EwenS

ZM413 flying circuits and bumps at Edinburgh just now.

The set fitted to B-29s was the AN/APQ-13 which did the same thing as H2S/H2X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/APQ-13 http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/A/n/AN_APQ-13_airborne_radar.htm

I've never seen such a list. But have you had a play with the searchable database at https://allspitfirepilots.org/index.php I quickly put "Gibraltar" into the Notes field and got c1200 Spitfires mentioning that. But some of the early pages relate to aircraft with A**** serials in the time period you are looking at so that might cut down the numbers you need to look at. Doing the same for "Eagle" gives 14 serials for March 1942. https://allspitfirepilots.org/aircraft/search?serial=&model=&factory=&engine=&notes=Eagle It may throw up other merchant ships names you can follow up on. One other thing suddenly struck me. A lot of Spitfires were gathered at Gibraltar pre Op Torch for the squadrons that went to Algeria so that might complicate things for the last couple of months of you search period. Photo from IWM might interest you. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205209156 Good luck. I'd be interested to hear of the results of your research.

And the price has been coming down as production has ramped up.

To give a bit more context, the F-35 first flew away back in Dec 2006 and over 520 have rolled off the production line with flight hours over 250k by March this year. IOC was in 2015/16. There were no losses in at least the first 100k flying hours. In that time nearly 1000 pilots have trained to fly it, with one of the test pilots having over 1000 hours on type. I really don’t think the loss rate is that bad.

While the Liberty ship and the Tacoma class PF were based on British designs (the SS Empire Liberty and River class frigates respectively) the DE was a largely US design. For several years designs for an "escort destroyer", generated both internally and from civilian designers, had been kicked around by the USN but they were not keen on the idea as it wanted proper destroyers. The whole project was saved in June 1941 when the RN asked for the release of some escort destroyers under lend lease. The USN design was the start point but modified with twin rudders (from the civilain designs), and a British style bridge (at Admiralty insistence) with the whole project being signed off by Roosevelt in Aug 1941. The LST arose from discussions initiated by the RN about building a tank landing craft capable of making an Atlantic passage. This was formulated into an outline requirement from Britain in Nov 1941 and the USN designers then got to work. and some 3 weeks later a British Mission went to the US to discuss and refine the draft design. So much more of a co-operative effort I would say.

Actually the serial is 43-5389. Drop the 4 from the front and you get 35389 as shown in the artwork. That aircraft was delivered on 12 March not 4 May 1944. Having had a look at Joe Baugher's site, the Norseman serial batches were as follows:- 43-5109 to 43-5402 were delivered between Jan 1943 and 20 March 1944. 43-7203 to 43-7208 delivered 20-31 March 1944 (-7409 to -7279 were then cancelled) then 43-35326 to 43-35445 delivered 25 March to 9 June 1944 So the OD/NG aircraft mentioned in this thread which have confirmed paint schemes (43-5389, -5392 and -5393) all come from the end of the first batch. The aircraft in the OP post photo (43-35372) is from early in the last batch. So maybe the most logical explanation is that Noordyn caught up with the Dec 1943 instructions when they began to produce the new batch in March 1944. That would make 43-5344 an OD/NG aircraft. Anyway, no one has yet commented on the most blatant error in the instruction sheet posted. The markings are completely wrong for the period. If the time and location are correct it should be carrying Luftwaffe crosses!! Probably a typo somewhere. "Noordyn UC-64A Norseman of 27th Transport Group, 320th Transport Squadron, Le Bourget, France April 1944"

Given that the invasion stripes are limited to the lower fuselage only so far as I can see, that would place the photo no earlier than 25th Aug 1944. AIUI orders were issued then to reduce the extent of the D-Day stripes, with the implementation period specified as lasting until 10 Sept 1944. Also a large amount of water on the ground suggests later in the year. So it could easily have taken 4-5 months from delivery to arrive in Theatre and still be in that picture.

