At this time of year when apparitions and fanciful creatures stroll sidewalks in search of treats, it’s a good time to remember that not all aircraft are what they seem.

In World War One, observation balloons were the bane of the battlefield.  Under their prying eyes, it was hard to surprise someone on the other side of the trenches with your plans when they saw your troops massing before an attack.  So balloons were a prime target for fighter aircraft.  But balloons were heavily guarded by anti-aircraft defenses.  In some cases the balloons themselves were a trap, the basket where observers would stand were filled instead with explosives and dummies, and wired to explode with such intensity that the attacking aircraft would be brought down, or at least to think twice before pressing home an attack on another balloon.

A Curtiss P-40 Warhawk decoy under construction at a base somewhere in China Burma India theater. This detailed decoy has been constructed of wood; two men can be seen working on the left side of the fuselage. SI 90-13683, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Archives.

During World War Two, dummy aircraft were created to mislead the enemy.  For the Flying Tigers in China, their small numbers stretched thin by the distances they needed to cover, deceiving the Japanese as to their strength and operating locations was an important consideration.  Crews working at an airfield using the materials they found handy, built dummy wood-framed Curtiss P-40s.  These faux fighters could not move, much less fly, but in size and shape, covered in fabric and painted the right colors, would appear to be more of the shark-mouthed marauders parked about an airstrip waiting to respond to a Japanese attack.

Messerschmitt Bf 109 decoy sitting on the ground. SI A-50270, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Archives.

The airfields of Europe also resorted to military mimicry; German operated forward airstrips used dummy Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Junkers Ju 87 Stukas to inflate their apparent numbers during the build up to the Battle of Britain.  But if any scouts, spies or reconnaissance aircraft happened to catch sight of the fakes while under construction, the false flyers were revealed as phonies.  An apocryphal story is told of an airfield of wooden Messerschmitts being bombed by the Royal Air Force, using wooden bombs.  But then such a mission would still be dangerous in the face of anti-aircraft fire, and it would also tip the hand that the ruse had been spoilt.

Several German airmen quickly work at assembling a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka decoy from pre-finished components. NASM 00058957, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Archives.

Dummies today are more difficult to pull off, many sensors are no longer just optical, but can detect heat from engines, or dissimilar materials and paints.  So the fakes must incorporate more, to the point that in some cases it is no longer economically viable to do such a ruse.

Brian Nicklas is a museum specialist, aeronautics in the National Air and Space Museum’s Archives Division.

‘Scuse me whilst I kiss the sky!!! I’m still a bit overly happy! I’m sorry!

Goodwood Revival 2009 will go down in my history books as the day I reverted to being 9 years old….

It’s always great – no two ways about it, the Revival is the greatest motorsport weekend there is. All the famous and not so famous race cars from the many years of track racing. Jaguars, Ferraris, Mercedes, Alvis, Ford, Chevy, Lotus, I could go on….and on… all battling in very heated full pace battles. Not replicas – these are the real deal… 50 to 60 years old and they are still adding to their history.

Why was this one different?

Well, by now you will know of my love for the XJ13 – the most beautiful car in the World – FACT (Okay, opinion, but it should be fact). This 60’s supercar managed 206mph under the guidance of the great Norman Dewis. It was the 13th model for Jaguar, hence the XJ13 tag… a mystical number… some see it as unlucky…it just adds to the tale.

It was going to be a Le Mans entry to crush the Ford GT40’s and Ferraris of the day, but just before it was ready the race rules changed and the XJ13 wasn’t allowed to race. It was the test bed for the Jaguar V12 powerplant that went on to get fitted in later Jaguars – notably the E-Type. In fact to launch the E-Type a photo shoot was called up with the XJ13 to add heritage to the new V12 E-type. On this outing one of the magnesium wheels “let go” and Norman had an almighty crash.

The car was all but written off – and luckily Norman survived!  Years later it was rebuilt and is now with the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Centre.

Named the thirteen…a still born racer that almost killed its test driver… a beautiful, powerful car that can still hold its own… those GT40’s got away lightly… the XJ13 would have eaten them alive.

I first saw the XJ13 many years ago at Beauleau Motor Museum and fell in love with it. Since then, on odd occasions we bump into each other. I eventually came to know of the TWR replica (Click here to link!) – the most accurate and faithful of the few replicas out there. At £105,000 it isn’t cheap – but then it is an XJ13….

It always stops me in my tracks, and today it did once more. As I rounded the corner as we walked through the Revival event I saw the TWR XJ13 sat there…. The engineer in charge of the project (Trevor – the T from TWR) was there and we got chatting about “her”. It was the first time I had got a chance to talk about the 13 with people actually involved.

After a long chat with Trevor I went off and caught up with Chris and Alex, where we all then took in the sights, sounds and action of the Revival. We met old and new friends on our walk about, and generally had a good time of it all.

Toward the end of the day (and this blog entry) I met the XJ13 again…but until then….

Carnaby in Goodwood

Alex getting into the spirit

Glam Cabs!

Spitfires, Messershmitt, Mustangs and a Vulcan took to the air, vintage racers blitzed the track… (Alex loved the Mini racing – which really was a nail bitter)… and we loved it. Fairground rides, Rockers, Dad’s Army, Laurel and Hardy, Hippies and Mods – static car displays the lot – Brilliant.

