Spitfire

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

WOW!

Turn up the sound for this one!

Wow, what a video. The Spit is so beautiful and the FW so elegant. Thanks for posting.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iOoiEbtf2w

[sc_rufctr]

Cheeky buggers

[sc_rufctr]

Just a quick comment...

Every time I see one of these old war birds I can't help but feel a deep sorrow or loss.

Imagine being 20 something and going up in one to fight over enemy territory.
How many men never came back home again? Imagine climbing up into one knowing that.
Maybe because they were so young they thought it wouldn't happen to them?

Whatever the reason we owe them a huge debt.

RIP to all of the brave airmen on both sides who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

[mepstein]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Just a quick comment...

Every time I see one of these old war birds I can't help but feel a deep sorrow or loss.

Imagine being 20 something and going up in one to fight over enemy territory.
How many men never came back home again? Imagine climbing up into one knowing that.
Maybe because they were so young they thought it wouldn't happen to them?

Whatever the reason we owe them a huge debt.

RIP to all of the brave airmen on both sides who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

My cousin Billy doctored his birth certificate and enlisted at 17 1/2. By 19 he was flying a Mustang over Germany. By the time he came home, after 63 missions, he told me he had lost about 1/3 of his squadron.
He said he felt it was his duty to fight as an American and a Jew.

[sc_rufctr]

Please thank your cousin from me for his service.

[mrbeverlyhills]

My dad flew Hurricanes then Spits for the RAF during the war, he told me this is the most real and authentic account of one man's experience that closely followed his own. I read it and can highly recommend it.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by mrbeverlyhills

My dad flew Hurricanes then Spits for the RAF during the war, he told me this is the most real and authentic account of one man's experience that closely followed his own. I read it and can highly recommend it.

Thank your dad for his service. Do you have any idea of the attrition rate for fighter pilots during WW2? For bomber pilots in the RAF each mission an average of five percent don't return so after a Tour(British definition) of twenty trips then the bomber pilot is eliminated( 5% X 20 = 100%). American fighter and bomber stats may be different.

[mrbeverlyhills]

Thank you for your sentiment; my dad passed away in his sleep in 2013. I do not know the attrition rate for Fighter Command, it changed over the curse of the war as pilots gained experience. My dad went up solo after only 10 hours flight time, later on by 1943, pilots were much more experienced than the desperate, dark days of the summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain. Great film BTW.
He did tell me that chaps would arrive fresh out of flight training, go up on their first scramble and not come back. I asked then why you would ever go up and he said it was a question of survival, of the country and a clear case of standing up for what you felt was the right side of the conflict. He also said it helped that you never thought it would happen to you.

[recycled sixtie]

My dad was a Lanc pilot in ww2. He did two tours of ops. I asked my mother why he did two tours. She replied that if you survived one tour then it was expected that you kept on going. After one tour the pilot should be dead or captured. After two tours it is a miracle to be still alive. Yes I will buy the book you suggested.

[mrbeverlyhills]

Honestly, if anyone reading this has not seen the film Battle of Britain I cannot recommend it enough, great cast and the aircraft alone are worth the view.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by mrbeverlyhills

Honestly, if anyone reading this has not seen the film Battle of Britain I cannot recommend it enough, great cast and the aircraft alone are worth the view.

In addition I thought that recent movie of the Dunkirk evacuation(movie title I forget - Dunkirk?) did the Spitfire scenes very well.

[Hawkeye's-911T]

Another great read: Spitfire - A Test Pilot's Story by Jeffrey Quill

Cheers
JB

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by mrbeverlyhills

My dad flew Hurricanes then Spits for the RAF during the war, he told me this is the most real and authentic account of one man's experience that closely followed his own. I read it and can highly recommend it.

You must be very proud of your father.
I'm going to get the book and read it.
There is something about those months in 1940 that caught my imagination as a kid, courage, valor, desperation.
Peter Townsend's Duel of Eagles is the best book about the Battle of Britain I've read to date. That book is what inspired me want to joint the military and fly. So many heroes.

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

https://www.amazon.com/Duel-Eagles-Greatest-Britain-Written/dp/0785815686

[mrbeverlyhills]

^^^

Dad was a character, no doubt. I know you will love the book, let us know what you think.

I wonder, is that the same Group Captain Peter Townsend that Princess Margaret fell in love with?

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Just a quick comment...

Every time I see one of these old war birds I can't help but feel a deep sorrow or loss.

Imagine being 20 something and going up in one to fight over enemy territory.
How many men never came back home again? Imagine climbing up into one knowing that.
Maybe because they were so young they thought it wouldn't happen to them?

Whatever the reason we owe them a huge debt.

RIP to all of the brave airmen on both sides who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

No person who straps on a fighter thinks it'll be him. It's obviously a reality, but it always happens to someone else. At least that is the mindset.

And I would do just about anything to be able to fly a Spitfire, Mustang, and Corsair... What beautiful birds.

[mrbeverlyhills]

On a lighter note, if you haven't heard this one, it sums up British humor nicely.

The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a PanAm 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747 (call sign "Speed bird 206") after landing:

Speedbird 206: "Top of the morning Frankfurt. Speed bird 206, clear of the active runway."

Ground: "Guten morgen! You will taxi to your gate 5!"

The big British Airways 747 pulled onto the main taxi way and slowed to a stop. Ground: "Speed bird, do you not know where you are going?"

Speed bird 206: "Stand by a moment ground. I'm looking up our gate location now."

Ground: With some arrogant impatience, "Speed bird 206, have you never flown to Frankfurt before?!"

Speed bird 206 (cooly): "Yes, I have, in 1944... But it was at night and we didn't stop."

My dad swears the Pan Am pilot was my uncle Hal, also that the planes were 707s and it was BEA not British Airways. BEA was the European arm of what became BA and the timeline was in the late 60s.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Ryan_Cunningham

No person who straps on a fighter thinks it'll be him. It's obviously a reality, but it always happens to someone else. At least that is the mindset.

And I would do just about anything to be able to fly a Spitfire, Mustang, and Corsair... What beautiful birds.

The Corsair reminds me of the Strike Eagle of today. Lindbergh showed they could carry the bomb load of a medium bomber and then dogfight with the best of them on the way home. They were not as docile as some of the others. Maybe like an early 911 Turbo where in the right hands it is great, but it will bite you if you get lax.