Night Bombers - 1945 Colour Documentary about Lancasters

[GliderRider]

2xChevrons said:

Eric Mc said:

Indeed - although other aircraft such as the Vickers Warwick and Boeing B-17 also carried airborne lifeboats.

They didn't even need to be that big. Lots of Lockheed Hudsons on SAR duties carried droppable lifeboats.

And then I went looking for a picture of one and found this page:

http://magazine.ipmsnsw.com/34-4/uffa/uffa%20p1.ht...

which as well as having images of Hudsons (and a Warwick) carrying lifeboats, also shows them being mounted on Fairey Barracudas, which I never knew about. I also didn't appreciate how sophisticated the droppable boats were - they had self-righting chambers, bilge compartments with raised floors, a daggerboard, what seems like a fairly effective sailing rig and an outboard motor.

It make sense when you think about it. There's not much point dropping a lifeboat to someone in the middle of the Atlantic (or even the North Sea) if it's not really a seaworthy vessel that can get them towards land. I guess I'd always assumed that the air-dropped boats were more of a 'something better than a liferaft to sit in until help arrives' measure.

2x Chevrons, great find! An article I read emphasised how a liferaft could easily be blown back towards the enemy shore, whilst a boat with a means of propulsion had a chance of making it back home or to where a flying boat or rescue launch could recover the crew.

A post war American development was a radio controlled airborne liferaft, which the crew of the dropping aircraft could direct towards those in need of rescue. Wikipedia credits it to Douglas. The only image I can find (whcih may not be the Douglas one, is this one on page 100 in Popular Mechanics: Radio controlled airborne liferaft

[Castrol for a knave]

GliderRider said:

2xChevrons said:

Eric Mc said:

Indeed - although other aircraft such as the Vickers Warwick and Boeing B-17 also carried airborne lifeboats.

They didn't even need to be that big. Lots of Lockheed Hudsons on SAR duties carried droppable lifeboats.

And then I went looking for a picture of one and found this page:

http://magazine.ipmsnsw.com/34-4/uffa/uffa%20p1.ht...

which as well as having images of Hudsons (and a Warwick) carrying lifeboats, also shows them being mounted on Fairey Barracudas, which I never knew about. I also didn't appreciate how sophisticated the droppable boats were - they had self-righting chambers, bilge compartments with raised floors, a daggerboard, what seems like a fairly effective sailing rig and an outboard motor.

It make sense when you think about it. There's not much point dropping a lifeboat to someone in the middle of the Atlantic (or even the North Sea) if it's not really a seaworthy vessel that can get them towards land. I guess I'd always assumed that the air-dropped boats were more of a 'something better than a liferaft to sit in until help arrives' measure.

2x Chevrons, great find! An article I read emphasised how a liferaft could easily be blown back towards the enemy shore, whilst a boat with a means of propulsion had a chance of making it back home or to where a flying boat or rescue launch could recover the crew.

A post war American development was a radio controlled airborne liferaft, which the crew of the dropping aircraft could direct towards those in need of rescue. Wikipedia credits it to Douglas. The only image I can find (whcih may not be the Douglas one, is this one on page 100 in Popular Mechanics: Radio controlled airborne liferaft

Great stuff - loved reading that.

I have always had a slight obsession with these things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_buoy_(Luftwaf...

I think there is one rotting away at a museum in Dundee, which I must go see. My next pointless trip is to see the rotting remains of HMS Bronnington, Ton class minesweeper in a dock at Birkenhead.

[LotusOmega375D]

You can see one of those at Leigh-on-Sea. I am not a member but have enjoyed many a pint of beer / glass of white wine on board.

https://www.essexyachtclub.co.uk/history-of-hms-wi...

[williamp]

Where the doodlebugs fell on kent

[Simpo Two]

Castrol for a knave said:

I have always had a slight obsession with these things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_buoy_(Luftwaf...

I think there is one rotting away at a museum in Dundee, which I must go see.

There's a b/w war film centred on an RAF crew that take refuge in one of those. Can't remember the name of it but a downed Luftwaffe crew turn up as well which makes life interesting. Eventually they're all rescued by a launch.

