Roald Dahl's aircraft

[Radpoe Spitfire]

Just a quick query, but does anyone know the codes & serials for any of the author's aircraft- Hurricanes or S pit fires?

Regards Rad

[Mike M]

Did he fly Spitfires? IIRC he flew Gladiators (which he crashed and received the head injury that would ultimately end his flying career) and Hurricanes. I haven't read his book about his time in the RAF for 20 years though so I may well be wrong!

Mike

[Iain Wyllie]

Just a quick query, but does anyone know the codes & serials for any of the author's aircraft- Hurricanes or S pit fires?

Regards Rad

He shot down 3 Ju 88s while flying a Hurricane Mk 1 with 80 Sqdn. in Greece, serial V 7806. Don't know the codes, I'm afraid.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Iain Wyllie

[brewerjerry]

hi

some info on his career is on wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl#Fi...ligence_officer

cheers

Jerry

[Spitfires Forever]

I highly recommend "Going Solo" by Mr. Dahl, a great read. I to would like to make a MkI with his squadron code, there must be a picture somewhere.

Cheers

[Smithy]

Check the 80 Sqn ORB for the appropriate dates that he made claims which might have it. However many ORBs only list the the aircraft's serial number.

Dahl's logbook might very well have what the individual aircraft code was, as many pilots tended to list this rather than serial. Due to Dahl being such a famous person I imagine his logbook will be in a public collection/museum somewhere.

Cheers,

Tim

Edited June 26, 2012 by Smithy

[elger]

There is a photo in his book "Solo" of a Hurricane which he captions as "My Hurricane". It's taken from behind, right. The side is difficult to see (quite dark if I recall correctly), but I don't think that it actually had squadron codes.

What has been speculated however is that the Hurricanes of 80 squadron at the time had been partly camouflaged in Italian style "spaghetti" camouflage on the leading edge of the wing.

Elger

[Radpoe Spitfire]

I highly recommend "Going Solo" by Mr. Dahl, a great read. I to would like to make a MkI with his squadron code, there must be a picture somewhere.

Cheers

Ha you've caught me out!!!! At the moment my 7 year old son is reading this book, so curious as to which aircraft he flew, I thought it was Spitfires. But it has the hatchlings of a future build.

[Radpoe Spitfire]

I highly recommend "Going Solo" by Mr. Dahl, a great read. I to would like to make a MkI with his squadron code, there must be a picture somewhere.

Cheers

Ha you've caught me out!!!! At the moment my 7 year old son is reading this book, so curious as to which aircraft he flew, I thought it was Spitfires. But it has the hatchlings of a future build.

[Radpoe Spitfire]

Ha you've caught me out!!!! At the moment my 7 year old son is reading this book, so curious as to which aircraft he flew, I thought it was Spitfires. But it has the hatchlings of a future build.

Oops sorry about the repeat , I'm using my bro-in-law's ipad - hence the ham fisted finger trouble? If one of the moderators would like to take the repeated reply off, or tel me how to , please do.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Radpoe Spitfire

[Iain Wyllie]

There is a photo in his book "Solo" of a Hurricane which he captions as "My Hurricane". It's taken from behind, right. The side is difficult to see (quite dark if I recall correctly), but I don't think that it actually had squadron codes.

Elger

That could well be the case. 80 Sqdn. was in Greece, while Dahl was in Egypt. He flew V7806 from Egypt to rejoin and reinforce the unit which was covering the retreating Allied forces and, as the unit was also moving around, there were more important things to do than paint codes.

[Silver Fox]

IIRC 'Dust Clouds in the Middel East' has details of his claims against the Vichy French. I'll check when I get back to my references. I have a feeling he may have flown Tomahawks at this point.

[Killingholme]

Here's proof that his log book is on display at the Great Missenden museum

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=115925

Will

[JMChladek]

I've been collecting information for doing Dahl's Hurricane from Greece myself for the past few years. The best book I've found on data for the Greek campaign is Squadron's (hardcover) Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete by Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nichola Malizia. The book is out of print and kind of difficult to locate. But if you can find a copy, it is a treasure trove of excellent data on these little known air campaigns of WW2.