There is also a very basic problem to be overcome. Which screw thread to use? US and British screw threads were different at that time. Do all the plans need redrawn to take this into account or is US industry persuaded to source and use British threads for this one contract? Either way it adds to the cost and adds time in getting production up and running. Being in a hole in WW2 we took what we could get but it did complicate the maintenance side of things.

See post #35 from back in 2013 on another site https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/no-camouflage-on-usaaf-planes.36226/page-2 Based on that your aircraft was probably silver/natural metal finish, unless they were using up an old stock of pre-painted components in Jan 1944. Depends on when the paint was being applied in the production process. As for delivery times I think you underestimate what was involved. From some limited research I’ve done on tanks and some aircraft types, factory door in the US to operating units in Europe was generally in the order of 4-5 months. After leaving the production line an aircraft might route through a modification centre to be brought up to the latest spec (more efficient than changing everything on the production line). Then for smaller aircraft it has to be flown to somewhere near a port to either be boxed up for transport, or given protective coatings if going as deck transport. Then it has to be allocated to a ship to sail in a particular convoy (1-2 weeks on the high seas). Then on arrival in the U.K. the ship has to wait to unload and the process of transporting the aircraft to a facility to allow unpacking the aircraft can begin. At each stage there is some element of delay as the workforce get round to it. Larger aircraft like bombers and transports could of course be flown over, but again there were delays. The major delay here was waiting for good enough weather at certain times of year. No flying above it in jet liner comfort in those days. By way of example the first production P-51B rolled of the production line in June 1943, and the first units in Europe began to receive them on 16th Nov 1943 being the 354th FG, with 65 squadron RAF following the next month. P-51D started coming off the production line in Oct/Nov 1943 and began arriving in the U.K. in March 1944. There are examples of kit being rushed to the U.K. in less time. Several hundred of the latest model Shermans only produced from Jan 1944 were delivered to the tank depots in the U.K. in April. But they were clearly marked as a rush job and delivery expedited.

My point was that it wasn’t a waste of money as they have established the principle over everything that wasn’t clothing. All depends on how you look at things.

If you read to the bottom of the article you will see that they did not lose completely. They lost with respect to clothing but succeeded in retaining it for everything else.

From Squadron Signal 99 “F8F Bearcat in Action” Second production F8F-1 used as a test aircraft for Mk.51 bomb rack under fuselage and each wing. Centreline rack cleared to carry 1*500/1000lb bomb or 1*100/150 gal drop tank. Wing racks cleared up to 1000lb for 500/1000lb bomb, 100 gal drop tanks, Mk.1 gun pods (2*0.5”) or 2*Mk.3 11.75” Tiny Tim rockets. All recommended to be symmetrically loaded. From 4th production aircraft (BuNo 90440) 2*Mk.9 Rocket Launchers were installed under the wing outboard of the wing pylons to carry 3” AR, 5”AR or 5”HVAR rockets.

I've been taking advantage of the free downloads from the National Archives to grab some of the RAF squadron ORBs for the Far East squadrons. While browsing that for 11 Sqn I came across the following entry:- "21/8/45 - Squadron aircraft were painted in part, and the Squadron Crest imposed on the starboad side of the fuselage. Both flights had the emblem painted in yellow, "A" Flight with a back edging, "B" Flight with red." 9 aircraft were then put aboard HMS Trumpeter at China Bay, Trincomalee on 31/8/45. The old Profile 246 Supermarine Spitfire Mks.XIV & XVIII has some photos of them being launched from that ship a few days later. Only one serial is visible on a rather poor quality photo - NH748/F from A Flight. The squadron badge is starboard side under the engine exhausts. Serial is in white and it has a fin band in white. Spinner and code letter also appear white. I can't make up my mind if the fuselage roundel has been crudely reduced in size like 132 sqn machines or whether there has been greater repainting on the fuselage around the area. There is also a photo of MV294/D taken in Oct 1945. White fin, tail & wing bands and spinner and serial. This time the camoflage has been neatly repainted around the fuselage roundel. In another photo MV357/M and MV380/J have white serials but NH875/G and ?????/N have retained the sky band.

The Mk.XII wing mods were introduced from RD130.