Dad’s Army

The ME109

Mad Mini’s going Hell for Leather

Huey – UH-1 with M-60

A pair of Aces? Mustangs down Low

Laurel and Hardy

The Italian Job

We caught up with my Father in Law as well, which Alex had been on about all day (he loves his Grandad!). Always great to catch up with him – although on race days he is obviously under a lot of stress and pressure with his job! I never really expect to see much of him on those days – so if we do manage to meet up it is always an added treat.

When we went to head home I decided to head back to the 13 to see if I could possible sit in her..it..her… I know it was a big ask, and pretty unlikely, bearing in mind the cost and “DO NOT TOUCH” labels on it..her…it…

As I rounded the corner again I reverted to being a kid once more, as stood chatting with the Trevor (Mr TWR) and next to the 13 – was Norman Dewis…

I went to take a photo of the two of them and the camera started to misbehave. Norman suggested I was out of film…. I tried again to get a shot.

Thanks to the ice breaker I found myself talking to Norman Dewis… Trevor then suggested I bought the Norman Dewis book (a huge tome about his life and key role in developing the Jaguar cars from C types to XJ saloons, XK’s and XJ’s…. his racing against other giants like Moss and Fangio…).

I’ve wanted it for a while…. It isn’t a cheap book, but it was 30% off for the Revival.. but still not cheap…. so I said I’d buy it as my Christmas present… as long as I could have a seat in the 13, and if Norman wouldn’t mind signing the book…..

Needless to say I ended up sat in the cockpit of the 13, with a signed book and several photo’s of me with Norman, the XJ13 and Alex, me and the 13….

I look a little mad in these pictures… but I was trying hard not to look too much like a kid in a candy shop!

Behind my head… 450hp of V12 in a 1200kg chassis…. SWEEEEET!

It was all over far too soon for my liking. As we wandered away I then spotted a golf cart heading towards me. It stopped… I recognised the driver and went over to shake hands and say “hello”….. Murray Walker! Yes, Mr Voice of Formula One himself! Murray Walker shook the hand that 1 minute earlier Norman Dewis and shaken… I may never wash it again! Two Legends!

How can I better this? Well…. unless I can raise the finances, the next step would be a trip out in a 13… (or THE 13….*shudder!*)… Better still would be some wheel time in the 13…. but hey! I’m still counting my lucky stars that I even managed to sit in this, one of the greatest cars to have ever existed.

So all that is left now, is for me to scour the marketplace to see who wants to buy a kidney…. one careful owner… only £105,000……

‘Scuse me whilst I kiss the sky!!! I’m still a bit overly happy! I’m sorry!

Goodwood Revival 2009 will go down in my history books as the day I reverted to being 9 years old….

It’s always great – no two ways about it, the Revival is the greatest motorsport weekend there is. All the famous and not so famous race cars from the many years of track racing. Jaguars, Ferraris, Mercedes, Alvis, Ford, Chevy, Lotus, I could go on….and on… all battling in very heated full pace battles. Not replicas – these are the real deal… 50 to 60 years old and they are still adding to their history.

Why was this one different?

Well, by now you will know of my love for the XJ13 – the most beautiful car in the World – FACT (Okay, opinion, but it should be fact). This 60’s supercar managed 206mph under the guidance of the great Norman Dewis. It was the 13th model for Jaguar, hence the XJ13 tag… a mystical number… some see it as unlucky…it just adds to the tale.

It was going to be a Le Mans entry to crush the Ford GT40’s and Ferraris of the day, but just before it was ready the race rules changed and the XJ13 wasn’t allowed to race. It was the test bed for the Jaguar V12 powerplant that went on to get fitted in later Jaguars – notably the E-Type. In fact to launch the E-Type a photo shoot was called up with the XJ13 to add heritage to the new V12 E-type. On this outing one of the magnesium wheels “let go” and Norman had an almighty crash.

The car was all but written off – and luckily Norman survived!  Years later it was rebuilt and is now with the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Centre.

Named the thirteen…a still born racer that almost killed its test driver… a beautiful, powerful car that can still hold its own… those GT40’s got away lightly… the XJ13 would have eaten them alive.

I first saw the XJ13 many years ago at Beauleau Motor Museum and fell in love with it. Since then, on odd occasions we bump into each other. I eventually came to know of the TWR replica (Click here to link!) – the most accurate and faithful of the few replicas out there. At £105,000 it isn’t cheap – but then it is an XJ13….

It always stops me in my tracks, and today it did once more. As I rounded the corner as we walked through the Revival event I saw the TWR XJ13 sat there…. The engineer in charge of the project (Trevor – the T from TWR) was there and we got chatting about “her”. It was the first time I had got a chance to talk about the 13 with people actually involved.

After a long chat with Trevor I went off and caught up with Chris and Alex, where we all then took in the sights, sounds and action of the Revival. We met old and new friends on our walk about, and generally had a good time of it all.

Toward the end of the day (and this blog entry) I met the XJ13 again…but until then….

Carnaby in Goodwood

Alex getting into the spirit

Glam Cabs!

Spitfires, Messershmitt, Mustangs and a Vulcan took to the air, vintage racers blitzed the track… (Alex loved the Mini racing – which really was a nail bitter)… and we loved it. Fairground rides, Rockers, Dad’s Army, Laurel and Hardy, Hippies and Mods – static car displays the lot – Brilliant.

Dad’s Army

The ME109

Mad Mini’s going Hell for Leather

Huey – UH-1 with M-60

A pair of Aces? Mustangs down Low

Laurel and Hardy

The Italian Job

We caught up with my Father in Law as well, which Alex had been on about all day (he loves his Grandad!). Always great to catch up with him – although on race days he is obviously under a lot of stress and pressure with his job! I never really expect to see much of him on those days – so if we do manage to meet up it is always an added treat.

