Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II

[Danny42C]

psaulm71,

A belated hearty welcome to this, the Best of Threads ! It is wonderful to see the next generations taking up the story from mine, who have nearly all passed on, but in many cases must have left a legacy by way of notes and logbooks for their nearest and dearest to read and (hopefully) pass on to this "our" Forum where they will be treasured and avidly read and enjoyed for a long time to come.

But your Grandad is still alive ! Get a tape recorder and get him talking (it won't be hard after he's read a few of the stories in PPRuNe). Then you can transcribe it and put it in here (the more, the merrier !) where it belongs.

We had Liberators (159 Sqdn) close to us in W.Bengal at Salbani, but I don't know where 99 Sqdn might have been. Bit puzzled over your: "....going into 99 sqn overseas, he was in the last bomb run over Japan before they dropped the atom...". I thought the bombing campaign over Japan was entirely an American effort (although I understand the Lincoln was designed as a long range Lancaster, intended for us to lend a hand over there if the war had lasted much longer).

Small World ! RAF Breighton became a Bloodhound site after the war; they built just one OMQ for the C.O., and when the Bloodhounds packed up we lived in it ('63-'64) when I was at Linton-on-Ouse.

The "Expeditor" was powered by two 9-cyl Pratt & Whitney "Wasp Juniors", therefore 36 plugs in all. Why, of all the hundreds of components in an aero engine, Stores insisted on these being separately listed has always been a mystery to me....D.

VQ5X03,

Your: "and later flew with ACSEA before demob at Hednesford in mid-46". I was in that part of the world (late'42- early'46). May have had experiences in common with your Dad....D.

jeffb,

Your: "the cookie had to be jettisoned. Amazingly, that bomb could not be dropped safe; as Dad put it, once you dropped the thing, it WAS going to go bang". "In search of Bomber Command" (currently in Page 6 of "Military Aviation") - Page 1, Post #17, is exactly on this point. (The whole Thread is enthralling).

Your Dad's Skipper was clearly a Jinx - he should have baled-out and found another crew ASAP ! But I'm surprised that a Lancaster (?) in that state would be on an operational squadron. And a Merlin breaking a crankshaft ???

But, as Wittgenstein says: "Whereof you know nothing, thereof should you be silent". I was nearly always a single-seater, mostly single-engine man....D.

Cheers, Danny.