mk v and as an aero engineer myself it looks more like my mates Ferrari in engineering terms than your average ford. The Yankee stuff is cruder but still very effective. And so it remains today, notwithstanding current problems the average Boeing is a simpler beast than the European airbus which has a very high Germanic content. The difference in British verses German philosophy was more in the logistics. A badly shot up 109 would go back to the werks for der full uberhaul the brits would patch er up on the squadron after all it would probably only be required for a handful of flights. Who needs a high quality German job when the net result is to be totalled in much less time than it takes to do the job in the first place?

[camperco]

I read or saw somewhere that the inside of the V2 was still finished in an aircraft spec. anti-corrosion paint despite the plan being to launch them as soon as they were completed.