Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II
Fareastdriver
..and fourteen years later in 1958 this RNZAF Bristol Freighter, also fitted with Bristol Hercules engines, here seen at Gan, probably did the same when returning to Sri Lanka!
My father said you could never get lost in a Halifax (Bristol Hercules). You just followed your oil slick back home.
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This 'n that
Danny - I presume the ‘Tiger of Hyderabad’ was incorporated into the 110 Sqdn crest, though I have no memory of what it looked like – never saw one, or 96 Sqdn’s either. The only badge/crest I recall carried on my Sqdn aircraft was 194’s, and that on only a few; it was in any case unofficial, having incurred grave displeasure from the College of Heralds who maintained there was no such thing as a flying elephant!
Re passenger ‘seating’, having once travelled (unwillingly) as pax on a C130 I was appalled to discover that the awful hammock-style ‘seating’ along the cabin sides (a la ye olde Dakota) had survived into the late 20thC! Does the US military have some strange theory that by carrying troops in extreme discomfort, they are thereby more likely to be infused with battle ardour?
Your sentiments re single-donk flight over water are shared here! One day, doing a bit of fun flying in a Harvard, I was smooth-talked by the local AAF into acting as their radar target and was not at all pleased to find myself about 30 miles east of Changi, coast barely visible in the distance.
What you write concerning condensation in near-empty tanks is very believable but still does not explain why other contemporary avgas-fuelled aircraft (to my limited knowledge anyway) did not apparently suffer from the same problem, even though the larger ones were seldom filled to full tanks but only to the level required for the next task.
Fareastdriver – If a Halifax could be followed by its oil slick, when following a Beverley there was no need to scan ahead and below – just follow the smoke trail! Seriously, the sleeve-valved engine’s thirst for oil made one wonder if this more than offset any claimed economy in fuel consumption as against the poppet-valved rival?
Re passenger ‘seating’, having once travelled (unwillingly) as pax on a C130 I was appalled to discover that the awful hammock-style ‘seating’ along the cabin sides (a la ye olde Dakota) had survived into the late 20thC! Does the US military have some strange theory that by carrying troops in extreme discomfort, they are thereby more likely to be infused with battle ardour?
Your sentiments re single-donk flight over water are shared here! One day, doing a bit of fun flying in a Harvard, I was smooth-talked by the local AAF into acting as their radar target and was not at all pleased to find myself about 30 miles east of Changi, coast barely visible in the distance.
What you write concerning condensation in near-empty tanks is very believable but still does not explain why other contemporary avgas-fuelled aircraft (to my limited knowledge anyway) did not apparently suffer from the same problem, even though the larger ones were seldom filled to full tanks but only to the level required for the next task.
Fareastdriver – If a Halifax could be followed by its oil slick, when following a Beverley there was no need to scan ahead and below – just follow the smoke trail! Seriously, the sleeve-valved engine’s thirst for oil made one wonder if this more than offset any claimed economy in fuel consumption as against the poppet-valved rival?
.....it was in any case unofficial, having incurred grave displeasure from the College of Heralds who maintained there was no such thing as a flying elephant! - Harrym
Unconvincing, considering "Dumbo" apparently came out (as a film
) in 1941, vide www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKaeHL1ZXbQ
Jack
Unconvincing, considering "Dumbo" apparently came out (as a film
) in 1941, vide www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKaeHL1ZXbQJack
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Fareastdriver,
If we're in the business of recalling vernacular renderings of Latin Squadron mottoes, here's another (and there are probably more to come).:
No 608 (North Riding) Squadron
Motto: Omnibus ungulis (With all talons)
(Loosely rendered as "All Balls")
Danny.
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Have just noticed this item on BBC news Northern Ireland, it features 502 (Ulster) Squadron based at RAF Aldergrove in County Antrim.
(Have just noticed the date of the report is 1 Apr 2014)
(Have just noticed the date of the report is 1 Apr 2014)
Last edited by ricardian; 11th Mar 2015 at 23:46. Reason: Add date of report
harrym,
the para seats in the Hercules (aircraft that is !) were standard issue on all USAF tac transport a/c up to the Hercules and perhaps beyond. There were certainly an inducement for the paras to leave the a/c as soon as they could.
the para seats in the Hercules (aircraft that is !) were standard issue on all USAF tac transport a/c up to the Hercules and perhaps beyond. There were certainly an inducement for the paras to leave the a/c as soon as they could.
