Heritage Photography Special Edition June 2023

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

Journal of the Archaeology and Heritage Group

JUNE 2023

Editor David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org

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David Bryson heritage.editor@rps.org

Archaeology & Heritage Group Committee Members

Mike Glyde Chair heritagechair@rps.org

David Bryson FRPS Heritage Photography editor heritage.editor@rps.org

Amanda Miller LRPS Secretary heritagesec@rps.org (Vacant) Treasurer heritagetreasurer@rps.org

Jim Souper ARPS

Shaun Parkes LDPS Military Heritage heritagemilitary@rps.org

Published by the Archaeology and Heritage Special Interest Group of the Royal Photographic Society, June 2023.

Copyright in all text and photographs is held by the credited authors, or as otherwise stated. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form without prior written permission of the Publisher.

Print ISSN 0958-0565

Online ISSN 2632-3346

Front cover photograph Avro Lancasater PA474.

Mike Barr

Back cover photograph

Detail of the engine mounting bearers and connections.

MIke Glyde

EDITORIAL

3 Perspective: The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) SHAUN PARKES LDPS

FEATURES

4 Perspective: Military Heritage DAVID BRYSON FRPS

5-16 The Jewel in the Crown: Avro LancasterB Mk1 Serial No PA474

MIKE BARR ARPS

17-20

Interview with SQN Leader Mark ‘Sugs’ Sugden OC BBMF

22-26

Hawker Hurricane MkIIA Serial No. LF363 and MkIIC Serial No. PZ865 ANDREW BARNETT

27-28

De Haviland

Canada DHC1 Chipmunk MIKE BARR ARPS

Public

Perspective: The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

As part of an increased group focus on nontraditional heritage subjects, the A&H group’s Military Heritage Co-Ordinator Shaun Parkes and Group Chair Mike Glyde, organized a visit to the home of the World-famous RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

The visit was deliberately organized for the postdisplay-season period during which all the aircraft are stripped down and serviced and prepared for the next year’s displays. We were privileged to be given ‘behind the barriers’ access so we could get very close to the aircraft.

At this point we would like to thank the Officer Commanding (OC) BBMF, Squadron Leader Mark Sugden, for allowing the visit to take place, and to Miss Paris Pratley-Gomez, the BBMF’s hard-working PR Officer, for her great assistance in making the visit happen.

The BBMF is based in the heart of rural Lincolnshire, long known as ‘Bomber County’ due to the large number of bomber airfields established in the county during World War 2. As a very flat landscape on the eastern coast of England, it lent itself perfectly to the number of bomber airfields required to prosecute the bombing campaign against Germany.

BBMF was originally founded at the famous Battle of Britain fighter base at Biggin Hill in Kent, and was initially called the RAF Historic Flight. It had the last RAF’s last airworthy Hurricane, LF363 - more of which later - and three photo-reconnaissance Spitfire PR Mk XIX aircraft.

Funded by the Ministry of Defence and staffed by RAF service personnel, the BBMF’s motto is “Lest We Forget”, and serves as a living memorial to honour “the thousands of men and women, in the air and on the ground, that gave their lives for this country in the noble pursuit of freedom”.

(https://www.raf.mod.uk/display-teams/battle-ofbritain-memorial-flight/ )

Today the flight has one Avro Lancaster, a C-47 Dakota, two Hurricanes (including LF363), six Spitfires, and two de Havilland Chipmunk (training aircraft).

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Spitfire MK XVI: TE311. Photograph: Shaun Parkes

Perspective: Military Heritage

DAVID BRYSON FRPS

Many thanks go to Mike Glyde, Mike Barr and Andrew Barnett and especially Shaun Parkes for this special issue.

Without their knowledge and appreciation for our World War II aviation heritage this issue would not have been possible.

Our country has a long history of military heritage in all its forms from the Norman Conquest, through battles against the French and Spanish and on to the horrors of World War I and World War II. Many of us are too young even as older members to remember these events and as each year we have fewer of the former soldiers and aviators still surviving it is important to reflect on the equipment and technologies that allowed us as a country to live through those dark times due to the heroic efforts of the few.

I remember my mother describing how her father

who was an Air Warden in WWII took her out of the house and from the village of Knowle in Warwickshire they watched as on the horizon they could see the red glow as Coventry burnt in the distance.

If not for the Royal Air Force, the men and their planes far more of the country would have had a similar fate to that of Coventry, London and other cities that came under German bombardment.

