Pics speak a little better than words. What would you like to know,Greg? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well done Simon, one of my relatives flew with the dam busters but all the relos that could tell me who he was have died. My grandmother told me about him 40 years ago and gave me a black and white photo of one of the Lancasters on route to Germany ..... lost it somewhere in my travels, hoping it will turn up when I move next and sort the wheat from the chaff
many families have that recollection and are unable to show proof... perhaps the movie had something to do with it? Fact is all the bomber squadrons were full of very brave men and suffered appalling losses and mental trauma long after the war ended.
Those logbooks are very cool. When I was very young my dad knew a guy who was a navigator in the one of Dam-Buster Lancasters. He would sometimes take us out fishing off the coast of Adelaide in his little boat. Wonderful old guy and a real gentleman. (I know he really was there as I've seen his name on more than one memorial to those missions). My memory may not be perfect in this regard, but I think his aircraft got shot down. Most of the crew managed to bail out but not the pilot. Could be wrong about that but I seem to recall that's what my dad told me.
And from the files of "you don't see that every day" A glider being towed out to be launched from the main runway at Adelaide today. I know times are tough in the airline industry, but come on! Image Unavailable, Please Login
My grandmother's maiden name was Searle and one of her relatives flew Spitfires for sure but she had recollections of him being associated with the dam busters and I would never call the woman that got me interested in flying a liar. BBC News - Dambusters: All the men who took part This is the list of all the people who did the mission and I don't see his name amongst them (first time I've ever looked online, I tried checking at the AWM but he wasn't there either)
Why are crop dusters used for these flights ? Every time I go to a gliding day it seems to be crop dusters doing the towing
Because their airframes are very strong. They are built to carry a large load so they are overpowered in terms of their size and empty weight compared to normal light aircraft. They also have a low stall speed. Essential for the low towing speeds for gliders. And they are usually tail-draggers, which is probably a naturally better configuration for a glider tug. Anyone know of any nose-wheel glider tugs? I've cropped and zoomed in as best I can on that pic (it's amazing how much poorer the pics look once uploaded to this site), and you can see there's a 737 on final while the glider is being towed out. Lol! Image Unavailable, Please Login
This is a slightly better image of one of the last one's I put up. Dad was trained as predominantly a Wireless operator,as you can see in the duty column,though,being in bombers,apart from the pilots,the other airmen needed to be ambidextrous,therefore he was also trained and passed in Navigation and Gunner. Image Unavailable, Please Login
As above re his various jobs. Post 402 outlines his,both,stations served and various aircraft served in.
It is funny, glad you liked it. This was sent to me tonight - copied from an airline blog. "Apparently it's been happening on Brisbane Ground for years! Charlie 2 to bay 22 is a common instruction for Qantas domestics, so the Richie thing is well established. Somtimes Ground will reply 'marvellous' after the readback. It all got a bit out of hand with pilots/ATC doing the whole call sequence a la Benaud to the confusion of foreign carriers on frequency) and eventually Tower management jumped up and down about it. Fortunately it's slowly crept back again.
Just a bit of harmless fun Glad to see/hear that it's occasionally still being used even after the 'fun police' stepped in.
I always smile whenever someone is cleared direct to waypoint DANKS, and they say "Danks" Yes. I'm easily amused. It can be pretty boring up there, you know.
On the ML-MIA route, there is a waypoint called CHITT. It always generates a chuckle whenever an aircraft gets track shortened and is 'going to CHITT'
