Halifax HX333 NP-J (Revell 1/72) The Groningen Connection ft. Percy the Peguin

[elger]

Next up for me: Revell's 1/72 Halifax B.III as HX333 NP-J of 158 squadron.

Halifax HX333 of 158 squadron was lost in action during the night of 28/29 January 1944. The crew consisted of pilot D.A. "Robbie" Robinson, engineer L.A."Les" Cardall, 2nd pilot D.A. Wilkinson, D. Rosenthal, S.E. Chapman. G.E. Hale, C.N. Durdin and E.J.L. Cote.

The crew took part in a bombing raid on Berlin. They reached their target, but at around 03:20 the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire over the target area in the tail section. The aircraft sustained such damage that the aircraft became very difficult to control; the pilot was barely able to steer the aircraft and to keep the nose pointed down. Stan Chapman recalls how they were lucky to have a 2nd pilot on board for the flight. Only by working together Robinson and Wilkinson were able to regain some control. Stan Chapman, the crew's bomb aimer, recalls: "The following hours were spent flying over a blacked out countryside on our own and every so often the aircraft was permitted to 'take up' its climbing and turning attitude under partial pilot control. The reason being our second pilot had to sit alongside the Skipper and hold the control column forward by sheer brute leg power, keeping this position until cramp overtook when he had to remove his leg, replacing it with the other one (...).

They were scheduled to arrive back at their base of Lissett, Yorkshire, at approximately 07:37 hours. However, at around 06:00 the aircraft was still somewhere over the northern Netherlands. Chapman: "I remember Les, our Flight engineer drawing attention to our petrol situation which was causing him some concern. I believe our height was about 13,000 feet when an unhealthy burst of flak brightened the clouds around us with dabs or orange. The Skipper put the nose down, at the same time turning back towards the Dutch coast that was behind us (...). The Skipper asked me to keep a look out for the coast and to bale out when certain we were over land. (...) Eventually could see the dark outline of a coast a few miles ahead. Our height was now between 4-5,000 feet, and it was getting lighter outside. I reported this to the Skipper who replied "Out you go first Stan, Best of Luck". I stuffed Percy the mascot inside my flying jacket, put on my parachute, opened the escape hatch, sat for a few seconds with my feet dangling in the slipstream, looked up to where I could see Wilky's flying boots, Dave our Navigator's face under his flying helmet. I gave him the usual thumbs up sign and lowered myself until the slipstream took over and whisked me smartly away (...). I recollect the snap as my chute opened, it felt as though my neck had broken. Looking down I could make out some farm buildings and an orchard, plus an uninviting barbed wire fence almost beneath me. I cleared the fence and finished up with my silk covering a small fruit tree and hanging with my feet about two feet from the ground. (...) Coming along the road in my direction two cyclists in uniform with rifles slung across their backs. Their arrival was meticulously timed, dropping their cycles against the hedge as I 'dropped in"! (...) The two questions asked me were "Are you R.A.F." ?"and "Are you armed?". I was then marched in front of my captors towards the village noting the flat terrain with no hiding place and the rifle pointing at my back. This started my journey to Stalag Luft 4 at Sagan in Silesia.

The rest of the crew also escaped unhurt. The story wasn't quite over for the pilot Robbie and Les the engineer. As they were getting ready to abandon the aircraft in mid-air, they discovered that Les' parachute had been damaged by the anti-aircraft fire. Robbie and Les executed a perfect crash landing just outside the village of Zandeweer, in northern Groningen. When the aircraft had come to a standstill, Robbie and Les exited the plane and started inspecting the considerable damage to the tail. Suddenly they were greeted by a man who identified himself as "Mr. White" who offered them a meal. Because they didn't know if they could trust the man Robbie and Les began to walk away. (It has been suggested that this "Mr. White might have been Piet de Wit, a local member of the resistance). Although they tried to avoid roads and villages, eventually the two crewmen were arrested by a Dutch police officer and later captured by German soldiers too. They were transported to the city of Groningen. Robbie recalls: "I will never forget the few hours that I spent in that town and the wonderful people there. Something special happened to my Engineer and I there. Later in the afternoon of the day that we were shot down we were taken there by the Germans. When we left the station we were taken along a road to a detention centre of the navy (this may have been the Engelse Kamp). In front of us walked a German officer with a pistol in his hand, next to us was a soldier with a rifle and behind us a soldier with a machine gun. This all, I assume to show the people that the Germans were winning and that the RAF was beaten. Instead of being impressed by this showing, the people gave us a wonderful reception. They would stand still on the pavement and give us a 'thumb up' or 'victory' sign, and a tram, which was over crowded, kept pace with us while everyone in it was waving at us and cheering us on. When we reached the camp, instead of depressed we felt like victors". Robbie and Les only stayed in Groningen for a few hours. Soon they were taken to the air force base at Leeuwarden and kept in jail there for a few days. After about a week they were taken to an interrogation center in Frankfurt. From there they were taken to Stalag Luft 6 prison camp at Heydekrug and in July 1944 they were taken to Stalag 4 in Pommeren. The last 3 months of the war they were 'on the march' being taken away from the advancing Russian forces and later away from the Americans. They were liberated by British troops and eventually repatriated.

