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Podcast (pt): Download
Suspicious of the Polish pilots who, after their country was invaded by Nazi forces during the Second World War, had fled to the UK, the high command of the RAF eventually allowed them to become operational. No 303 Polish Squadron joined the RAF fighter units desperately fighting the overwhelming forces of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. The results stunned everybody.
The score of German kills (Adolfs) claimed by No 303 Polish Squadron during the Battle of Britain.
Images under creative commons licence from the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum London.
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The billionaire explorer Paul Allen rediscovers the aircraft carrier Lexington and an F4 Wildcat deep under the surface of the Coral Sea. This is the story of the Lexington and the Wildcat’s last pilot.
USS Lexington shortly before WWII.
F4F-3 Wildcat in non-reflective blue-gray over light gray scheme from early 1942.
Images with thanks to Paul G Allen, via Creative Commons, the US Navy and Felix c.
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Air travel is, statistically, the very safest form of transport but it wasn’t always that way. Imagine living in Elizabeth, a suburb near New York’s Newark airport in 1951 when, within a period of only 3 months, aircraft began raining from the sky onto your neighborhood.
The crash site of Flight 1678M.
An American Airways Convair CV240.
A National Airways CD6.
The City of Elizabeth today.
Images under Creative Commons licence, US Gov Bureau of Aircraft Accidents, Dagrecco, Jon Proctor, Bill Larkins.
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Capt Nick delves into Volume 2 of his RAF Form 414… the PILOTS FLYING LOG BOOK.
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Towards the end of the Second World War, Nazi scientists developed a series of futuristic weapons to use against England aimed to bring the British people to their knees. Named Vengeance weapons, their presence in the skies over London was another German threat that had to be dealt with.
A German Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 H-22. This version could carry FZG 76 (V1) flying bombs, but only a few aircraft were produced in 1944. Some were used by bomb wing KG 3.
A cutaway of the V1 created for the USAF.
An image of a Spitfire using its wing to turn over a V1 flying bomb.
A recreation of a V1 launch ramp on display at Imperial War Museum, Duxford.
Images shown under a Creative Commons licence with thanks to Nick D, the Imperial War Museum, the Bundesarchiv and the US Gov USAF Museum.
