Absoloutely McG! Sitting here I can't even contemplate wanting to live on once I had lost such people. Your Grandmother must have had tremendous courage.
Mark and I went to the biggest celebration of VE day in the UK (apparently) - an Airshow at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford:
with Ed (savage727's) help we have been able to put some "names to faces"
The weather was really rough - heavy winds and occasional bouts of rain making the sky dark and look like this :
Here is the helicopter we renamed the Gandalf for the day
because they were saying it was a Merlin. I think that must be some variety of Super Puma Helicopter?? I'm a bit confused there
There's always someone standing in front of you with a baseball cap on... or a big conk... such as this oversized fellow
At least Concord had a good view
Inside the Concord prototype! Looks really complicated to me
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Lancaster Heavy Bomber flanked on the right by a Hurricane Fighter and on the left by a Spitfire Fighter. The Hurricane & Spitfire were the 2 British Aircraft that won the Battle of Britain in 1940. Great fighters. It seems that there are only two Lancaster Bombers stil flying so they have to keep them nice
and not fly them in adverse weather (ahem) but it was the 60th Anniversary
so they had to brave it!l
A two seat trainer Spitfire Fighter.
From left to right - L4 Piper Cub Artillery Spotter Aircraft, German Storch Utility plane, Clipped Wing Version of a British Spitfire Fighter.
Grumman Wildcat fighter in British Markings. This was the main fighter the US Navy and Marine Corps pilots flew in the Pacific for the first half of the war. British pilots flew this plane from carriers in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
PBY Catalina Amphibious aircraft used by us both all over the world for Scouting, Ant- Submarine Warfare, Search & Rescue, and Night Attack. Great aircraft.
Photo of Ferocious Frankie a P-51D Mustang Fighter. These types of fighter aircraft were based at Duxford when it was given to the Americans as a base.
Photo of a P-47D Thunderbolt Fighter. Along with the P-51 Mustang these were the two major fighter aircraft that Americans flew out of England to escort the bombers.
Photos of a P-51 Mustang in filight, a P-47 Thunderbolt in fight, another of a P-51 Mustang in flight.
Formation flight of P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolt Fighters. The black & white stripes on the aircraft indicate they were used for the D-Day landings and were so marked to show that they were friendly aircraft to ship and ground gunners during the invasion. British aircraft were also marked this way as well.
(Foreground) Trainer Spitfire Fighter with a F4U-1D Corsair Fighter landing behind it(background). This fighter was used by our Navy and Marine Corps pilots in the Pacific for the last half of the war and also used by British Navy Pilots in the Pacific. Ed's Mother worked at the Chance Vought Aircraft Company in Stratford, Connecticut durin the war riviting the wings together of these great fighters. Who knows she may have worked on this one?
P-47 Thunderbolt and F4U Corsair flying past 3 Spitfires on the flight line!
Russian Yak fighter taxing out. This is actually the 2 seat trainer version of the fighter.
(NB... if the forum ever buys a plane
it must be a Yak one
)
Fercious Frankie P-51 Fighter taxing out past several British Army helicopters - The Lynx and Super Puma.
Photo of Big Beautiful Doll P-51 Mustang Fighter taxing out. The American fighter and bomber pilots named their planes and had them painted up usually of girlfriends or wives.
F-80 Shooting Star in flight. It was one of the first American Jet Fighters and it came out just as the war ended. It was used in the Korean War mainly as a ground attack plane.
British Spitfire Fighter warming up for take off.
4 British Spitfires flying in formation
American B-17G Heavy Bomber. Earlier versions of the B-17 that flew from England did not have the chin turret of machine guns. This was introduced because the German fighters would make head on passes at the bombers which did not have many fordward firing guns in the nose.
British Hurricane Fighter taxing out to the flight line.
British Navy Sea Fury
P-47 Thunderbolt fighter
