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GordonM

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Posts posted by GordonM

    A calculation Flak vs. B-17

    in Aircraft WWII

    Posted

    Surely it depends over what period you're extracting this data? Early war flak was less accurate, by the end radar laying and proximity fuses improved the accuracy. Also by the time the 8th Air Force were putting thousand bomber raids it's reported the formation took over an hour to pass a point on the ground. 

    IWM Duxford and Cambridge American Cemetery August 2020

    in Aviation Photography

    Posted

    On 8/10/2020 at 8:43 PM, LostCosmonauts said:

    I still can't fathom how I managed to live in Cambridge for a year and a half and never go there...

     

    ... wait I remember. I was 21 and had a disposable income for the first time. At least I was in the Eagle on a regular basis so that counts as some kind of nod to aviation history

    I was worse I lived in Cambridge itself from 1963 - 2010 and now live 17 miles outside the city. I finally went to visit the cemetery when it was part of the university’s history festival in 2018 (the university owned the land and donated it to the ABMC) I’m rather glad I did as not only was the guided tour fascinating, but at the end our guide asked me and an acquaintance I hadn’t seen for some years to assist her with the lowering of the flag. It’s larger than it looks while it’s flying and we learnt the secrets to folding it properly. An incredibly moving experience I was honoured to be allowed to perform.

    • Like 1

    End of an era - BA to retire the 747 fleet 'with immediate effect'

    in Aviation Chat

    Posted · Edited by GordonM

    I flew Heathrow - Tokyo - Sydney, then Sydney - Osaka - Heathrow on JAL 747’s around 93. They still had a massive screen on the bulkhead in those days not individual screens, the films being showed changed on the Europe/Japan and Japan/Oz legs while I was there, so got stuck with the same films on each leg. However on the flight back from Oz I’d bought a proper full size Didgeriddo, when I boarded at Sydney the stewardess took it from me and put it in a large cupboard. After my overnight at Osaka having taken the didg as hand luggage to my hotel, I went to board and instead of turning right and heading for cattle class I was shown to the left and up the stairs! Better still I got a seat next to the large blanket boxes built in alongside the windows, and told to put my didg on the box, not only that I was front row with the emergency exit in front to me, so there was enough room for a pool table between me and the bulkhead where the stewardess sat and faced me for take off and landing!!! There were only a few people on the top deck and I had the whole row to myself and pretty much I had the undivided attention of the stewardess, happy days!

    • Like 3

    D-Day Wildcat V: help with name please

    in Aircraft WWII

    Posted · Edited by GordonM

    2 hours ago, Simon said:

    Fair point Jerry! I just thought it was a co-incidence that there was a pilot called Lucey around at the time and a plane name with Luce in it.

     

    A bit more obscure, but perhaps to do with Luce Bay or Old Luce in Scotland...?

     

     

    There’s also Glenluce in South West Scotland, near Luce Bay.

    Sand and Spinach

    in Aircraft WWII

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

    Buy a set of the colour charts.  Look for a 2nd hand copy of RAF Colours of WW2 from Arms&Armour Press/RAF Museum.  For enamel paints go for Colourcioats, Xtracolour or P hoenix Precision Paints, all of which are generally reliable.  There are more accurate colours buried in the Humbrol range (and history) but the older ones were general paints not specifically designed for matching aircraft colours accurately.    There are good acrylics and poor ones...  not my speciality but the more recent lacquer acrylics appear more reliable.

    The only drawback with ‘RAF Colours’ is the price: currently the cheapest copy on Amazon is £125! My wife would murder me if I paid that for any book!

    1/32nd scale Avro Shackleton - scratchbuild project

    in Work in Progress - Aircraft

    Posted

    Years ago (probably about 1976) I was a lazy slug and used to spend Saturday mornings just lounging in bed. One morning I’m assuming it must have been September and Battle Of Britain day I was disturbed by the sound of large piston engines. Jumped out of bed to see a Shack doing a low run along the line of the main thoroughfare that runs North/South through Cambridge. It climbed, turned and to a 15 year old positively thundered back towards the city centre. If my memory serves me right it did a total of four passes. Sadly not going near any operational bases that was my one and only time I saw a Shack fly.   

    • Like 2

    Nimrod R1

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Hopefully a simple and quick question! I’ve got the Airfix ‘Mighty Hunter’ in the stash and lockdown is making me look at getting on with it..

     My question is  during the time 51 Squadron were based at RAF Wyton can someone clarify a timeline for the following: IFR probes and colour schemes. Namely did the white / light grey scheme pre date IFR probes being fitted?  By the time 51 Squadron moved to Waddington from Wyton were the aircraft in the two tone grey scheme, or did that happen after the move?

    Thanks in advance

    Spitfire Vb interesting photo

    in Aircraft WWII

    Posted

    On 3/10/2020 at 1:29 PM, melvyn hiscock said:

    It is a slight shame that all the information that is easy to find refers to the American Spitfires when FAA and RAF units were just as busy. The totally appalling (in my opinion) D Day museum in Portsmouth also fails to mention Lee on Solent was the busiest airfield in the world in D Day, with the spotters covering the beaches from early in the morning. Mind you, they also pretty well completely fail to mention the actual bombardment the Spitfires, Seafires and P51s were covering too. There is one small mention on a wall, but otherwise the complete allied fleet and the 180,000 men in them that allowed the troops to get ashore are not mentioned, including my dad! - edited out of his own home city’s museum. 

     

    I would like to model one of the FAA aircraft but finding information has not been easy.  

     

    I did once see a small booklet published about the Fleet Air Arm operations but now cannot remember where I saw it.

    I got into an increasingly heated discussion there when I commented that my late father who served in the Royal Corps Of Signals landed on Omaha Beach on D Day as part of 11 Air Formation Signals, a formation that the US forces didn’t have an equivalent of. It culminated in the member of staff I spoke to telling me my father was obviously a liar!

    Browsing the Hannants website whilst drunk

    in Aviation Chat

    Posted

    6 hours ago, AltcarBoB said:

    Well it was saturday night and I had a few bottles in the the cupboard and I thought why not. Quite a few empty bottles later I accidentally clicked on the Hannants website and "I like that kit" and "ooh that kits on offer" and "I have been meaning to get one of those for a while" and "that will come in handy" and "I have to have 3 of them".

     

    Now I have an email from Hannants confirming my order

     

    Oh dear

     

    Oh deary dear

     

    I didnt mean to click the paypal button I must have had more beer than I am used to.

     

    Thats my modelling sorted for a while. Lucky I dont model in 1/32 or I would be bankrupt.

     

    Ooops

     

     

    It could have been worse, my other hobby is photography and I’ve been looking at changing my whole system, which would involve me spending around £5k! I’m not looking at camera dealers when any alcohol is around!

    • Like 2
    • Haha 4

    Tiger Moth Decals

    in Classic - up to 1968

    Posted

    Surely with Airfix bringing out a mainstream kit there must be sufficient demand for basic black, white and possibly silver letters? The CAC badge is obviously a different matter, but as well as Tiger, there’s other civil aircraft kits around they could be used on? 

    Tiger Moth Decals

    in Classic - up to 1968

    Posted

    Does anyone know of supplies of letters of a suitable size to do the new Airfix Tiger Moth? I’m after black suitable for the fuselage and underwing for Cambridge Aero Clubs G-AOEI and G-AHIZ, also the DH markings for the wheels if possible? 

    • Like 2
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