Canadian Sgt Durdin, the mid upper gunner, who also bailed out just after Stan Chapman, was the only crew member to initially avoid captivity. Durdin was first hidden under straw bales in a sheep shed by locals where he stayed for about a day. He was then taken to a farm. The next morning together with two members of the resistance he biked to the city of Groningen (35 km!). It was a busy day and there were no ID checks. In Groningen he was transferred to the care of Tine Mulder (a.k.a. "Black Tine"), a Frisian female resistance fighter who had aided many other allied airmen. They took the tram to Drachten which was full of drunk German soldiers. Unfortunately, Durdin's luck ran out a few days later on his way down south, reportedly near Arnhem, where he was arrested. He also spent the rest of the war in captivity.

Percy the Penguin, Stanley Chapman's mascot, has been part of the RAF museum's collection since 1980. Clare Carr, the museum's curator, wrote a blog post about this curious item. She concludes: "You could say that the crew were unlucky to have to bale out and become prisoners of war, but Stanley’s view was quite the reverse. He believed Percy had brought the crew good luck “…Like many others on active service a mascot answered some unexplained need. The word ‘lucky’ is always associated with such items and it can, perhaps be born out on our surviving the night of January 28/29th 1944. Our losses were 44 aircraft that night, the vast majority of these crews did not witness the dull dismal dawn of the 29th which looked pretty good to me”.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/percy-the-parachuting-penguin/

The photos of the crash landed aircraft show that HX333 was a pretty standard early B.III. The photos show early square wing tips, and if you look at the originals of the photos you can just about make out that it had H2S. Although the Revell kit has received a lot of criticism, with some minor modifications I think it will be an excellent starting point to build a model of the aircraft.

So away we go...

[Martian]

Interesting back story, I'm looking forward to this.

Martin

[bbudde]

A Halifax. Of course I'm in here. Good to see a built of the new Revell one.

[Vicarage Vee]

Hi Elger,

I'm guessing that you are aware that Douglas 'Robbie' Robinson wrote an account of his wartime career, including details of this loss, called 'Life is a Great Adventure'.

Looking forward to seeing this progress, great start.

[elger]

I was not aware of that! How interesting, I'll see if I can find it somewhere.

[Grover 27]

Yes indeed a interesting story.

Read with special interest as the city Groningen is some 20km from my village.

Makes me thinking back to my youth. Very rarely my grandmother was telling about those noisy bombers high in the sky.

On their way to bomb Nazi Germany.

She was very brave and helped the downed allied pilots with food and hiding. A dangerous dedication.

My grandfather, a member of the Dutch resistance died in doing this secret war, (also kept in prison in Groningen but escaped).

Fearful times are here words I still remember as spoken now.

She always have hated the Germans.

Well,... back to modelling.

Will follow this with interest.

Kind regards,

Rudie

Edited March 6, 2016 by Grover 27

[woody37]

Great introduction to your next build Elger, looking forwards to this

[Mancunian airman]

Cracking story.

I know Groningen. I flew into the airfield there, believe it was used by the Luftwaffe.

I flew there to commemorate the loss of a 100 Squadron Lancaster.

The Dutch people are so warm and welcoming, remembering the men that overflew their country in darker days.

Good luck with the build of the Halifax. I think its far more poignant to have a related episode to any build.

I look forward to seeing the build progress.

PS

I have also visited Lissett, such a marvelous memorial, 158 Squadron, 851 men 'Missing'

Edited March 6, 2016 by Mancunian airman

[cngaero]

Save me a seat, I'm on my way.

Very interesting back story.

I'm looking forward to seeing this build.

[StephenCJ]

Story of the week. Best of luck with the build elger.

[Cees Broere]

Elger,

Good choice.

Cees (Halifaxgek)

[elger]

Had some fun adding details to the interior. I had bought the Eduard set but realized that the WEM detail set (intended for the old Airfix kit) has some additional details that I really wanted to add. A couple of years ago I built a mk V out of the Matchbox kit and also used that set. I was very frustrated at the time that the didn't fit the Matchbox kit (I may have even written WEM a strongly worded email about that at the time) but if you don't have to rely on the PE bulkheads the set is objectively speaking exquisite in the detail it offers.

So the detail is a combination of Eduard, WEM and some scratchbuilt items.

Next up: painting the interior.

Thanks for looking!

[elger]

Easter weekend and managed to finish the interior.

I mainly used Mr. Paint and Vallejo paints.

I'm quite happy with how this interior turned out. I used Clearfix for the bullet proof glass but it looks like it has gone bad in the bottle and the glass didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped. A strange halo of the black undercoat started to come through just behind the pilot seat where the seatbelts are attached to the wall. Must be some sort of reaction to the final clear coat.

