303sqn

https://www.jadarhobby.pl/choroszy-d02-lws-zubr-172-p-19718.html The Choroszy resin kit is still available but it is not for the faint hearted. There is also a hydro version.

Greek P.24Fs and Gs were delivered unpainted. In 1940 they were painted in a three colour scheme something like Dark Earth, Light Earth, Dark Green with Sky Blue undersides. See IBG's new release. http://www.ibgmodels.com/72524-2/

The photograph has not been colourised. It is one of a series of colour photographs taken at the end of September 1942. The aircraft was photographed in b&w and all show the cover was dark in colour. Photographs show a great many Spitfires had dark coloured covers at this time. The mirror.

It is darker than the fuselage.

Any idea what the Bi Ba Bo character is? I have been trying to find out for years. Someone told me he was the Polish 'Homer Simpson' but the Bi Ba Bo cabarets seem to have been a Russian Empire thing, not just Łódź. The name can still be found in Russia and the Baltic states, - picture houses, ten pin bowling alleys, night clubs. There was a company in Moscow that sold Bi Ba Bo glove puppets for children but the website is not there now. The Bi Ba Bo character was a white bear but I have seen photographs of Bi Ba Bo casts which have a woman in a white dress and and red cloak. I need a historian who is an expert on the history of Łódź.

Media not available online - IWM https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060043053

1- P7001 (P.O. Masson, 10/09/41) went down near Lestre. That's in the records/books. What was new to me is the fact that 3 photos were found (I haven't seen them) about 25 years ago about P7001. It appears that PO Masson managed to control the aircraft and crash landed at the edge of the surf. The aircraft didn't explode nor caught fire. It broke in segments (no further details about that, unfortunately). It also appears that PO Masson died setting the aircraft on the beach - or expired shortly thereafter. In any event, P7001 rested at the edge of the sea and was under water at high tide later on that day. The Germans brought in their heavy equipment and managed to remove the remains of P7001 from the beach/sea and transported it away. Specifics and timeline about the salvage operation remains TBD. Where the wreck was taken to also remains a (very interesting) mystery. From the Whirlwind project site.

