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RCAF Boston MkIII Intruder


Dunny

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5 hours ago, tempestfan said:

I'd speculate they took pride in the places and would either have masked the "ttawa Ontario", or repainted it. But am I seeing things, or is there a blister on the port nose of Ottawa, starting roughly in line with the bombardier's rear glazing, just above the gun blister? If it's not an illusion, I don't think it's a standard feature.

 

No blister here:

 

51415502621_8d16768c9f_b.jpg

 

 

Oops! Wrong photo above.

This is the second photo from Carl. This is "D", not "O" Ottawa.

There is something in the photo, but I don't think it's a blister. Probably just a flaw on an old photo that was scanned from a negative, as was done by Carl's wife, Elizabeth.

 

51416302759_5e880a07ea_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

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Hi

     My random thoughts are

 

    most of the aircraft appear to show 'touch up' paint of a slightly different shade of paint in different places

 

 

   maybe this could be covering up markings painted by the previous squadron who had the aircraft before 418 ? 

 

or not ? 

 

and just prop spray paint wear ? 

 

  cheers

     jerry 

 

Edited by brewerjerry
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2 hours ago, dogsbody said:

 

No blister here:

 

51415502621_8d16768c9f_b.jpg

 

 

Oops! Wrong photo above.

This is the second photo from Carl. This is "D", not "O" Ottawa.

There is something in the photo, but I don't think it's a blister. Probably just a flaw on an old photo that was scanned from a negative, as was done by Carl's wife, Elizabeth.

 

51416302759_5e880a07ea_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

Thanks a lot Chris, but if I misread the D/O, then I‘d say: There is some sort of blister. Look at the shadow at 8 o‘clock, and the highlights on top. Could Carl possibly add something here?

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2 minutes ago, tempestfan said:

Thanks a lot Chris, but if I misread the D/O, then I‘d say: There is some sort of blister. Look at the shadow at 8 o‘clock, and the highlights on top. Could Carl possibly add something here?

 

I'm sure @Carl V will see this.

 

 

 

Chris

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Hi

    Another random thought

 

it appears to be in the same position where the AI aerial was fitted on the Havoc, looking at the 1977 plans done by Bentley 

 

  Did any boston aircraft get the AI fit ? 

 

     cheers

       jerry 

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More intel from Carl:

 

 I.          I am pleased that the photos that Chris posted on my behalf have been of interest.

II.         I fear that I am unable to add anything intelligent to the remarks that have been made. This type has never been one of “my” aircraft and I 

             have little more than a general knowledge. I simply had the posting made because as I will, hopefully, be 82 in three weeks time,

             I don’t see a great deal of point in sitting on material that may be of interest. 

 III.       As far as that possible blister is concerned, all I can add pictorially is the attached photo and zoom. As this “blister” appears on this image 

             as well as the one that was posted previously, it obviously represents something real rather than a photographic flaw.

 IV.       The negatives indicate that they have never been tampered with by censors.

 

Carl

 

51416551123_ebbb1c8693_b.jpg

 

51415538927_37b6ba5cda_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

Chris, for Carl

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7 hours ago, brewerjerry said:

Hi

    Another random thought

 

it appears to be in the same position where the AI aerial was fitted on the Havoc, looking at the 1977 plans done by Bentley 

 

  Did any boston aircraft get the AI fit ? 

 

     cheers

       jerry 

I also thought about the AI (looking at those drawings), but as far as I can see, the antennae simply were on a flat panel. IIRC, when looking into Bostons some 15 years ago, I managed to find one or two pics of a Boston III with Boulton Paul nose (and hence AI, I think), but would have to dig to locate it again.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/27/2021 at 8:35 PM, Dunny said:

Hi All,

 

I'm about to embark on Special Hobby's 1:72 Boston MkIII 'Intruder'. I'm intending to model it as AL468 of 418 'City of Edmonton' Sqn RCAF, which was based at RAF Bradwell Bay in Essex, December 1942 to June 1943. SH depicts the scheme shown:

 

 

 

SH call out Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Night, but my question is this: surely this type of aircraft would have worn the 'Night Fighter' scheme of Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green over Night? I can only find photos of this aircraft in overall Night, so I humbly beseech the hive mind for further clarification - surely @tonyot or @dogsbody will know?