Only firm Hurricane I've been able to pin down as Dahl's from a combat operation was V 7826 (the account is on page 255 of the book I mentioned), which he used to down his first Ju-88 in Greece. Thinking back to "Going Solo" (I also got hooked on doing Dahl's plane after reading that book) it seemed as though 80 squadron didn't have any assigned birds at that point (except maybe Pat Pattle's) and the pilots likely flew what they had of the serviceable aircraft. So assuming V 7806 is the bird he ferried over the med and it isn't a typo, it shows once he got there, they had him climb into the next available plane for a combat sortie. They certainly got their ranks scrambled a bit after the major furball over Athens before their base was evacuated.

As for tail codes, don't worry about it. Based on all the pictures I've seen of 80 Squadron's birds from Greece, they had no codes. It was just the fuselage number and the roundels. The only other odd markings were the sand and spinach colors painted on the leading edges of the wings and nose (don't forget the Volks tropical filter) to make the planes look slightly Italian from the front when they would do their strafing runs. It was a marking change that was first used in the North African desert and when 80 Squadron went to Greece, they kept the markings on the planes. BTW, the planes did not have Sky painted fuselage bands either (just the normal dark earth and green colors).

I haven't been able to find any decent images of the 80 Squadron planes when they were deployed in Palestine and I have no idea what the serial numbers of those birds were. V 7826 will be the specific Hurricane I'll build when I get around to doing an aircraft that Dahl flew.

Dahl never flew Spitfires to my knowledge, just Hawker Harts in training, Gloster Gladiators and the Hawker Hurricanes. His headaches from his Gladiator experience got him medically discharged from flying duties long before he might have ever considered sitting in a Spitfire and 80 Squadron stayed a ground attack Hurricane unit in North Africa for quite awhile during the war.

Edited June 28, 2012 by JMChladek

[Silver Fox]

Ok my memory was wrong, he used Hurricanes to attack Vichy bombers. Dust Cloulds describes the actions but gives no serials or codes.

[Spitfires Forever]

There are some pics in the Hurricane in Action book showing a Hurri in Greece with the Italian style frontal camouflage. would be nice to see the full pics of these planes. The South Africans used the same scheme in the desert.

Cheers

[mumbles]

Interesting thread, since I'm intending to model Dahl's Gladiator at some point Any info out there on that aircraft? Either it or the Hurricane would make a great crossover/conversation piece for my non-modelling, non-aviation, but literary inclined friends

[JMChladek]

There are some pics in the Hurricane in Action book showing a Hurri in Greece with the Italian style frontal camouflage. would be nice to see the full pics of these planes. The South Africans used the same scheme in the desert.

Cheers

I am pretty sure all the Hurricanes with that style of paintjob were at one time part of 274 squadron as they seemed to be the originators of the Italian sand and spinach front end look. It apparently became rather popular, although once the Italian combat operations in North Africa gave way to Rommel's Afrika Corps, there likely wasn't really a need to do that anymore. There seems to be some overlap in the two units with 274 being reformed in Egypt in August 1940 with an "A" flight of Hurricanes and a "B" flight of Gladiators with pilots for the Gladiators coming from 80 squadron and two other units. In September, 80 took their Gladiators north to Greece (about the same time that 274 incorporated Hurricanes into its "B" flight). Dahl's Gladiator crash also took place in September of 1940. The first Hurricanes (six of them) arrived in Greece in February, 1941, followed soon by a group of 33 Squadron Hurricanes. The numbers swelled over the coming months until the Luftwaffe decided to join the party.

Hasegawa did a 1/48 Hurricane Mk 1 Trop with that paintjob and issued it as a "Mediterranean Theater" Hurricane (kit #9682). I have the kit. Its instructions and decals are for a 274 Squadron bird and an 80 Squadron bird flown by Plt. Officer W. Vale (V7795) in April, 1941. But I don't think one needs to acquire it to necessarily do those birds as the markings look pretty common for Mk 1 Hurricanes (except for the sand and spinach noses). The only odd paintjob note I can see is Hasegawa is calling for the bottom of the planes to be painted in a sky/azure type blue mixture of 90% white and 10% blue rather than azure blue or the more greenish "Sky" coloring (isn't there a debate ranging still about that shade of blue also being used on some Battle of Britain aircraft?). In my case, I am going to piece together what I need from aftermarkets since the red roundel colors used by Hasegawa seem a bit too maroon (and the white looks cream/ivory).