AA62, Harry: Similar para seating was certainly used in the USAF's C-141A. However, I don't recall there being the additional net that provided some forward restraint for a sideways facing trooper that we had in the Argosy. Perhaps all too long ago.
ICM,
no net a la Argosy just a lap strap. In a crash the seats would very quickly emulate dominoes to the detriment of the health of the occupants.
One of my many complaints when I was a member of the HEART (Hercules Airworthiness Team )
no net a la Argosy just a lap strap. In a crash the seats would very quickly emulate dominoes to the detriment of the health of the occupants.
One of my many complaints when I was a member of the HEART (Hercules Airworthiness Team )
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Ref: #6826
ricardian,
Fascinating ! Took me right back (it wasn't all that different in '41).
Notes for the youngsters:,
No battledress yet, just your SD (so you had to polish your buttons every day !)
Everybody wearing Caps Field Service, aka "Fore 'n Afts" or (whisper it) C##t Caps). Caps SD (Flat 'Ats) kept for parade only). Cap FS much easier to scrunch up and stuff anywhere; our Spitfire/Hurricane armourers used to use them to pull back the Browning cocking knobs after loading the wing guns - this did the Caps FS no good at all, you could always pick out an armourer by the "overhang".
Officers wear little brass "A"s or "VR"s on their lapels; the airmen on a tag under the shoulder "Sh##eHawks" (to distinguish them from the Regulars). Later in the war, when everybody was enlisted or commissioned in the VR, we had to take them down, but the "A"s (Auxiliaries) kept theirs. Caused a bit of ill feeling at the time.
Look at the officers' jackets: cut off the bottom front button, shrug the buckle down a bit, you've got the current pattern at no expense.
All the airmen's jackets had a little inner pocket right at the bottom of the RH (LH?) front corner: this held your First Field Dressing pack (officers, presumably, were assumed not to bleed). This was the cause of the immemorial query (when at a dance): "Do you really love me, or is it just your First Field Dressing?".
Better stop now. Danny.
Fascinating ! Took me right back (it wasn't all that different in '41).
Notes for the youngsters:,
No battledress yet, just your SD (so you had to polish your buttons every day !)
Everybody wearing Caps Field Service, aka "Fore 'n Afts" or (whisper it) C##t Caps). Caps SD (Flat 'Ats) kept for parade only). Cap FS much easier to scrunch up and stuff anywhere; our Spitfire/Hurricane armourers used to use them to pull back the Browning cocking knobs after loading the wing guns - this did the Caps FS no good at all, you could always pick out an armourer by the "overhang".
Officers wear little brass "A"s or "VR"s on their lapels; the airmen on a tag under the shoulder "Sh##eHawks" (to distinguish them from the Regulars). Later in the war, when everybody was enlisted or commissioned in the VR, we had to take them down, but the "A"s (Auxiliaries) kept theirs. Caused a bit of ill feeling at the time.
Look at the officers' jackets: cut off the bottom front button, shrug the buckle down a bit, you've got the current pattern at no expense.
All the airmen's jackets had a little inner pocket right at the bottom of the RH (LH?) front corner: this held your First Field Dressing pack (officers, presumably, were assumed not to bleed). This was the cause of the immemorial query (when at a dance): "Do you really love me, or is it just your First Field Dressing?".
Better stop now. Danny.
Gentleman Aviator
If we're in the business of recalling vernacular renderings of Latin Squadron mottoes, here's another (and there are probably more to come).:
78's "Nemo non Paratus" has been rendered as:
"Never without a parachute"
[it's actually "Nobody unprepared" of course]
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Danny42C - glad you enjoyed the WW2 film clip. From 1970 until demob in 1973 I was actually a regular RAF Cpl instructor, teaching Wireless Operators, Teleprinter Operators & Telegraphists at 3 MHU, RAuxAF which was based at Mountbatten. When my posting to 3 MHU came through my then boss (at 604 FAC, 24 Brigade) thought it was a wind-up because the RAuxAF had been disbanded in the 1950s.