When we went to head home I decided to head back to the 13 to see if I could possible sit in her..it..her… I know it was a big ask, and pretty unlikely, bearing in mind the cost and “DO NOT TOUCH” labels on it..her…it…

As I rounded the corner again I reverted to being a kid once more, as stood chatting with the Trevor (Mr TWR) and next to the 13 – was Norman Dewis…

I went to take a photo of the two of them and the camera started to misbehave. Norman suggested I was out of film…. I tried again to get a shot.

Thanks to the ice breaker I found myself talking to Norman Dewis… Trevor then suggested I bought the Norman Dewis book (a huge tome about his life and key role in developing the Jaguar cars from C types to XJ saloons, XK’s and XJ’s…. his racing against other giants like Moss and Fangio…).

I’ve wanted it for a while…. It isn’t a cheap book, but it was 30% off for the Revival.. but still not cheap…. so I said I’d buy it as my Christmas present… as long as I could have a seat in the 13, and if Norman wouldn’t mind signing the book…..

Needless to say I ended up sat in the cockpit of the 13, with a signed book and several photo’s of me with Norman, the XJ13 and Alex, me and the 13….

I look a little mad in these pictures… but I was trying hard not to look too much like a kid in a candy shop!

Behind my head… 450hp of V12 in a 1200kg chassis…. SWEEEEET!

It was all over far too soon for my liking. As we wandered away I then spotted a golf cart heading towards me. It stopped… I recognised the driver and went over to shake hands and say “hello”….. Murray Walker! Yes, Mr Voice of Formula One himself! Murray Walker shook the hand that 1 minute earlier Norman Dewis and shaken… I may never wash it again! Two Legends!

How can I better this? Well…. unless I can raise the finances, the next step would be a trip out in a 13… (or THE 13….*shudder!*)… Better still would be some wheel time in the 13…. but hey! I’m still counting my lucky stars that I even managed to sit in this, one of the greatest cars to have ever existed.

So all that is left now, is for me to scour the marketplace to see who wants to buy a kidney…. one careful owner… only £105,000……

David Gentleman, whose many British stamp designs are currently being exhibited in our Search Room, is no stranger to controversy. In 1965 he wrote to Postmaster General Tony Benn (who had announced a new policy for stamp issues in late 1964 and was seeking suggestions) and requested that the design limitations of having to include the monarch’s head on stamps be addressed. Benn, a republican, was keen to remove the monarch’s head, and saw Gentleman’s design limitations argument as an excellent – and non-political – way to achieve this objective. 

Gentleman, and his wife Rosalind Dease, had already been commissioned to design stamps commemorating the death of Winston Churchill and the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and supplied Benn with versions of the designs without the Queen’s head. Ultimately, it was decided that the monarch’s head should remain on British stamps (you can read the full story by downloading the PDF The David Gentleman Album from our website), but this was not the end of the controversy as far as the Battle of Britain stamps were concerned.

More than a month before their release date a number of newspapers published images of the stamps, with several tabloids highlighting two of the eight stamps, which showed German aircraft. The first of the two stamps in question showed the wing-tip of a Messerschmitt fighter overshadowed by the wing-tip of a Spitfire; the other stamp showed a Dornier bomber sinking into the sea while Hawker Hurricanes flew above it. The reason for the focus on these stamps was that the German aircraft pictured featured German military emblems, the Balkenkreuz (cross) on the Messerschmitt and the swastika on the Dornier.

The six 4d Battle of Britain se tenant stamps designed by David Gentleman and Rosalind Dease. The two other stamps in this issue showed anti-aircraft artillery, and an air battle over St Pauls cathedral. They were designed by Andrew Restall, and Gentleman and Dease, respectively.

The inclusion of these emblems, particularly the swastika, caused great concern, with several Members of Parliament and the House of Lords speaking against the stamps. At the same time, representatives of a number of organisations, and many members of the public wrote letters to The Queen, the Prime Minister and Tony Benn, requesting that the Battle of Britain stamps be withdrawn.

A London Rabbi, writing to Benn on behalf of 775 families of his congregation, wrote “Please don’t allow swastika on our stamps. They are the 20th Century symbol of persecution, oppression, suffering and all that is evil”. The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Mr S. Teff, also expressed his concerns in writing to Benn: “The Board has already received numerous complaints from members of the Jewish community to whom the sight of the swastika in any form is offensive in the extreme.”

A common theme amongst many of the complainants, in particular those who had served in the war, was that issuing a stamp bearing the swastika was an insult to the war dead. Others objected to the swastika appearing alongside the Queen’s head.

Withdrawing the stamps would have been very difficult for the Post Office as the Battle of Britain issue was the first set of stamps to be commissioned since Benn had changed the policy to include stamps commemorating important anniversaries. Indeed, the Battle of Britain stamps had come about partly due to lobbying from the Royal Air Forces Association and a number of Members of Parliament. The issue was also the largest issue of commemorative stamps to date.

Benn and his department took the view that the reason for the objections to the stamps was that the tabloid press articles which had highlighted the stamps featuring German aircraft, had not made clear the purpose of the stamps, and that black and white images of the stamps which appeared in various publications did not effectively convey the subtlety of the designs.

“The purpose of the stamp is to commemorate the victory over Nazism and I am sure that when the stamp is seen in colour it will be quite apparent that the swastika on the tail of the Dornier bomber is both split and half covered by water; the shattered Dornier is sinking in the English Channel and high above four RAF fighters, objective achieved, are flying back to base” wrote one official, in reply to a member of the public.