[Yertis]

I read a book - cannot remember which - that explained the ‘news management’ around the V1/V2 attacks. IIRC bombs landing in central London were not reported/suppressed, while reports of bombs landing in north London were amplified. Effect of this being that Jerry ‘reprogrammed’ his bombs to correct this apoarent overshoot, and more bombs therefore landing in SE London/Kent instead of central London.

[Simpo Two]

Yertis said:

I read a book - cannot remember which - that explained the ‘news management’ around the V1/V2 attacks. IIRC bombs landing in central London were not reported/suppressed, while reports of bombs landing in north London were amplified. Effect of this being that Jerry ‘reprogrammed’ his bombs to correct this apoarent overshoot, and more bombs therefore landing in SE London/Kent instead of central London.

cf The Media 2023: 'Is it not true Minister that more V1s are falling on London than you're admitting to, and that Hitler's vengeance weapons are actually succeeding in breaking British spirit? Did you mislead Parliament about it and is that not a breach of the Ministerial Code?'

[DodgyGeezer]

Simpo Two said:

cf The Media 2023: 'Is it not true Minister that more V1s are falling on London than you're admitting to, and that Hitler's vengeance weapons are actually succeeding in breaking British spirit? Did you mislead Parliament about it and is that not a breach of the Ministerial Code?'

you jest but

[Eric Mc]

The re-programming of the V1 was very simple - just amounting to setting the little windmill on the nose to the expected number of revolutions required to cover the expected distance to the target.

[Castrol for a knave]

LotusOmega375D said:

You can see one of those at Leigh-on-Sea. I am not a member but have enjoyed many a pint of beer / glass of white wine on board.

https://www.essexyachtclub.co.uk/history-of-hms-wi...

Thanks - I will put that on my list. My father served on a Ton class, so I have a thing about them.

Slight thread digression, but I managed to find the actual ships crest that hung in the little mess on the ship he served on, complete with the Bermudan penny on the back, with the hanger hole in it (his ship was in the West Indies fleet).

Cool to think it now sits on his kitchen wall and he sits under it, drinking a beer like he did in 1958.

[5 In a Row]

Castrol for a knave said:

Great stuff - loved reading that.

I have always had a slight obsession with these things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_buoy_(Luftwaf...

I think there is one rotting away at a museum in Dundee, which I must go see. My next pointless trip is to see the rotting remains of HMS Bronnington, Ton class minesweeper in a dock at Birkenhead.

I'm in Dundee - any idea which museum its in so I can go and have a look sometime?

[Castrol for a knave]

5 In a Row said:

Castrol for a knave said:

Great stuff - loved reading that.

I have always had a slight obsession with these things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_buoy_(Luftwaf...

I think there is one rotting away at a museum in Dundee, which I must go see. My next pointless trip is to see the rotting remains of HMS Bronnington, Ton class minesweeper in a dock at Birkenhead.

I'm in Dundee - any idea which museum its in so I can go and have a look sometime?

I was almost correct but also miles off.

There's a cuckoo, the RAF version at the maritime museum at Irvine.

Apart from being on the west coast, 120 miles away and RAF not Luftwaffe, I was bang on

[5 In a Row]

Castrol for a knave said:

5 In a Row said:

Castrol for a knave said:

Great stuff - loved reading that.

I have always had a slight obsession with these things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_buoy_(Luftwaf...

I think there is one rotting away at a museum in Dundee, which I must go see. My next pointless trip is to see the rotting remains of HMS Bronnington, Ton class minesweeper in a dock at Birkenhead.

I'm in Dundee - any idea which museum its in so I can go and have a look sometime?

I was almost correct but also miles off.

There's a cuckoo, the RAF version at the maritime museum at Irvine.

Apart from being on the west coast, 120 miles away and RAF not Luftwaffe, I was bang on

Ach, it's just down the road. I'll go one lunchtime

[Flying Phil]

Yertis said:

I read a book - cannot remember which - that explained the ‘news management’ around the V1/V2 attacks. IIRC bombs landing in central London were not reported/suppressed, while reports of bombs landing in north London were amplified. Effect of this being that Jerry ‘reprogrammed’ his bombs to correct this apoarent overshoot, and more bombs therefore landing in SE London/Kent instead of central London.

I think this is explained in "The Mare's Nest" by David Irvine.