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REF #6821
harrym,
This is more like the old badge. It was on a round frame and, IIRC, the tiger was facing the other way. It was in a circle on a piece of wormeaten plywood about 24x18 in chopped out of an old DH9. I suppose the white ants had got it before your Sqn was renumbered 110.
The VV YouTube put in by Chugalug on p.129, shows it (I think) on the nose of the VV pulling out (early in the film, just before the wing passes over the camera). How it came to be on an OTU aircraft, I can't imagine. We didn't paint it on the Sqn VVs, just the usual artforms.
Danny.
This is more like the old badge. It was on a round frame and, IIRC, the tiger was facing the other way. It was in a circle on a piece of wormeaten plywood about 24x18 in chopped out of an old DH9. I suppose the white ants had got it before your Sqn was renumbered 110.
The VV YouTube put in by Chugalug on p.129, shows it (I think) on the nose of the VV pulling out (early in the film, just before the wing passes over the camera). How it came to be on an OTU aircraft, I can't imagine. We didn't paint it on the Sqn VVs, just the usual artforms.
Danny.
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Danny has trouble with Unit Badges.
I've been trying to track down a copy of the Badge I designed for 3608 FCU in '53 (story on p.192 #3827). The College of Arms came up with a tiny b/w copy: my daughter enlarged this to a suitable size for a Post. I copied and pasted it (without difficulty) on to a PPRuNe-pad, added some text, and clicked on "Submit Reply".
Text went over as a Post, but no picture, only an empty box with a red x in the top left hand corner (I've seen this before on other Posts). What does this mean, and can anything be done about it ?
Danny.
Text went over as a Post, but no picture, only an empty box with a red x in the top left hand corner (I've seen this before on other Posts). What does this mean, and can anything be done about it ?
Danny.
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To Whom it may Concern,
If you Google "Vultee Vengeance" now, a whole lot of new material has come in; it is almost as if the old thing is developing a cult status (whoever would have guessed it !), 70 years since it last flew. Even eBay has a lot of stuff for sale (Peter C. Smith's "Vengeance" is the nearest thing to a Bible on the VV).
Anyone who's followed the tale of my experiences on them in WWII will find it worth a look at a forgotten warbird from a forgotten war long ago and far away.
Danny.
If you Google "Vultee Vengeance" now, a whole lot of new material has come in; it is almost as if the old thing is developing a cult status (whoever would have guessed it !), 70 years since it last flew. Even eBay has a lot of stuff for sale (Peter C. Smith's "Vengeance" is the nearest thing to a Bible on the VV).
Anyone who's followed the tale of my experiences on them in WWII will find it worth a look at a forgotten warbird from a forgotten war long ago and far away.
Danny.
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I have just come into more info regarding my Dad,s enlistment into the RCAF. He enlisted in January 1942, and was sent to No 1 Manning depot, in Toronto Ontario. The RCAF had taken over the Canadian Nation Exhibition grounds on the Toronto waterfront. It was an agricultural and livestock exhibition grounds taken over for the duration. The livestock was evicted, and the grounds quickly converted for billeting the trainees. In honour of the previous inhabitants, it quickly was nicknamed The Horse Palace. For 2 months they did basic training, and he was selected for pilot training, who were given a small white flash to wear on the front of their caps. They thought this would impress the fair maidens of the land, but it backfired when someone ( presumably some nefarious Army type) spread the rumour that the white flash indicated the wearer was infected with VD! Needless to say, the flashes were reluctantly, but quickly, removed.
Things were just ramping up, but there were problems; they were not ready to accept the next batch of pilot trainees, but another intake for the Horse Palace was coming. The solution was 6 weeks of guard duty to a newly constructed station housing RCAF cooks. There were no billets, so they had to stay in the Grand Hotel in Exeter. Dad did make the observation that security seemed to be inversely proportion to the distance from the action. This station was surrounded by barbed wire, only one gate in and out. Kirmington, on the other hand, could be accessed at will by foot, bike or even cow traffic. Then it was on to No 5 Initial Training School in Belleville, for 8 weeks. It was at the School for the Blind, taken over again by the RCAF for the duration. From there he went to Elementary Flying Training School in Goderich, Ontario. There he washed out after writing off a Tiger Moth following an engine failure while solo. From there he was sent to Trenton, Ontario for remustering, and was selected as a bombardier.