“In effect, the stamp is meant to be symbolic of the crushing of the Nazis and all that they stood for. We hope you will agree that within the limits of stamp design, it is difficult to do justice to a subject without introducing features of this kind into a series illustrating the Battle of Britain…”

Benn himself said in one letter “I feel that the stamp is a true reflection of that period in our history and…will be seen as a reminder of a great victory over the evil of Nazism. Because of this I do not propose to withdraw it.” He also argued that no objections were raised to the swastika being seen in newsreel footage of German planes, and that the RAF had displayed and flown captured Nazi aircraft on numerous occasions.

Eventually criticism died down, and despite threats to boycott the stamps sales were healthy, although the GPO arranged for adequate stocks of ordinary small size stamps to be available for those who did not wish to purchase the Battle of Britain issue.

Writing in his 2002 book Design, David Gentleman reflected “the tabloids [made] a great furore over the inclusion of a swastika and an iron cross. But without an enemy there would have been no battle and, as the stamps showed the Germans getting the worst of it anyway, the whole manufactured fuss quickly died down.”

The British Postal Museum & Archive holds many files relating to the Battle of Britain stamp issue. Details of these can be found on our online catalogue.

Once again Armistice in Cambridge will feature a number of thrilling aerial displays by classic and warbird aircraft. We will have two of the favourites from last year back again, Noel Kruze flying his stunning display in the Pitts S2S Special formerly of the Jordanian Air Force, and Dave Phillips will again display his wonderful skills in his Tiger Moth.

New displays for 2009 will be Phil Hooker in the famous M*A*S*H  Sioux helicopter, and in a tribute to the men who did battle over Europe in this 65th Anniversary year since D-Day, we’ll see the Allied light observation Miles Messenger aircraft – the type used by Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery over the D-Day beaches – attacked by the Messerschmitt Bf108 Taifun, a genuine wartime Luftwaffe veteran. Andrew Hope and Colin Henderson will do battle in the air in these respective aircraft in what will hopefully prove to be a highlight of the weekend.

More details are coming very soon to the website with final details being compiled right now for the webpage, and the blog will alert you when the page is added.

Dayton Ohio in the USA was the home of the Wright brothers and their bicycle business. As we all know, the Wrights designed and produced the first powered airplane (a note: for a short discussion a New Zealander who possibly may have accomplished this first, as well as other innovations of the Wrights, please see “About this blog”). The US Air Force has its main aviation museum there, next to Wright-Patterson Air Base — the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It can hardly be easier to get there as one can fly to Dayton International Airport and rent a car for a 20 minute drive to the facility. Parts I and II will be about the National Museum of the US Air Force and Part III will deal with the neighboring Wright brother sites.

National Museum of the United States Air Force

39° 46′ 55″ N / 84° 06′ 42″ W

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter outside of the National Museum of the USAF — photo by Joe May

Dayton Ohio in the USA was the home of the Wright brothers and their bicycle business. As we all know, the Wrights designed and produced the first powered airplane (a note: for a short discussion a New Zealander who possibly may have accomplished this first, as well as other innovations of the Wrights, please see “About this blog”). The US Air Force has its main aviation museum there, next to Wright-Patterson Air Base — the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It can hardly be easier to get there as one can fly to Dayton International Airport (formerly named James M. Cox Dayton International Airport) and rent a car for a 20 minute drive to the facility.

This museum is immense — consisting of six hangar-like buildings in three pairs as well as two hangars on the air base. Entry to the museum is free and there is a café as well as plenty of room to walk around most of the aircraft. Additionally, there is a restoration hangar and a display hangar for the experimental aircraft and presidential aircraft on the air base — these require previous arrangements to see (easily made over their web site) and are visited on a specific schedule (visitors are taken by bus and escorted by informative volunteer tour guides).

Panorama of one of the hangars of the National Museum of the USAF — photo by Joe May

As is often practiced, displays are grouped by eras, and are wonderfully done in the early aviation through WW II eras as there are many dioramas. Later eras have aircraft but not the dioramas, however, this does not detract from the experience. The aircraft and additional exhibits are plentiful to the extreme and all in excellent or even better condition.

Martin B-10 — photo by Joe May

Martin B-26G Marauder — photo by Joe May

Not often seen airplanes are present. Some of these are: the Consolidated B-36 Peacekeeper, Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet, Martin MB-2, Martin B-10, Junkers Ju-88, Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning), North America F-82 Twin Mustang, Northrop YC-125 Raider, Convair B-58 Hustler, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 and Panavia Tornado GR-1 — just to name several of the dozens upon dozens of displays.

Northrop YC-125 Raider — photo by Joe May

Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning) — photo by Joe May

Historic aircraft include the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar which delivered the second, and last, atomic bomb used in war time. Additionally present are: a propeller and engine from the Consolidated B‑24 Liberator Lady be Good (the remaining wreckage is stored on a military base in Tobruk, Libya), various nuclear weapons (inert, naturally), a Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low helicopter used in the Son Tay raid (as a Sikorsky HH-53C Super Jolly, prior to the MH modifications that were part of its 38 years of service) during the Vietnam War and the Boeing NKC-135A Airborne Laser Lab — again, to name several of the dozens upon dozens of displays.

