Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

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Ex-Ascot
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#201 Post by Ex-Ascot »

The Berlin Airlift. RAF Gatow 1948 - 1949

Had some good night stops there.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#202 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Thought I had already posted this. I hadn't.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#203 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Don't know.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#204 Post by izod tester »

Other than a formation of Mosquito BMk4 there is virtually nothing to provide a useful search. The squadron code on the nearest ac seems to start with a X which may point to the ac belonging to 139 Sqn (XD).
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#205 Post by Ex-Ascot »

It wasn't even supposed to test your skills izod. I was going to leave this one until tomorrow but how about a few in action now.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#206 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana »

This is probably the 305 (Polish) Sqn raid on a German fuel dump during the Normandy Landings.
About 13 million litres of gas went up near Nancy. Mossie FB Mk VI's
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#207 Post by llondel »

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Mon Feb 03, 2025 2:25 pm
Don't know.
The best I've found is https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/auct ... 54666&sd=1
Mosquito, number 571 of 850 copies, signed in pencil by the artist and RAF crew: John Cunningham, Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, Pat Tuthill, Pat Fillingham, Eric Brown, Sir Ivor Broom; published to mark the 50th anniversary of the maiden flight of the de Havilland Mosquito on November 25th, 1940, with accompanying COA and booklet, overall 650 x 810mm, framed & glazed; with another framed aviation print
That gives the why, but no information about it representing any specific event. I would assume the maiden flight would be a single aircraft.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#208 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Another action one.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#209 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana »

I've been there!
Typhoons over the Falaise Gap, Normandy.
The road where the most destruction took place was the D63/D13 along the Dives river valley.
There is a German Tiger tank (as in the painting) by the roadside, just east of Vimoutiers.
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.923458, ... FQAw%3D%3D
The Polish museum at Montormel is well worth a visit, and being on a key hilltop gives an excellent view over the battlefield.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#210 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Haven't posted any gliders yet. Did the pilots actually volunteer?
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#211 Post by llondel »

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:30 pm
Haven't posted any gliders yet. Did the pilots actually volunteer?
It appears that the pilots were volunteers. Wikipedia says they were recruited from the army, got the basic RAF powered flying course on Tiger Moths, then moved on to gliders,total duration of training 6 months or so. Given that they were landing in enemy territory, they also needed the army infantry training.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#212 Post by Ex-Ascot »

OK, so no one in the Royal Air Force was stupid enough to volunteer.

Coincidentally just been reading a report from one of the old boys in our village in the UK. Great gentleman. Born and died there. Chaired many village committees. He did two glider landings as infantry. He said on landing you were briefed to bash your way out with your rifle butt. Having known George pretty well, this may be a bit exaggerated.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#213 Post by Woody »

The RAF would only volunteer if there was a five star hotel in the landing zone :D
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#214 Post by Boac »

Objection! By 'The RAF' you presumably mean what used to be known as 'Transport Command'?
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#215 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Boac wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 5:19 pm
Objection! By 'The RAF' you presumably mean what used to be known as 'Transport Command'?
Not that sure. The Jaguar pilots sleeping in tents by their jets in Bahrain during the Gulf War seemed a bit peed off with us disappearing off down to our 5 star hotels with swimming pools upon arrival. And. allowances of course.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#216 Post by Boac »

A most unexpected reaction. Did they ask for your autographs? :))
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#217 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Boac wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 6:00 pm
A most unexpected reaction. Did they ask for your autographs? :))
No our room keys.

An interesting combination here.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#218 Post by Ex-Ascot »

C130
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#219 Post by izod tester »

#217 is a Comet C2 of 216 Sqn. I don't know the significance of the Vampire T11s, although it may have something to do with all jet training from ab initio to service. I spent 3 months at Lyneham waiting for my Eng Officer course. LSS at that time looked after Britannia's and Comets. After training, I was posted back to 216 Sqn at Lyneham where we did all serving from flight line to Majors. Basil d'Oliviera was OC 216 at the time and amongst other snippets of the early Comet days with 216, he told me of the time they had all 4 engines stop at 53000 ft whilst en route and cruise climbing. The engines relit successfully some time later after they had descended to around 30k. The problem had been the fuel going waxy at extreme height and they didn't have fuel heaters at that time.
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Re: Aviation Art The Royal Air Force Club

#220 Post by Ex-Ascot »

izod tester wrote:
Fri Feb 07, 2025 7:13 pm
#217 is a Comet C2 of 216 Sqn. I don't know the significance of the Vampire T11s, although it may have something to do with all jet training from ab initio to service. I spent 3 months at Lyneham waiting for my Eng Officer course. LSS at that time looked after Britannia's and Comets. After training, I was posted back to 216 Sqn at Lyneham where we did all serving from flight line to Majors. Basil d'Oliviera was OC 216 at the time and amongst other snippets of the early Comet days with 216, he told me of the time they had all 4 engines stop at 53000 ft whilst en route and cruise climbing. The engines relit successfully some time later after they had descended to around 30k. The problem had been the fuel going waxy at extreme height and they didn't have fuel heaters at that time.
Typo? I was impressed with the VC10 ceiling of 43,000 ft (only ventured there once) but don't think the Comet beat it.

The only reason I can think of these two aircraft types to be together because they are both de Havilland?

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