Jump to content

Aviation general


les freathy

Recommended Posts

Trust its OK to start this thread on Aviation in general similer to the one on ships, i have a small collection of all types of aircraft that are open to comments and additional info so will start with this photo of a Sea King helecopter taken by a friend a number of years ago who trade was a military photographer

hmvf1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A rare colour photo of the very first Manchester bomber built by Metropolitan-Vickers in December 1940, the day following this photo the aircraft and others were destroyed in a air raid. The Manchester was not a success and the Lancaster with its extra engines proved a far better machine

hmvf1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going back to the Sea King image, we quite often see the ASR over our marina, these were from two years ago during a genuine rescue, they transferred the casualty to ambulance (who made a full recovery) on our hardstanding between laid up boats. :shocked:

 

Please excuse pic quality as I was using a pair of binoculars as a zoom lense :-D

IMG_1506.jpg

IMG_1505.jpg

IMG_1508.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... any details on how the person was injured ?

 

As far as I recall he had steam burns from working on a blocked engine cooling pipe, the ASR was in the air at the time anyway as the old gun emplacement Roughs Tower (or Sealand as it's also known) was on fire. This caused initial confusion as to where the casualty had come from as some reports had it that he had been working on Roughs Tower and recieved the injury there and had been picked up by the yacht. It turned out to be unrelated though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting photo of a Beaufighter with American markings, looks to be in the Middle East

I can only find listings for the US using them in a night fighter role, and the photo doesn't seem to be in the right colour scheme for such a role.

I have found the following US operators only so far

414th Night Fighter Squadron

415th Night Fighter Squadron

416th Night Fighter Squadron

417th Night Fighter Squadron

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting photo of a Beaufighter with American markings, looks to be in the Middle East

I can only find listings for the US using them in a night fighter role, and the photo doesn't seem to be in the right colour scheme for such a role.

I have found the following US operators only so far

414th Night Fighter Squadron

415th Night Fighter Squadron

416th Night Fighter Squadron

417th Night Fighter Squadron

and of these 415 is listed as a P-61 Black Widow squadron,

 

415 operated thus.

Activated 10 February 1943 at La Senia AB, Algeria. Remained at La Senia AB until June 1943.

La Sebia, Tunisia, (June 22-25 1943)

Monastir, Tunisia (June - July 1943)

La Sebala, Tunisia (July - September 1943)

Cassibile, Sicily (September - November 1943)

Cantania, Sicily (November - December 1943)

Mntecorvino, Italy (December 1943 - January 1944)

Marcianise, Italy (January - March 1944)

Pomigliano, Italy (March - June 1944)

La Blanca, Italy (June 11-17 1944)

Valtone, Italy (June - July 1944)

Soonzara, Corsica (July - September 1944)

La Vallon, France (September 1-25 1944)

Longvic, France (September - November 1944)

Ochey, France (December 1944 - March 1945)

St Dizier, France (March - April 1945)

Gross-Gerau, Germany (April 1945 - October 1945)

Edited by antarmike
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The National Museum or the USAF has a Beaufighter (to typify a type) that served with the USAF as a night fighter, detailing this about the type.

 

Nationalmuseum.jpg

"We are very proud of the addition of the Bristol Beaufighter to our Air Power Gallery because it reminds us of time when we were not fully prepared for war," said museum director Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Charles D. Metcalf. "A good night fighter was not a capability that the U.S. had developed at that point, so we had to use British aircraft and equipment."

 

In the summer of 1943, the 414th, 415th, 416th, and 417th Night Fighter Squadrons of the Mediterranean-based Twelfth Air Force received more than 100 "reverse Lend-Lease" Beaufighters, achieving their first night victory in January 1944. Although purpose-built American P-61 Black Widow night fighters began to replace them in December 1944, USAAF Beaufighters continued to fly night cover for Allied forces in Italy and France until the closing days of the war.

 

The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has completed the restoration of this rare Beaufighter Mk I. The aircraft is displayed as the USAAF Beaufighter flown by Capt. Harold Augspurger, commander of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, who shot down an He 111 carrying German staff officers in September 1944. The Beaufighter went on display on 18 October 2006.

 

 

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123029523

Edited by antarmike
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can only find listings for the US using them in a night fighter role, and the photo doesn't seem to be in the right colour scheme for such a role.

I have found the following US operators only so far

414th Night Fighter Squadron

415th Night Fighter Squadron

416th Night Fighter Squadron

417th Night Fighter Squadron

and of these 415 is listed as a P-61 Black Widow squadron,

 

Mike,

 

Most probably 417th Night Fighter Sqn. They were posted to North Africa. There is a book realting the squadrons history, called "Beaufighters in the night".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the Mediterranean, the USAAF's 414th, 415th, 416th and 417th Night Fighter Squadrons received 100 Beaufighters in the summer of 1943, achieving their first victory in July 1943. Through the summer the squadrons conducted both daytime convoy escort and ground-attack operations, but primarily flew defensive interception missions at night. Although the Northrop P-61 Black Widow fighter began to arrive in December 1944, USAAF Beaufighters continued to fly night operations in Italy and France until late in the war. (Wiki..)

 

A ground Attack role/ Convoy escort could explain the Daytime colour sceme, rather than a Black underside.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...