Fokker Aircraft DVII No. 76141/18, a late production machine, was manufactured at the Fokker factory. The fighter was delivered from Berlin to Poznan by a German pilot on September 17, 1919. First thing the same day its purchase was completed. The aircraft was equipped with a 160 hp Mercedes DIII engine (No. fabr.36723), and its armament was a pair of LMG 08/15 machine guns. Shortly after arriving in Poznan the aircraft was ssigned to the Pilot School at Ławica, where it became the personal machine of instructor Adam Haber-Włyński - one of the best Polish pilots. The aircraft of an instructor was supposed to be a bit different than the rest. On the initiative of the students there appeared a splendid personal emblem on Włyńiski's plane. How did this came about is explained by Julian Jasinski, between 1919 - 20 students at Pilot School. “Adam Haber-Włyński had at hisexclusive disposal of the Fokker DVII and three mechanics who carefully maintained the aircraft. Mundek Dumnicki, student of the School and graduate of the Cracow Academy of Arts, painted on Adam's Fokker Adam splendid naked doll BI-BA-BO. It was a surprise for him and he was delighted. In October 1919, Adam Haber-Włyński was invited to Warsaw. He was in the capital to show you how to fly a Fokker. Włyński went together with the commander of Air Station Ławica, Major Tadeusz Grochowalski with his Fokker No 8430/18. Both aircraft (dismantled) reached Warsaw by rail on 17th October. After a few days stay in the capital demonstrating their aircraft in flight, both pilots returned to Poznan. At the end of November Włyński received a new Fokker, Poznań "registration number - 503/18. The pilot exploited strength of the machine, demonstrating to the students wonderful acrobatics, which were performed always at an altitude of 150-200 m. Usually the start looked in such a way that Haber was giving , full throttle to his Fokker directly before the hangar, leaning to the right (pilot liked to start on the right wheel!), instantly gave the up and out into the air . Here's eyewitness account of this show, which took place at the beginning of 1920, by the already mentioned Julian Jasinski: “Then rises Haber and turning to Rayskiego and the rest announced: invitation to all to immediately go to the hangar. “I'll show you how to make a cork-screw”. (...) Fokker rose to about 200 meters and and headed in the direction of the standing group at the airport. Slightly descending, Adam accelerates the machine and pulling up makes two full rotations going up. As we, all, all mouths were open, this was yet it was not”. In March l920 the Haber-Włyński went to Paris as a test pilot of Polish Military Purchasing Mission. His Fokker remained of course in Poznan. On 13 April 1920, the commander of the 15th Fighter Squadron Ltn. Jerzy Dziembowski in a report to the head of the air force asked to allocate Fokker 503/18 to his squadron, which was preparing to transfer to the Bolshevik front. Consent was received and 24 April one of the unit's pilots, Sergeant Antoni Bartkowiak, moved the machine from Poznan to Bydgoszcz, where at this time 15 Squadron was stationed. Five days later. after receiving the assignment to fighting on the front of the Ukrainian 6th Army, 15th Fighter Squadron Bydgoszcz by rail for the airfield designated operational in Wapniarce (the railway line Zhmerynka - Odessa). Among the nine Fokker DVIIs, taken to the front, was also the plane 503/18 with a personal emblem of Adam Haber-Włyński. Still mounted on the machine was kaemy 08/15, which the mechanics had not had time to replace with Vickers wz.09, which was considered to be better and have rearmed in Bydgoszcz other Fokkers of the squadron. After assembling the aircraft on the airstrip in Wapniarce, Fokker BI-BA-BO was constantly used by Sgt. Bartkowiak. The pilot took part in several combat flights against Bolshevik armored trains (in May) and against cavalry (in July and August 1920). During one of the flights in July 1920, Bartkowiak attacked a squadron of Budionny's cavalry. After felling a few riders with aimed shots he noticed the ememy's banner. The pilot shot dead the enemy, and catching sight of the a field suitable for landing near the abandoned banner, he decided to capture it. After descending the plane was, however, strafed by machine-gun fire from a nearby village, and the pilot because of the significant risk (need to run under fire quite a distance from the aircraft to the banner and back) at the last minute gave up his intention which he later often regreted. In August 1920, 15 Squadron Fokkers actively participated in the defense of the city. On August 15, in the afternoon, four machines from the squadron took off to fight the Bolshevik cavalry. This time, the Fokker 503/18 was flown by a friend of Sgt. Bartkowiak - see Joseph Hendricks. After locating the enemy the airmen attacked them at low level. During this attack Hendricks aircraft was hit in the engine (it streaked across a cylinder), and the pilot had to land between the battle lines in Busko-Zdrój. Despite heavy machine-gun fire Lt. Hendricks was able to retreat to his own lines, and after getting to the train station in Krasne informed, by telephone, the squadron commander about the incident and asked for help. In the evening, the truck arrived at Busko with squadron mechanics who wanted to remove the damaged plane and take it to the city. Unfortunately, muddy and hilly terrain, and above all intense fire from the Bolsheviks thwarted it. In this situation and with the anticipated withdrawal of Polish troops in the direction of Lwow Lt. Hendricks decided to destroy the fighter. He crawled over to it and cut out with a knife, as a souvenir, theemblem BI-BA-BO after setting fire to the machine. That was the end, slain on the battlefield, of one of the most famous Polish aircraft from the war of 1920. After the retreat of the Bolsheviks from Lvov Polish soldiers found the burned remains of the Fokker, and the commander of 15 Squadron wrote the report of damage to the machine. Until the loss of aircraft No. 503/18 had flown in the 15th Fighter Squadron 24 hours and 45 minutes.