Edited July 2, 2012 by JMChladek

[Spitfires Forever]

Decal consistency with Hasegawa is sketchy at best. With the exception of the short series done by Cartograph I have found that many times their colors are out of register and many times off set as on my I.R.Gleed Mk Vb Spitfire. And of course both Tamiya and Hasegawa have a strange sense of what sky type S. There really is no sure solution to the decal problem.

Cheers

[Test Graham]

There were certainly many more Hurricanes (and Fulmars) with the "spaghetti" than just those from 274 sq, and 80 Sq Hurricanes do not seem to have carried this nose scheme initially in Greece, although at least one was ferried over later. There is at least one photo with NV codes from the earlier period, but as you say there was no sign of these on later delivered aircraft.

It is far from clear that the light colour is best described as sand, as there is considerable contrast with the Middle Stone (and there'd be no point in this for Fulmars on a carrier). It seems likelier that the colour is an underside colur such as a light blue, but there does seem to be considerable variation in practice.

[Radpoe Spitfire]

That could well be the case. 80 Sqdn. was in Greece, while Dahl was in Egypt. He flew V7806 from Egypt to rejoin and reinforce the unit which was covering the retreating Allied forces and, as the unit was also moving around, there were more important things to do than paint codes.

Righty oh!! if he flew V7806, then it's good enough for my little boy - although only 7 he's a big fan of Roald Dahl's books, but "wants to build a model like Daddy's"- much to my good lady's consternation. I dont expect him to be like me, model wise (I started at 8), but I want to give him the chance to have a go at building one for himself.

It may not get finished with great accuracy, but if someone can clue me in on the mark & colour scheme it would make us both happy.

regards Rad

[Spitfires Forever]

Righty oh!! if he flew V7806, then it's good enough for my little boy - although only 7 he's a big fan of Roald Dahl's books, but "wants to build a model like Daddy's"- much to my good lady's consternation. I dont expect him to be like me, model wise (I started at 8), but I want to give him the chance to have a go at building one for himself.

It may not get finished with great accuracy, but if someone can clue me in on the mark & colour scheme it would make us both happy.

regards Rad

Get him the Pegasus hurri, a great kit to get started modeling on! My daughter's first kit was a Corsair that she built for a school project when she was 9. She is finishing up the Pegasus P-51B right now and wants to build a Spitfire next.

Cheers

[cheeley]

I'm ashamed to admit that I had no idea about Roald Dahl's past as a fighter pilot. This thread has been a fountain of new knowledge for me!

Chris

[Spitfires Forever]

I'm ashamed to admit that I had no idea about Roald Dahl's past as a fighter pilot. This thread has been a fountain of new knowledge for me!

Chris

I learn something new every time I log onto this site, Edgar and Graham are both fountains of knowledge, as are many of the other members. brittmodeller is my favorite modeling site for anything regarding British aircraft, and I made a few great friends along the way.

Cheers

[JMChladek]

Get him the Pegasus hurri, a great kit to get started modeling on! My daughter's first kit was a Corsair that she built for a school project when she was 9. She is finishing up the Pegasus P-51B right now and wants to build a Spitfire next.

Cheers

I concur. I have a half built Pegasus Hurricane in my collection and it is a beautiful model kit for a snap tite bird. The wings are a little thick and it doesn't have a Volks tropical filter, but the detail looks nice (and the cockpit looks great after some simple paint work). Only thing that would be a good idea to do for somebody who is a bit anal about it would be to rob one of the two propeller options out of the Airfix 1/48 Hurricane to replace the Pegasus propeller as the hub is a bit funky in shape.

The Spitfire is not too bad although it has some detail and shape problems if one is a purist. It builds well for a snap bird, but it just is a bit off in spots (probably because it was their first snap aircraft kit).