WW2 Nostalgia
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Google [everybody's friend :-) ] comes up with 'Black Velvet' as a possibility
http://www.adf-serials.com.au/resear...n-Spitfire.pdf
EDIT....and a more researched opinion:
from
steve611 (a few posts below)
The aircraft is Mk IIa P8388 ZP-W "Black Vanities". According to "Gifts of War" the picture is at Gravesend, May 1941.
http://www.adf-serials.com.au/resear...n-Spitfire.pdf
EDIT....and a more researched opinion:
from
steve611 (a few posts below)
The aircraft is Mk IIa P8388 ZP-W "Black Vanities". According to "Gifts of War" the picture is at Gravesend, May 1941.
Last edited by A30yoyo; 22nd Nov 2013 at 22:01.
Thread Starter
Grazie mille Yoyo! 
Pilots from No.611 Squadron lend a hand in positioning Spitfire Mk. IX, BS451, FY-V, at Biggin Hill Aerodrome on 18th December 1942
Pilots from No.611 Squadron lend a hand in positioning Spitfire Mk. IX, BS451, FY-V, at Biggin Hill Aerodrome on 18th December 1942
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During WW2 my Dad was a Fleet Air Arm trainee Observer/Navigator. He started at Worthy Down in Fairey Swordfish with Laurence Olivier as his pilot. He flew in various other types, but mostly Fairey Swordfish then Albacore then Barracuda. I took him to Yeovilton a few years ago and we saw the displayed wreckage, but I am fascinated to learn that there IS more wreckage and it is being re-built.
He flew in the Mk1 and loved the view from the "bay windows". When practicing dives he slid back the canopy and stood up on a shelf to see over the pilot's head, something which he clearly enjoyed; the pilot's job was to concentrate on the target, while the O/N was expected to be a 2nd pair of eyes looking for approaching hostile aircraft or ammunition. Presumably also using his head to absorb any rounds heading towards the tail. He was waiting for an aircraft carrier to take him out to the Pacific when the war ended, and he was de-mobilised a few days later. I have written up some of his memories and they are now on an airfield information site.
He flew in the Mk1 and loved the view from the "bay windows". When practicing dives he slid back the canopy and stood up on a shelf to see over the pilot's head, something which he clearly enjoyed; the pilot's job was to concentrate on the target, while the O/N was expected to be a 2nd pair of eyes looking for approaching hostile aircraft or ammunition. Presumably also using his head to absorb any rounds heading towards the tail. He was waiting for an aircraft carrier to take him out to the Pacific when the war ended, and he was de-mobilised a few days later. I have written up some of his memories and they are now on an airfield information site.
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The Barracuda and Albacore were not well regarded by the poor sods that had to fly them, see the Fleet Air Arm Songbook.
The Swordfish relies on her Peggy
The modified Taurus ain't sound
So the Swordfish takes off on her mission
While the Albacore stays on the ground
and one I can't remember the words to but the chorus is along the lines of
And we crash our Barracudas in the Firth of F*****g Forth.
There were reckoned to be more Barras under the sea than on it...
They were both lumbering, underpowered, underarmed, unreliable and very vulnerable. Pretty standard for naval aviation of the day. The poor FAA got the crap to fly until decent types like the Martlet, Corsair and Sea Fury came along.
The Swordfish relies on her Peggy
The modified Taurus ain't sound
So the Swordfish takes off on her mission
While the Albacore stays on the ground
and one I can't remember the words to but the chorus is along the lines of
And we crash our Barracudas in the Firth of F*****g Forth.
There were reckoned to be more Barras under the sea than on it...
They were both lumbering, underpowered, underarmed, unreliable and very vulnerable. Pretty standard for naval aviation of the day. The poor FAA got the crap to fly until decent types like the Martlet, Corsair and Sea Fury came along.
....?
Thread Starter
Agaricus: Most amusing.
Discrode: Nice.
And if the missus is looking for something to read this Christmas ..
"New Year's Eve, 1940: Evie Chase, the beautiful debutante daughter of an adoring RAF commander, gazes out at the sky as swing music drifts from the ballroom. With bombs falling nightly in London, she resolves that the coming year will bring more than just dances and tennis matches. She is determined to do her bit for the war effort. 2nd January, 1941: Evie curses her fashionable heels as they skid on the frozen ground of her local airfield. She is here to volunteer for 'The Beauty Chorus', the female pilots who fly much-needed planes to bases across the country. Soon, she is billeted in a tiny country cottage, sharing with an anxious young mother and a naive teenager. Thrown together by war, these three very different women soon become friends, confidantes and fellow adventuresses. But as they take to the skies, they will also face hardship, prejudice and tragedy. Can their new-found bond survive their darkest hours?"
Discrode: Nice.
And if the missus is looking for something to read this Christmas ..
"New Year's Eve, 1940: Evie Chase, the beautiful debutante daughter of an adoring RAF commander, gazes out at the sky as swing music drifts from the ballroom. With bombs falling nightly in London, she resolves that the coming year will bring more than just dances and tennis matches. She is determined to do her bit for the war effort. 2nd January, 1941: Evie curses her fashionable heels as they skid on the frozen ground of her local airfield. She is here to volunteer for 'The Beauty Chorus', the female pilots who fly much-needed planes to bases across the country. Soon, she is billeted in a tiny country cottage, sharing with an anxious young mother and a naive teenager. Thrown together by war, these three very different women soon become friends, confidantes and fellow adventuresses. But as they take to the skies, they will also face hardship, prejudice and tragedy. Can their new-found bond survive their darkest hours?"
I've since read that: "The Mk II carried metric wavelength ASV II (Air to Surface Vessel) radar, with the Yagi-Uda antennae carried above the wings."
Those are definitely ASV Mk II aerials. The Mk II operated on a wavelength of 1.7 m, which means the quarter-wave dipoles on the antenna would be 0.43 m, which is consistent with the dimensions of the antennae in your picture.
ASV was a radar and nothing to do with Huff-Duff.
