Kermit 180
3rd Jan 2002, 12:33
A few years ago I came into posession of a series of black and white photos from an unknown source.
The photos are of various sizes, I think from the types of aircraft (Seafire, Firefly, Barracuda, and even some sort of early US marked helicopter)etc) that it is someone's collection of photos of a Fleet Air Arm unit. One of the photos is of a Fairey Firefly in snow and on the back of it is the writing: "RNAS Rattray Winter 1945". Another three photos show the sequence of a Seafire crashing on landing, quite spectacular. Another shows a Firefly letting cannon ammo go on a water target. I know these are originals, the type of photo paper and the writing on the back of some of them indicates this to be so.
Some of the aircraft pictured that I can read the numbers etc on are:
Crashed Seafire number '174' on side forward of roundel;
Crashing Seafire number '182' on side forward of roundel;
Firefly in formation flight 'P' on tail fin above stripes, '277' forward of roundel;
Corsair with wings folded, number '215M' under port wingtip;
Firefly with wings folded, 'PP42' visible on starboard wing;
A deckfull of Seafires, numbers visible are '180', '199', '173', '105', '181', '171', '108';
Another Firefly 'PP58' visible under folded wing;
A Walrus in the sea with '951' on its nose;
"A Barracuda at RNAS Rattray winter 1945", number visible '14A' behind roundel;
A (captured?) Storch landing on HMS Triumph (per official photograph printed on reverse) with serial under wings 'V?546'. The missing letter may well be a D or a B
There is also a larger photograph of a group of naval servicemen posing on and around the front end of a Firefly.
I would very much like to know what these photos are of, if anyone may know something about where and when and why, and what I should do with them. As much as I like to hoard these for myself, I get the feeling they should be given to a museum or something to share with others. I would like to share some of the spectacular ones with you too, but Im a pooter dummy so (I can scan and email copies) if someone can help that would be appreciated.
Kermie
The photos are of various sizes, I think from the types of aircraft (Seafire, Firefly, Barracuda, and even some sort of early US marked helicopter)etc) that it is someone's collection of photos of a Fleet Air Arm unit. One of the photos is of a Fairey Firefly in snow and on the back of it is the writing: "RNAS Rattray Winter 1945". Another three photos show the sequence of a Seafire crashing on landing, quite spectacular. Another shows a Firefly letting cannon ammo go on a water target. I know these are originals, the type of photo paper and the writing on the back of some of them indicates this to be so.
Some of the aircraft pictured that I can read the numbers etc on are:
Crashed Seafire number '174' on side forward of roundel;
Crashing Seafire number '182' on side forward of roundel;
Firefly in formation flight 'P' on tail fin above stripes, '277' forward of roundel;
Corsair with wings folded, number '215M' under port wingtip;
Firefly with wings folded, 'PP42' visible on starboard wing;
A deckfull of Seafires, numbers visible are '180', '199', '173', '105', '181', '171', '108';
Another Firefly 'PP58' visible under folded wing;
A Walrus in the sea with '951' on its nose;
"A Barracuda at RNAS Rattray winter 1945", number visible '14A' behind roundel;
A (captured?) Storch landing on HMS Triumph (per official photograph printed on reverse) with serial under wings 'V?546'. The missing letter may well be a D or a B
There is also a larger photograph of a group of naval servicemen posing on and around the front end of a Firefly.
I would very much like to know what these photos are of, if anyone may know something about where and when and why, and what I should do with them. As much as I like to hoard these for myself, I get the feeling they should be given to a museum or something to share with others. I would like to share some of the spectacular ones with you too, but Im a pooter dummy so (I can scan and email copies) if someone can help that would be appreciated.
Kermie