This week on Loch Ness PBY Catalina from Duxford during filming Aircraft landed and developed an engine problem 22,000 has been raised to swap engine so she can take off and return to Duxford before the Scottish winter gets rough or Nessie thinks it a play toy
I was very lucky and got to fly one of them when I was at RAF Goose Bay Canada It was orange and was used by the forestry department for firefighting
Had a go in one myself once they are awesome, BUT please don't mention Goose Bay Dilli every time I was there it was -40
The various bars kept the cold at bay as there was nowhere else to go unless you wanted to go play with the polar bears
The father of one of my brother in laws flew in one during WW2 as a waist gunner. He died many years ago but when I was about 11 or 12 he told me about one patrol they went out on. Just that one day he and the other gunner decided to swap sides/guns. While out on patrol they were attacked by a focke wolfe 190. When they got back to base, his buddy was lying dead over his guns. Freaky or what ?
I've pondered long and hard about whether and where to post this but have decided to go with the here and now. 'Here' because there is, I think, something innately awesome about the content of the following 'story'. 'Now' perhaps because, as Remembrance Day approaches, I'm reminded of the deep respect and admiration I personally feel for anybody who serves in the military - in whatever capacity - but none more so than those who serve in active combat situations. The attached (I hope!) PDF contains a graphic account of a USAF air raid on North Vietnam. I have no views on the rights and wrongs, moral judgements and/or political undercurrents of the particular context of this story (the Vietnam War) and, as an Englishman - and one who has never served - have no direct 'link' to either the conflict or its participants, other than the fact that my very best friend, Paul, is an ex-USN A4 Skyhawk pilot who saw considerable active combat duty in Vietnam and it is he who sent me the story. He also happens to be an amazing engineer and amongst the very best restorers of Norton Manx motorcycles in the world. I digress. Unfortunately the text of the story was far too long to include in a single post and I felt it would have lost so much of its impact spread over 2, 3 or more forum messages so I have uploaded it as a PDF. EDIT - IF YOU HAVE ANY STRONG VIEWS ON WAR AND WAR STORIES THEN, PLEASE DO NOT BOTHER TO READ THIS. IT ISN'T INTENDED TO BE A CONTENTIOUS SUBJECT OF DEBATE! THANKS. As an introduction, this is the text of the message that he included to me as a lead-in to the story – Paul said :- "Reads like being there. I promise I will never, ever, make fun of SAC guys ever again. No doubt to me these guys had the biggest ones in the air. I thank God I was in an A4 which carried 2000 pounds max downtown and could low level yank and bank at 500 knots."
