AndyL

Here are the recommended escape routes for Defiant air gunners, as taken from the pilots notes. Have you a particular Defiant in mind for your build yet?

The harness was fixed to a frame directly behind the seat, connecting into the centre of it. Unsure ref the aerials, but all my images don't give the detail needed. One would have thought that when the rear aerial retracted, it pulled the cable more or less flush with the fuselage. In the pilots notes it mentions that if the air gunner had to exit via the hatch in the fuselage, then the undercarriage had to be lowered so as to retract the aerial to prevent them getting caught in the cable. IFF - I have many images of 141/264 Squadron Defiants and all show no IFF. These images are from May to September 1940. HTH Andy

His cause of death in his casualty file does not mention a ramming; the RAF stated he was shot down by the He 111 and the assumption is that both aircraft collided. IIRC the He 111 did open fire on the Anson, but the story has always been he rammed his attacker.

As a ex member of the Severnside Aviation Society, we did a dig on the He 111's crash site ( in the long gone days of aviation archaeology ) and found these plates - they were recovered from where one of the engines had broken free from the bomber as it broke up in mid-air.

The kit is also missing the characteristic decking behind the cockpit.

What excellent work indeed! While not 28 Squadron, here's a few from 55 Squadron for reference. The come from the album of Francis Soper DFM, who was the highest scoring NCO in the Battle of France and was ex 55 pre war.

Just an addition to the thread. Here's Spitfire P9391 of 19 Squadron, damaged on 5th September 1940. It was being flown by Pilot Officer Eric Burgoyne, who is posing alongside the Spitfire - you can see it carried the serial number on the top of the fin flash. The photo comes from the log book of Flight Lieutenant Walter Lawson DFC, which is held in the National Archives, Kew.

Other 151 Squadron serials and individual code letters match as follows: N3373/H; N3378/Z; N1746/T; N1790/P; N1791/K; N3317/O; N3337/M; N3479/C; N3387/E; N1705/R and N3400/Q. Note that you might need to confirm whether the Defiant you go for has either the fishtail or 'Bluenote' six ejector style exhausts fitted.

Lovely Defiant - you've done a great job. The real thing was possibly shot down by Adolf Galland, as in his memoir he recalled that he overshot his intended target and hit the leader of the formation; Squadron Leader George Garvin had ordered the squadron into a line astern formation for their attack on some He 111's. With reference to Flight Lieutenant Robert Ash (known as Clifford ) he had earlier served with 149 Squadron and had flown operationally up until June 1940 before requesting a transfer to Defiants. His death has been attributed to being shot while descending in his parachute - his father certainly thought so, and also thought George Garvin was fired at, however Garvin made no reference to this happening in his letters home or log book. Clifford Ash was found dead in field near Faversham; he had been wounded prior to having to bale out of the burning Defiant, but it appears that he struck the tail as he went out of the turret and broke his neck, the last thing he did while alive was to pull the ripcord - this was according to the squadron medical officer. The Clifford family were still trying to see if he had been machine gunned, and were trying to get an answer way into 1944 ( I have copies of the correspondence ). But on a decent note, the night before, 264 had held a rather boisterous party, and it was noticed that Clifford had unwound to a level never seen before by squadron members, so at least his last evening alive had been a decent one. Regards Andy

@Spit Fan - if you do L7009, do not finish it with a Sky spinner. All my images of 141 Squadron Defiants have them in black. I'm still trying to get access to the pilot's photo album - Ian Donald was an avid photographer and I'm hoping there will be some images of 141 - he was ex Spitfires, joining them from 64 Squadron. As a good example, here's L7012 showing the difference between the turret base and framing colours.

