FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0135.PDF
FLIGHT, 27 January 1961 135 Correspondence Tiv Editor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the views x^'ssed by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses of rifrst not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. Tales of Fair Kashmir YOUR readers may be interested in some photographs receivedfrom Capt Aziz, one of our pilots who has flown more than•. g OOOhr during ten years of operations on our Kashmiri flight. You may recall that when this pilot flew a member of Flight'sstaff back from Gilgit (Flight, October 28, 1960) he was dis- appointed not to be able to show him more of Nanga Parbat andthe Naked Lady of the Mountains. He has now sent some photo- graphs to enable Flight readers to appreciate something of herbeauty. There is also a recent picture from Skardu, PIA's other destination in Kashmir—winter has come and snow lies on theairstrip. On his return from one sortie on this route Capt Aziz lost an engine—as shown in one of the accompanying photographs,which was taken overhead Muzafarabad at 11,000ft immediately after the emergency (an SOS had been sent out) was cancelled.: A safe arrival was made at Rawalpindi. ! London Wl M. K. JANJUA,District Manager, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Living History IT was most interesting to see the authentic markings for R6915in your issue for January 6. It would be worth knowing in : addition if research has confirmed that undersurface roundels• were carried. Although this was "text book" for the period, they were in fact often absent, presumably a legacy from the black/grey'• days which actually persisted into the summer of 1940. A point which Mr Moore will certainly recall. The order of the lettering on the starboard side would also beworth knowing. In spite of the restricted space aft of the roundel on a Spitfire, the two-letter combination was as often found thereas in the forward position. It might be worth mentioning, for the record, that R6915 doesin fact sport Mk V wings, to judge from the external well-stiffeners, which I believe were not present on the earlier Marks.Hayes, Kent PETER G. COOKSLEY TN Flight for January 6, C. Rupert Moore writes concerning the* camouflage of the Imperial War Museum Spitfire and publishes a painting showing the correct colour scheme of this aircraft at theBattle of Britain, the result of eight years' research sparked off by a letter which appeared in 1952. However, no mention ismade of the authorship of the 1952 letter (C. Rupert Moore him- self), or that the I.W.M. Spitfire has a complete history attachedin which it states that it was reconditioned by an MU in 1942 before being delivered to the Museum. How, therefore, can thecamouflage be stated to be incorrect when it is not even claimed to be in 1940 Battle of Britain colours? Furthermore, probablythe sole remaining example of genuine wartime camouflage would - be lost. At the present time there is an absolute craze to repaint allaircraft in "authentic" colour schemes of the Battle of Britain. The information is usually obtained from unreliable sources andthe "authentic scheme" entails the deletion of all stencilling, W/T markings, etc, thus giving an erroneous picture of the era. Anexample of the inaccuracies possible is given by a book (Camouflage 1939A2) published some years ago and including colour platesby Mr Moore himself in which the green and grey on the Spitfire upper surface were interchanged. This error was repeated in thelatest "authority"—Camouflage and Markings 1907-1954. I have prepared from works drawings the correct factory schemesfor the Spitfire from December 1939 to the end of the war, covering, with dates, every change in that time. These drawingsnave been used to repaint a number of aircraft and it is significant that the majority of requests are for Battle of Britain coloursirrespective of mark number. Even Vickers could not get the undersides of AB910 the correct colour, in spite of this authenticinformation. A further example of this repainting spree is found in theMosquito B.XVI(?) held at RAF Thorney Island, which has Deen carefully repainted in dark green, dark earth and sky—ascheme which was only used on a small number of very early '•*> and possibly B.IV series Is. And in case the existence of a B.Ip. iOubted, I have records of three aircraft in 105 Squadron at -rsham St Faith in the W4062-W4070 batch, the B.IV prototype Nanga Parbat and the Naked Lady of the Mountains, as seen by Capt Aziz (see first letter). Right, DC-3 emergency feathering being, I believe, W4071. All subsequent Mosquitos were incurrent day-fighter colours of dark green and ocean grey or dark sea-grey, and medium sea-grey underneath, the Mosquitos beingspecifically segregated from day-bombers in the contemporary official DTD Technical Circulars concerning camouflage andmarkings. In Mr Moore's previous letter he suggests that by writing hisletter he may encourage others to come forward with useful information and quotes the extent of his own researches, collated"ready for binding." May one be so bold as to ask if this informa- tion has ever been published? Twenty years after the event,German Battle of Britain camouflage is still the subject of much controversy and "authentic information."West Byfleet, Surrey M. J. LEE The Sopwith Designs A/fAY I, through your columns, thank Wg Cdr Norman-'•"-'- Macmillan (and of course yourselves for publishing the infor- mation) for his interesting article regarding the design of certainSopwith type aircraft (December 30, 1960). Having flown in 1916-1919 Pups, Camels and Dolphins, I have myself tried toascertain whose "child" they were, without result. Wg Cdr Macmillan's article is of remarkable value and I hopethe Historical Branch of our Society will take note of it. Ryde, IoW L. S. ASH [A letter from Mr Francis K. Mason about Herbert Smith, the SopwithAviation Company's chief designer, was published in our issue of January 13.—Ed.] Maritime Headquarters UnitsM EMBERS of this unit were most grieved to read, in theJanuary 6 issue of Flight, of their premature burial. It is true that the Fighter Control Units have now disbanded, but theMaritime Headquarters Units at Northwood, Plymouth, Edin- burgh and Belfast still remain.These units of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force were formed a year ago to carry out a vital role in the defence of NATO againstthe submarine—a war vehicle which is far more versatile and menacing than the bomber. Should the occasion arise, the Maritime Headquarters Units areable to step-in and man the operations rooms at the various War Headquarters of Coastal Command. An intensive training pro-gramme is carried out in the evenings, at weekends, and for a continuous period each year to maintain a high standard ofreadiness. Volunteers are still required to join the Maritime HeadquartersUnits. Men and women who are interested are requested to write to the adjutant at the nearest address below: — No 1 (County of Hertford) M.H. Unit, Royal Auxiliary Air Force,Valency House, Sandy Lane, Northwood, Middx. No 2 (City of Edinburgh) M.H. Unit, Royal Auxiliary Air Force,25 Learmouth Terrace, Edinburgh 4. No 3 (County of Devon) M.H. Unit, Royal Auxiliary Air Force,Mountbatten, Plymouth, Devon. Ulster Maritime Support Unit, c/o RAF Aldergrove, County Antrim,N. Ireland. Northwood, Middx M. B. CUMBERS, Fit Lt, Public Relations Officer Hinkler: Greatest Pilot?M R JOHN GRIERSON (November 25) is a little astray in hisreference to the Chichester achievement as "the first flight from New Zealand to Australia." The credit belongs, surely, toSir Charles Kingsford Smith in the Southern Cross on October 13, 1928. His flight, incidentally, took 22hr 51min, as againstChichester's flight time of 19hr 48min. For the record, of the first ten Tasman flights no fewer than six were made by KingsfordSmith, all in the Southern Cross. His last flight was on March 29, 1934, and it was his fastest—13hr 25min.Speaking of forgotten flights that should be remembered, who now recalls the Di Pinedo flight from Italy to Melbourne andTokyo and back to Italy in 1925? Or for that matter the wonderful series of flights by Bert Hinkler? Some of us here have oftendiscussed the idea of a biography of Hinkler, but where would the material come from? Here was one bird who could fly much
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