There are in fact in several photographs, taken by Charles Brown on 4th May 1942 northwest of Dunmow, Essex, flown by S/Ldr R.M.Miln, that are so similar you have to look carefully to distinguish them. The difference between your photograph and the controversial one is that it has been taken at a higher altitude. The Spitfire had the presentation name West Borneo 1 and there is a (black & white) photograph of it taken at the factory, that shows the it was finished in the standard TLS A scheme. If the colour photographs show it in the TLS then the Spitfire must have been repainted reversing the colours! A controversy has developed over the scheme due to the appearance of the Spitfire in the first photograph. The date, yellow leading edge strips and grey under surfaces suggest that it should be in the Day Fighter Scheme. However, the photograph is often reproduced with what should be the green areas of the camouflage looking very brown. This has led to the idea that it was painted in some strange variation of the Land Temperate Scheme with Medium Sea Grey under surfaces. This camp’s explanation goes like this. It left the factory in the Land Temperate Scheme Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky. It was then repainted. The under surfaces Medium Sea Grey but the upper surfaces in Dark Earth and Dark Green. But! The colours of the camouflage were reversed. In other words the areas that were Dark Earth were painted Dark Green and the areas that were Dark Green were repainted Dark Earth. (It is a common misconception that reversing the colours of say the A pattern gives the B pattern. This is not so. The B pattern is a mirror image of the A pattern. Reversing the colours results in a new pattern.)The spinner, fuselage band and codes were painted white. The explanation for this is again a shortage of Sky paint. This all seem to be based on what are very poor reproductions of the photographs, very dark and with very high levels of contrast. The Air Ministry/RAF Dark Green is in fact an Olive Green shade. Olive Greens are notorious for their ability to look green or brown in colour photographs depending upon the lighting conditions, exposure etc. under which they were taken. For example, Olive Drab, Polish Khaki. Indeed, there are better reproduced versions of the photograph where the supposed Dark Earth looks greener and the supposedly Dark Green looks rather grey. The Land Temperate camp will have none of this. According to them the photograph has been deliberately manipulated to make it look as though it is in the Day Fighter Scheme colours. (Perhaps because they think the two photographs are the the same.) This I find, frankly, to be ridiculous. While it is possible to modify images to almost anything you want these days with the sophisticated software available it was not so in the past. I quote from the RAF camouflage expert Paul Lucas on the problems of making an image appear the way you would like it to. “As for the suggestion that colour photographs might be deliberately reproduced with a certain emphasis to support a particular interpretation. Whilst I suppose it might be possible, on balance I think it unlikely. I once spent a whole afternoon with a designer ‘on a well known modelling magazine’ trying to obtain the correct colour balance to get a particular colour illustration to reproduce ‘just so’ as it was quite important to the validity of the argument I was trying to make. After some three and a half hours we gave up, utterly defeated, as we simply could not persuade the colours to print out properly. Given all the variables in the colour printing process I am therefore more inclined to believe in ‘cock up’ rather than conspiracy’. There does not seem to be any other evidence, apart from what people think they can see in the photograph, that supports the strange LTS, nor any good explanation of why anyone should want to go to all the trouble of painting it that way. As for the white spinner, band and codes. There was a shortage of Sky paint when it was introduced in 1940 but I have never heard of any shortage at the time the Day Fighter Scheme was introduced. As it had been used for some time by then I would expect there to be a surplus if anything. Each time a photographic image is reproduced there is an increase in the contrast. Sky can often appear white for this reason or because it is overexposed. Combat Colours No 8 claims it was repainted in an experimental scheme, Dark Sea Grey and Light Slate Grey, possibly for operations over sea and that the presentation name was painted out at this time. Only half correct for one of the photographs taken at the time, (De ‘Indische’ Spitfires Nico Geldhof & Luuk Boerman Dutch Profile) with two friends, shows the port side. On the port side the presentation name is still visible. The simplest and most sensible explanation for this is that on the starboard side the name can no longer be seen as it was painted on a Dark Earth background that was painted over with Mixed Grey. The name is still on the port side as it was painted on a green background which was not over painted when the change was made to the DFS. Why the difference in colour between the two photographs? I think the difference in altitude is the cause, the camera being fitted with a compensating filter for the blue/UV light at higher altitudes.

http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/317/a26.jpg ML293 JH-P

See the first splash it made, about 1 min 5 sec.

https://www.polishairforce.pl/dyw318zdj.html 8th photo, end of 2nd line.

