Thanks Chugalug, this is indeed a poignant picture but I could not get the images to appear, only the links. Here are a couple more, taken by my father with his illegal Brownie box camera when 142 and 12 Sqns were based at Berry-au-Bac in winter 1939/40.
A Fairey Battle taxies from its dispersal in the hedges alongside the main road
between Laon and Reims, its airfield a grass area made from fields on the right. Most personnel were under canvas. Snow has been shovelled from the manoeuvering areas in the bitterly cold winter of Dec 1940 with temperatures often below -20C.
Cpl. Davis doing the daily checks, in the open as usual. Ground crews would toil throughout the war in conditions ranging from tropical heat to the depths of a Lincolnshire winter. Their vital role is often forgotten, especially those in Bomber Command.
With the Battle squadrons on readiness, their Merlin engines had to be run every hour to prevent the oil from solidifying in temperatures well below zero. Starting was by trolley-acc, a bank of batteries on a small handcart, charged by a small generator which could not keep up with so many starts. Instead the squadron used a rope lashed to a leather cap placed over the propellor tip. At the call “Three on the cap ... contact ... two-six, HEAVE” three airmen would pull the rope to turn the engine, the cap (hopefully) being thrown clear as the Merlin fired.
Note the single forward-firing Browning in the wing. This, and a hand-held Vickers in the rear cockpit, comprised the Battle's defence against the Me109, which was almost 100mph faster.
Danny, we're all waiting for more memories. I have indeed read every line and watched every minute of the Vengeance film, and suffered for spending hours on this thread. Better go now before I hear the siren call down the hall: "Will you get OFF that **** computer NOW".