As the editor of Heritage Photography I am proud to pull together each issue and to show all the fantastic stories and photographs you have produced in their best light.

So do please continue to send me your photographs and any text to enhance our understanding of our heritage and history.

David Bryson heritage.editor@rps.org

Engineers at BBMF working on a de Havilland Chipmunk. Photograph: MIke Barr.

The Jewel in the Crown

Avro Lancaster B Mk 1

PA474

MIKE BARR ARPS

Dominating the hangar is one of only two remaining airworthy Lancasters in the World, PA474 is the only flying Lancaster in the United Kingdom and is considered priceless by the aviation community.

At the heart of many of the major events in our country over the past few years has been a fly past over the Mall and Buckingham Palace by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). At the centre of this classic cluster of planes is the Avro Lancaster PA474 - The City of Lincoln. Although there are estimated to be 14 examples of this type in existence, this is one of only two examples of this famous aircraft type that is still flying, the other one being based in Canada.

Visiting its home at RAF Coningsby, near Lincoln, is a rare privilege. By the standards of its day in World War II it is a vast aircraft, dwarfing the Spitfires and Hurricanes that are its companions. Its 102 ft. wingspan reaches right across the hangar where the BBMF lives, fitting through the hangar entrance doors with very few feet to spare. Dark and brooding, it dwarfs them also with its 20 foot height

in the tail planes and in the astrodome behind the cockpit. Compared to any modern airliner it is, of course, not that big but in its day . . . . On closer inspection the most surprising thing about it is how narrow it is compared to modern aircraft. Standing in the middle of the body with arm outstretched you can touch both sides of the fuselage. But go to stand underneath it, however, and in the bomb bay there is space enough to carry a vast amount of death and destruction to a distant enemy.

Looking at the specifications of this 80 year old aircraft, it is particularly striking that the weight of the empty aircraft is less than half of its maximum take-off weight. Its normal maximum bomb load was 14,000 pounds, but with some modification this was the only aircraft type during the second world war capable of carrying and delivering the 22,000 lb earthquake bombs used to attack U-Boat pens and

This photograph shows the BBMF Lancaster resting and undressed, surrounded by the scaffolding and ladders necessary for the maintenance crew to get access to do their essential tasks. At this stage all of the propellers have been removed for microscopic inspection and ultrasound scanning (non-destructive testing); the wheels have been removed to check the condition of the tyres and to reduce the stress on the undercarriage, and while the wheels are removed, a comprehensive hydraulics service can be carried out. Photograph: MIke Barr

Avro Lancaster PA474 - The City of Lincoln, Photograph: Shaun Parkes

other targets protected deep underground or covered by the heaviest reinforced concrete protection.

We should not doubt for a moment the considerable challenge of maintaining in reliable airworthy condition an 80 year old aircraft that was built in the middle of the war, with an active lifetime expectation of less than a hundred trips.

While the mechanics and engineers pieced together the battered and war torn Lancasters that staggered back from their bitterly contested sorties over Europe, the ground staff enjoyed a good supply of spare parts and repair kits. Since the War however, the companies and industries that re-roled to make the wartime parts supply have mostly disappeared, have morphed back into their traditional markets, or modernised to trade in new ones. Replacement parts therefore come from a diminishing stock that is in contested demand from the owners of the 14 Lancaster examples that still exist worldwide.

Where maintenance schedules might have directed that a defective spark plug be casually thrown away and replaced by a spare from stock, today that

defective part must be cherished and the utmost efforts be made to refurbish it, so as to avoid taking another from the steadily diminishing stock.

As with the spark plug, it is with the rest of this beloved old war bird. Its flying hours each year are tightly controlled. And as the chill winds and damp of winter sweeps in, PA474 is taken into its dry, dehumidified and rain-free winter quarters. There, following a tight schedule it is checked and maintained, stripped and repaired to keep it in tiptop condition, to ready it for next year’s schedule of appearances.

Maintenance

At the beginning of the winter all four of the engines are removed for their annual service. The engines are Rolls Royce Merlin XX, V-12 liquid cooled piston engines of 27 litres capacity, each generating 1280 hp (950 kw.). These engines each weigh 1,640 lb (744 kg) and are supported by a substantial support frame. Connected to each engine is a fuel supply pipe providing between 30 and 130 Gallons per hour

PA474 is also known as “City of Lincoln”, in acknowledgement of the RAF’s close association with the City and indeed the ‘Bomber County’ of Lincolnshire. Photograph: Mike Barr

when the engine is operating. Each engine has an independent cooling system filled with 70% water and 30% ethylene glycol and has an independent radiator that sits within the engine cowling, which is draft cooled by the airflow from the rotating propellers. The engines themselves are supported by a two stage supercharger with its own independent cooling system to help the engines produce maximum power at the aircraft’s operating ceiling of around 21,000 feet.

