Selwyn

There are also firing handles on the seat pan! That why I asked. Selwyn

Assuming you are talking about the face screen firing handle on the headbox S1 Buccaneer "D" handle. Buccaneer S2 Double ring. Selwyn

Quick history lesson ! The reason the bombs were painted Buff is because of the Victorian Royal Navy! When in the late 19th century the RN started to use shells in their guns with modern nitrate based explosives, they introduced a marking system for the different types in use and a colour ring method of indicating their purpose and what types of explosive fill. The colour code for high explosive was overall light buff, probably as the RN had a lot in stock as it was a colour long used on the superstructure of RN ships (check out HMS Victory and HMS Warrior Funnels and masts!) This colour system was then adopted by the Army for their HE shells. The first RNAS aerial bombs, in 1912-14, (the RNAS were the pioneers of aerial bombing) as part of the RN used the established marking system, and all bombs used in WW1 were Light Buff and the aerial bomb marking system used this colour up to 1941/42 when the bronze green was introduced for camouflage reasons. That did not mean that the Buff colour was superseded, the naval and army HE shells remained in that colour. In fact the colour system remained in British forces use. It was added to and amended as new types of weaponry was introduced. It was finally abandoned in 1964 when the UK adopted the standardised NATO marking system. It could still be seen into the 1970's as bombs were repainted only when required by the servicing regime, (IIRC bombs were repainted every 10 years so 1974 would probably be the outside date). In WW2 If you saw a Green bomb with Yellow bands this was a US manufactured bomb. The green was Olive Drab and the yellow bands indicated HE in the US National ammunition marking system. The number of bands indicated the type of explosive. The US manufactured bombs were interchangeable with British bombs, Lancasters could frequently be seen with both types of bombs loaded to the same aircraft at the same time. British HE bombs were overall light buff with a red band around the nose cap to indicate a live fill and a Eau de nil coloured band "around the bombs widest point," with the type of explosive fill stencilled on this band. Look at some naval shells at the "Explosion" museum at Portsmouth. the front ones are in the original colour scheme showing variations of hazard bands (different hazards, different coloured bands) used over the years, the shells behind are in the modern NATO scheme. Naval shells Selwyn

This issue of Aden gun feeds applies to all aircraft types fitted with this gun It got really complicated with the 4 gun pack on a Hunter which had guns at all sorts of strange angles! Selwyn

The aircraft appears to have a gun installed, you can see the “top of the gun bottom” and the mounting bracket, and the barrel is fitted if you look closely. Now this is where it gets a bit complicated! Aden guns can be configured with left hand feed (LH) or Right hand feed (RH). The gun in front is a LH feed gun. if you imagine looking down on the gun from above as you see it, the ammunition feed slot is on the on the LH side of the gun. On the Sabre the guns are installed upside down, so LH feed guns are installed on the right side of the aircraft and RH feed guns are installed on the left side of the aircraft. This ensures the gun feed slots face outwards to mate with the ammunition chutes. So the gun in front is a LH feed, so it would be fitted on the right side of the aircraft. Just to complicate matters further Aden gun ammunition belts were also handed. There are different LH and RH hand ammunition belts for LH and RH guns. The difference is in the belt construction. Each metal link has a hook on one side and an eye on the other to enable them to be linked together. The links are actually held together by the rounds. If you lay the belt links down with the round point uppermost if the eye of the link faces to the right its RH ammunition, and if its to the left its LH ammunition. The eye has to feed into the gun first as the feed mechanism uses it to pull the belt into the gun. So on our Sabre the right side gun is a LH feed so is loaded with LH ammunition. And the Left side gun is a RH feed and is loaded with RH ammunition. With me so far? Not being that familiar with the Sabres Aden ammunition arrangements I don’t know if the Sabre kept its cases and links. Some aircraft keep either one or the other, some keep both, some don't keep anything at all someone else might know this about the Sabre. Selwyn

Thanks for the info! I might have to get out my Airfix Sabre Dog out of the stash and have a go at the earlier scheme. Selwyn

I bet that was fun to fit! the ammunition chute is at the front of the bay which means to fit the gun you have to pass it through the hatch and then move the whole thing forward into position. The gun is installed upside down (Not unusual, I never saw a ADEN installed "the right way up" on any aircraft,) and it looks like there is some sort of rail system in the bay above it, probably to enable the move of the the gun forward! Selwyn

Interesting that although its the same aircraft depicted in the Airfix kit the markings are modified and from a different time in its flying life. It's different in that the Buzz number is positioned on the nose and the large "US AIR FORCE" is missing but the yellow cheat line is the same as the airfix depiction. It should be easy enough to use the kit decals to depict this changed scheme. I just wonder if this is the early Bentwaters scheme or a later scheme? Anyone know? Selwyn

The Air defence colour is called Camouflage Grey BS381c 626 you may have better luck looking for the colour under this correct designation. Selwyn

I suspect that this difference was a result of the Derwent engine design changes. The Derwent engine Mk I-IV design was used on the Mk 3 Meteor. The Mk 5 Derwent used on Mk 4 was a very different engine. Rolls Royce had identified a requirement for a bigger and more powerful jet engine. As the Derwent was now a good reliable engine they basically used the basic Derwent design as a basis of a new design larger engine and this subsequently became the Rolls Royce Nene . The Nene exceeded all expectations and the prototype produced over 5000lb thrust. Consideration was then made to fit the Nene into the Meteor. Unfortunately this engine was far too wide to fit the wing so in a strange turn of events RR then designed a scaled down version the Nene which produced around 3.500 lbs thrust which was an great improvement on the 2400lb Mk IV Derwent and this engine was then fitted into the Meteor 4 and because of the comminality of the basic design became the Derwent 5 engine. Looking at the pictures above its apparent that the jet pipe of the (Mini Nene) Derwent 5 was much wider than that of the Derwent 4 resulting in a change of the rear necelle profile on the Mk 4 onwards. Selwyn

Bomb trolleys were not on squadron inventories, they belonged to the bomb dump. If they had a sqn number on them it was probably part of weapon delivery management by the dump (i.e. trollies marked XXX Sqn were earmarked to deliver to XXX sqn). Selwyn

In addition to grahams post, the other thing is whatever colour used that the side members were often painted white or had white stripes on them as an airfield visability measure as there were several instances of vehicles running into towed bomb trains at night or low visibility. You also saw cradle position markings either on the side or on the top of these rails to indicate where the cradles should be positioned for different weapons. Unit and base markings were sometimes apparent as well. Selwyn

And a lot of flies got sacrificed to the great speed god on that windscreen! Selwyn

A man walks into a local pet shop. "I would like to by a wasp if you please." "Sorry," says the shopkeeper." We don't sell wasps." "Well thats strange," says the man. "you have a couple of them in your window!" Selwyn

As kELT'S image above shows the wing mounted universal carriers were still fitted on the attack. If you look carefully There are 8 stores fitted to the wing Light series carriers, what they are is not clear due to the poor quality of the image they might be flares? The additiuonal IWM image also shows these stores but again not clearly. Selwyn