Propeller and engine from the Lady Be Good — photo by Joe May

Additional exhibits include a cut-away Junker Jumo 004 turbojet (the engine type of the Messerschmitt Me-262 Scwalbe and Arado 234 Blitz), an escape capsule from a Convair B-58 Hustler (the ejecting crew man would be in an enclosure), a “Boston Camera” (equipped within a Consolidate RB-36 Peacekeeper and the largest aerial camera to be built) as well as much more.

Touring this museum is best done by taking one’s time as there is such a variety and it is all around as well as above. My usual strategy in museums is to go through them twice — first with one lens and then the second lens. This worked well for me as I noticed much of what I had missed on the first walk around. Many volunteers are there to assist and they are easy to spot with their red blazer jackets. I spoke with three of them at various times and enjoyed good conversations with each of them.

During my wanderings, with my senses at the point of being overloaded I spotted a photographic accessory that would be oh so convenient to have for this type of photography. There it was, a red blazered docent escorting a photographer who was using a battery powered cart that could lift up a one man platform as much as 15 feet (4.5m), or a bit more!

A note: there is a complete aerospace gallery located in this facility but that is beyond the scope of my acumen to review.

Part II of this post will describe my visit to the restoration hangar.

Har du också funderat på hur man har mage att tillverka klädnypor av plast som efter en månad i solen ser ut som med azofärgämnen späckade godispinnar täckta med sötsurt pulver, och som knäcks bara man tittar på dom. Det vore väl ok om tillverkaren tydligt angav: “Obs: ej för utomhusbruk, tål ej solens uv-strålning”, eller åtminstone skickade med en tub Bamse solkräm för regelbunden ytbehandling.

När vi ändå är inne på hudvårdsprodukter: hur uttalar du “lotion” i betydelsen flytande tunn kosmet för applikation på huden? Som i tevereklamen? Och hur uttalar du “motion” i betydelsen kroppsrörelser som främjar hälsan och välbefinnandet?

Ja, jag vet att jag ibland är en jobbig, petnoga och mästrande typ. Då och då, när jag varit extra dryg, kan jag få höra:
– Du är då en jävla petimeter,
vilket sänker garden fullständigt för min favoritreplik:
– Det heter inte petimeter, det heter petimäter.
(Kolla i SAOL om du inte tror mig.)

Arsene Wenger's spitfire prepares to shoot down Tony Mowbray's Messerschmit 109

British journalists celebrated today as Arsenal and Celtic were drawn together in the otherwise completely tedious qualifying round of the stupifyingly dull, so-called Champions League.

Hacks everywhere were delighted with the draw which took place at UEFA’s fortified underground bunker in Switzerland, allowing them to dust off all those tired old “Battle of Britain’ clichés which have been used for every meeting of English and Scottish teams in European football since 1961.

Ignoring the fact that the original, and best, “Battle of Britain” involved the German Luftwaffe and the UK’s Royal Air Force in a hard-fought, no quarters given fight for survival, in one of the most intense air warfare campaigns in history, not a 4th placed English club struggling to catch up in the current financial arms race of the Premier League and the losers of the Scottish Old Firm League, media analysts and commentators will be obliged to follow convention and use the name to describe this two legged match up which will result in one team progressing into the licence-to-print-money group stage.

Celtic, who amazingly reached the play-offs with a dramatic 2-0 victory against Dinamo Moscow in Russia, their first away win in Europe since the ‘Lisbon Lions’ won the European Cup in 1967, will host the first leg at Parkhead on either 18/19 August with the return league being played at the atmosphere vacuum that is the Emirates, a week later.

The Sun newspaper is already believed to have knocked up a hastily photoshopped picture of Arsene Wenger and Tony Mowray dressed as Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding and Herman Goering, dogfighting in a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt painted in the relevant teams colours, whilst one of their features writers has been asked to write an article describing Nicklas Bendtner as football’s answer to Douglas Bader.

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter — photo by Joe May

Republic F-105 Thunderchief (left) and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21U "Mongol" (right) — photo by Joe May

The aircraft there represent WW I through Cold War aviation eras. The aircraft are all in an excellent state of restoration and several are maintained in flying condition. The more unusual aircraft there are, the Merlin-engined Messershmitt Bf-109 (Hispano HA-1112) as well as another Spanish license built Heinkel He‑111, the CASA 2111. More include a Grumman OV-1D Mohawk in an unusual green livery, a Mikoyan‑Gurevich MiG-21U (Allied codename “Mongol”) trainer in Vietnamese Air Force camouflage, and an early Consolidated B-24 Liberator “A” model (no gun turret in the nose).

Heritage rides are offered in the B-24A — one of only a few B-24s that fly today. Additionally, the museum is now home base for the sole flying B-29, called “FiFi”, which is currently undergoing engine overhauls. Once returned to flying status the B-29 will also be used for heritage rides.

My main purpose visiting this particular museum was to see the two aircraft built under license in Spain of WW II Luftwaffe designs — the Bf-109 and the He-111. The HA-1112 (Bf-109) is painted in the colors of Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland (read his book “The First and the Last” for an insight into the air battle in Europe during WW II). The CASA -2111 (He-111) was a pleasure to see with the ahead-of-its-day streamlining, as well as the bathtub ventral gun position and gun position in the rear of the cockpit.

Hispano HA-112 as a Bf-109 in Adolf Galland's aircraft coloration — photo by Joe May

CASA 2111E (license built Heinkel He-111) — photo by Joe May

There are about two dozen aircraft in total on exhibit and visiting could hardly be easier as it is a short distance north and east of Dallas Love Field (airport).