I have already outlined his activities from there, with one exception: he arrived in Liverpool, then sent to Bournemouth. While waiting to be posted, again things were a bit slow catching up, so he was sent to the South Staffordshire Regiment, a commando outfit, for 10 days, before being posted to #81 OTU.
Things were just ramping up, but there were problems; they were not ready to accept the next batch of pilot trainees, but another intake for the Horse Palace was coming. The solution was 6 weeks of guard duty to a newly constructed station housing RCAF cooks. There were no billets, so they had to stay in the Grand Hotel in Exeter. Dad did make the observation that security seemed to be inversely proportion to the distance from the action. This station was surrounded by barbed wire, only one gate in and out. Kirmington, on the other hand, could be accessed at will by foot, bike or even cow traffic. Then it was on to No 5 Initial Training School in Belleville, for 8 weeks. It was at the School for the Blind, taken over again by the RCAF for the duration. From there he went to Elementary Flying Training School in Goderich, Ontario. There he washed out after writing off a Tiger Moth following an engine failure while solo. From there he was sent to Trenton, Ontario for remustering, and was selected as a bombardier.
I have already outlined his activities from there, with one exception: he arrived in Liverpool, then sent to Bournemouth. While waiting to be posted, again things were a bit slow catching up, so he was sent to the South Staffordshire Regiment, a commando outfit, for 10 days, before being posted to #81 OTU.
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jeffb, your father's: "...It was an agricultural and livestock exhibition grounds taken over for the duration. The livestock was evicted...."
Not in late July '41, it hadn't been. I can remember the pong even now ! Luckily we went down to the Fort York Armoury for drills and lectures, it was cool and refreshing down there by the Lake Toronto.
"...No 5 Initial Training School in Belleville, for 8 weeks. It was at the School for the Blind, taken over again by the RCAF for the duration..."
This recalls the old definitions: GCA = The Blind Leading the Blind: GCA School, RAF Sleap = The Blind Leading the Blind Leading the Blind !
"... There he washed out after writing off a Tiger Moth following an engine failure while solo..."
Bit hard, that, I would have thought. The fact that he walked away from it at all should be enough to declare it a success !
Keep it coming, Jeff, this is exactly the stuff we want on this Thread, it stirs old memories,
Goodnight, Danny.
Not in late July '41, it hadn't been. I can remember the pong even now ! Luckily we went down to the Fort York Armoury for drills and lectures, it was cool and refreshing down there by the Lake Toronto.
"...No 5 Initial Training School in Belleville, for 8 weeks. It was at the School for the Blind, taken over again by the RCAF for the duration..."
This recalls the old definitions: GCA = The Blind Leading the Blind: GCA School, RAF Sleap = The Blind Leading the Blind Leading the Blind !
"... There he washed out after writing off a Tiger Moth following an engine failure while solo..."
Bit hard, that, I would have thought. The fact that he walked away from it at all should be enough to declare it a success !
Keep it coming, Jeff, this is exactly the stuff we want on this Thread, it stirs old memories,
Goodnight, Danny.
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Eye Tests
A bit of a diversion from the current discussions on this thread (and apologies if this subject has already been discussed) but can any of the veterans recall (or does anyone else have the detail of) the eye tests that were conducted at the Aviation Candidates Selection Board medicals during WWII?
I am trying to put together a complete listing of the various categories of test (colour blindness, night visual capacity, Turret etc) along with how the test was carried out [and marked if possible].
Your usual helpful contributions would be much appreciated.
Regards
Pete
I am trying to put together a complete listing of the various categories of test (colour blindness, night visual capacity, Turret etc) along with how the test was carried out [and marked if possible].
Your usual helpful contributions would be much appreciated.
Regards
Pete