Just Jane. A great project.

[Yellow Fang]

Here are a couple of pictures .
Sorry about the quality . View attachment 574783

View attachment 574784

I think the registration was GLC.

Where's the mid upper turret?

 

[winjim]

My childhood best mate's Dad was a rear gunner on Lancs. He did 3 tours.
Looking back on it, it explains a lot of things about his demeanour.

Three tours, yikes. As my Grandad told it, gunner's job was not to shoot anything down, that was near impossible. Rather they had to spot enemy aircraft and shout instructions to the pilot so they could take evasive action. That said, J for Johnnie Walker did bag an Me109, as you can see from the swastika marking.

This was also the central theme in Catch 22.

I would say it was a device used rather than the theme as such but potato potato. In any case, you'd have to be crazy to want to complete three tours as above.

 

[Beebo]

Tail End Charlie’s by John Nichols (of Gulf War 1 fame) is a good book for understanding the war, the actions of bomber Harris and the sheer bravery of the men for climbed in side on of these.

 

[Oldhippy]

Want it!

 

[Rezillo]

Where's the mid upper turret?

Weight reduction for carrying Tallboy, Grand Slam etc?

 

[winjim]

Johnnie Walker is the subject of the book 'Luck of a Lancaster' by Gordon Thorburn, being one of very few to survive over a hundred ops.

 

[Cycleops]

This was also the central theme in Catch 22.

Yes, that was the catch.

 

[Drago]

yes - I have seen some statements from some folks (born postwar) from some folks born in countries that would have been under these things that say the crews were cowards, as if you just flew off and dropped stuff with impunity. In truth of course 50 per cent didn't make it to the war's end. I find it incredible that folk volunteered for this.
Another memory from the RAF museum though this involved american crews.
There's a letter or something from a US airman telling folks that their tour of duty (number of flights before being relieved) had gone up. It went up to a figure beyond the number of missions you were likely to on AVERAGE survive. If you were lucky, Which meant that from now on crews felt like they were on death's row. No coming back to this world.

Whereas electing the Nazzies into government and gassing 6 million Jews was really brave.

They pulled the tigers tail, so no one really cares when the same people then go on to complain about getting to see its teeth.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

My Dad was RAF Ground Crew during the war - I don;t think he ever worked on Lancs - mostly on Stirling then Halifax

If anyone is interested they have a Halifax in the Yorkshite Ait Museum near York - they do a few guided tours in normal years - I intend to go along when all this virus stuff calms down

 

[Oldhippy]

There was talk of opening the tunnels where the Short flying boats were built during the war in Rochester. I have a thing for flying boats.

 

[winjim]

Weight reduction for carrying Tallboy, Grand Slam etc?

Johnnie Walker carried Tallboys but still had an upper mid gunner AFAIAA.

 

[Blue Hills]

Tail End Charlie’s by John Nichols (of Gulf War 1 fame) is a good book for understanding the war, the actions of bomber Harris and the sheer bravery of the men for climbed in side on of these.

I can also recommend this.

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bomber-Boys-Fighting-Back-1940-1945/dp/0007192150

Currently sitting on the bookshelf of someone in a foreign city who once brought up his city's bombing and said "your people did that", then left a significant pause as if I should apologise.*
No idea if that was Lancasters but I do know that if you go to the British Library archives you can see the maps the bombing crews used.

* In the same city a few years later an exhibition in the town hall to commemorate the bombing told today's citizens that bombs had hit a hospital, despite it being marked with a painted cross on the roof.
Of course even if a bomber crew were devilish enough to want to hit such a thing, they couldn't have anyway.
This and other questionable stuff in the exhibition earned some pointed comments from me in the visitor's book.
This wasn't Germany by the way.

 

[Oldhippy]

I did a motorcycle trip on my Ural sidecar along the French coast and the Todt Division V1 Bunkers and factory some years back. There were some examples of damage that Tallboys had done to the infrastructure. Sod being underground with them falling out of the sky.

 

[Cycleops]

I wonder if anyone remembers what a Tallboy was?

 

[Drago]

I wonder if anyone remembers what a Tallboy was?

It was a weedy version of the Grand Slam. The RAF took a blunderbuss to a knife fight with that beastie.