When I was little, we had a huge rhubarb patch in our backyard. My mother made rhubarb crumbles and pies and jams, mixed with strawberries to sweeten the sour taste, but we would also eat the long stems raw, fresh from the yard, dipped in sugar. This is the house we left long ago, when I was a teenager, but (along with the place I live now) still “home” when I think of the definition of that word.

It was a funky kind of place in the seventies, with an orange carpet and a striped green couch, and various things my mother had made: beaded macrame plant hangers, colourful papier-mache lampshades, still-life oil paintings. I wonder now where she found the time, having three girls and, for many of those years, a full-time job.

When I look at the picture above, I remember how the cat sat in the flower bed and scratched at the lower screen of the picture window to say he wanted in. And I remember the car in the driveway, a red Rambler convertible, one in a series of very cool but not terribly reliable vehicles my father acquired: a three-wheeled Messerschmitt, two Jaguars, an Alfa Romeo.

One of a number of tune-ups, this time in Italy, 1960

When we left this house, my sisters had already grown up and moved away. So this is the last place we lived together — my sisters, my mother and me — and for all of us it is cram-packed with memories. On a recent visit to my hometown, we all went for an evening walk together, and looped around Darwin Crescent (yes, named for Charles Darwin). This is something we’ve done often over the years, with casual glances towards the windows.  Earlier that day, Mom had been complaining that she didn’t have enough rhubarb for a pie, and we had teased her that she should pop over to Darwin to get more. And now, as we passed, she spotted the current owner in his driveway, and called over to him to ask if he had any rhubarb to spare. This is the beauty of small towns. He said she was welcome to it, since it was hers anyway, and the next thing we knew we’d been invited in for a tour.

It’s a strange thing to visit your old home after nearly thirty years away. Almost everything was different. Rooms had been torn out and reconfigured. An addition stretched into the backyard, where our picnic table used to be. The bedroom where I slept (the one mentioned in earlier posts, with the Farrah and Vinnie posters and the barrel of barbies) remained more or less in tact, but the room across the hall was a bathroom instead of a bedroom, and our bathroom, with its bright flower stickies in the tub, had ballooned in size and morphed into a bedroom. And yet there were tiny spaces that looked just the same. A strip of wood paneling around the front door. The long hallway down which I raced two small elves tucked into their glass candle holder cars.

Recently a photographer friend told me he had finally, at 50, let go of this kind of nostalgia. He is one of that unusual breed whose father still remains in the family home, and he had an idea that he’d like to document the place with its contents, room by room. But when the time opened for him to move forward with the idea, he realized he’d lost the need to do so. He says his focus is forward now, rather than back.

I like looking backwards. Maybe because I have a child now, I’m even more curious about the child’s world — what sorts of things impress them, how and why their perspective differs from ours. Writing from the child’s point of view feels both strange and natural and the same time. The house on Darwin Street is more or less the house in my first novel, Water Wings, and though the novel is indeed a novel, there are many details stolen from real life. The Rambler and the Alfa Romeo, even the rhubarb patch.

Every home teems with artifacts that hold the stories of its inhabitants. This is the why the childhood home leaves such an impression on us — not for the things themselves, but for the lives that take shape around them. When I first met my now-husband, he was at work on a project called Habitat, for which he photographed the interiors of abandoned houses. I was stunned by the things that had been left behind, and by the sense of loss that emanated from the images.

Detail from Jeff Winch's Habitat series

When we were researching The Occupied Garden, set sixty years ago in Holland, we circled my father’s house in Leidschendam. We paused at the front of it and crept down the back lane. We peered through the wooden fence and noticed the patches on the brickwork, where, in the ’40s, new bricks had replaced the ones damaged by bomb fragments when my dad was a boy. I often wonder why we didn’t muster the courage to ask if we could go inside. What would that have been like for him, now in his seventies? Many times, during the course of our research, he was surprised by his own emotional response to something he didn’t think would effect him — this likely would have been one of those times.

In the home I have now, there are clues to the family who lived here before us, but over time they are disappearing with our updates and minor renovations. We noticed when we first moved in that there was a figure etched into the glass of the kitchen window. You could only see it from certain angles, in certain lights, but it was there nonetheless: a childish stick figure of a girl with a triangle dress. The artist must have stood on the counter to scratch it into the glass — certainly a wayward act at the time but a curious surprise for us later on; a glimmer of what had been.

The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum and the Tillamook Air Museum

Portland, Oregon USA is a fabulous city with the sylvan-esque nickname of “Stumptown”. This post describes the Evergreen Aviation Museum and the Tillamook Air Museum but the reader may wish to be aware that the Pearson Air Museum lies only a few miles to the north of Portland’s airport in Vancouver, Washington.

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum  

45º 12’ 13” N / 123º 08’ 39” W

Unless you live near there, the most expedient way to get this museum is to fly into Portland Oregon’s airport (PDX) in the USA and rent a car for a short drive (less than an hour) south-southwest to McMinnville, Oregon. The museum is just outside the city, neighboring the McMinnville Municipal Airport. It is well signed  and there is a massive F-15 Eagle displayed on a pylon across the highway from the museum. I understand that a Boeing 747 was scheduled to be on highway display by May or June 2009. It will have been a feat to fly such a large aircraft into the relatively short field provided by the McMinnville Municipal Airport at only 5418 feet (1642m) in length.

