Nuuumannn's UK Tour of 2018

KiwiBiggles said:

I'm not sure the use of a chocolate fish as a prize is universally understood...

Click to expand...

From the top:

F.V
F.V
LF.IX
F.XVI
F.XVIII
PR.XI
LF.XVI

Good pics Grant. As a correction, the Martlet was a "crowd-minus-one" favourite since Terry was there.

Camera problems or not, you got some great shots there Grant.
I also had problems with one of my Nikons (and Hans had problems the following day with his Canon DSLR), and had to change the 300mm lens over to the other camera body. The troublesome camera, however, seemed to be working fine later that evening, back at the campsite, when the temperatures had cooled down, so I can only think it was the effects of the heat.

Lovely shots Grant!

Thanks Terry, yes, t'was a funny kinda day, and some of the best shots I thought I had taken were just a fraction out of focus.

Now, most of you might be wondering what KiwiBiggles and I were talking about - a chocolate fish is a type of New Zealand sweet; it's marshmellow shaped like a fish and dipped in chocolate. Somewhere in the midsts of EnZed folklore, someone once said "Chocolate fish if you can guess..." and it's become a thing.

"F.V
F.V
LF.IX
F.XVI
F.XVIII
PR.XI
LF.XVI"

Nice KB, here's the answer: From the top, serial numbers as well - a whole bag of choccy fish if anyone got these; I had to look 'em up: LF.IX MH434, LF.Vb BM597, LF.Vb EP120, LF.XVIe TD248, FR.XVIIIe SM845, PR.XI PL983 and FR.XIV MV293 masquerading as MV268.

Anyways, on with the show. The 16th July was the last full day of the tour and we went to Windsor for the afternoon, which was a chance to buy some tacky souvenirs, but that evening we were having dinner at the RAF Club in the heart of London to round off the tour.

Here's Windsor Castle and the very reason I didn't go in; just too busy and that queue went on forever.

1607 Windsor Castle

Quite by accident someone spotted this out the bus window as we drove through a Windsor suburb.

1607 Windsor Sydney Camm house

On arrival in London, we showered and dressed in our Number Ones for our RAF Club dinner. Visiting is by invite only if you don't or haven't served in the RAF, so it was a priviledge to go. Not everyone opted to go; it was an add on and cost extra, but I thought it entirely appropriate and worth the fee.The entry hall.

1607 RAF Club

A nice easy Merlot was the Club's House Red. Very nice.

1607 RAF Club dinner

Throughout the building there are these beautiful paintings depicting scenes from the RAF's extensive history. It would take up an entire book - there is one available - if all the paintings were to be photographed, but this is one of the best.

1607 RAF Club SE.5as

This one is also a goodie. Like the perspective.

1607 RAF Club Lancaster by Grant Newman, on Flickr

After saying farewell to my tour mates, the next day I flew up to Scotland to begin Phase Three of my tour, but I had a few hours to spare in the capital, so went on a wee jaunt around looking at monuments and stuff of interest. First stop; RAF Bentley Priory in Stanmore. Formerly an RAF station, which served as Fighter Command HQ at one time, Bentley Priory is now a gated residents community, but the main building is open to the public as a museum. Somewhat stupidly I didn't do my research and realised when I got there that it was closed. So, I talked the security staff at the entrance to let me in to take some pictures of the house from the outside. They did advise that I was being watched on CCTV.

There are two full scale mock-up aeroplanes on site - there used to be an English Electric Lightning, too, but that's gone. This Hurricane is in the markings of Flt Lt Pete Brothers of 32 Sqn.

1707 Bentley Priory Hurricane

This Spitfire is in the markings of Sgt Cyril Bamberger of 610 Sqn.

1707 Bentley Priory Spitfire by Grant Newman, on Flickr

The front of the priory building. Hugh 'Stuffy' Dowding's office has been preserved and is the third window on the right of the three larger windows to the left of the columned balcony. Although I was disappointed not to have gotten in the building, that I was allowed to wander about taking photos within the gated compound was more than justification for not going inside and I was grateful for that. I have been in the building before - the Air Historic Branch used to be there and I visited when I worked at Hendon.

1707 Bentley Priory front

Next, more London touristy stuff.

Nice shots Grant!

Good stuff Grant.

Really enjoying this.

My next stop on the Jubilee Line from Stanmore was St John's Wood, where there is a street called Abbey Road.

1707 Abbey Road

Some of the Greatest musicians ever have ascended these steps and produced some of the best music ever recorded, and I'm not just talking about David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright doing albums called Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here either, apparently, the Beatles were here too (!)

1707 Abbey Road Studios

There's always one!

1707 Abbey Road crossing

This is the RAF Club, where we had dinner the night before, from across the road.

1707 London RAF Club

One thing I really wanted to visit while I was in London was the Bomber Command Memorial, since I'd never seen it before. The cross pattern on the ceiling symbolises the unique construction of the Wellington and there is metal in the ceiling from a crashed Halifax, apparently.