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance rendered,

 

Roger

I have Dougla Alcorn's book "From Hell to Breakfast", he was one of the original Nav on 418. His book has several photos in it that clearly (and not so clearly) show both the Night and Green Grey over Night schemes. If thr photo's are in order (and they seem to be in general) then the Bostons started in camo over night and were later painted all black until 418 got Mosquito's

Special got it right.

Cheers,

Gord

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1 hour ago, Gordon Parker said:

I have Dougla Alcorn's book "From Hell to Breakfast", he was one of the original Nav on 418. His book has several photos in it that clearly (and not so clearly) show both the Night and Green Grey over Night schemes. If thr photo's are in order (and they seem to be in general) then the Bostons started in camo over night and were later painted all black until 418 got Mosquito's

Special got it right.

Cheers,

Gord

Thanks for that Gord! I'm definitely going with OG/DG over Night. Appreciate your input,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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9 hours ago, Dunny said:

Thanks for that Gord! I'm definitely going with OG/DG over Night. Appreciate your input,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Hi Roger,

More than happy to help. BTW according to Alcorn's book, the cannon blisters added to the nose were not present on the original 418 aircraft. I think by the time the Boston's were all-over night all the a/c were thus equipped. I have been looking at the 418 Sqd history published by Canada's Wings in 1984 but this book is by nature a pocket history and a little shy of dates. I will let you know if I find anything of interest. 

I am looking forward to your build!

Cheers,

Gord

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3 hours ago, Gordon Parker said:

Hi Roger,

More than happy to help. BTW according to Alcorn's book, the cannon blisters added to the nose were not present on the original 418 aircraft.

 

Those are not " cannon " blisters. They are covers over .303 machine guns. The A-20 came with 2 machine guns fixed into the nose. The blisters covered an added pair, giving 4 nose guns. Any cannons added to the aircraft were in a ventral tray fitted under the bomb-bay.

 

 

 

 

Chris

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4 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said:

Would anyone have an idea as to the serial number of "W (innipeg, man)" ?

 

W"spacer.png

I had a quick scan of the Air Britain W and Z Files ( mine are old, not sure if they were updated later), and the individual a/c letter is not recorded in them. Same for the AA100 to AZ999 File re the AL batch machines.

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Just an observation, "O" ottawa seems to (at one time) have the additional .303 nose gun fairings, and the 20mm cannon belly pack, while in the 'Intruder' scheme, as per this photo. But without the Canadian leaf or kill marking.

 

spacer.png

 

While in this photo, it appears that the guns and fairing have been removed. There even seems to be empty holes that might line up with the fairing fasteners ...

spacer.png

 

Curiously enough, the Special Hobby AL468 color instructions show no .303 fairings, while the DK Decals do show the fairings!

 

What's also interesting to me is the 'change' in serial numbers. From AL468 in the Intruder scheme, to W8268 in the all black scheme. Ordinarily, I would assume that it's a replacement aircraft, but, it would be something of a coincidence for the replacement "O" ottawa aircraft to have the same last two serial numbers. Could this possibly reflect a reassignment from RAF ownership to RCAF ownership (or vice versa), and a re-serialization?

 

Addendum;  My supposition was totally wrong. On further investigation, Boston III, W8268, "O" Ottawa, was lost over Holland 20May1942, all 3 crew KIA.

Boston III, AL468, "O" Ottawa was a replacement aircraft, and the formation flight photo is dated between April-June 1943, after it's return from a maintenance unit.

 

Edited by Tail-Dragon
updated info
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