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Old 12th Jan 2008, 06:27
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photog
 
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Valiant WP217

As a photographer at Gaydon in 1964, 17 years old and still a Boy Entrant, I was sent out with a Cpl to photograph WP217 the day after this 'incident'.

By climbing a ladder we were able to see the wing upper surface where panels had torn apart an inch or so from either side of a spar. While these panels were removed, we photographed damage from inside the bomb bay. Later we moved back to the stbd wing where a broken shaft inside the wing was the main interest. I believe that this was the drive-shaft for the stbd-side flaps. After which, when the main-spar was uncovered, it was found to have sheared. I recall that it was close to the stbd wing-root but, I could be wrong on that.

Aside from the fact that we spent days and nights printing the photo's; we had an awful lot of interest with several aircrew visiting us. The most common comment being that the crew had been very lucky/skillful in making it back at all.
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