Must be 18 years of age to buy ....EGGS!

[Lambeg man]

On 28/8/2022 at 1:15 PM, Broithe said:

At one time, if you'd requested "a couple of dozen eggs" in the RAF, this is what would arrive.

Of course those eggs are going into a Belfast war time product, a 'Short Stirling'... Often wondered why Avro chose the city name of 'Lancaster' for their four engined bomber, yet Shorts named their's after a city in Scotland? Of course there was another production named the 'Halifax'. Was that named after the Yorkshire city or as a gesture to a then prominent politician?

British Army main battle tanks for many years were always given names that began with the letter 'C'. Cromwell, Churchill, Centurion, Chieftain, Challenger, etc. Army logic.

Where the 'Brycleem Boys' choose their kite names defys any logic... Over to you Galtemore...

Edited August 30, 2022 by Lambeg man

[Broithe]

The Lancaster was, perhaps, named after somewhere near to Manchester, as it was really a development of the ill-fated Avro Manchester, after the Vulture engines were abandoned in favour of the rather better Merlins. And, Avro was a 'local' company there. The Lancaster then morphed into the Lincoln and, ultimately, the Shackleton, flying on into the 1990s.

Handley Page had a penchant for names that started with an alliterative 'H'.

'Stirling' also, perhaps, had a secondary hint of solid reliability?

The Stirling was rather overshadowed in the four-engined hierarchy. It was an early design that was required to fit through the standard hangar doors, so the wingspan was shorter than it could otherwise have been. The airframe was relatively robust, but the landing gear could be troublesome, and the bomb-bay was divided, so it couldn't transport the larger bombs that became operational later in the war. And the low aspect ratio wings led them to often fly lower than the other planes, with a consequent higher risk of being bombed from above.

We made a list once of the various types of names - battles, famous people, cities, weather, birds, other animals, etc.

There were some odd ones that stood out, there were a few insects, but we could only think of one plant, the Bristol Sycamore helicopter - and it seemed odd to name military aircraft after prey animals, Gazelle, Wildebeest, etc.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Broithe
Spelling...

[Galteemore]

One rather odd factoid is that you stood a better chance of escaping from a Halifax than a Lancaster should flak or a night fighter strike. The Lanc had a huge internal spar which impeded egress. The crews of both were delighted when a large raid included Stirlings. As Broithe says, they flew lower, so tended to attract more flak. 

[Broithe]

33 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

One rather odd factoid is that you stood a better chance of escaping from a Halifax than a Lancaster should flak or a night fighter strike. The Lanc had a huge internal spar which impeded egress. The crews of both were delighted when a large raid included Stirlings. As Broithe says, they flew lower, so tended to attract more flak. 

Although the flak was a danger, the bombs from above were possibly a greater risk factor.

Short Brothers do also seem to have had a tendency to go for alliterative names, Sunderland, Singapore, Sandringham, etc - but they did also come up with the dramatic 'Knuckleduster'.

Alliteration was a common theme - Vickers devices often began with a V, all the way from Vimy to Valiant, Viking and Valetta.

There's also the odd situation where names were reused - a Hawker Fury could be either a biplane or a later, completely different, monoplane - and a Westland Whirlwind could be a twin-engined fighter or a helicopter. Both "pairs" were in service, but not on overlapping timescales, but you could have spares for the earlier ones lying around for decades, whilst the later ones were in use..

The Americans weren't immune to that, either, there was a McDonnell Phantom prior to the more well-known device, although the earlier one never entered British service,

[Lambeg man]

My ex-father-in-law was a rear gunner on a Lancaster during the war. He was in the 'Pathfinder Squadron' based at RAF Scampton. He had some interesting stories about his service. One night they had dropped their incendiaries (markers) over the target and on the way back a German night fighter caught up with them. Old George let rip with his four Brownings and matey pulled back before coming in for another go. This toing and froing continued for about 20 minutes, until the Lanc reached the coast. As George let go his last rounds, the German dipped his wings as if in salute!

I also remember him telling me how in the dying hours of the war, Bomber Command suddenly switched from dropping bombs on Germany to dropping food supplies over Holland. He was understandably bitter like many other Bomber Command crew that they received no official recognition after the war, such as a campaign medal.

Also related info is that up until circa 1978 when a form of radar was installed to aid the gunner's aim, the Chieftain tank had a .50 Browning machine gun (the same that used in the Lancaster) fitted in the turret as a 'ranging device' for the main gun. I would get out more, but I have too many eggs to count...   

