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Old 18th Nov 2014, 18:49
  #6484 (permalink)  
Danny42C
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Pom Pax (your #6461),

Yer, them Wellingtons wurz Wellingtons in't picture (nothing like a Blenheim, for Pete's sake !) Blenheims I knew well, ever since a pair of 16 yr olds (my cousin and I) propped our bikes against the fence at Wyton one far-off summer day ('38) and longingly watched them doing C&Bs. Little did we know, then.

"Wimpeys" I knew well, too; I watched them being assembled at Hawarden in '42, and one night of pouring rain a sad little group of sodden "guards" surreptitiously gained dry shelter in a parked specimen which had been left with the aft crew door unlocked (and there was a canvas bunk down the back too !) Never flew in 'em, but always had a soft spot for them ever since.

For those of less mature years, perhaps I might add that the well loved "Popeye" cartoon character had, you may recall, a tubby, shambling friend called "J. Wellington Wimpey". The connection was made at once: all were known as "Wimpeys" ever after.

One was the star of a film ("Target for Tonight"), made (I think) by the Ministry of Information in the early part of the war. Well worth seeing, if it ever appears again.

Cheers, Danny.