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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2013 1:44:13 GMT -5
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Post by shred on May 12, 2013 16:53:32 GMT -5
In some ways a brilliant design from the makers of the excellent Sunderland flying boat, but very much a victim of imposed limitations. The bomb bay had a divider and could not carry the heavier bombs that the Lanc and the Halifax could carry, the wingspan was short due to a political requirement that it could be stored in prewar standard RAF hangars, the wing chord was thicker than those of Halifax, Manchester & Lancaster bombers limiting it's operational ceiling and the lanky undercarriage designed to raise it to an optimum take off attitude was fragile and could often collapse. The Lancaster on the other hand was a 4 engined Manchester which was designed bomb bay first, and could carry the heaviest conventional bombs of the war, the Barnes Wallis Bouncing Bombs and his earthquake Tallboy and Grand slam bombs. A De Havilland Mosquito bomber could take off bomb Germany, fly home, reload, take off fly to Germany again and bomb it in the time it would take a Shorts Stirling to fly a single sortie. My Grandfather's favourite bomber was the Vickers Wellington, they nearly always came back no matter how many holes they had in them. The Geodetic structure designed by Barnes Wallis was immensely strong, when they pulled one out of Loch Ness in the 80's it was still intact, even the electrics still worked. My Grandfather was a mechanic in the RAF he served with 150 Squadron. Originally he was a rear gunner in Fairey Battle Bombers as part of the Advanced Air Striking force. My Grandmother was an Ambulance driver in the Women's Royal Air Force. My friend's grandfather served in Bristol Blenheims as a pilot officer, he was shot down in 1940 during the Battle of France and became a prisoner of war until freed in 1945. My great uncle Ronnie was in the British Army, he was killed in action during Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy).
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2013 18:40:14 GMT -5
i salute you and your family my friend.
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Post by shred on May 13, 2013 3:16:45 GMT -5
Thanks mate, sadly my Grandfather died when I was 8 years old after a battle against Cancer, a few months before he died I caught him pulling wheelies on my BMX in our back garden, he was quite a character. He didn't like talking about the war and I still don't know very much about his military service except that he served in the Battle of France with 150 Squadron RAF and most of his squadron were wiped out. Following the invasion of France my Grandfather had to drive an RAF tractor with a trailer of bombs to a safe port as the route to Dunkirk (Dunkerque) had already been overrun, on this journey saw the aftermath of Stuka air raids on columns of refugees who had fled their homes to escape the fighting. He was very lucky not to be a victim of a Stuka air raid himself.
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