SEAC Thunderbolt serial query

[ajmm]

Hullo

 

My grandfather flew Hurricanes and Spitfires in Burma before converting onto the bubble top P-47 with 60 Squadron.

 

 

He flew with them in Batavia, Java immediately after the war (although the shot below shows what looks like a camouflaged scheme which I thought were stripped back to bare metal by then). 

 

 

His aircraft was coded MU-W as far as I can make out but I have no idea what the serial is. He flew a bunch of Jugs though...

 

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for where to look? I’ve just ordered the Rawlings book of RAF Fighter Squadrons so that should help. Sadly his log books only give the aircraft ID letter. 

 

Hoping to build his Bolt. 

 

Thanks for any advice or help!

 

Angus

Edited June 2, 2018 by ajmm

[Graham Boak]

They stopped painting them rather than stripping the paint off the ones that were already there.  The best source for RAF Thunderbolts is Geoff Thomas's book Royal Air Force Thunderbolts.  However that will probably not be a great guide for anything as specific as you want - it's worth having anyway.  Rawling's FSR will only give you KL187 MU.M, but does have a photo of camouflaged 60 Sq a/c at Sarawak in 1946.  I presume that you mean "ordered" as in a library loan - I think they go for very high prices now.  So they should: despite its age, it is a superb book.

[Ossington 2]

After a quick look at the usual sources, all I have is KL187 forMU-M.

[Ossington 2]

Using Google images, I have found a profile of KL173, MU-A. NM finish, Oct 45.

[ajmm]

Thanks guys - yup that’s all I’ve come up with too which seems daft as there is a good picture of what s/ns went with what codes for 79 Sqn Bolts. 

 

Actually i found a copy of that book going on that auction site for a song and thought that even if it doesn’t help with this it’s a good resource to have - have heard lots of good things about it. 

 

Thanks again for your help. 

[ajmm]

3 minutes ago, Ossington said:

Using Google images, I have found a profile of KL173, MU-A. NM finish, Oct 45.

Nice thanks - I’ll look that up now!

[Graham Boak]

Thomas's book however has lots of 60 Sq examples, camouflaged and bare metal

MU.C  KL341 - colour profile bare metal

MU.H KL882  - photo bare metal

MU-J KL336 - photo bare metal (can't see J on photo)

MU-S KL266 - photo camo

plus the FSR photo but said to be at Kemajoran,

and most important for you

MU.T KL859 photo bare metal

 

 

[mackem01]

There is a picture in Geoff Thomas' book of 60 sqn Thunderbolts taxi-ing at the airfield in Batavia in late '45. In the background you

can see what appears to be MU-W, the serial seems to end in '87 or '97. Unfortunately the old eyes aren't as good as they once were.

[Graham Boak]

Thomas does say KL187, which is the one that Rawlings identifies as MU.M.  If wrong, this wouldn't be the first error in Rawlings that I've seen this weekend, but in fairness there as so many examples provided there are bound to have been the odd slip.

[Seahawk]

1 hour ago, ajmm said:

Actually i found a copy of that book going on that auction site for a song and thought that even if it doesn’t help with this it’s a good resource to have - have heard lots of good things about it. 

 

Do: you won't regret it.  No aviation home should be without one.

[stevehnz]

The 

2 hours ago, mackem01 said:

There is a picture in Geoff Thomas' book of 60 sqn Thunderbolts taxi-ing at the airfield in Batavia in late '45. In the background you

can see what appears to be MU-W, the serial seems to end in '87 or '97. Unfortunately the old eyes aren't as good as they once were.

That photo is an Imperial War Museum print IWM-CF879 according to the Thomas book. A google search brought it up. To my eye, the only codes I can see are MU-M in the nearest plane side on to the camera.

Steve.

[Ossington 2]

You might find details of your grandfather in this document: AIR27/2426/9. Covers from May 46 to Dec 50, which might include his participation. 362 pages to go at.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8420203

I can't see any aircraft/code tie-ins, but I'm looking at the down graded version.  Once you know his posting in and out dates, you can check the monthly summaries.

 

[ajmm]

Can I just say an enormous thank you to everyone. Really. Britmodeller is an example of good internet doing good things. Thank you for taking the time to dive into books and look things up online, or point me in the direction - I'm really very touched. I know he flew MU-T from his logbooks so perhaps I'll do KL489.

 

On 6/3/2018 at 8:43 AM, Ossington said:

You might find details of your grandfather in this document: AIR27/2426/9. Covers from May 46 to Dec 50, which might include his participation. 362 pages to go at.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8420203

I can't see any aircraft/code tie-ins, but I'm looking at the down graded version.  Once you know his posting in and out dates, you can check the monthly summaries.

 

 

I had no idea these had been digitised - amazing. Thank you! I've learnt a lot about him already - his nickname was Ace according to the 155 Squadron Diary and he was the Squadron's jungle training instructor, taking them on "exercises" (fishing trips, really) in the Burmese jungle at weekends. I never met him but feel I know him a little better now. Thank you. He was an RAF careerist so I've got plenty more of these to look through to get me to 1981!