1707 London Bomber Command Memorial i

About time these buggers got their recognition, I reckon.

1707 London Bomber Command Memorial ii

Winnie still stands guard over Westminster. I was going to go to the Cabinet War Rooms, but the queue was a mile long and I didn't have time.

1707 London Churchill

The facade of the Battle of Britain memorial on the Thames.

1707 London Battle of Britain memorial

The RAF Memorial.

1707 London RAF Memorial

And finally, the Fleet Air Arm Memorial.

1707 London Fleet Air Arm memorial

Next stop, Bonnie Scotland and perhaps the most underrated museum collection in the UK.

Marvelous photos Grant!

Page two - Post No. 35 - the wind tunnel M-wing model. Any Mention of Armstrong Whitworth?

nuuumannn said:

One thing I really wanted to visit while I was in London was the Bomber Command Memorial, since I'd never seen it before. The cross pattern on the ceiling symbolises the unique construction of the Wellington and there is metal in the ceiling from a crashed Halifax, apparently..

Click to expand...

Correct. From Bomber Command Memorial in London

The Legacy of Halifax LW682

F/O Wilbur Bentz's 426 Squadron RCAF Halifax was shot down in 1944, forgotten for fifty years, and then recovered in 1997. The aluminum from the aircraft was acquired by the Bomber Command Museum of Canada. In 2012 the aluminum became the ceiling of the Bomber Command Memorial in London.

P/O Wilbur "Wib" Bentz was born in North Bend, B.C. and received his wings at Brantford, Ontario in April, 1943. On the evening of 12 May, 1944 P/O Bentz piloted 426 Squadron RCAF Halifax LW682 (OW-M) on a raid to Leuven, Belgium. The aircraft was attacked by a Messerschmitt Bf-110 flown by Luftwaffe ace, Martin Drewes. It crashed into a marsh and exploded, killing all eight aboard. Because of the boggy ground, very little from the aircraft could be recovered and only five bodies were located. Within 24 hours the remains of the aircraft other crewmembers sank into the marsh with Halifax LW682.

After coming across his uncle's letters, Jay Hammond, visited the site and realized that his uncle's remains were right below his feet. Under the sponsorship of 426 Sqd. Association, Karl Kjarsgaard of Canada's Halifax 57 Rescue recovered Halifax LW682 with the assistance of the Belgian Aviation History Association. The team recovered the remains of the three Canadians that were still in the aircraft, P/O Bentz, Sgt. J.W. Summerhayes, and Sgt. F. Roach. Their families attended the burial of the airmen who were interred next to their five crewmates.

The recovered aircraft parts were transported to Canada and some were used in the restoration of Halifax NA337 now on display at Trenton, Ontario. The unused aluminum was melted and formed into ingots. The ingots were acquired by the Bomber Command Museum of Canada and placed in storage to be used for memorial purposes.

The museum offered the ingots to the Bomber Command Association in the U.K. on behalf of all of Canada as a unique contribution to the Memorial to the aircrew of Bomber Command that they were designing. The museum delivered 850 pounds of the aluminum to Lethbridge and loaded it aboard a 429 Squadron RCAF C-17 transport that flew the ingots back to Trenton and then to the U.K.

In 2012 The Bomber Command Memorial was Dedicated in London by the Queen to honour the airmen of Bomber Command, 55,573 of whom lost their lives. The design of the ceiling of the 8.5 metre tall pavilion at the focal point of the Memorial was inspired by the geodetic construction used in the Vickers Wellington bomber. The aluminum panels that cover the Wellington geodetic pattern roof supports were formed from the aluminum from P/O Bentz' RCAF Halifax LW682 that was provided by the Bomber Command Museum of Canada.

Nice pic Graeme, not specifically, but at the Midland Air Museum is this...

AW M Wing

Clearly the same aircraft, the AW P.13, might even be the same model after refurbishment?

The M and W wing configuration was not unique to Armstrong Whitworth; the RAE did considerable wind tunnel testing of wing shapes.

M and W wings

These are on display at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust museum.

This one was seriously considered for a transonic Harrier. There's the reverse wing on the bottom of the case.

Harrier W Wing

Lovely shots Grant!

Right, now on to lovely Edinburgh; I lived here for nine years and although this wasn't the first time I'd been back since I left, it felt good to be there agin, even if it was for only a few days. My first stop was Scotland's National Museum of Flight at East Fortune - I worked here, so it was a chance to see those aeroplanes that I had so much to do with over an eight year period in new settings. As I discovered, much work has been spent on the place since the arrival of its star exhibit, Concorde G-BOAA in 2004. The funding generated has spurred development of the museum on an unprecedented scale; we used to run it on a shoestring budget and resources, it's now so very grown up and deserving of its place as one of the UK's premier national collections. Despite this, it gets so little exposure south of the border, yet the collection is definitely world class in the significance of the objects it holds and of the site's location. East Fortune is an historical site for a few reasons.

