Les Chevaliers du Ciel

I'm familiar with the BD series that this film is based on but didn't know about the film itself. It's a great video clip either way and reminds me that I have some very nice Oddzial Ozmy 1/600th scale modern fighters that would be perfect for Target Locked On! and Airwar C21, not to mention CY6 Jet Age. Anyway sit back and enjoy.

And after the Hollywood version...here's the real one, French style.

Hands to Flying Stations

This is brilliant! I remember going on board HMS Ark Royal on a navy day in Devonport way back in the mid '70's. This reminds me of the Flashpoint: Fleet Air Arm project for Target Locked On! that I was thinking about a few months ago. I really should do something with that, now that I have a good grasp of the rules. 

Empire of the Clouds

I found this for £6.99 in the local garden centre of all places, while choosing a Xmas tree today. I read the paperback edition when it was first published but this is the hardback illustrated version, so a very nice volume to add to the bookshelf or even to the coffee table, if I actually had one of those. There are some splendid photos of post war jet aircraft too.

Hidden Warbirds

As it is World Book Day today, I thought I'd celebrate with a second hand copy of this book on WW2 aircraft wreck recovery and restoration, if that's not a bit too much of a tongue twister? I actually got hold of it on Monday in the local charity shop for two quid, which I thought was a pretty good find, especially as it's good as new and in hardback. 

It is very well illustrated and there are some famous examples of extreme aircraft salvage including P38 Glacier Girl and B17 Swamp Ghost, as well as many that I wasn't aware of, like the P61 Black Widow discovered at the summit of a mountain in Papua New Guinea. I particularly liked the chapter on aircraft recovered from South and Central America. Really interesting stuff!

The Whirlwind Fighter Project

As I've mentioned before, one of my favourite aircraft of the Second World War is the Westland Whirlwind, so much so that I've written several scenarios for Bag the Hun Two in which it is the star player. Despite it's shortcomings in reliability and performance, together with it's limited operational life and relatively early retirement, it was a formidable aircraft and performed very well in it's ultimate role as a low level ground attack and anti shipping fighter bomber.

I was very surprised but also very pleased to find out that there is a project to fund and build an exact non-flying replica of a Whirlwind using as many original components as possible. So, if you have any Whirlwind bits and bobs lying around in your garden shed or at the back of your garage, I'm sure they'd be very keen to know! You can find out more about it and even sign up for membership via the link below or via the link on the sidebar opposite:

http://www.whirlwindfighterproject.org/

Burma Banshees

 

I for one am very much looking forward to this, which is the first instalment of a three part series called Angel Wings. It's out in October, so I'll be able to pick up  a copy at Xmas when I'm over in Brittany for the usual festivities. It's got me thinking about that long lost Bag the Hun CBI project again...but, in he meantime, it's back to a steaming pile of Year 9 marking..

 

:O(

The Plane That Saved Britain

 

I missed this last week but managed to find it again on the 4OD re-play thingy, thanks to a tip off from my dad who is a big Mossie fan. It's really good, in part due to the genuine enthusiasm and passion of the presenter, although there are a few over-exaggerations about the significance of the Mosquito to the war effort. If you can catch it before it disappears, it's well worth an hour of your time:

 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-plane-that-saved-britain/4od

Goolie Chits

I've been reading this over the last few days, having added a secondhand hardback copy to the bookshelf a while back. It's a very interesting read, covering interwar colonial police actions by the RAF in various far flung corners of the Empire. This has been an interest of mine since childhood, as my grandfather was a Sergeant Pilot on the North West Frontier in the 1930's and told me many hair raising stories about his exploits:

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/photos-from-frontier.html

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/more-photos-from-frontier.html

The book is a long out of print but is a fascinating gold mine of potential wargaming scenarios, stretching from the Russian Civil War, via Somaliland, to the North West Frontier and Palestine. If I ever got round to this it would probably be another Back of Beyond effort in 28mm, for which (you guessed it) I have all the figures, vehicles and model kits for a NWF flying column.