Thanks for looking. As always, comments & feedback are appreciated.

[rob85]

That is a very nice interior! Well done on the paint work and for fittings so much brass in there!

Rob

[Duncan B]

Lovely work on the interior.

Duncan B

[Brandy]

That's a pretty impressive interior, nicely done! And thanks for the background history, it makes interesting reading.

Ian

[Martian]

That's very neat and impressive work, I look forward to the next instalment!

Martin

[The Spadgent]

Very nice indeed! The amount of detail in that pit is brilliant.

Great opening story too, good old Percy.

Edited March 28, 2016 by The Spadgent

[Mancunian airman]

Beautiful work . . . .

[liam225]

Hi, great build so far. A friend of mine's father was a navigator on the first Halifax np-j "j for jane" his dad finished is tour of duty in 1943 just before the aircraft was lost. The aircraft was then replaced by hx333.

Edited March 29, 2016 by liam225

[elger]

Hi, great build so far. A friend of mine's father was a navigator on the first Halifax np-j "j for jane" his dad finished is tour of duty in 1943 just before the aircraft was lost. The aircraft was then replaced by hx333.

Wow - thanks for posting those. I've been trying to determine whether or not HX333 also had a "Jane" pin-up. According to historian Ab Jansen the aircraft did (he mentions it in his book) but none of the photos of the aircraft on the 'Beeldbank wo II' site show the left hand side of the nose (where the most likely place for it is). Since the photos are essentially a 'walk around' I would assume that the photographer would have taken a picture of the nose had there been something noteworthy there. On the other hand, perhaps the photographer was a bit of a prude and didn't want to take a picture of scantily clad pin-up.

The Elvington museum has a copy of this painting. The artist has also not depicted any nose-art in the position where this would be most likely.The artist is listed as 'R.M.' I have enquired at the museum if they know what the connection is of 'R.M.' to the aircraft but I haven't received a reply yet.

So far, I have no evidence other than Ab Jansen's suggestion that HX333 had any nose art.

Edited March 30, 2016 by elger

[phildagreek]

Interior looks very neat, good effort.

[elger]

Closing up the fuselage. Added the frame above the engineer station.

Assembled and painted the turrets. Thought about replacing the barrels with items from Quickboost but the Revell parts are actually quite nice and delicate. Added details from Eduard and WEM.

Finally the canopy also with a part from Eduard and a part from WEM.

Thanks for looking!

[cotem]

Amazing work, Elger!

My father, Leonard E. J. Cote (RCAF) was the R/T Air Gunner on HX333 when it was hit by flak over Berlin on its last flight. He had a remarkable escape from that incident. I have done quite a bit of research into Dad's service and have contact with several of the crew and their offspring. I also have a great interest in 158 Squadron history and so very much appreciated seeing the photo posted of a prior crew of "Jane". If anyone has any more photos or stories from 158, please feel free to contact me. I also have been able to travel from Canada to attend a few of 158 Squadron Reunions in recent years -- they are still held annually in Bridlington, near Lissett.

To bring this post back to modeller topic, I want to say that I DO own this very model kit along with an earlier mark of the aircraft. I love the Halifax -- to me, it is the most beautiful of the heavies. I am saving construction of the models until perhaps retirement when I can devote sufficient time to assembly. Seeing the standard that Elger has set in construction, I now feel somewhat daunted in my task! I will, however, be very interested in your work on the rear turret!

[cotem]

Wow - thanks for posting those. I've been trying to determine whether or not HX333 also had a "Jane" pin-up. According to historian Ab Jansen the aircraft did (he mentions it in his book) but none of the photos of the aircraft on the 'Beeldbank wo II' site show the left hand side of the nose (where the most likely place for it is). Since the photos are essentially a 'walk around' I would assume that the photographer would have taken a picture of the nose had there been something noteworthy there. On the other hand, perhaps the photographer was a bit of a prude and didn't want to take a picture of scantily clad pin-up.

So far, I have no evidence other than Ab Jansen's suggestion that HX333 had any nose art.

Elger....

I am fairly certain that HX333 had "Jane" nose-art although I have not specifically asked that question of the pilot, Doug Robinson. I soon will ask him and let you know. I was asking him last year about Percy, the parachuting penguin because I wanted to know if he or any other of the crew had good luck talismans. He said he only knew about "Percy" but he, had his own ritual before each flight and that was to reach out his cockpit window and "do something rude" to the image of Jane painted on the nose. He was somewhat ashamed to tell the tale since his daughter was sitting at the table with us and he admitted he had not told anyone about that for years!

From this story I was assuming several things. One, that it was not the same "Jane-paint" as we see in the photo posted in this thread -- unless his reach was quite extensive. I also assume that the latest image of Jane was considerably larger or more extensive.

Unfortunately, none of he photos that were taken by the Luftwaffe of the downed aircraft showed that side of the fuselage (I, too was excited to find those dutch Archival photos! -- and Douglas Robinson was truly amazed to see them over 70 years after his "wheel-up" landing)