Miss Helen Report 5/12/08

Well, at least Miss Helen has some company for the winter....


Cleaning party form up on left...

If you just pay at the booth, guided tours start at noon...

Warbird gun cameras #2

Image sent direct from iPhone.

Gun camera port on P-51 Miss Helen...

Sadly, still out in the cold, getting more and more bird crap deposited on her surfaces.

Clip wing B-17...

Noticed that "Sally B" has had her wings clipped to get her into H2...

Air Harrods....

Flew in to DX today, hovered around a bit then landed.

Wind beneath her wings again....

...albeit on the ground, outside while they mop the Airspace hangar 'bay' floor.
Parked outside in a chilly wind today...

Dead Duck shoot....

Image used with permission IWM
Another gun camera clip I was viewing last week leapt out at me as soon as the title card opened - the target was recorded as a "Liberator A.C." and the pilot/squadron details were recorded as being F/O Emmerson 453 Sqn on 26/2/45 at 1600hrs - this might be interesting!!
A second clip, F/Lt Clemesha 453 Sqn, also featured this attack - slightly better quality than the first clip and I managed to capture a frame of the action to try and see if I could enhance the image over that seen on the Steenbeck.

Later, after converting the negative image to a positive, I could make out it was a white underlined G on a dark coloured bar. Some searching on the net resulted in the following results...
392nd BG
Serial No. - 42-95241
Sqn - (H) 578th
Call Letter - EC - G
A/C Name - "Jolly Duck"
Final Disposition - Crash landed Feb 22, 45 at Noekermeer  Zoetermeer, near Zoeterwoude, Netherlands
Missions Flown - 37

More info -

B-24 Jolly Duck Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1140877619381976

Mission report - https://b24.net/MM022245.htm

The John McCormick Story - https://www.b24.net/storiesMcCormick.htm

Pics of her can be found on row four on this page - https://www.b24.net/aircraftPhotos.htm

Polish pilots...

I've been viewing some footage from February 1945 featuring 306, 309, 315 and 316 Squadrons. My interest was piqued slightly by the fact Mustangs were involved. A little Googling produced a couple of websites which featured quite a bit of info on these squadrons along with photos and as I viewed each clip I'd cross refer to these sites to put some faces to names.

One clip featured an Me 109 (as far as I could identify it) being caught from behind by one Flight Sergeant Cempel of 315 Sqn on 21st Feb 45. A short burst resulted in the enemy aircraft being enveloped in smoke and then brief footage of it rolling onto its back and the pilot bailing out.
A quick check with one of the sites revealed that this was Cempel's only 'kill' -

P703899 W/O CEMPEL Miroslaw
In 315 from Aug 1944 till EOW. CV+bar. Score: 1-0-0. Worth noticing is that while flying Mustang III, he never had a single malfunction in this a/c. Most vividly he remembered a training dog fight during which, his good friend F/Sgt Richter (HB882) was killed. Flying on deck Richter suddenly inverted and crashed at full speed. His a/c buried itself completely in the moist ground. After the war Miroslaw Cempel spent five years in RAF and another five in RCAF, where he was commissioned as a F/Lt. Settled in Canada where he currently resides in Montreal.

CV – Polish Cross of Valour (Krzyz Walecznych)

Source

A bit of a search online revealed a MV Cempel still residing in Montreal. It could be Miroslaw or a relative, so hopefully a little research may reunite this pilot or relative with the footage from 63 years ago....

315 Sqn Pilot List
Info of the sortie

315 Squadron badge

Miss Helen....

iPhonePhoto

iPhonePhoto

Miss Helen out in the cold...

iPhonePhoto

Miss Helen has been moved from her place in H2 into the 'butts' - and where she had been is now filled with Sally B. Wonder if her engine is back at last?....

Click on images for larger version...

RAF 'banter'...

Top hole. Bally Jerry pranged his kite right in the how's your father. Hairy blighter, dicky-birdied, feathered back on his Sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harper's and caught his can in the Bertie.

Red Baron...

Unusual visitor to Duxford today - replica Fokker Dr1 Dreidekker - flew in 'escorted' by a Tiger Moth (if my spotting skills are up to scratch!).

RAF Mustangs...

