Battle of Britain 1940

C

casper

Two Stroke
In the UK there is a lot about the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The battle was a bloody nose for the Luftwaffe following this they decided not to bother invading Blighty and Hitler and his merry chums decided in 1941 to go East into the USSR - big mistake for them of course!

Despite a drizzly low cloud sort of day we did see a 'dogfight' between an ME109 (pictured). Ably defended by the Home Guard! There were Hurricanes and Spitfires and even an old Catalina flying boat.

It was the Shoreham Air Show August 2010, West Sussex UK.

ShorehamAirShowAugust2010011-1.jpg


The Home Guard...

ShorehamAirShowAugust2010001.jpg


RAF forward operations base (a tent!)....

ShorehamAirShowAugust2010005.jpg


Plus the remarkably tough Wilys Jeep...

ShorehamAirShowAugust2010006.jpg


Will the kites take off and battle Jerry?

ShorehamAirShowAugust2010004.jpg


Oh forgot to mention for our American cousins, the Home Guard were a bit of a joke, they were mainly older men and those who couldn't for one reason and another fight in the regular army. There was a famous 1970s comedy called ''Dads Army''. So the Home Guard are not an elite fighting force :) In fact there were not enough rifles in 1940 so many of them drilled with broom sticks - honestly they did! My Mum told me!!!

ShorehamAirShowAugust2010009.jpg



Casper
 
Last edited:
ivar

ivar

TT Racer
casper said:
Oh forgot to mention for our American cousins, the Home Guard were a bit of a joke, they were mainly older men and those who couldn't for one reason and another fight in the regular army. There was a famous 1970s comedy called ''Dads Army''. So the Home Guard are not an elite fighting force :) In fact there were not enough rifles in 1940 so many of them drilled with broom sticks - honestly they did! My Mum told me!!!
Click to expand...

But I bet it was one of those things keeping morale up in tough times - everyone being able to contibute to the war effort in some way or another.
 
mark66

mark66

TT Racer
Thanks for the pics Casper, it must have been great fun in person to watch the air show. I have seen a couple of B-17's and a P-51 at a show here in the US once. It's great to see some people put so much time and work into keeping our histories alive. :cheers:
 
R

Ryan

Scooter
Sweet pics, I love wartime stuff of that era.

Two weekends ago there was an air show at Jeffco Airport. All sorts of refurbed WWII planes this year. Couple C-47's and a squad of P-51 Mustangs flew right over my home.
 
C

Clarke

Scooter
Thanks for the pics. and important reminder to us. Churchill said it best.."Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".

It was a bloody mess in the air, with the RAF Hurricanes ripping the Germans to pieces.
 
C

casper

Two Stroke
Clarke said:
Thanks for the pics. and important reminder to us. Churchill said it best.."Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".

It was a bloody mess in the air, with the RAF Hurricanes ripping the Germans to pieces.
Click to expand...

Well, yes they gave the Luftwaffe its first real opposition. Prior to this the Luftwaffe (Spanish civil war, Poland, France, Netherlands etc) had ruled almost unchallenged. The RAF certainly blocked their image as unbeatable ubermenschen!

If you look at the figures, the Germans certainly came off worse. The Stuka for example was shot out of the sky; might have been great for a 'terror' weapon, but when it faced Hurricanes and Spitfires it was useless. The ME109s only had about 10 minutes over their targets then they had to go back to N.France.

But yes, we owe a debt to those brave men and women.

Two more pictures, these are Spitfires at the show; I think both are later model Spitfires, not built in 1940 but most probably 1942 or 3 onwards.

ShorehamAirShowAugust2010002.jpg


ShorehamAirShowAugust2010010-1.jpg


The other planes that were there at the air show were the P51 Mustang. Nicknamed 'The Cadillac of the Skies' it had the Merlin engine in it and compared to the old engine (was it a Pratt & Whitney not sure?) this was a world beating aircraft and it could compete with the FW 190 on equal terms.

The local (UK based) B17 was due to be there but due to low cloud it couldn't make it. It is a B17 maintained by enthusiasts and it was originally a USAAF aircraft and still has the original markings etc.

Casper
 
ivar

ivar

TT Racer
casper said:
The other planes that were there at the air show were the P51 Mustang. Nicknamed 'The Cadillac of the Skies' it had the Merlin engine in it and compared to the old engine (was it a Pratt & Whitney not sure?) this was a world beating aircraft and it could compete with the FW 190 on equal terms.
Click to expand...

The Mustang first flew with an Allison V-1710, which did well at lower altitudes , but lacked a proper super/turbocharger setup to work well at higher altitudes.

Then the Merlin came, (Built by Packard under licence) and the rest is history!

The biggest benefit of the P-51 was its unique blend of speed, agility - and endurance. It simply outclassed all comparable aircraft when it came to flying range
 
C

casper

Two Stroke
Thank you Ace & Ivar.

When you look at modern aeroplanes, these old 1940s aircraft seem ancient, just shows you how long they've been around and how far technology has moved onwards e.g. the Eurofighter.

Yes the later Spitfires were a world away from the 1940 models. Mind you if the Germans had made enough ME262s (their main jet fighter) they would have shot the USAAF out of the skies, so I've been told. But I'm no expert.

Ultimately the allies just overwhelmed the Axis powers by sheer weight of production numbers (the Sherman tank for instance was mass produced far beyond German tank production figures).

Casper
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top