Long term project - The Aircraft my Father repaired in WWII

[Kallisti]

Excellent news, my application to get my father's war records from the RAF archive bore fruit today and two A3 photocopies of my father's record cards are now in my hands! I put the application in back in July and paid the £30 and then had to wait and wait and wait... however it was well worth it!

The record shows that my dad enlisted in Feb 1941 - he would have been 20 then and spent the first year in training as an Electrician. He was then posted to RAF Detling for 6 months before being attached to 122 Sqn, which at that time was equipped with Spitfire Vb and Vc. In October 1942 he then joined 81 Squadron which at that time was in Gibraltar and stayed with them until Nov 1943, travelling into Algeria and Tunisia then ending up in Sicily, all the time working with Spitfire Vc (trop probably) and IX. Then he was shipped out to India to join 5 Squadron and shortly after the rest of 81 Squadron were also shipped out to India and from looking at the maps there were times when they were just down the road from each other - in fact in my Dad's effects was a Christmas dinner menu from 81 Sqn dated Dec '43. 5 Squadron at this time was equipped with Hurricane IIc and IId, having just converted from Curtis Mohawk IVs and then in Sept they converted to Thunderbolt I which they flew until March 1946. However my father was shipped back to UK in August 1945 and demobbed.

So this is my long term project... build a model of each of the aircraft he would have worked on! So this gives me a list of:

Detling: Feb-Jun 1942
Avro Anson from 280 ASR Sqn (Build Thread RFI)
Hurricane IIc from 239 Sqn


122 Sqn: June-Oct 1842, Fairlop & Hornchurch
Spitfire Vb (Build thread)

81 Sqn: Oct 1942 - Nov 1943, Operation Torch: Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy
Spitfire Vb (Trop) (Turns out there were no Mk Vb with 81 Sqn in Operation Torch)
Spitfire Vc (Trop)
Spitfire IX (Build Thread RFI)

5 Sqn: Nov 1943 - Aug 1945, India & Burma
Hurricane IIc (Build Thread RFI) ( second build, "Clang!" Diorama )
Hurricane IId (In 1:48 Build Thread RFI) (in 1:32 Build Thread RFI)
Thunderbolt I (Build Thread)
Thunderbolt II (RFI)

I've also got a Curtis Mohawk in the stash so that has also been built as part of the expanded 5 Sqn Project! (Build Thread)

Hmm thats a lot of Spitfires & Hurricanes

Sadly in my earlier research I believed my Dad stayed with 81 Sqn during their time in India and Burma when they were equipped with Spitfire VIII, so I picked up a Tamiya VIII in 1:32, but sadly that isn't required. I'll have to pick up the HobbyBoss Spitfire Vb in 1:32 and convert to a Vc so I can build the diorama I have in mind with an electrician with a bush hat working on a Spitfire! I've got a couple of photos of my Dad in bush hat and shorts, taken in Africa and Burma, so I'd love to be able to represent him in that outfit.

This will be a long term project but it will be good to have this collection in 1:48 & 1:32 Just need space to display it!

Edited March 15 by Kallisti

[Flying Badger]

Hi

Was your dad RAF Air Maintenance Core? My Gradnfather was also RAF AMC. Not sure what squadrons he was attached to but he was a good artist and I had books with his hand drawn parts of spits, blenhams etc. for common repairs and notes from when he was training early on and then on personal tips and tricks he picked up over his time. After demob he went back to armstrong siddley / rolls royce where he worked on the development of jet engines - just one pic of him with a gleaming engine - hmmm must work out what engine next time I'm at my folks.

Sadly I never met him as he passed away long before I was born but I love the idea of your project.... might have to see if I can get his war record..... how do you go about it?

Good luck,

FlyingBadger

[Kallisti]

You can write to the RAF Disclosures Unit at

RAF Disclosures

Room 6

Trenchard Hall

Royal Air Force Cranwell

Sleaford

NG34 8HB

and ask for a form. They will only release records to Next of Kin and you need to provide a death certificate of the relative plus give them as much info about him as you can to aid identifying the correct records. I was able to give them my Dad's serial number and the dates of his entry and leaving the Forces as I had his demob card in his effects. There is also a £30 fee.

[Flying Badger]

Thanks Kallisti

I'll have to talk to my dad as I guess he has my grandfathers death cert etc.

Good luck with the project, I'll be following with interest.

Regards

FB

[Motley]

Sounds like a really good project you have here, nice variety of planes and schemes it seems.

For the Hurricanes are you going to use conversion kits or actual kits cause for the IIc and the IId there is only the Hobbycraft and Hasegawa kits i believe in 1/48th which your doing this in if ive read right

Tom

[Kallisti]

Yes 1:48 except for one in 1:32 where I'll make a diorama of an Electrician doing his job in the desert on a Spit Vc. Just ordered the Spit Vb from Hobby Boss plus some aftermarket bits including the Vc wing conversions from Grey Matter Figures...

[Kallisti]

Been studying the records a bit more and found the training section where is specifically lists Hurricane and Thunderbolt in 1944 and in 1945 it lists Thunderbolt, Lancaster and Mosquito! Not sure if he was in a location that would have seen Lancs and Mossies at that time, but I guess its possible they might have passed through...

