A Spitfire “Not Looking Her Best”, RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hangar, RAF Coningsby, 26/02/15.

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aviation, Battle of Britain, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, engineering, hangar, RAF, RAF Coningsby, Royal Air Force, Second World War, Spitfire, Spitfire Mk IIa, World War Two

The Spitfire Mk IIa P7350.

The fuel tank, amongst other things, removed whilst repairs are carried out.

If you are lucky enough to visit the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s visitor centre at RAF Coningsby and you pay to go on the hangar tour, as I did, you will more than likely see the aircraft of the Battle of Britain in a whole new light, for example I had never seen the petrol tank from a Spitfire before. The petrol tank, the hood which usually covers it, the pilot’s seat, the nose cone which and one or two other bits and bobs were arranged neatly on the hangar floor, whilst sections of the fuselage sat on selves beside the aircraft [each aircraft had its own set of shelves so the different pieces do not get muddled up]. I cannot remember the exact nature of the problem with the aircraft, but Richard, our guide, did not seem concerned [although he did admit to only being a very experienced pilot and not a very experienced engineer]. I’m sure team at RAF Coningsby will have it back up in the air in no time at all [relatively speaking].

“Never Was So Much Owed By So Many To So Few”, RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hangar, RAF Coningsby, 26/02/15.

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Battle of Britain, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Never was so much owed by so many to so few, poster, Quotes, RAF, RAF Coningsby, Royal Air Force, Second World War, The Few, Winston Churchill, World War Two

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/

Photo Archive: Day Dreaming, Battle of Britain Memorial, Victoria Embankment, London, c.2010.

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Battle of Britain, Battle of Britain Memorial, Bronze, day dreaming, London, memorial, public art, rain drops, sculpture, Second World War, Trains., Victoria Embankment, Weather

Photo Archive: The Few, Battle of Britain Memorial, Victoria Embankment, London, c.2010.

Tags

Battle of Britain Memorial, Bronze, London, pilots, public art, Rain, rain drops, Royal Air Force, sculpture, Second World War, The Few, Victoria Embankment, Weather

Photo Archive: “The Escape” Pub Sign, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14.

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Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Military History, Museums, Public houses, pubs, RAF, RAF Escaping Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, signs, Whitbread, World War Two

Cheers!

To quote from the RAF Escaping Society Museum website, “The RAF Escaping Society Museum was first established in the mid 1960s at a Whitbread public house in Mabledon Place, off Euston Road in London. The pub – renamed The Escape – was in more of a student than a tourist area and attracted insufficient interest”; what a shame! But at least the sign has found a new home at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre.

Photo Archive: Small Scale Replica of The Wooden Horse, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Spilsby, 12/06/14

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Eric Williams, escaping, Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, Michael Codner, military museums, Museums, Oliver Philpot, Prisoners of War, RAF, RAF Escape Museum, RAF Escape Society, Royal Air Force, Second World War, The Wooden Horse, World War Two

I can’t recall the scale.

The story of the “Wooden Horse” escape from Stalag Luft III, during the Second World War, came to my attention via the 1950 film “The Wooden Horse” starring Leo John Genn [who also appeared as Mr. Starbuck in “Moby Dick“, 1956, and in “Green is for Danger“, 1946; two of my favourites] and David Tomlinson.

The film was based on the novel, “The Wooden Horse“, by Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams, RAF, who was one of the three men to escape from Stalag Luft III, a German Prisoner of War camp, located in what was then Lower Silesia, which is now in Poland, with the help of a vaulting horse, constructed by the prisoners of war. As I understand it, Williams, Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot MC, DFC, RAF and Second Lieutenant Michael Codner, Royal Artillery, successfully escaped captivity via a tunnel, the entrance to which was concealed beneath the horse. The tunnellers were carried out to the exercise yard hidden within the horse. Cover was then provided by the PoWs vaulting over the horse whilst the tunneller worked beneath them; the vaulting also confused the seismographs used by the camp guards to detect any digging. When the vaulters called it a day they carried the horse back inside, along with the tunneller hidden within it and the soil excavated from the tunnel. Following their escape the three men headed for the Baltic; Williams and Codner, with the help of the Danish Resistance, managed to reach neutral Sweden, whilst Philpot headed for Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland, where he stowed away on board a Swedish merchant vessel.

The Wooden Horse forms part of the RAF Escape Society’s collection, on display at the RAF Escape Museum, in the grounds of the Aviation Heritage Centre.

Souvenirs: Flyer, “Come And Be Riveted”, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, 2004.

