Me, rear, third from right, with a 617 sqn Tornado GR1 we had just serviced, around 1983. Taken in a hardened aircraft shelter at Marham. You can see why the Ruskies lost the Cold War!
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Ah, the Cold War. In the 1960s Dad was stationed on a V Bomber base . For those who donât know V Bombers were the carriers of Britainâs nuclear weapons, which were an early cruise missile. The planes would take off and somewhere over the North Sea fire them at their targets.
Anyway the base had to be ready for the balloon to go up (WW3) and exercises could be held at any time. The siren would blare out and people would rush to readiness
It was not unknown for Sunday lunch time to be cancelled in rehearsal for WW3 . Anyway the thing that strikes me is that these days if everybody drove into the base from the various married quarters the base would gridlock in seconds.
In those days Dad went to the base on his bicycle , yes to launch a cruise missile for WWÂŁ, Dad had had to get on his bike.
Ah, all the fighters in WW2 had their niches , the Corsair was flown by the Royal Navy (this one was photographed at the last Farnborough airshow) , the Seafire was not a conspicuous success as a carrier plane .
The strength of the Spitfire was not only was it a fine aeroplane to fly , it was supremely adaptable - and I think was the only warplane that had a continuous production run from 1939-1945.
As an aside (to the previous pictures on the cold war) Castroâs airforce at the time he over threw Batista was a Supermarine Seafire , it is now on display outside the Museum Of The Revolution in Havana
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I remember there was a TV series in the States that I used to watch regularly as a boy, called Baa Baa Black Sheep about a squadron of âcharactersâ out in the Pacific during WWII. The Vought Corsair featured heavily, IIRC.
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The Supermarine Spitefire is undoubtedly the only truly immortal warplane to emerge from WWII. (49:54).
BTW, I am in awe of the Avro Lancasters and their crew. Incredible stories of men, despite grave danger and huge lost of lives, yet they went about with their job anyway. The thousand bomber raids, Aug 1942. 1,000 mid size and heavy bombers in the air. I canât even imagine it.
Last year on two successive Saturdays I went for a walk and each time was rewarded by the Lancaster flying low .
Earlier this year on the same walk was rewarded by a Spitfire and a Seafire within minutes of each other .
Also seen a Hurricane and a ME109 on the same walk.
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1000 bomber & dam busting raids aside; Lancasterâs also did some specialist long distance raids that on paper were beyond the Lancs operational range; e.g. the Tirpitz raids in northern Norway were only possible because they started from northern Scotland & after the attack they flew on over Norway & Finland to refuel in Russia.
Another series of long distance raids were designed to support the Italian campaign. These were high precision raids on small & specific targets to disrupt the supply of electricity to the railway system carrying German troops and supplies to the counter the Allied invasion.
5 Group which included 617 Sqn (the dam busters) & 9 & 50 Sqn were selected for this task.
After the attacks they flew on to airfields in North Africa where they we refuelled & rearmed before returning to attack more targets in Italy & then back to UK.
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And the toilet facilities were pretty non-existent .
Peeing in a bottle is one thing , pooing in a barrelâŠ
I would have expected just a hole the crew would pee or poo into with large bombers. 
Anyway, I donât know whatâs worst - pooping into a barrel or diaper like astronauts do. Pretty gross in an air tight suit.
From an article titled âCaught Short Aloftâ
From take off to landing, at times for as long as 10 hours, the tail gunner was constantly rotating the turret, scanning the surrounding blackness, quarter by quarter, for the grey shadow that could instantly become an attacking enemy night fighter. The rear gunner stowed his parachute in the fuselage behind his turret. Any relaxation of vigilance could mean death for everyone on board. Even answering the call of nature or âbeing caught shortâ could mean disaster for the crew. This was especially true for the rear gunner as his position was the prime target for attacking enemy night fighters. Even if he needed desperately to urinate or defacate, he couldnât leave his post on an operation. The Halifax, was not equipped with a piss [or relief] tube only an â Elsan â chemical toilet a few feet forward from the rear gunnerâs turret.