Anyway, time to take a glimpse at some aircraft and stuff. G-BOAA occupies the main hangar, with displays focussing on it and the development of jet airliners - the nose section of the B707 that used to be at Cosford is now here, as is the BAC.1-11 and Viscount from the defunct British Airways collection formerly resident at the RAF Museum site. Oh, and I flew on 'BOAA during a visit it made to Edinburgh, too! Some coincidence, the museum I worked at got the Concorde I flew on.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune G-BOAA

East Fortune has a sizeable collection of jet engines - examples of every Rolls-Royce jet engine built to the Trent.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune engine

Being a Scottish museum, there are examples of aviation activities here, including a Twin Pioneer built by Scottish Aviation Limited at Prestwick. The prototype Bulldog and Jetstream, other companies' products built by SAL are also at the museum. Jetstream nose peaking out from behind the Twin Pin.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune Twin Pioneer

In 1919 - almost 100 years ago, the airship R.34 took off from East Fortune and flew to New York, or Long Island, on what was the first east to west and return transatlantic crossing by aircraft.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune R.34 memorial

One of the most significant items at the museum, R.34's bow plate. The ship was built by Beardmore at Inchinnan on the Clyde and was adorned with this throughout her career. It survived the ship's wholesale destruction at Howden in Yorkshire and got pride of place in the officer's mess at RAF Cardington, before coming to East Fortune.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune R.34 bow plate

Throughout the Great War, East Fortune was one of the biggest air stations in the country, with three enormous airship sheds and a big construction programme that saw nearly 2,000 people working on site in 1918. Most of the Great War buildings survive with the exception of the airship sheds. These wings are from a Sopwith Cuckoo torpedoplane; East Fortune was home to the first aircraft carrier based torpedo squadron, 185 Sqn, RAF and the first aircraft carrier HMS Furious' flying unit, 'F' Sqn, commanded by Sqn Cdr Edwin Dunning was based here, too. This was where service carrier aviation began in earnest.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune Cuckoo wing

The Boli, one of only a few Canadian built Bolingbrokes based in the UK, the difference being that this is restored as a Bolingbroke, not masquerading as a Blenheim. The flying one at Duxford has this one's engines - it was acquired from the Strathallan Collection and was undergoing restoration to fly, when Strathallan wound up in the early 80s.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune Bolingbroke

The Meatbox. This Meteor is barely run in having only a very brief flying career of just over 400 flying hours, being the prototype NF.11 through 14, receiving the first modifications for each night fighter Meteor variant. It became part of the Ferranti Flying Unit based at Turnhouse (Edinburgh Airport) and was used as a hack. I used to know its pilot. In the late 1960s it was involved in subterfuge as it was the centre of a sale to a group called Enterprise Films Ltd, who claimed to be making a film about the RAF, but really the group was illegally exporting arms to war torn Biafra. Needless to say, the Meteor never got there and on receipt of the aircraft, the museum was made to sign a declaration that it would never be on-sold or dismatled in any way, shape or form!

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune G-ARCX

Ahh, my Harrier. Myself and our chief technician put this aircraft together. It is not a GR.3, despite appearances; it's a DB.3, one of the six pre-production Development Batch Harriers and was used for weapons trials. The Royal Navy titling on the fin comes from its days at RNAS Yeovilton as an instructional airframe. Note the lumps just forward of the wing, no one has been able to determine exactly what those were for.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune XV277

The Lightning, an F.2A, fitted with four cannon and two missiles. What a beast. Marked in 92 Sqn markings, not blue this time, when it was based at RAF Gutersloh in Germany. It ended its service career at RAF Leuchars as an airfield decoy. Its Ferranti AI.23B AIRPASS radar and test unit can be seen alongside. A number of the volunteers at East Fortune are ex-Ferranti and designed this kit for the aircraft.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune XN776

The Royal Scottish Museum's (now the National Museums of Scotland or NMS) Spitfire XVI is a bit of a mess, but being plonked on this stand means that its tardy state can't be appreciated quite so much. It is a movie star, being used as a background machine in Reach For The Sky and was used for publicity shots with Kenneth Moore as Douglas Bader put in the cockpit.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune Hangar 2

The Komet was one of my favourites and I poured over this machine and learned as much as I could about it whilst I was there. Unbeknownst to me at the time, but Eric 'Winkle' Brown, a rather famous Scottish test pilot actually has this aircraft in his flying log book!

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune 191659

Fading with age, Avro Vulcan B.2 XM597 was one of the Black Buck Vulcans during the Falklands War. Note the two missile symbols and the Brazilian flag; this was the one that infamously diverted to Rio de Janeiro after attacking Port Stanley airfield with anti-radar missiles. It's pilot, Sqn Ldr Neill McDougall is Scottish, so it was only natural it come here. It flew in on retirement in 1984.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune XM597

Finally (fer nooo), a Napier Nomad compound diesel/gas turbine engine - perhaps one of the most complicated piston engines ever devised. One of a large number of aero engines in the collection.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune Napier Nomad

Next, NMS headquarters in Chambers Street, Edinburgh.

Continuing to watch with interest.