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Art, Imperial War Museum, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, Second World War, shipbuilding, Shipbuilding on the Clyde, Souvenirs, Stanley Spencer, World War Two

I discovered the works of Sir Stanley Spencer back in 2001, via my Art College’s library no doubt, but I didn’t become aware of his series of works entitled “Shipbuilding on the Clyde“. I seem to think the art reference books I studied at College concentrated on Spencer’s Biblical works set in and around Cookham, which I love, and that it was through the pages of BBC History Magazine that I found out about this exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North. This was my second visit to the museum, which opened in 2002, but it was all still very new to me and most visitors, I expect. There is a very good article on the Art Fund’s website about “Spencer’s War“, which features some of the same works as the exhibition and describes the “Shipbuilding on the Clyde” collection as “one of the most remarkable artistic records of the Second World War“. When I visited the newly reopened Imperial War Museum London last year I’m sure they had some of these works on display, but I can’t recall which ones.

pS. …and note the flyer for the Auld Tram in the background; a souvenir from Dundee.

Souvenirs: Inflatable Spitfire, Imperial War Museum Duxford, Cambridgeshire, Late 1990s.

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accents, American Air Museum, Cambridgeshire, Captain Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Duxford, First World War, Hat in the Ring, Imperial War Museum Duxford, inflatable, inflatable Spitfire, planes, Second World War, Souvenirs, Spad XIII, Spitfire, Ted, US Army Air Service

I can’t recall the date (or find any other reminders) of my first visit to the Imperial War Museum Duxford, but it must have been later than 1997, when the American Air Museum, designed by Sir Norman Foster, was reopened on the site (I think it was the publicity surrounding this event that brought the museum to my Mother’s attention and necessitated the family outing).

My American readers might be interested to know that, despite taking home a very British souvenir, one of my most lasting memories of that first visit to Duxford was of seeing the French built Spad XIII First World War biplane, painted in the 94th “Hat in the Ring” Aero Squadron colours of Captain Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, the US Army Air Services’ most celebrated pilot.

Also, if memory serves me well, Duxford was the first place I heard an American accent in a public place, because the American Air Museum was a popular destination for American visitors to the United Kingdom at the time; it probably still is.

Wojtek the Bear, Weelsby Woods, Grimsby, 2014.

Tags

2nd Polish Corps, bears, Carpathian Lancers, Grimsby, Military History, Poland, Polish Army, Second World War, Weelsby Woods, Wojtek, Wojtek the Bear

Wojtek The Bear.

If you have heard of Wojtek you will recognise this as an iconic image of the famous bear. If you haven’t heard of Wojtek you’re probably thinking, “What is that bear doing with an artillery shell?” My introduction to Wojtek was through a book by Aileen Orr entitled, “Wojtek The Bear: Polish War Hero“. In short, some Polish soldiers, regrouping in Iran after their released from Stalin’s gulags in 1942, adopted a bear cub as their mascot and called it Wojtek.

Wojtek grew up with the men of the 22nd Transport Company of the Polish 2nd Corps and by 1943 he was transporting artillery shells with them during the Battle of Monte Cassino, on the Italian Front. After the battle the image of a bear carrying an artillery shell became the insignia of the 22nd Transport Company.

In 1945 Wojtek ended his military career in a camp for displaced Polish servicemen unwilling to return to a Poland now occupied by Soviet troops. Wojtek retired to Edinburgh Zoo, where he was regularly visited by former Polish servicemen now settled in Britain. Wojtek died in 1963.

Although I haven’t found any evidence that Wojtek ever visited Grimsby, there is a regimental connection with Weelsby Woods. The Carpathian Lancers, the armoured element of the 2nd Polish Corps, in which Wojtek served, arrived in Grimsby in 1945 and made a camp in Weelsby Woods their home until 1947, when their demobilisation was complete.

It seems that Wojtek has become emblematic of the Free Polish struggle during the Second World War, despite being a Syrian brown bear!

You can read more about the statue on the BBC News website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-15491945) or on the Grimsby Telegraph website (http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/Polish-soldiers-meet-Wojtek-bear-8210-Grimsby-s/story-13697691-detail/story.html).

Photo Archive: Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Southsea Common, c.2005.

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Coast, duffle coats, Portsmouth, Royal Navy, sculpture, sea boots, Second World War, Southsea Common

Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Seeing the great obelisk, commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who lost their lives in the First World War, on the BBC news this morning, as part of the D-Day commemorations, reminded me of this set of photographs I took back in 2005, on my first visit to Portsmouth. They show the statues that punctuate the memorial plaques that commemorate those member of the Royal Navy who died during the Second World War (these plaques are on a memorial wall, which runs below the obelisk on the landward side of the memorial site). The photographs don’t show it, but it was a very windy afternoon [too windy for a walk really, but you have to make the most of what weather you are given when travelling around the UK] and I remember thinking how appropriately dressed the men on the memorial were, in their duffle coats and sea boots. Look out for details on the duffle coats, especially the toggles and loops, and the waves crashing around the sea boots; the only thing that hints at the cruelty of the sea on the otherwise serene monument.

More information about the memorial can be found here: http://www.portsmouth-guide.co.uk/local_f/warmem.htm