318 (Polish) Squadron were formed at Detling on 20th March 1943 for the specific purpose of providing photo-reconnaissance for Polish 2nd Corps in the Middle East. In mid-April the squadron took delivery of 14 well worn Hurricane Mk1s (six were actually Sea Hurricanes taken from CAM ships) and one Canadian Mk X. Despite having been overhauled by MUs, each Hurricane had typically 400 hours flying time, it took on average two days of work to get the aircraft airworthy. One was so bad that a crash inspector classed it Cat B and so it was dismantled and sent away on a trailer without it being flown by the squadron. The next problem was that none of Hurricanes were fitted with photographic equipment. So ten of the aircraft were modified by cutting ports in the fuselage and fitting oblique and vertical camera mounts. This was done to a design prepared locally by Polish engineers. In August the squadron, without aircraft or equipment, was despatched in convoy WS 33 on the SS Empress of Australia bound for Egypt. On 29th August they reached Almaza in Egypt and on 14th September the first nine Hurricane IIBs were delivered at Muqueibila in Palestine. Six more arrived the next day and three more two days after that. History repeated itself and the aircraft needed to be overhauled and fitted with gun cameras and photo-reconnaissance cameras.

Zumbach saw his Hurricane pass in front of him with the starboard wing on fire, being chased by a Bf 109. Zumbach shot the 109 down and then was in turn attacked by another 109. Andruszków's Hurricane crashed at Holywych Farm, Cowden. Andruszków had been shot through the chest and had a head wound from a cannon shell. On 30th September N2661 became the new 'J' .

Nice picture but I’m afraid you have the wrong date, and, depending upon how you see it, the wrong machine or wrong man. The date is the 11th September, 303 Squadron did not take part in any operations on the 12th. According to the flight’s aircraft movement documents held at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, Cebrzyński was flying V6667/RF-K and Brzezowski V6665/RF-J. V6667 does appear in the records after 11th and the letter K was not used on any other Hurricanes after that day. V6665 continued to be used on operations until the end of September. 15th, 17th September Kent, 18th Henneberg, 26th, 27th Andruszków. Thus proving it is the flight records that are correct and the the ORB in error.

Freightdog 48009 https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/FSD48009

It's there under the exhaust.

There was an article in the Aeroplane, March 2017, on Supermarine test pilots and XP-51F.

Said erk applied the serial numbers in the correct manner, so that they could be read from behind the aircraft on the port wing, and from the front of the aircraft on the starboard wing. The same way as was done prewar.

No, fire extinguishers were coloured according to content. Red is water. These days they are coloured red with a coloured band denoting content.

It's not Puss in Boots, just a cartoon cat brandishing a sword, riding a bomb, with a beret with Polish insignia, and red and white sash. So it is Polish. I have a photo of the art work and it is clearly To BERLIN not Do BERLIN.

They are squares of parchment, coated with gas detection paint, held in place with red coloured tape. That way they were easy to replace.

Biphenol-A is not a plasticiser, it is used to manufacture hard plactics such as polycarbonate. http://www.rheothing.com/2016/06/bpa-is-not-plasticizer.html

The main cause of of yellowing in plastics is oxidation, heat and UV light. They cause desaturation and conjugation. When all the available bonds on a carbon atom are occupied by hydrogen atoms it is ‘saturated’. When there are carbon to carbon double bonds, C=C, then the molecule is said to be unsaturated. That is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats. The formation of these double bonds results in conjugation. Conjugation is simply a chain of alternating double and single bonds like so, C-C=C-C=C-C=C-C=. In conjugated systems the π bonding electrons delocalise. That means that the electrons are no longer associated with a single carbon atom. Delocalised electrons absorb light in the visible spectrum and it is that that leads to the plastic looking yellowish. The colour of many dyes is derived from this mechanism. Most flame retardants are safe but aliphatic bromine compounds are sensitive to heat and UV light and breakdown to release bromine. This accelerates the yellowing process. Some manufacturers add a blue dye to counteract the yellowing.