Gun Flash ?
Chugalug,
Radio aerial - yes, it does look like that at 2.23, doesn't it ? But a few frames later it all goes haywire - flopping about like the weird stuff that seems to be stuck on top of the front cockpit frame. Could it be on the camera lens ? But I must admit a radio aerial attachment is the most likely explanation. It's just that I've never seen one; I put in some 400 hours on all marks except IV, and this thing's certainly not a IV. One of the unsolved mysteries, I'm afraid.
Now the flash. Whatever it was, it wasn't gun flash. The front guns were a long way back in the wings and fired down blast tubes. The propellant gases would have burnt out long before they got to the leading edge. And of course the gunner couldn't get his guns forward of the beam; in any case there would be flash eliminators on his guns provided the original US .300 Brownings had been replaced by British .303s, as they were on all our VVs. A film snag as you suggest ? Quite likely! Strafing ? - you'd be lucky to get twenty rounds away before the guns jammed. We left all that to the Hurricanes !
You're almost certainly right about the puffs of cloud, bomb dust was browner (blacker if you'd hit something worthwhile !)
I'm sure this clip will turn up queries galore.
Goodnight, Chugalug, (EDIT: Good afternoon - broadband's been down !)
Danny.
Last edited by Danny42C; 12th May 2012 at 13:44.