Evergreen Aviation Museum — photo by Joe May

It can hardly be easier to find and parking is plentiful. Privately owned it consists of three architecturally pleasant buildings and several outside static displays. The claim to fame is the immense flying boat mostly designed and built by Howard Hughes. It has undergone several name changes and is now called the H-4 Hercules — but the world knows it as the Spruce Goose. Intended to fly hundreds of troops on each flight, or two tanks, it came to fruition at the end of WW II and, so, was never placed into production. After a colorful history, Evergreen Aviation purchased the aircraft after promising to house it inside a museum building. Credit and thanks should also be given to Evergreen Aviation and a host of volunteers for completely restoring the flying boat. Entry into the museum also offers limited entry onto the plane’s main deck compartment where one can view forward and aft into the fuselage. A tour of the overlying flight deck is offered for an added fee and is good for up to five people per ticket.

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk — photo by Joe May

The Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress also has a tour for a slight extra price that allows you to walk from just forward of the tail gun position to the aft bulkhead of the bomb bay.

The Spruce Goose is in the aviation building and there are dozens more aircraft, civilian and military, all looking fresh off the assembly line keeping the flying boat company. Most are in groups but favorable angles can be had with almost all of them (the somewhat rare single seat de Havilland Vampire was buried, almost hidden, within a pod of aircraft). There is a nearly rare section of a WW II Mitsubishi G4M 式陸攻 (Type 1 land-based attack aircraft the Japanese nicknamed “Cigar”, Allied codename “Betty”), a portion of the rear fuselage. No known aircraft of this type have been restored, although the Smithsonian has a Betty in their shop undergoing work and the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino California has a wreck displayed as if it were still in New Guinea with most of its fuselage and wing present. Overall, the aircraft displayed range throughout aviation history, and are impressive in their range and condition. Emphasis is on US made aircraft but there is a perfectly preserved Messerschmitt Bf-109G and a Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI along with a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. A MiG-15 and MiG-29 are on outside display, as well.

Hughes H-1 Hercules "Spruce Goose" — photo by Joe May

Another building is for aerospace and houses a Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” and a D-21 drone designed to be carried by the SR-71 — among many other aerospace displays of satellites, rockets and a Northrop T-38 Talon. The café in this building has an excellent menu and is larger than the quaint one located in the aviation building. The remaining building is an IMAX theater. Depending upon pace and the amount of photographing I would say a visit is comfortably done in two to four hours, and in good comfort as the building is spacious and well lit.

Messerschmitt Bf-109G — photo by Joe May

Tillamook Air Museum  

 45º 25’ 14” N / 123º 48’ 10” W

Located in Tillamook, Oregon USA this museum is along the Pacific coast and is about a two hour drive from the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum — and about two hours from Portland OR. This, too, is a private aircraft collection with most of them in flying condition.

Tillamook Air Museum with Boeing Mini Guppy — photo by Joe May

Unusually and perhaps rarely, the building is worth as much note as the aircraft housed within it. The US Navy built it during WW II to hangar up to four airships so it is long at about 1100 feet (325m) and about 190 feet (56m) in height  and  made of wood. It is in fact the largest wooden building in the world. Remarkably, the building was erected in less than a month with no loss of life.

Interior of Tillamook Air Museum — photo by Joe May

Ambient light is provided only from the open hanger doors so it is a bit dark for photographic purposes but a flash can easily handle the lighting situation. Aircraft are individually displayed and range from the 1930s to present day. Notably, somewhat rare aircraft on display are an Martin AM Mauler, a Douglas SBD Dauntless, Consolidated PBY‑5A Catalina, 1938 Bellanca Air Cruiser (an overlooked airplane in terms of efficiency with its W-shaped lower wing), and an Hispano Aviación HA-1112 (essentially a Merlin engined Bf-109) liveried as a WW II Luftwaffe aircraft.

Hispano HA-1112 (Bf-109 with Merlin engine) cockpit — photo by Joe May

A special treat is the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser Mini Guppy conversion on outside display where for a minimal additional fee, allows a self-tour through the fuselage and a peek onto the flight deck from the entry hatch.  This was the first aircraft modified to carry outsized cargo such as helicopters and satellites. More modern, but still heavily modified aircraft, now carry sections of fuselages and rockets. Touring the Mini Guppy is a real treat. Although looking a bit her age on the outside she  appears brand new  on the inside. Perhaps the rarest of all the aircraft at Tillamook is the WW II Nakajima 中島 Ki-43 Hayabusa 隼 (Peregrine Falcon, Allied codename “Oscar”) which is, remarkably, in flyable condition. There are several other WW II and other era aircraft, as well.

Nakajima 中島 Ki-43 Hayabusa 隼 (Peregrine Falcon, Allied codename "Oscar") — photo by Joe May

The Tillamook Air Museum is a pleasant and laid back museum with an unusual setting and roomy café. The museum has a modest entry fee and its location brings you close to the scenic Pacific Coast of Oregon.

Martin AM Mauler — photo by Joe May

I was a regular over at another website that I joined about a year before Tom’s sudden death in 2008. I became acquanted with Tom at a relatively early stage as the first Fellowship Build on the site  was organised by him. The build was a competition in association with Accurate Miniatures as Tom was the company’s Art Director and required entrants to simply select and assemble anything from AM’s catalogue. I chose their Il-2 and was lucky enough to win.

Tom was a believer and one of the original members of the site and after prayer and consultation with his family and those on the forums a memorial build in 2009 was agreed.