It crossed my mind today as I sat watching gun camera footage from September 1944 that there are no RAF Mustangs I/II/III/IV flying in the UK today.
I have been watching quite a bit of RAF gun camera film from WWII and there has been a fair amount of Mustang footage. Today was 19 and 65 Squadron film. 19 Squadron (pictured above) were, of course, based at Duxford at one time.

So the Mustang was used quite a bit by the RAF - if my history is right the RAF were the first to use the new Mustangs operationally.

So maybe the time has come to have a nice RAF Mustang up in the wide blue yonder...

Quiet-ish day today...

...at Duxford - SM969, the Spitfire MkXVIII of TFC went for a slow taxi...
The 'driver' looks familiar....

Razorback ramble...

The Curtiss P-47G 42-25068 Thunderbolt in H2 is slowly making progress.

"Griswold Blodwyn II" though?.....

Rare RAF fighter/bomber

At the height of WWII, with vital munitions supplies affected by the U-Boat menace and the Luftwaffe bombing factories, the RAF experimented with other ways of dropping loads on the enemy....

Friday 22/8

Turns out today was American Air Day at DX - there were a few bits of different stuff lying around...

7 SOS MC-130H Combat Talon II with something a bit older flying by...


"Miss Helen" is now the meat in a Chippie sandwich...


...and Sea Fury T20 VZ345 is now tucked up in the corner of H2.....

Quick Silver...

Image Mustangs Mustnags /Photographer: Curtis Fowles

One of my favourite paint schemes on the P-51 is that of "Quick Silver", owned/operated by Bill and Scott Yoak.
It's not a specific paint scheme but one which pays tribute to those who served and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice...

Sadly, Bill Yoak passed away in 2013 after a long fight with cancer.

Quick Silver now has it's own dedicated website - http://quicksilvermustang.com/

Friday 8/8/08

Had my post lunch Friday stroll and lots of cowlings were off for maintenance - not a lot flying today, Tiger Moths were doing a steady business between the showers...

Airing the toy box...

Image sent direct from iPhone.

Prom display Spit...

Flying Proms

Went to the "Flying Proms" at Duxford last night. Bit of a last minute thing and so buying tickets on the gate was a pain due to the queue/slow service.

Still apart from a cold wind (it's almost the end of July FFS) the sky was clear. The John Miller band was there to open the evening playing all the fav Glen Miller tunes.

Flying display opened with the F-86 then P-51 (Ferocious Frankie) followed by a Schweizer chopper, Piper Cub pair, Spitfire, Guinot pair, DC-3 Dakota. The 'night glow' balloons were reduced to 'night glow burners' due to the wind.

The Spitfire display opened with the stirring theme from The Battle Of Britain and cheers from the audience. Certainly stirring stuff...



After the closing fireworks seems some crops were ignited (stray firework?) to the south of the runway.

Duxford post lunch bimble

Having lunched, I had a walk around today to see what was left after last weekend. Sally B looked a little forlorn now that her 'sisters in arms' had departed back to their respective homes. At least she had a 'little friend', P-51 Old Crow, to keep her company for now.

News is that Liberty Belle is now back in North America having arrived at Bangor earlier this evening.
Also still resident at Duxford is the Scandinavian Historic Flights A-26B Invader...
And Miss Helen is inside with what looks like a temporary u/c leg on the port side after her mishap last Sunday...

B-17s and "Little Friend"...

Short video of B-17s Liberty Belle, The Pink Lady & TF-51 Miss Velma at Flying Legends 08.

Sadly Sally B couldn't make it up there this year - three B-17s would have been a sight to behold...

Apologies for the intrusive commentary - the PA system was very loud this year and the two guys doing the commentary didn't stop from start to finish...

Some pics from FL08

Bye bye B-17...

Liberty Belle is on her way home - Flight Explorer.

Flying Legends - 12 & 13 July

The #1 warbird airshow in Europe happens this weekend - Flying Legends 2008.

Liberty Belle arrives at Duxford

After a long flight across the Atlantic via Greenland and Iceland B-17 

Liberty Belle of the Liberty Foundation arrives in England.

Gun camera port

Spending a lot of time viewing RAF gun camera footage from WWII thought I'd have a look to see where it was all shot from...
Spitfire Mk.Vb BM597 in this instance...