Excellent stuff Mark, welcome to the forums.
Aviation Illustration
- Thread starter MarkH
- Start date
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ccheese
Member In Perpetuity
MarkH.... Finally got to look at your stuff from home. WOW !! Good stuff.
Do you do anything with Japanese aircraft ? Again, welcome...
Charles
Do you do anything with Japanese aircraft ? Again, welcome...
Charles
Downwind.Maddl-Land
Airman 1st Class
An important fact of the Dams mission not generally known is that Hopgood, (M – Mother), #2 in the attack on the Möehne and shot down during his run, had suffered significant damage on the way to the target.
The port outer engine was hit and feathered, the front gunner (Gregory) was probably killed as nothing more was heard from him for the rest of the mission. The wireless operator (Minchin) reported being 'hit in the leg'; it was actually nearly severed, but that was not known about until nearly an hour later when the rear gunner found him crawling up the fuselage (have you seen inside a Lanc fuselage?) and assisted him to abandon the aircraft. During that time Minchin never uttered any complaint. The rear gunner (Burcher) was hit in the groin and stomach, which must have stung just a wee bit. The loss of the port outer meant that there was no power to the rear turret either. Hopgood himself was badly hit in the HEAD and continued to fly with the Engineer (Brennan) holding a handkerchief to the wound in an effort to staunch the serious blood loss.
Despite these serious setbacks, Hopgood continued to the target with Gibson and Martin without a murmur and attacked unhesitatingly when ordered to do so. On 3 engines, with no suppressive fire from the front turret, he flew an accurate attack into the now thoroughly alerted defences and paid the price. However, even then, Hopgood's heroism knew no bounds and he remained in control of a now blazing, fully asymmetric, aircraft while he tried to gain height for his crew to abandon the mortally hit Lancaster.
Due to Hopgood's gallant efforts, 3 of his crew DID get out, although the seriously injured Minchin did not survive the very low level abandonment. Bomb Aimer Fraser and Rear Gunner Burcher did get away with it, Burcher with a broken back after hitting the tailplane. They both only survived because they had the presence of mind to pull their 'chutes INSIDE the aircraft and feed the canopy into the slipstream and be dragged out by it. Burcher landed, unable to move due to his injuries, immediately downstream of the dam that his colleagues were trying to destroy and in the path of any potential flood.
The point of this diatribe is that, with all the criticism commonly levelled at the Military in general and Bomber Command in particular, the personal attributes of loyalty, bravery, selflessness and real heroism of this order should be recognised forever – and people reminded of it on a regular basis.
Happy if the Mods want to move this post to another, more appropriate, thread.
The port outer engine was hit and feathered, the front gunner (Gregory) was probably killed as nothing more was heard from him for the rest of the mission. The wireless operator (Minchin) reported being 'hit in the leg'; it was actually nearly severed, but that was not known about until nearly an hour later when the rear gunner found him crawling up the fuselage (have you seen inside a Lanc fuselage?) and assisted him to abandon the aircraft. During that time Minchin never uttered any complaint. The rear gunner (Burcher) was hit in the groin and stomach, which must have stung just a wee bit. The loss of the port outer meant that there was no power to the rear turret either. Hopgood himself was badly hit in the HEAD and continued to fly with the Engineer (Brennan) holding a handkerchief to the wound in an effort to staunch the serious blood loss.
Despite these serious setbacks, Hopgood continued to the target with Gibson and Martin without a murmur and attacked unhesitatingly when ordered to do so. On 3 engines, with no suppressive fire from the front turret, he flew an accurate attack into the now thoroughly alerted defences and paid the price. However, even then, Hopgood's heroism knew no bounds and he remained in control of a now blazing, fully asymmetric, aircraft while he tried to gain height for his crew to abandon the mortally hit Lancaster.
Due to Hopgood's gallant efforts, 3 of his crew DID get out, although the seriously injured Minchin did not survive the very low level abandonment. Bomb Aimer Fraser and Rear Gunner Burcher did get away with it, Burcher with a broken back after hitting the tailplane. They both only survived because they had the presence of mind to pull their 'chutes INSIDE the aircraft and feed the canopy into the slipstream and be dragged out by it. Burcher landed, unable to move due to his injuries, immediately downstream of the dam that his colleagues were trying to destroy and in the path of any potential flood.
The point of this diatribe is that, with all the criticism commonly levelled at the Military in general and Bomber Command in particular, the personal attributes of loyalty, bravery, selflessness and real heroism of this order should be recognised forever – and people reminded of it on a regular basis.
Happy if the Mods want to move this post to another, more appropriate, thread.
Lucky13
Forum Mascot
Bl**dy h**l mate! Some amazing artwork there.....keep it coming! Oh, and welcome to the family....
- Thread starter
- #25
Downwind.Maddl-Land
Airman 1st Class
Very atmospheric!
Bf109_g
Senior Airman
I'm really impressed with the Dambusters stuff, Mark! Well done! 
And welcome to the forum, mate.
And welcome to the forum, mate.
DBII
Senior Master Sergeant
Great pictures. Warbirds look better in B&W. I look forward to seeing more.
DBII
DBII
Erich
the old Sage
Mark my cancer is acting up sorry for not responding sooner, are you interested in some LW night fighter photos to work from for a black/white example of your fine illustrations ?
- Thread starter
- #30
Erich
the old Sage
sure no problem friend
JP Vieira
Airman
Very good: keep it up. congrats
