Film Cone of Silence Q Maurice Wood asked in October about an aircraft in the above film.
Avro Ashton WB493 painted up for the film Cone of Silence. rolls-royce via roy tilleyA Roy Tilley has submitted a Rolls-Royce photograph which shows Avro Ashton WB493 painted up for the film. Alan Butler’s Olympus – the inside story published by the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust in 2007 relates that the story concerned a fictitious aircraft which suffered a number of accidents and the film makers approached Boeing for use of a 707. The request was turned down and a lawsuit was threatened if the aircraft bore any resemblance to a 707, hence the six-engined Ashton which was unique and became the “Phoenix”! All the aircraft sequences were filmed at Filton, complete with potted palms to give the impression of an exotic foreign location, while air-to-air shots were from a Consul.
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Lancaster defence Q Not a query, but some additional information to that in our August issue, from Hans J. Hauprich of Trier, who has researched his hometown during the two world wars. He refers to the shooting down by anti-aircraft fire of Avro Lancaster HK664 coded WP-V of No 90 Sqn on December 23, 1944. At the crash site he found pieces of the dorsal turret and cartridges made by Remington with green armour-piercing bullet tips.
Spitfire in Brussels The Spitfire that was brought to the Place de Brouckère as an advertisement for a film in December 1947. Does anyone know what film it was for and what the identity of the Spitfire was?Q The adjacent photograph of a Supermarine Spitfire from our files merely says it was brought to the Place de Brouckère as an advertisement for a film in December 1947. Here it is being assembled with some interested bystanders. Obviously, there must have been some aviation content in the film, so what film was it and what was the identity of the Spitfire? A nice puzzle for our Belgian readers!
C-47 nose Q Another picture from our files supplied by McDonnell Douglas some years ago shows this nose of a Douglas C-47. Beneath the cockpit are the names, E.C. Young, pilot, R.F. Huntington, CC (crew chief?) and J.L. Beiro, radio-op. There is an impressive line-up of 13 Red Cross symbols, 14 mules, seven camels and six parachutists, then a long line of indistinguishable symbols. The nose code 888 may be a clue to its identity, but what about its history?
Chatham Navy Day Q C.J. Jeffries recalls a spectacular simulated attack by Sea Hawks, Gannets, Wyverns and Sea Vixens on the assembled ships, during which the main target was believed to be HMS Grenville which responded with an impressive display of gunfire. Does anyone recall this event and is there any existing record or film?
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D.H. crashes Q Dr Bob Shaw submits two photos from the papers of Ron Taylor, a TRE scientist, showing crashes. The first is D.H.5 A9393 (above), while the second appears to be a D.H.9 wearing a white cross on the fuselage (top). Any ideas?
Teignmouth Do 17 Q John Collingwood’s father recalls a Dornier Do 17 under attack by two Hurricanes at the end of August 1940, during the late afternoon at a weekend. The Dornier headed out to sea from Teignmouth at low-level with an engine smoking and the Hurricanes in close attendance. Can anyone identify this incident and give the fate of the Dornier?
Merthyr Messerschmitt Q Derek Leyshon-James remembers that in War Weapons Week, March 1941, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 was exhibited in Penydarren Park, Merthyr Tydfil, and he had the pleasure of sitting in it. He asks what happened to it and what was its identity?
Lindholme and Finningley Q J. Harris (1 Willow Drive, Edlington, Doncaster, South Yorks DN12 1ST) is recording the history of these two airfields and would be pleased to hear from anyone who may be able to help. He also tells of a local legend that says long-range escort Mustangs made emergency landings at Finningley in the late 1940s with only 15 gallons of fuel between the aircraft – was this true?
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Q Another picture from our files supplied by McDonnell Douglas some years ago shows this nose of a Douglas C-47. Beneath the cockpit are the names, E.C. Young, pilot, R.F. Huntington, CC (crew chief?) and J.L. Beiro, radio-op. There is an impressive line-up of 13 Red Cross symbols, 14 mules, seven camels and six parachutists, then a long line of indistinguishable symbols. The nose code 888 may be a clue to its identity, but what about its history?
Q Dr Bob Shaw submits two photos from the papers of Ron Taylor, a TRE scientist, showing crashes. The first is D.H.5 A9393 (above), while the second appears to be a D.H.9 wearing a white cross on the fuselage (top). Any ideas?