The Horsemen Cometh - Helicopter

The Horsemen - P-51 Acro Team

Camera, no sound, action!!!

After a couple of previous attempts I finally managed to get hold of a G45 Gun camera. All the gun camera film I have been viewing for the last 30 or so months has been shot on the G45 fitted to Spitfires, Hurricanes, Typhoons etc.
Made by the Williamson Manufacturing Co.Ltd. of London & Reading before, during and after WWII, they were fitted to a wide range of aircraft.
It appears to be in good condition and is a 24v version. The camera is finished in a black 'crackle' finish and I suspect it may be a relatively 'new' version even though it carries AM markings. Other examples of the G45 I have seen online have a grey paint finish hence my suspicion it may be a post 1945 example. The heating element inside the lens housing is still intact. An empty film magazine was included.
Fitting and removal of the film magazine is either from the side access door or from the top loading slot dependent on the camera's orientation when fitted to the aircraft.

All I need now are the rest of the parts to rebuild a Spitfire around it!

Go fly a kite....

No, not the usual use of the term, but something I watched when in Singapore a couple of years ago.
While having a meal at Clarke Quay one evening my eye caught some strange lights in the night sky. I thought I was witnessing the arrival of some alien spaceships (helped by a few Tiger Beers) and eventually managed to make out they were some form of RC aircraft.
After our meal we wondered over the other side of the river and found that what I'd seen were actually RC kites - flown by a local club outside Riverside Point.

I may just pick one up to bring home when we visit in August...

Go take a look at these amazing gadgets in action - goflykite.com

FW 190 out for an airing...

As I was about to go back to 'work' some of the contents of H3 were pulled out to enable one of the Spitfires to be taken out from the centre of the hangar. As a result, an opportunity arose to have a close up to look at the FlugWerk 190 A9 (and others), while the various bits were shuffled around.

Duxford 27/3/09

Wandered around for a short time this afternoon.

The back half of H2 had been cleared out so there was a little more sat out in the sun, wind and rain than usual today.










Sally B has her port outer cowlings back on, so how long until she is back in the air?















Nicely restored BMW 801D from a FW 190 on display in H4...

Robots, Flying Cars & Airships...

Tenuous aviation link coming up. Having grown up reading Dan Dare in the Eagle comic and other 60's and 70's science fiction, which predicted we'd be living on the Moon and flying around in cars, I have a bit of a soft spot for things retro and one of the few films in my DVD collection is the animated film "Robots".

So I was pleased to find the retro robot art of Lawrence Northey via the website Webomator.
The retro robots are great and I'd love to have one.
The artwork of Bradley W. Schenck of Webomator is also great and is available on the Retropolis Transit Authority - think I may have to treat myself to a couple of the shirts for summer!!

The Horsemen cometh...

An excellent video trailer/teaser of the world's only P-51 formation aerobatic team, and of things to come, has been posted over on Airshowbuzz.com - amazing production work and delivered in HD.

Just turn the volume up and sit back!!!!

ASB.TV

Watch out for their arrival for Flying Legends 2009!!!

XH558 - can it be 'saved'?

The pledge total currently stands at £956,540 £961,558
Will they manage to raise the amount required before the end of today (cut off?).

Fingers crossed so we may still see the tin triangle fly in 09.....

UPDATE:
And they did it!!! XH558 lives to f(l)ight another day - let's hope that the promises to restructure the trust works and that they are not cap in hand to the public again....

Paddy Finucane - penultimate mission?

As previously written about, sometimes I'll see something that gets me reaching for Google and doing a little research.

Today it was a name that I recognised from reading about the RAF in WWII.

Finucane.

I wondered if it was the same Paddy Finucane, an Irish Spitfire ace who was awarded the DSO and the DFC and two bars, and who was one of the youngest Wing Commanders in the RAF.

The title card of the clip in question just read -

Combat Film No. K1273
W/C Finucane Stn Flight
14/7/42 Spitfire VB
Dutch Coastal Vessel Off Ostende.

The clip showed a ship being attacked at low level and lasted a matter of seconds.
A quick search on the 'net produced the following information -

After attacking German shipping at Ostend and strafing three German airfields on July 15th, 1942, Finucane’s wing regrouped to return to Hornchurch. As the group passed low-level over the beach at Pointe Du Touquet, Finucane’s Spitfire was hit by machine gun fire that severely damaged his radiator. The engine overheated and quit, and the Spitfire was too low to allow Finucane to bail out. Losing altitude swiftly, Paddy was heard to say; “This is it, Chaps.” Witnesses reported that after a near perfect "splash" the Shamrock-Spit sank like a stone, and despite all efforts, was never to be seen again. At the time of his death, Wing Commander Finucane’s score stood at an amazing 32 victories. SOURCE

Could I have stumbled across the last piece of footage of this 'ace' prior to him being shot down and killed in action?

More info about Brendan Eamon Fitzpatrick "Paddy" Finucane can be found on several websites such as acesofww2.com or century-of-flight.net

Part A attaches to Part B...

The P-47 Thunderbolt assembly instructions - just like a big Airfix kit....

Miss Velma gets naked...

iPhonePhoto

Ferocious Frankie

Ferocious Frankie before a bit of flying today at Duxford...

Duxford today...

Thunderbolt a little closer to her wings...


Hangar 2 panorama...
(click for larger image)
My first attempt at photo stitching!

Or would that be a Hangarama?...

Random View: Airspace...

Images taken with iPhone 3G

A380 in the flesh...

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...