Old Warden- Shuttleworth Collection

[Zak33]

Me and Deckard and Mrs Deckard went wandering today. Just a little old airodrome. Even smelled of old people....and engines....and planes...and propellors......and it was ACE!

And Im just sorting out pictures....there was some beauts there Truly aweinspiring...and it gives Forgotten Battles as sense of SCALE......cos I had forgotten just how BIG a fighter plane is

Piccies soon.

[Zak33]

Now I KNOW I need a new digi camera......I could only take 640x480 medium quality piccies......the camera is old...sorry
Also, my knowledge of aircraft is pitifull, so add your own comments on each photo later. I'll number them
.......here's what I got.

First up: The Trusty Hurricane in its hanger..its a Naval one I guess !

PICCIE 1:

[Zak33]

now I have to say.....I never realised just how BIG a Hurricane was and how SMALL a Spitfire was in comparison.
The Hurri in the back ground is not very far away, so while distance has made her a bit smaller, she's still MAMMOTH

PICCIE 2:

[Zak33]

Spit up closer....I know the quality is crap...I wasn't wobbling, just old camera

PICCIE 3:

[Zak33]

Now my personal favourite...the Hawker Hind......this old boy was just before the Hurrican and was kinda dead in the air before it ewver di dthe job, cos mono planes such as the Hurricane were swarming the skies.

Still...divinely beautifull........but Beige Bombs why..if you're gonna kill someone, in a stunning aircraft......why beige?

PICCIE 4:

[Zak33]

now....... what do ya think THIS IS? (yeah its a plastic dummy in a fake airplane!)

PICCIE 5:

[Zak33]

and HOW did THIS get connected to that thing up there/\....and get USED right up until 1950!!!!!!

Its scary........I can tell ya

PICCIE 6:

[Zak33]

Now.....this was a BIG OLD BIRD.....thats Deckard under the wing tip. Think he said it was a Lysander

PICCIE 7:

[Zak33]

Now for me.....this made it. Dunno what the plane was......but it had guns built into it's smooth flanks......and it fired not just through the prop.....it fired through the engine....between the cylinders

I have Paint Shopped it quickly for ya to see

PICCIE 8:

[Zak33]

and better still......at arms reach, with the flash on.....
the bullets came out of here!
PICCIE 9:

[Nick]

yep, that is a Lysander. Used for SOE drops of agents and supplies etc behind enemy lines, hence the black body work, and I am standing directly below the wingtip of that behemoth... hoooge innit?

I *think* that plane with the radical gun setup is the Hawker Tomtit, but I'm not sure...

You're right though, the Hurri is a beast of a plane compared to a Spit. Looking at the Sea Hurricane we saw it was easy to see how they could take so much damage and keep going.

nice work getting the pics up so fast bud! Hope the Tempest goes smoothly... see you in a year then!

[Tumble]

The Spitfire may be small... but look how much of the thing is engine......



and I'm frankly shocked at that gun setup... imagine if the interruptor gear broke

[Nick]

Oops, its not a Tomtit, it's a Gloster Gladiator!

Oh well, can't win em all!

Highlight of the day was Zak's epiphany about AVRO...

[Tumble]

Originally posted by Zak33
now....... what do ya think THIS IS? (yeah its a plastic dummy in a fake airplane!)

PICCIE 5:

That, my good friend is a LINK TRAINER - I just thought. It was used for night-flying training, on instruments, hence no windows.



Source: First Light, Geoffrey Wellum. Just finished it - fantastic book, and he describes the link trainer in that

[Nick]

That's bang on there Tumb. In another of the pics you can see the controllers table with the crab on it. What you can't see is he has two button to control windspeed and direction too, just to make things even more complicated.

For those that want to know, the crab was linked to the sim plane and was essentially a remote controlled plotter that crawled over a map on the controllers desk, plotting where the sim plane was on the map. The idea was pilots took off flew a course then returned to base navigating solely on instruments and the odd ground radio message, and you all thought navigatiing in FB was hard????

[Tumble]

[smug mode]

Yay! I got it right...

[/smug mode]




*added by Zak*
WELL impressed there mate. Nice work I thought it was a washing machine and ironing board with a handy map motif