Interesting question - I've gone through my Defiant photos and there are a handful of all black turrets fitted. I have an image of Defiant L6966 taken at Hornchurch which shows an all black turret, plus another of a replacement Defiant delivered to 141 Squadron showing the same; and from the album of the late John Gard'ner, there's a photo of him and Dudley Slatter sat in their Defiant. This image is pre-19th July 1940 and shows an all black turret. Reference the 141 Squadron book - it might be my history of the Defiant, which has a lot of 141 material, and what I think is the most up to date account of their action on 19th July 1940. I am just revising the draft of the Battle of Britain chapter after some new material came to light with regard to a hitherto unknown Defiant crew that actually tried to play a part in the earlier mentioned action - I am having to add in material taken from letters written by the pilot, and notes from his log book. I am currently working my way through the night fighter chapter, which I have broken down into six month segments; this is by far the largest part of the book. Most of the manuscript is complete, however one fly in the ointment is the now lack of book cover. I had been given permission to used the painting by Australian artist Steven L Heyen which shows Defiant L7009 on 19th July. However this has since been dropped by my editor. I'm looking forward to seeing your build when you start it. Regards Andy

Brilliant, thank you very much.

Off the back of my work into the Boulton Paul Defiant, I have been given a copy of the log book owned by Noel Constantine. He was with 141 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, and later served with 23, 125, 264 and 87 Squadrons, before being posted to Ceylon to take command of 273 Squadron, the only RAF Fulmar squadron. As this area is out of my field of knowledge, I'd like to ask if anyone knows what colour schemes these Fulmars would have worn; all bar one of the aircraft he flew were from the X serial range. So, any ideas? Cheers, Andy

I had this image from the photo albums of the late Air Commodore Ernest 'Bertie' Wootten, and it shows one of the Heinkels you're interested in. I can't remember the ID of this particular aircraft, but it was lost in Dorset ( I think ) when the pilot accidentally flew it into a gentle rising slope when crossing the coast. Hope it's of interest.

Don't know if this helps regarding colour schemes, but 89 Squadron were originally based in North Africa, mainly Abu Sueir, with several detached flights based at other airfields such as Idku, and by the start of May 1942 they had claimed seven destroyed, two probable and two damaged. A detached flight, known as the Malta Flight, or 'C' Flight was raised and this is when 89 started to account for more enemy aircraft. This Malta Flight consisted of Shipard, Reeves, Fumerton, Mitchell, and Ross; they were posted to Malta on 22nd June 1942. Also, the squadron undertook a few shipping escorts in daylight too and at night flew intruder sorties over Sicily. If you look closely at the image I posted with Shipard and Reeves stood in front of Slippery Ship II, you can see what could be an overpainted roundel? I've never worked out if it's overpainted or a trick of the photographic film.

Well, I've certainly learnt something from this thread inasmuch as I've just wasted £11 on a MiG RAF paint set!

They come from Armament Volume II Guns, Gunsights, Turrets, Ammunition and Pyrotechnics, issued by the Air Ministry, Air Historical Branch in 1954. One copy is held in the National Archives, Kew; file reference AIR4/82.

I'm probably late to the party, but this might be of interest..

Hurricane L2012 was UP-V. This comes from the log book of Sergeant Leslie Ralls who flew L2012 three times in June 1940.

The only other option you might have ( when the National Archives are open again ) is to check the casualty file for T1884, which is AIR81/4348. The pilot of your Blenheim was killed on 9th August, flying a 487 (N.Z.) Squadron Ventura. By then he had reached the rank of Squadron Leader ; his full name being Edgar Alfred Costello-Bowen. He is buried in Marham Cemetery.

Finally, I thought I'd add this one. Though it doesn't show a Beaufighter, it has L-R Nevil Reeves, Doug Oxby and Merv Shipard with the squadrons captured Kubelwagen.

And here's another view of one of the 89 Squadron Beaufighters, with Nevile Reeves in the cockpit.

Here's another image for you - Merv Shipard and Nevile Reeves stood on front of Slippery Ship II. I obtained copies from both Doug Oxby and the Reeves family when I was writing about the latter back in 2007.

Early days yet, but Pietro Abbate of 3D Models Kits announced that they are working in a 1/32 Defiant in resin. Regards Andy

Next year. Something called 2020 got in the way and due to a few issues I couldn't finish it. Trying to tie everything up by the end of the year.