I also think it would be very straightforward to set up something in 20mm, perhaps using Tumbling Dice figures and the multitude of plastic aircraft kits that would be suitable for the job. You could even have a crack at the NWF in 10mm with Pendraken figures and Wings of War aircraft, easily re-painted in suitably colonial schemes. It's a thought but that's as far as it will ever get, given my existing mountain of things to do!

Back Home Again

We got home earlier this afternoon after a very enjoyable holiday to Suffolk, even though I've had a bug for the whole week and am now suffering as a result. We spent most days on trips to various historical places including Sutton Hoo, Orford Castle and Framlingham Castle, which were very interesting. The highlight of the week for me was a trip to the IWM museum at Duxford, which was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed the workshops where I took loads of close up photos of the various classic fighters that were being restored or maintained. Very, very cool.

Defenders of the North West Frontier

This month's issue of Aeroplane features an article all about No39 Squadron and it's action over the North West Frontier between 1929 and 1939. There are a number of black and white photographs, some of which no doubt feature the Hawker Hart that my grandfather flew, although they are too blurred to identify the specific aircraft.

It's a great article nonetheless and well worth a read. I'm going to email the photos that my grandfather took to the magazine in the hope that they might be published or, at the very least, allow me to follow up the story of his experiences in the interwar RAF over the North West Frontier.

Hawker Hart Film

This is great! I particularly like the pilot's handlebar moustache. This airfield is only twenty minutes up the road from me too. I wouldn't be surprised if my grandfather was posted there at some point. Who knows, he might be one the erks wheeling out the aircraft at the start of the film? I'll have to check his records to see.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the show.

Hawker Hart Hunting

I've been looking for a model kit of a Hawker Hart since I unearthed my Grandfather's photo collection last week. I really like the idea of making a model of the aircraft that he flew, K2129 No 5 of B Flight, 38 Squadron based at Rispalpur on the North West Frontier.

Unfortunately, apart from a hard to find 1/72nd scale kit of a Hart from AZ Model, no one seems to make an off the shelf version. I'd really like to build one in 1/48th scale but that's not an option. There is a 1/32 scale reesin kit by Silver Wings but it costs about £100, which is way out of my league even if I knew how to stick it together.

A final option would be to build a 1/18 scale rubber powered flying model from a kit I've seen on Ebay. I'd not bother to use it for flying but would detail it up to make it look as much like a scale model as possible. In the meantime, I'll be saving my pocket money to buy one of the restored Hawker Hinds that were found on a scrap heap in Aghanistan.

http://www.hawkerhind.com/

They're a bargain at £80,000 but I think I'll just get one rather than a pair.

More Photos from the Frontier

Photos from the Frontier

Flight Sergeant J.S.Robinson (Middle Row Centre)

I was looking through some family photos yesterday and came across my grandfather's interwar RAF collection, many of which are of his time on the North West Frontier in the late 1930's. My grandfather, on my mothers side, joined the RAF as an apprentice metal rigger in the mid 1920's and worked his way up to flight seargeant by the time he was sent out to India.

As you can see, he flew two seater Hawker Hart light bombers in B Flight of No39 Squadron whilst posted to Risalpur in what is now Pakistan. He spent most of his time there flying ground attack and leaflet dropping sorties over Waziristan, as part of the campaign to crush the rebellion being stirred up by the Wali of Swat and the Fakir of Ipi (someone should've mentioned the names, don't you think?)

In his memoirs and in conversations that we had before he died he described the various things that he got up to, most of which ended in fairly narrow escapes from imminent death. These included WW1 vintage cooper bombs dropping off while his aircraft taxied along the airstrip, being shot at by Pathan tribesmen armed with jezails and being marooned in the middle of nowhere for several days armed only with a Very pistol and a stiff upper lip.

I really should post some extracts from his memoirs here as they're very colourful and interesting to read, especially with the photos alongside. I'll see if I can find my copy when I get back home. In the meantime, I'll copy some more of the photos and post them here. There aren't that many but they're definately worth a look if you're interested.

It's also ironic that the modern incarnation of No39 Squadron is now flying unmanned drones over exactly the same bit of Waziristan that my grandfather flew over himself eighty plus years ago. I don't think the current UAV pilots will be wearing pith helmets and bombay bloomers though?