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Re: Planes etc.
When I retired four years ago, we had a holiday in Lincs so that I could do a WW2 airfield tour, and the following year an aircraft museum tour to supplement it, which included a special tour of the BBMF. I went on the Lanc at East Kirkby. Beats me how they put up with the conditions, especially the front gunner/bomb aimer - once in the front, and the flight engineer was in place, he was there for the duration. No armour, no toilet, not even a proper seat.
Access to teh front of a Lanc:
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Re: taking the perspex out of the rear turret: they told us that the temperature went down to -50 in the turret; and the rear gunner's 'heated' suit rarely worked. We could have got into the rear turret, but I could see myself stuck in there! So narrow and constricted.
The rear gunner position in a Lanc:
[IMG]
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The other thing that surprised me is how small the Lanc actually is. Not much bigger fuselage than a Dakota when you see them side-by-side, and a lot less room in it. Just a flying bomb bay, really, with absolutely minimum room left for the crew. One of my cousins learned radio comms on a Lancaster in the 1950s, during his National Service.
This is the original 1940 control room at RAF Digby:
[IMG]
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In the 1960s I worked for a Polish guy who had been a Spitfire pilot in the Free Polish Air Force. Mad as a hatter! I remember him telling many stories, but the one that stuck in my memory was his saying that his instructor said in the Spit, you had to handle the joystick "as if you were fondling a woman's nipple." Happy days..
I hope these are an interesting addition to al-koholik's thread. I don't wish to hijack it, but thought they would add to the interest.
When I retired four years ago, we had a holiday in Lincs so that I could do a WW2 airfield tour, and the following year an aircraft museum tour to supplement it, which included a special tour of the BBMF. I went on the Lanc at East Kirkby. Beats me how they put up with the conditions, especially the front gunner/bomb aimer - once in the front, and the flight engineer was in place, he was there for the duration. No armour, no toilet, not even a proper seat.
Access to teh front of a Lanc:
[IMG]
[/IMG]Re: taking the perspex out of the rear turret: they told us that the temperature went down to -50 in the turret; and the rear gunner's 'heated' suit rarely worked. We could have got into the rear turret, but I could see myself stuck in there! So narrow and constricted.
The rear gunner position in a Lanc:
[IMG]
[/IMG]The other thing that surprised me is how small the Lanc actually is. Not much bigger fuselage than a Dakota when you see them side-by-side, and a lot less room in it. Just a flying bomb bay, really, with absolutely minimum room left for the crew. One of my cousins learned radio comms on a Lancaster in the 1950s, during his National Service.
This is the original 1940 control room at RAF Digby:
[IMG]
[/IMG]In the 1960s I worked for a Polish guy who had been a Spitfire pilot in the Free Polish Air Force. Mad as a hatter! I remember him telling many stories, but the one that stuck in my memory was his saying that his instructor said in the Spit, you had to handle the joystick "as if you were fondling a woman's nipple." Happy days..
I hope these are an interesting addition to al-koholik's thread. I don't wish to hijack it, but thought they would add to the interest.
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