SPITFIRE AT DAWN

[Gil Boyd]

Nothings changed..............just 70 years later. The home of 242 Sqn RAF Duxford the home of Sqn Ldr Douglas Bader and his merry bunch of men, taken early yesterday morning in the mist.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Bob Womack]

Looks like a Mk.I like my uncle flew. I'm in the middle of re-re-re-re-reading Reach For the Sky right now.

Bob

[browningautorifle]

Reach For the Sky

I have that book, read it when the bookmobile would come round the old public schools...

[CINDERS]

Very nice picture my father worked on the Spitfire and others as an LAC engine fitter in WWII

[Gil Boyd]

I was in early but couldn't get over to outside the Aircraft Restoration hanger to take one without the tie down concrete blocks, to make it look more authentic, before the fog dispersed.
They are all ready now to accept the three aircraft of the Memorial Flight at Duxford including the Lancaster, where their future servicing will take place...sad days when the RAF or should I say MOD farm out all that type of work. There were some brilliant aircraft engineers serving...........not long I suppose before robots take over

[bigduke6]

Last time I was there was greeted by the sound of the Merlin..... as I parked up, just after entering, a Spitfire was just coming in to land.... I posted a few pics somewhere.


https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=40813

[mrclark303]

I was in early but couldn't get over to outside the Aircraft Restoration hanger to take one without the tie down concrete blocks, to make it look more authentic, before the fog dispersed.
They are all ready now to accept the three aircraft of the Memorial Flight at Duxford including the Lancaster, where their future servicing will take place...sad days when the RAF or should I say MOD farm out all that type of work. There were some brilliant aircraft engineers serving...........not long I suppose before robots take over

Sad day Indeed Gil, when the RAF farm out the winter overhauls of the BBMF.

Inevitable I suppose with everything being privatised these days.

[Gil Boyd]

John,
I hope I am not wrong here, but with the tension building over the Ukraine/Crimea etc and the deployment of 2,000 BRITISH troops alone into the Ukraine to be completed by May next year, one has to wonder whether we have sold our assets and training off too quickly, like airfields being sold for housing sites etc.
Thats on top of bringing back thousands of armoured vehicles and closing down essential bases from BAOR prematurely in my view.

There is no way, ANY civilian organisation could maintain aircraft/tanks and other essential equipment in a conflict even if it was Marshalls of Cambridge. We still need essentail fitters and engineers in the tri services to maintain whats broke IMHO.

[bigduke6]

John,
I hope I am not wrong here, but with the tension building over the Ukraine/Crimea etc and the deployment of 2,000 BRITISH troops alone into the Ukraine to be completed by May next year, one has to wonder whether we have sold our assets and training off too quickly, like airfields being sold for housing sites etc.
Thats on top of bringing back thousands of armoured vehicles and closing down essential bases from BAOR prematurely in my view.

There is no way, ANY civilian organisation could maintain aircraft/tanks and other essential equipment in a conflict even if it was Marshalls of Cambridge. We still need essentail fitters and engineers in the tri services to maintain whats broke IMHO.

The sale of Bordon backfired as only the new part of it could be knocked down, the main Barracks (old part in front of the parade square) was listed so had to stay, this was the reason to flatten most of the old buildings at Lynham (so I'm told)...... before they were listed etc, so they could build from scratch and any future sell off would be straight forward.

Regarding the maintenance etc, you have to remember a lot of civilians were employed in REME Workshops, link below gives the figures for 1976, 42 Command workshop was only a stones throw away from me, lot of vehicles heading to NI passed through here and returned for major repairs etc.

I mentioned it in another post when a new book arrived regarding WD Motorcycles, the scale of repairs is quite an eye opener.

REME (Civilian Employees) (Hansard, 11 November 1976)

[Gil Boyd]

Don't get me started.....................a woman I know is proud to serve the RAF by being the person who travels the world scrounging parts for VC10's unbelievable.
I have too many tales to tell like that, as does Peter L and others who were at the sharp end of these dangerous and unecessary cuts.