Within the engine cowling there is a complex set of services used by the flight engineer to control and monitor the status and power output of the engine, its auxiliary systems and its three bladed propeller. In the maintenance of each of the engines it is necessary to review: the strength and integrity of the engine support frames; they must check the ability of the frames to support the considerable weight of the engine at rest and the forces generated with the engine operating at full power throughout its performance envelope; the safe and consistent operation of the fuel system, including its emergency cut off and fire suppressant systems; the safe and reliable operation of the hydraulics; the two cooling systems, one for the engine, the other independent system for the engine supercharger; the command, control and information feedback systems for the flight engineer. The engine is completely removed for maintenance but then needs to be tested when mounted back on the aircraft.

Overall condition of the aircraft

The rest of the aircraft is inspected and repaired with equal care and attention. 80 years of flying history can lead to the gradual appearance of wear and tear. Even with limited flying hours each year there is the potential for metal fatigue and other stress related problems. Also it must be kept in mind that any appearances of this aircraft tends to be at events that have national attention and prestige. Every surface and corner of the aircraft is covered with a tightly controlled inspection and repair schedule to keep it able to carry this onerous task.

Throughout our visit we were considerably impressed by the care and attention being paid to this aircraft and the rest of this small air fleet. We were grateful for the open welcome given to us to see and photograph this and all the other aircraft of the BBMF. Rather than waffle on about this wonderful aircraft in detail extracted from Wikipedia and other internet sources, let me limit the further content of this article to a gallery of some of the photographs that I was fortunately able to take of PA474 during our full access trip to its home in RAF Coningsby in mid-winter 2022 while the aircraft was undergoing its annual maintenance. Let me end by giving my heartfelt thanks to the members of the BBMF team for giving us this opportunity to view their aircraft.

MIKE BARR

Engines being worked on, showing the support bearers. Photograph: Mike Barr

PA474 dominates the BBMF’s hangar, silently asserting her place as the rarest asset owned by the Flight.

Photograph: Mike Glyde.

PA474 is repainted periodically in the markings of different Lancasters. One famous colour scheme was that of ‘Mickey the Moocher’ of 61 Squadron which completed over 100 raids, far exceeding the average of 21 raids before a Lancaster was lost. She is currently painted on the port (left) side as AR-L “Leader” of 460 Sqn Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) complete with markings denoting 2 bombing raids on Berlin (red bombs), 24 other raids (yellow bombs) and 4 raids on Italy (ice creams).

Photograph: MIke Barr

Fraser Nash rear gun turret housing 4 x Browning 0.303” belt-fed machine guns; Lancaster bomber rear gunners shot down many German fighter aircraft, rear gunners were usually the first target of German night fighters.

Photograph: Mike Barr

The Lancaster’s cavernous bomb bay. Although physically smaller than the American B17 Flying Fortress, the Lancaster could carry roughly twice the bomb load, twice as far. Photograph: Mike Barr

Engineers working on the port side engines of Lancaster PA474.

Photograph: Mike Barr

Starboard inner cowlings stripped for maintenance.

Photograph: Mike Barr

The triple decker nose with the cockpit window just visible above the front gunner and bomb aimer positions. The bomb aimer typically acted as front gunner when not lying down to trigger the release of the bomb load. Photograph: Mike Barr’

Piping inside the leading edge of the port wing. Photograph : Andrew Barnett

The Bomb Aimer’s “office”. Photograph: Mike Barr

Interview with OC BBMF Squadron Leader Mark “Sugs” Sugden.

We would like to repeat our thanks to Officer Commanding (OC) BBMF, Squadron Leader Mark Sugden, for allowing the visit to take place, and to Miss Paris Pratley-Gomez, the BBMF’s hard-working PR Officer, for her invaluable assistance and liaison work in making the visit happen.

Sqn Ldr Sugden what is your biggest challenge?

“Parts. Definitely parts. For the Merlin engines. Years ago, there was a hangar in Europe, full of spares; old ‘new stock’. Then it was sold, lock, stock and barrel, to someone in America. And just like that, our parts superstore vanished.”

Mark went on to explain.