*It was exposed, unreliable, uncomfortable and dangerous in rough weather or if the skipper had to take sudden evasive action. At 10,000 feet and above, anyone using the Elsan had to use a portable oxygen bottle for breathing as well. The crew would have to have had bottomless steel bladders to be able to maintain the constant vigilance necessary for each raid and not use the Elsan or some other container brought onboard by a crew member. The Elsan was hated by the aircrews because they had to use it and the ground crew because they had to empty it. Located by the main crew door at the rear of the Lancaster, the âexclusive Elsan toilet was something to use only in the case of an emergencyâ and was certainly not a place to relax and have a âreadâ
One unknown airman describes his hatred of the Elsan.*
When we became straight and level again, I checked the crew for injuries. All seemed OK until I checked with Taffy, Idris Arndell, the wireless operator. On hearing him call âBlood, Blood!â I looked back through the navigatorâs curtain to see Taffy wiping his face and head. Little did I know that it was our â pee can â that had tipped over him in the mĂȘlĂ©e. It was not advisable to use the elsan toilet at sub-zero temperatures, so we had an empty A10 fruit, nicked from the mess, which we used. This was kept in the warmest spot in the aircraft to stop it freezing, just beside the wireless operatorâs position. There was no chance of Taffy washing until we got back to the billet after debriefing and the intelligence report. He was not exactly âflavour of the monthâ and he was given as wide a berth as possible. The other crews also gave him some funny looks and passed some very unkind remarks about his incontinence!
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Not for the faint hearted, one relative by marriage was a tail gunner and another flew Sterlings.
Then you might like this, a rather good yarn of the V Bomber years. Of course all of Derek Robinsonâs aviation novels are very good, the best of the type imo and recommend them to anyone with even a passing interest.
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I know the Thunderbolt A10 aka Warthog isnât vintage or retired yet (not without trying). But I love this slow arguably ugly aircraft. It can carry so much payload. It is resilient against the elements unlike some others that require pristine runways. It is able to absorb a lot of damage so survivability is superb. As a dedicated close air support plane, it is affectionately loved by ground troops. The 30mm gatling gun is as good visually as it sounds and feel in the cockpit. Now thatâs 4D effect! A firing clip may be a great test track for the topic âHouse Shaking Bassâ.
The GAU 8 under test, and in use
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Off piste but worth watching (youâve probably seen it), with the late Senator McCain reflecting the view of the troops - backed up by the list of comments.
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The American troops loved it , the British troops loved it .
Built like a tank, slow - great for ground support. If you were pinned down by Terry Taliban itâs what you wanted coming over the hill
The big question is whether it would be good against a peer nation with good SAM capability. Thatâs what did for the premature demise of the Harrier.
A little off topic, just saw documentary and read about Carroll Shelby, the founder of Shelby American racing car manufacturer.
Unlike modern âtextbookâ racing drivers, he had many adversaries through his life. He didnât have the financial backing from his parents like some would. He had congenital heart disease and would have a pain killer under his tongue to get through some races. He lived through WWII and was a second lieutenant flying many different planes including B-29 the Superfortress.
He was a chicken farmer and all his chickens reportedly died in 2 days sending him bankrupt. It was after this he became a racing driver, winning many races, including 24 hrs Le Mans in 1959. Remarkable especially given how dangerous motor sport was at the time. With little safety measures, quite a few would die each season. He was badly injured requiring 8 months of operations and strapped his arm to the wheel to keep racing.
After racing Shelby, drawing from his reputation, persuasion and tenacity, he managed to start his racer building adventure using AC chassis and Ford engine and built the infamous AC Cobra 927, then the Shelby Daytona coupe; and then he was involved in the development of the Ford GT40 MkIV which won 24 hrs Le Mans in 67.
Amazing indeed. His marriages were not so successful. With 7 marriages in total and 3 children. He had heart transplant in 1990 and kidney transplant in 1996. Shelby passed away in 2012 aged 89.
AC Cobra 927
Shelby Daytona
Ford GT40 MkIV
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One of my shots from the Goodwood Members Meeting, 2016
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A georgous T Bird at Brooklands American car day a few years ago. Not my pic, but saw this one there, particularly like the drive in movie food tray hanging on the door.
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