Edited August 31, 2022 by Lambeg man

[Broithe]

1 hour ago, Lambeg man said:

RAF Scampton.

Guy Gibson's dog's grave is still there, although there is a new memorial stone these days,

 

Still plenty of Brownings in use these days, all over the place.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Broithe
Adding 'secure' picture.

[Lambeg man]

12 hours ago, Broithe said:

Guy Gibson's dog's

For the American version of the 'Dambusrers' movie, they muted the 'N' word. In the scene with the dog outside the briefing room, the guard on the door is a very young Patrick McGoohan in his first ever (non-speaking and unaccredited) movie appearance...

[Galteemore]

Also features George Baker, later famous as Inspector Wexford.  And Tony Hancock’s sidekick Bill Kerr as Micky Martin. The Carling pastiche is still hilarious 

https://youtu.be/YyuDUVnePsU

Edited September 1, 2022 by Galteemore

[Broithe]

Many interesting things at Scampton, including this impressive fire.

It threw a compressor disc and just burned to the ground.

Plenty to burn, with two bomb bay tanks in, too. Everybody got out, including the cadet they had with them, whose parachute went off inside the plane, adding to the interest of the occasion. 

The runway at Scampton had been extended for the Vulcans, resulting in the big sweep on the originally dead straight A15 road, but this made such a mess that it was shortened again by 500 feet, until it was repaired, eventually.

 

8 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Micky Martin. 

I 'believe' that I met Mick Martin, around 1970, but without really realising who he was, he was never really one of the better known names from that period, for some reason.

[WRENNEIRE]

Met "Mick Martin" myself a few times when he played for Bohs
Then Tommy Docherty pooched him and he went to Man Utd, I will never forgive him for that! 

[Broithe]

24 minutes ago, WRENNEIRE said:

Met "Mick Martin" myself a few times when he played for Bohs
Then Tommy Docherty pooched him and he went to Man Utd, I will never forgive him for that! 

Reminds me of a time doing a pub quiz in England, around 2005.

"Whose autobiography was called 'Reach For The Sky' ?"

I had the pen, so I just wrote in 'Douglas Bader'.

Bemusement from all the others in the team, including the Head of History at a secondary school, with a 'specialism' in WW2 matters.

"You must have heard of Douglas Bader, surely?" - "No, he sounds like he might have been a cricketer?"

Well, I suppose he would have a good go at it...


The same person also asked me who I would have voted for in the "Hundred Greatest Britons" TV poll*. 

I said I would probably have gone for Leonard Cheshire, because he had great influence, both during and after the war, in very different fields - this met the same bemused look from her.

"What did he do?" - "You've surely heard of Cheshire Homes, at least?" - "Ah, I think they built an estate near us - my Dad did some work for them".

 

Knowing when to give up is a skill.

 

* If you have nothing better to do, then, without looking it up, try to guess who, since the death of Thatcher, has been, according to that 2005 poll, the Greatest Living Briton..?

[Horsetan]

6 hours ago, Broithe said:

......* If you have nothing better to do, then, without looking it up, try to guess who, since the death of Thatcher, has been, according to that 2005 poll, the Greatest Living Briton..?

Sir David Attenborough?

[Broithe]

58 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

Sir David Attenborough?

No. I think he is No 8 of those still alive.

If you take twenty guesses, you might get the second and third, but if you don't know the top one, you won't get that with a thousand guesses...

[WRENNEIRE]

Harry Kane?

 

[Broithe]

3 minutes ago, WRENNEIRE said:

Harry Kane?

No.

He would have been twelve years old.

That would have required considerable widespread foresight amongst the general population.

[Horsetan]

On 1/9/2022 at 10:02 PM, Broithe said:

... if you don't know the top one, you won't get that with a thousand guesses...

Please don't tell me it's Jade Goody

[Broithe]

1 hour ago, Horsetan said:

Please don't tell me it's Jade Goody

Correct!

 

It is not.

 

And I believe she is not still living..?

[Horsetan]

40 minutes ago, Broithe said:

....And I believe she is not still living..?

Probably just as well. She made ignorance fashionable.

[Lambeg man]

14 hours ago, Broithe said:

Correct!

You are joking! Please, you are joking...

Edited September 3, 2022 by Lambeg man

[Broithe]

9 hours ago, Lambeg man said:

You are f**king joking! Please, you are f**king joking...

10 hours ago, Broithe said:

Correct!! It is not. And I believe she is not still living..?

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Broithe