“There seems to be a general assumption that if we can’t locate parts on the commercial market, we can just manufacture them through 3D printing, but the reality is very different. Modern metals and alloys are great, very light and strong, but they are different metals than those from the 1940s, they

behave and react differently to the heating, cooling and stresses of V12 turbocharged engines. So we are reliant on locating parts through donations, swapping parts with other operators, purchasing when they come up. Wherever we can get hold of them. “

We asked Mark about the engineering team.

The flight has about 40 engineers, and is generally structured like most flying squadrons, headed by a Squadron Leader SEngO (Senior Engineering Officer), supported by two Flight Lieutenant JEngOs, and a Warrant Officer, Non-Commissioned Officers and other ranks.

DHC Chipmunk training aircraft looking through the perimeter fence, RAF Coningsby. Photograph: Shaun Parkes.

BBMF Public Display Authority flying display, RAF Coningsby 26 May 2022.

Photograph: Shaun Parkes

The majority of the engineers are either mechanical engineers, or avionics engineers, being ‘on the tools’ and working directly on the aircraft. Five of the engineers are employed in an Engineering Support Cell, covering engineering management and engineering safety duties.

Two Survival Equipment Technicians look after all the aircrew safety equipment, while other staff include a civil servant, Sherrie Christian, who manages the Tool stores department, and two Logistics Technicians, who are responsible for ensuring that spares and equipment are purchased, stored and managed correctly.

What is unusual is that, unlike front-line squadrons, BBMF has 5 FTRS engineers. FTRS are ‘Full Time Reserve Service’, former regular RAF engineers who are now employed on contract. The advantage to BBMF is that FTRS personnel are not deployable, and do not get posted away to other units on promotion, and thus form a continuing engineering backbone to the flight, as the de facto engineering subject matter experts (SMEs).

Apart from the scarcity of spare parts, the other main challenge is that there are no manuals for the aircraft, so the engineers are currently compiling the manuals. There has been a considerable investment in providing wifi throughout the hangar so that the engineers can document processes and procedures as they go along.

Another feature of the flight is attracting the right calibre of pilots and aircrew. As there are only two full-time pilots on the flight, i.e. the OC (Officer Commanding) and the Operations Officer, the rest of the pilots are volunteers from other squadrons and stations. The Hurricanes and Spitfires are flown by fighter pilot who usually fly the Typhoon, the F35 Lightning, or possibly as instructors at the flying training schools. The Lancaster and Dakota are crewed by pilots, flight engineers and loadmasters from the RAF’s transport fleet of Hercules, A400 or C17 aircraft based at RAF Brize Norton.

The pilots have to have a high degree of ability to retain skills and information to avoid skill fade; as there are no training aircraft or simulators; unlike modern RAF aircraft; and as the flight’s actual aircraft have strict limitations on the number of flying hours they can operate each season, the pilots need to be able to retain the ability to operate the aircraft safely on fewer flying hours than is the case in their usual flying duties.

There are also big differences in the aircraft and in the training. All of the flight’s aircraft are ‘tail draggers’, with a tail wheel, unlike modern aircraft which have nosewheels. There are no flight simulators for the aircraft, and the aircraft are too valuable to risk letting pilots train on them without knowing how to land taildraggers. The flight has two de Havilland Chipmunk 2-seat aircraft, which are also tail draggers, on which the fighter pilots carry out initial training, before transitioning on to the much more powerful North American Harvard aircraft, which is much closer in performance to the Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft operated by the flight.

This actually reflects historical practice, as many WW2 pilots trained on the Harvard before moving onto fighter aircraft. Today, the Harvards are hired or borrowed in as the RAF does not own any now. Only then are they allowed to fly the irreplaceable and often historically significant fighter aircraft of the flight.

In the same way, the Dakota acts as a training airframe for the bomber crews. As one of only two airworthy Lancasters currently flying anywhere in the World,

PA474 is just too valuable to risk being used as the training aircraft. Originally acquired for this purpose, and to act as a support aircraft for the flight, the iconic ‘Dak’ also helps to keep the Lancasters flying hours down. The ‘Dak’ is so popular that it is now considered one of the BBMF’s display aircraft. Irrespective of their flying hours, the pilot’s first flight in a Spitfire or Hurricane is a very nerve-wracking experience. The pilots are acutely aware of the historic value of the aircraft and there is no-one else in the single seat aircraft to whom they can turn for help. But the first flight is only the first hurdle, as the pilots have to conduct three consecutive ‘good’ landings to be considered as qualified on the aircraft.