I chose as my entry, Tamiya’s ultimate ’slammer’, their Bf109E-3 with Tom’s Possum Werks decals for ‘Macky’ Steinhoff’s bird during the Battle of Britain. I hope, when it’s finished, that it will do justice to Tom’s memory. I’ll certainly try…

Eduard’s now quite ancient brass fret for the Tamiya E3 and E4 kits was dragged out of the spares dungeon and yielded a selection of bits to busy up the pilot’s station. You’ll spot belts in there obviously and these pass through an oblong hole in the seat obligingly created by me and ringed with an etched oval of brass so tiny I left the CA alone and fixed it in position easily with gloss enamel varnish. The etched leather strap for what I think was the battery cover was dobbed in with enamel gloss varnish too. I’ll be loosing the hard edge wash staining beside it any day now…

Etched trim wheels, stand and chain were added. The chain terminates in a sprocket but has nothing else to connect it with the fuselage wall, so the Punch & Judy set yielded a disc of card to suit. The etched double panel had the instrument acetate back painted in light grey, not white, as it drops the contrast and looks more in keeping to my eye but that’s just a personal thing. The acetate was ‘glued’ using enamel gloss varnish to the panel rears and further dabs filled in the ‘glass’. The instruments themselves need edging in black and in this scale I ditch the enamel black for artists oil mixed with the UK version of Japan Dryer, Liquin. This viscous paint stays put and is perfect in this application.

Etched seat rails sealed the port side of the deal. The only addition on the starboard side was the etched map case holder – lots more convincing than the moulded version. It’ll grow a map later in the build. From there it was a simple case of closing up the fuselage, adding the wings and sending the lot into traction…

Here’s a gallery of full sized images from this part of the build -

Sunday 15 August 2009:

Just a short update. This is the first aircraft model where I’ve had the foresight to fit the canopy so’s it can weather in with the rest of the paintwork at the same time. Previously I’d leave it off then try to recall what I did to the airframe as I’d frantically try to make the two match…

The white, narrow lines are oil paint used to blend parts together. The kit provides dropped flaps and deciding to buck the trend I whopped mine up. The upper and lower rear fuselage seams were zapped with CA then reinstated with a scriber ala the advice Floyd Werner hands out. The joint on the real aircraft was in the form of lapped panels but this is close enough.

Again, with uncharacteristic planning the rads were given a prep with RLM65 and the chin rad with gelb.

To be continued…

I Borlänge går det inte som på andra platser 3600 sekunder på en timme:

ძალიან ვიცინე ამაზე.
WW2-ის გერმანული ავიაგამანადგურებელი ესკადრილიების სურათებს და წიგნებს ვათვალიერებდი ნეტში და Jagdgeschwader 300-ის პილოტის სურათი ვნახე Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-14-ში. თითქოს ჩვეულებრივი ომისდროინდელი სურათია, მაგრამ ფიუზელაჟზე აქვს ისეთი მაგარი ძაღლი დახატული თვითმფრინავით პირში, აი ისეთი მაგარი ტიპი, რომ ეხლაც მეცინება რომ ვუყურებ.

ზოგი დრაკონებს ახატავდა თვითმფრინავებს, ზოგი ნაშებს, ზოგიც ტექსტებს აწერდა ზედ, მაგრამ ასეთი რამე პირველად დავინახე იმდროინდელ სურათებზე.

P.S. როგორ იყურება დიდი თვალებიდან და თვითმფრინავს რომ ღეჭავს

Det skulle bli våpenet som ville sette styrkefoholdene i Annen verdenskrig på hodet: Messerschmitt ME 262, drevet av en jetmotor. Det topphemmelige prosjektet ble flyttet til et fjernt hjørne av østlige Tyskland for å unngå stadig hissigere allierte bomberaid. Med blant annet rovdrift på konsentrasjonsleirfanger ble totalt 1430 fly bygget.

Jomfruturen ble fløyet sommeren 1942, men flyet kom først i aktiv tjeneste i april 1944. For sent til å påvirke utfallet av krigen. Etter kapitulasjonen sanket de allierte alle fly de kunne komme over, og fant fort ut at Sturmvogel (Stormfuglen) var et adskillig bedre fly enn den amerikanskutviklede P-80 Shooting Star.

11 Stormfugler tjenestegjorde i det tsjekkoslovakiske luftforsvaret helt frem til 1957.

Hele historien hos Der Spiegel. Med billedserie.

Flyfakta fra Wikipedia.

DEINZE – Op vraag van de ‘Kring voor Geschiedenis en Kunst van Deinze en de Leiestreek‘ geeft Cyndrik De Decker van de vzw Bahaat komende donderdag 14 mei om 20 uur in de Vlasschuur, Ardense Jagerstraat 1 te Gottem, een lezing en bijhorende informatie over het opgraven van een Duitse militair vliegtuig uit WO II in de Deinse deelgemeente Gottem.

De ‘Messerschmitt’ stortte er neer op 24 januari 1944 met aan boord de 22-jarige luitenant Paul Hönle.
Bahaat, de vereniging van liefhebbers en deskundigen van de geschiedenis van de Belgische luchtvaart, organiseerde en leidde de graafwerken in Gottem. Iedereen is welkom.

The Luftwaffe tried many experimental designs throughout World War II.  The Me-163 rocket plane, with a top speed of around six hundred miles an hour, was one such plane.  To make it lightweight, the landing gear would be jettisoned on take-off and the plane would land on a wooden ski.  Powered by a rocket engine with limited fuel capacity it had a very limited flight duration and would glide in for an unpowered landing.  The plane’s purpose was to streak into American bomber formations, do as much damage as possible and then return to base.  Dangerous to fly and dangerous to fuel, it suffered more casualties from accidents than it did from combat.