The plane enthusiasts thread

[Joey Shabadoo]

Does any one know anything about the service men who crewed the AA guns during WW2 , were they RA or were they an independent unit , I have had a google but not much success ,

Read recently of an infantryman whose unit had fought from 1941 in Egypt, Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy before being recalled to the UK to take part in the D-Day landings. There was a lot of resentment when they encountered the AA gunners who had spent the entire war at home facing little danger. However, the horrific casualty rates suffered after the Normandy landings and the decrease in air raids led to lots of AA gunners being given a two week infantry course before being shipped across the Channel to join the slaughter.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I don't think I've mentioned this before, in this thread, but given my linking a post to the 'Great Things That Yorkshire Has The World' thread' (about Blackburn, on page 9 of it), I thought of this structure

Has anyone travelling on the A64, ever noticed a large barn-like structure, to the north of the road, just east of 'Bramham Crossroads' (a tale in itself!!)
These are at Headley Hall, nowadays, I understand that it's used by the 'National Institute of Agricultural Botany' as a research centre.
Apparantly, it's one of only 2 WW1 hangers left in existance

Home of 'B-Flight, 33 Squadron' in 1916,.
Later the field became a training base with SE5A's

https://www.britishlistedbuildings....hall-farm-bramham-cum-oglethorpe#.Wp5d_Ex2vIU

 

[DaveReading]

Some loops and climbs and various manoeuvres spotted this afternoon. A400M Atlas jobbie. Trainee out of Brize Norton?

An A400M doing a loop would be a sight to behold.

 

[midlife]

An A400M doing a loop would be a sight to behold.

Just had a look at it does some pretty impressive wingovers

 

[colly]

Olympia Works, Roundhay Park

http://www.leedsengine.info/leeds/histplane.asp

It's a Tesco's now.

I shouldn't be too glum. My son works there as a night manager.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

An A400M doing a loop would be a sight to behold.

Horizontal loops! I suppose I meant circuits

 

[ozboz]

Read recently of an infantryman whose unit had fought from 1941 in Egypt, Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy before being recalled to the UK to take part in the D-Day landings. There was a lot of resentment when they encountered the AA gunners who had spent the entire war at home facing little danger. However, the horrific casualty rates suffered after the Normandy landings and the decrease in air raids led to lots of AA gunners being given a two week infantry course before being shipped across the Channel to join the slaughter.

sounds about right , I suppose these days we would call it 'training on the job'
Given a Tin hat , .303 rifle , see you later boys !!

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Pulled from my files, as I wait for daughter to get ready to be driven to College

Forgot about this
Especially, as I've been in the village quite recently too, & enclosed pictures in this thread



http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2414728

 

[ozboz]

Pulled from my files, as I wait for daughter to get ready to be driven to College

Forgot about this
Especially, as I've been in the village quite recently too, & enclosed pictures in this thread

View attachment 399145 View attachment 399146 View attachment 399147

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2414728

Was the Pub named in Honour of all the RAF Pilots that served there or the Pilot who received the VC ?

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Was the Pub named in Honour of all the RAF Pilots that served there or the Pilot who received the VC ?

I'd presume, for all the air-crews?

 

[ozboz]

I just wondered as the Pub
sign shows just a single fighter ,
as far as I can gather the only Pilot of the Battle of Britain was one Ft Lt James B Nicolson.
You would have thought a few more of the 'Few' would have received a VC ,

 

[Spinney]

Saw an A400M in the Lakes last week - we were on Lingmoor, it was flying low over Grasmere and vanished from sight low behind the hills between us.

Coincidentally, I'm sitting here in the upstairs room that is my home office, and one appeared through the window flying towards me and over the house at pretty low level - can only have been 150 ft or so. We don't normally see aircraft of any type around here (other than airliner contrails). Was nice - I miss living just south of the Lake were fast jets would pass on their way to low flying routes in the fells.

 

[User10571]

https://goo.gl/maps/dtrW8ugrTjp

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Also............................
On the same Saturday, I was down Doncaster way, & went to a place I've been before, but not in

View attachment 398716 View attachment 398715 View attachment 398718

Misson, is a couple of miles east of (RAF) Finningley...... which is now Robin Hood/Doncaster Airport
The Bloodhounds were there as the surface-air defence system, for the airfield..... which was a V-Bomber (nuclear) base
Co-incidentally XH558 was stationed at Finningley for 8(?) years

It's still known as 'The Rocket Site', as shown by the sign


If you open this, & look at the aerial photographs, the launch points can be easily seen
http://www.ljacksonandco.com/index.php/visit-us


Fast accelerating little buggers too!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound_(missile)
As this quote, in the text, states;
"By the time the missile has just cleared the launcher it is doing 400 mph. By the time the missile is 25 feet from the launcher it has reached the speed of sound (around 720 mph). Three seconds after launch, as the four boost rockets fall away, it has reached Mach 2.5 which is roughly 1,800 mph"​

Ron Ayers, the aerodynamicist, on the Thrust SSC, & now Bloodhound SSC, was a project engineer on the Bloodhound missile

 

[Illaveago]

I took

these pictures at Weston Air Day yesterday.