‘Sugs’ explained though, that it’s the best flying job in the RAF. Although the pilots are tired at the end of the display season, after their normal flying jobs and then flying the displays in their spare time, for the OC and the Ops Officer it’s harder, as they have to juggle all the challenges of operating a stable of vintage aircraft and the thousands of requests the flight gets each year for displays or fly-bys, which results in an ever-changing itinerary on an almost daily basis, as they try to meet as many requests as possible.

At the end of his three-year tour, the OC is absolutely shattered and needs a rest. For the Ops Officer, there is another three years of hard work, as the Ops Officer is also usually the OC-designate and therefore takes over when the incumbent is posted out at the end of his three-year tour.

I think that the final words of this article should include the Flight’s mission statement, and The Exhortation, to honour those who have made the ultimate sacrifice; particularly in Fighter Command, Bomber Command, or the wider Royal Air Force, and in the other Armed Forces of the nation:

“The mission of the RAF BBMF is to maintain the priceless artefacts of our national heritage in airworthy condition in order to commemorate those who have fallen in the service of this country.”

SHAUN PARKES

The Hurricanes: Hawker

Hurricane Mk IIa LF363 and Mk IIc PZ865

ANDREW BARNETT

The Hawker Hurricane was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force. It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 percent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the campaign and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War.

Hurricane LF363 is believed to be the last Hurricane to enter service with the RAF. It is one of only two Hurricanes forming part of the BBMF. It was built as a cannon-armed Mk IIC at the Hawker Aircraft factory at Langley, near Slough in Berkshire, during the latter part of 1943. The aircraft’s first flight was completed on 1st January 1944, some 78 years ago.

LF363 served operationally with the RAF during World War Two on coastal shipping protection and

air defence patrols off the east coast of Scotland, and other second-line duties. It now appears as an eightmachine-gun-armed Mk IIA and always wears Battle of Britain era colour schemes.

LF363 propped up on jacks undergoing winter maintenance at RAF Coningsby. Image: Andrew Barnett

The Hurricane Mk IIC PZ865 was the last Hurricane ever built, from a total of 14,533. It was inscribed “The Last of the Many’. It first flew on 27th July 1944, 78 years ago. Whilst belonging to Hawker Siddeley it was used for aerial sequences in the famous film ‘Battle of Britain’. PZ865 was painted in its all-black night fighter colour scheme following its last ‘Major” service.

ANDREW BARNETT

Canopy being cleaned

Jacks supporting the wings, oil drip trays and air intake, without cowling.

Port oleo leg with protective cover

LF363 with engine cowling removed along with the propeller blades and canopy. Photograph: Andrew Barnett

Hawker Hurricane MkIIC PZ685

Close up of the starboard side of PZ865 with panels removed showing its inner workings.

The propeller and engine cowling have been removed. The replica 20mm cannons were fitted in 1996 to restore PZ865’s appearance to that of a Mk IIC Hurricane.

PZ865 - close-up view of one of the two starboard cannons, undercarriage and engine.

Safety is very important as highlighted by the notice on the mobile steps.

Propellor from PZ865 and close up of the propellor hub

de Havilland Canada DHC-1

Chipmunk

MIKE BARR ARPS

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) operates two aircraft of this type: WG486 and WK518. Although these are post war aircraft, having been dropped from regular use by the RAF in 1996, they are used by BBMF to train pilots on ‘tail-dragger’ aircraft, and then to maintain pilots’ currency with tail wheel aircraft without logging unnecessary flying hours on the display aircraft.

TThe Chipmunks in the BBMF have a dual role in that as well as trainers they also act as liaison aircraft to fetch and carry spares for the other aircraft, and for visiting engineering companies when BBMF aircraft are at remote locations for work to be carried out. Looking around the BBMF hangar at first you don’t see the Chipmunks. During our visit one was outside, being prepared for a flight to maintain the skills and familiarity of tail wheel flight for one of the BBMF’s pilots.

The other Chipmunk was in the hangar undergoing routine maintenance. But this is a small aircraft and easily missed, hidden as it is in a corner, almost

beneath the port wing of the mighty Lancaster. If you look at the main picture of the Lancaster you will see it in its hiding place.

The Chipmunk is a tail wheeled two seater - a ‘taildragger’ - with one seat behind the other, in a ‘tandem’ configuration. This allows a pilot to be trained and checked out in the new and particular skills needed to fly the Spitfires and Hurricanes while accompanied by an instructor. When pilots come to fly one of these precious display aircraft for the first time, they do it solo!

