76 Squadron Halifax Mk V

[DunDiggin]

Having learnt a lot from browsing the Britmodeller forum, I thought I should return the favour by outlining the planning and building stages I'm going through to create my model. I hope it's interesting and helps others to approach their modelling tasks.

I hope to build up this topic with a series of postings over time. I'll start here with a bit of the history leading me to this point.

My Dad served as, amongst other things, an air gunner with Bomber Command during WW2.

He earned his DFM from 30 missions. 29 of them he was a mid-upper gunner and one a tail gunner.

The tail gunner trip was to Peenemunde - to bomb the V1 /V2 research station.

The other trips included several to Berlin and a round trip to Cannes.

You can imagine he has a few stories about incidents on different missions, as well as life generally. It was his 94th birthday the other day and we talked over a fair bit.

After taking Dad to London to see the Bomber Command Memorial, I decided I wanted to make a model of one of his aircraft.

Dad's operations were with 76 Squadron, flying from Holme-on-Spalding-Moor. I knew from talking to him that the Halifax aircraft he went on ops in had Merlin engines, Dowty undercarriage, rectangular tail fins and the later perspex nose as well as, I was pretty sure, H2S. This made them the Mk V Halifaxes.

Squadron records confirmed that they were Mark V, but bizarrely my Dad's log book says in the header they were Mk IIs. As that header is in the same ink and hand as that of the officer signing off the log, you would expect it to be right.

As a double check, I looked up every serial number from the log book in the production records - these confirmed them as Mk V in every case. It just shows that you need to check all your facts.

To emphasise the point about research and validation by cross checking:

I have gathered various books and photos to inform my build and get the details right.

I will be making two models. The first is a practice run to get my skills up - it will be the Matchbox kit and represent the one he was in over Peenemunde. The second, for a diorama, will be the aircraft he was in most, depicted for the Cannes op using a newer Revell kit with some after market amendment.

There don't seem to be any photos of either aircraft, but the latter was LK646 part of the same batch as LK640 - an aircraft whose photo has been much published. The largest print is in Bruce Robertson's Halifax Special. There is also a colour profile of it in Osprey's Halifax Squadrons.

The only bit of the Osprey colour image I was put off by was the old style tail fins. My understanding was that manufacturers were putting the late fins on by then. The photo misses the tail off. My Dad tells me that LK646 arrived with rectangular fins and that 76 was fully rectangular fins on main operational aircraft by that point. I will put dates and details in a future post.

Well, I showed the colour LK640 to my Dad, thinking the only difference he would highlight would be the tail fin. No, he also listed the absence of an H2S dome; the need for a Vickers k gun in the nose; and, a perspex blister aft of the H2S dome, which he used for watching out for fighters from below.

So, even very close in batch numbers from the same manufacturer, the details can vary markedly.

Further, most relevant photos suggest that the aircraft code letters appeared on the undercarriage. I would have planned to put them on my model if Dad hadn't said they weren't on his plane.

That's a preliminary post from me, my first on the forum. Future post should add detail and show how my builds get on.

Cheers

Andrew

[woody37]

Welcome Andrew, great introduction and with such a personal connection, looking forwards to your builds very much

Cheers

Neil

[elger]

All very interesting and familiar sounding good luck with your research and build!

Squadron records confirmed that they were Mark V, but bizarrely my Dad's log book says in the header they were Mk IIs. As that header is in the same ink and hand as that of the officer signing off the log, you would expect it to be right.

Perhaps because essentially, a mk V was a mk II with the Dowty undercarriage?

[bentwaters81tfw]

Welcome to the club! Does your dad remember Bob Perry? His regular a/c was W7655 'C'. Later on he flew a Mk6, I'll have to look it up. I take it you have a copy of 'To See The Dawn Breaking'?

Do you have the Dowty u/c? I have an Aeroclub set you can have if you are stuffed.

Cheers

Frank

[DunDiggin]

Thanks for the welcome, folks.

Frank - I'll ask my Dad about Bob Perry, you never know.

The Revell kit does have Dowty undercarriage in, though it does look a fair bit less substantial than the Messier ones in the kit - I am a wee bit concerned that it may not bear the kit weight well - if I am not being unduly pessimistic and the Aeroclub materials are stronger then I am definitely open to your offer. I have the Aeroclub engine bits (inc props and proper sized wheels) and the moulding materials seem pretty rigid. I'll know better when I start playing properly with the plastic.

Cheers

Andrew

[trevgarnett]

Hi Andrew,

My dad flew his first flight in a 4 engine bomber as second pilot in a 76 Sqn Halifax. Only did the one flight with 76 Sqn before being posted to a conversion unit and then going on to 158 Sqn. I assume they must have been short some pilots that night for a mission over berlin.

When did your dad serve with 76 Sqn?

Trev