[HOUSTON]

Geeat project sir...

[Kallisti]

Thanks Houston.

This is the running "score" of what has so far been built:

81 Sqn:
Spitfire Vc (Trop) here

5 Sqn:
Hurricane IIc here
Thunderbolt I here
Thunderbolt II here

Plus as associated builds for 5 Sqn outside of the period my Father was attached to them:

1970s Lightning F6 here
Curtis Mohawk IV here

While writing this post, I realised that I had never posted an RFI for the Mohawk before even though it was built at the end of 2012! Just fixed that omission.

I think it'd be nice to build something other than a Spit or Hurricane next, so later this year I might have a go at the Avro Anson from Classic Airframes, when I can summon up the courage to deal with it that is! Of course there is also a Javelin as flown by 5 Sqn in the early 60s...

Edited April 1, 2015 by Kallisti

[HOUSTON]

Kallisti!

Your list is most interesting ...

I think that it would be great to see something other than a Spitfire or a hurricane

The brain and mind becomes stale seeing the same thing { in MY case only - hence the variety of MY Airrcraft "likes" } , so a Javelin

would be super and welcomed { I speak for MYSELF }.

Anyway I am glad you are thinking about the Avross Anson .... It will be good to your builds as always they are to be admired"

I have to admit I love your Mohawk .....

Edited February 23, 2014 by HOUSTON

[Kallisti]

Another year has gone by so let me update the list with what has happened in that time:

 

81 Sqn:

Spitfire Vc (Trop) here

Spitfire IX here

 

The Vc (Trop) build has been cancelled because I messed it up. I've sourced another HobbyBoss Vb Trop to try it again as a Vb Trop which was also in the list. I'll do a Vc in 1:48 later using one of the several kitted versions.

 

5 Sqn:

Hurricane IIc here

Thunderbolt I here

Thunderbolt II here

 

Plus as associated builds for 5 Sqn outside of the period my Father was attached to them:

 

1942-43 Curtis Mohawk IV here

 

1970s Lightning F6 here

1980s Tornado F.3 (I don't appear to have any photos of this on BM, oooeerr!)

Edited March 15 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

Another update with the Avro Anson and Tornado F.3 included

280 Sqn ASR:
Avro Anson here RFI here

81 Sqn:
Spitfire Vc (Trop) here
Spitfire IX here


5 Sqn:
Hurricane IIc here
Thunderbolt I here
Thunderbolt II here

Plus as associated builds for 5 Sqn outside of the period my Father was attached to them:

1942-43 Curtis Mohawk IV here

1970s Lightning F6 here
1980s Tornado F.3 here

Edited March 15 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

Just to keep things up to date again here is the latest with the Clang Diorama, Javelin and the Meteor NF11 included

 

280 Sqn ASR:
Avro Anson here RFI here

81 Sqn:
Spitfire Vc (Trop) here
Spitfire IX here RFI here


5 Sqn:
Hurricane IIc here

Hurricane IIc Diorama 'Clang!' here

Hurricane IId here RFI here
Thunderbolt I here
Thunderbolt II here

Plus as associated builds for 5 Sqn outside of the period my Father was attached to them:

1942-43 Curtis Mohawk IV here
 

1950s Gloster Meteor NF 11 here

1960s Gloster Javelin here

1970s EE Lightning F6 here
1980s Tornado F.3 here

Edited March 15 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

Further update for the Hawker Tempest II for 1946-47:

 

RAF Detling posting, 1941:

280 Sqn ASR:
Avro Anson here  RFI here

 

81 Sqn:
Spitfire Vc (Trop) here
Spitfire IX here  RFI here

5 Sqn:
Hurricane IIc here

Hurricane IIc Diorama 'Clang!' here

Hurricane IId here RFI here
Thunderbolt I here
Thunderbolt II here

 

Plus as associated builds for 5 Sqn outside of the period my Father was attached to them:

 

1942-43 Curtis Mohawk IV here

1946-47 Hawker Tempest II here

1950s Gloster Meteor NF 11 here

1960s Gloster Javelin here

1970s EE Lightning F6 here
1980s Tornado F.3 here

Edited March 15 by Kallisti

[Kallisti]

After a long hiatus, I've been able to add a new entry to this project, not in the direct timeline of my Father's history, but in the related projects category so the latest complete looks like this

 

280 Sqn ASR:
Avro Anson here  RFI here

 

81 Sqn:
Spitfire Vc (Trop) here
Spitfire IX here  RFI here

 

After Dad was transferred to 5 Sqn:

Spitfire Mk VIII India/Burma, late 1943/early 1944 RFI here

5 Sqn:
Hurricane IIc here

Hurricane IIc Diorama 'Clang!' here

Hurricane IId here RFI here
Thunderbolt I here
Thunderbolt II here

 

Plus as associated builds for 5 Sqn outside of the period my Father was attached to them:

 

1942-43 Curtis Mohawk IV here

1946-47 Hawker Tempest II here

1950s Gloster Meteor NF 11 here

1960s Gloster Javelin here

1970s EE Lightning F6 here
1980s Tornado F.3 here