Compared to all the other aircraft in the BBMF fleet, the Chipmunk offers relatively easy access for maintenance. Here you see two members of the team working on items inside the cockpit while standing on the ground next to the aircraft.

One of the longest serving aircraft types in the RAF, the Canadian designed Chipmunk entered service with the RAF in 1950. For a long period it served as an initial pilot trainer offering relatively modern features such as flaps, brakes, radio and an enclosed cockpit. It was finally released from regular service with the RAF as an initial training aircraft in 1996. The Duke of Edinburgh learned to fly in one of the aircraft now operated by the BBMF, and King Charles also learned to fly on this type of aircraft.

Not being a high performance aircraft, the systems in the Chipmunk seem comparatively simple and straightforward to maintain. There is excellent access to the Gypsy Major 8, 4 cylinder air cooled engine. In fact access for many purposes is rather easier than in some modern cars.

With a length of about 25 feet, wingspan of 34 feet and a height of only 7 ft. , this aircraft typically flies at 110 to 130 mph. As a flying trainer the Chipmunk also is a very handy run about for the BBMF while also fitting very conveniently into their fleet.

Unlike the rest of the BBMF fleet the Chipmunk does not particularly suffer from problems in getting access to spares. There are many aircraft of this type still operating throughout the world either in private hands or being operated by various government agencies.

As we were taking our final shots of the fleet and packing up to go home, OC BBMF went outside to prepare for a flight in the Chipmunk we had seen earlier, parked outside the hangar. It was almost as if he gave us a low fly past as we packed our kit away in our cars for the trip home.

I particularly wish that we had known he was going to do that as I would love to have added a final picture of the Chipmunk in flight as it went over us.

Spitfire MkXVI TE311 leading Spitfire Mk Vb AB910

“Spitfire MkXVI TE311 showing her clipped wings

Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 took part in the Dieppe Raid 1942 and escorted convoys in the Atlantic.

BBMF Public Display Authority (PDA) Day

SHAUN PARKES LDPS

Prior to the display season, every year, the BBMF - in common with all other display teams in the RAF - has to be granted ‘PDA’ or Public Display Authority before being allowed to perform the display routines in public.

After a period of ‘work-up’ during which the team develop and practice it’s intended display routine for the coming season. They have to demonstrate the routine to the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) No 1 Group RAF - who assesses whether the routine is safe and whether it is demanding and exciting enough to be displayed publicly.

The display is usually somewhat different from the

previous years display, and may be limited by which aircraft are available as some aircraft may be away for a major service, which can easily take more than a year to complete. This year Dakota ZA497 “Kwicherbichen” is away for major servicing.

The following images were taken during the 2021 and 2022 PDA Days.

Spitfire Mk Vb - AB910. Fought in WW2, but after the Battle of Britain. Photograph: Shaun Parkes

Spitfire Mk Vb - AB910 being led by Spitfire Mk XVI TE311. Photograph: Shaun Parkes

Spitfire Mk XVI TE311. Photograph: Shaun Parkes

Douglas C47 Dakota ZA497 “Kwicherbichen” dropped paratroops on 5th June 1944, the eve of D-Day. Photograph: Shaun Parkes

C47 Dakota ZA497 “Kwicherbichen” is used to train the bomber pilots on a ‘tail dragger’ before entrusting them with the priceless Lancaster PA474. Photograph: Shaun Parkes

Apology.

In the May 2022 edition of Heritage Photography, we ran an article on St Andrew’s Church, RAF Cranwell. In compiling the article, I received great assistance from Mr. Trevor Bush, the Church Warden of St. Andrews, who was an invaluable source of knowledge about the church and its history. Unfortunately, for a combination of reasons, my acknowledgement of Trevor’s assistance was omitted from the edition, the error and the omission of which is mine and mine alone, and for which I am happy to apologise and to correct, here.

SHAUN PARKES LDPS

Lancaster PA474 is regularly accompanied by one or more fighters, here by a Spitfire, on her public display flights.”

Miscellaneous views of the iconic Supermarine Spitfire

MIKE GLYDE

Unusual angle, showing the tail and the rear navigation light.

Under the starboard wing, showing the undercarriage well and the bays for the armament systems and ammunition.

Spitfire PR MkXIX showing the large camera port beside the RAF Roundel on the side of the fuselage.

Spitfire seen through an engine hoist.

Detail of the engine mounting bearers and connections. (Photograph: Mike Glyde)