The Royal Air Force - 100 years old today...!
 

To the The Royal Air Force and their proud traditions and history.
:Kaleun_Salute:

There will always be an England, but will there always be a Royal Air Force?

How about a Royal Space Port one hundred (100) years from now :up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqpL6dEp5D8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6c3v9iihgw

Oh, those are good.

People often assume that the bird on the badge is an eagle, when it is in fact an albatross

Those that have met me in person at the SubSim Meets will know that this is my ringtone for my various iPhones and remains so to this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWXQUhBsUVM

^ saw this film first when i was 14, in a german cinema. Some interesting historic details that made it into the film, from those earthquake bombs, to rather killing an own spy with bombs so that he does not tell anything under torture, to the cynical final words "A squadron never dies" (of course the squ. number stays, "only the men" die).

Also George Lucas seems to have used the bomb run sequences from 633 squadron as a guide for his "Star Wars" deathstar bomb runs.

Commonly/affectionally referred to as 'the sh!tehawk' which is in fact an eagle despite previos opinions it was an albatross.

Read through The RFC/RNAS Handbook 1914-1918 by Peter G. Cooksley and I now quote "One only has to look at an R.A.F. Officers uniform to find evidence that the Royal Air Force's roots lay in both the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service;in addition,brown gloves are an echo of Army tradition,while rings indicating rank on cuffs are reminders of the royal navy.Cap badges,too have a distinctly nautical look and it is still asked whether the bird in the centre represents an eagle or an albatross.That it is the former was made clear by Admiralty Order No.2,dated June 1914,which states that for the centre piece replacing the anchor on officers' caps "The badge of an eagle will be worn by members of the RNAS".

To add to the confusion: http://historypoints.org/index.php?p...-s-former-home

https://www.aviation.ca/200605022891...ss-controversy

And finally: http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/pu...e/2005-Sep.pdf

When I was an Air Cadet at age 12-13 and wore this cap badge, we were told it was an albatross... guess I was young and still believed what the adults told me :hmmm:

https://i.imgur.com/7vodQt5.jpg My little brother and I (I reckon I was 13 here and he was 12)

I'm awaiting HK Models release of this model

http://aerodynamicmedia.com/hk-lancaster/

Expected to be released in spring 2018.

Markus

Did they give you another badge.. did you land like a real Albatross does?

Ok then, to the Royal Air Force
(insert german grumbling :O:)

:salute:

Gonna be BIG!

Looks awesome though. :yep:

Let's hope they get the canopy right, unlike Revell's newer 1:72 tooling which for me was completely ruined by a careless mistake in the shape at the front end... this probably means I'll never build it. It looks correct in this 'rendering'... but this isn't a photo of the kit

:haha:

A Staffel of Spitfires

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjz8pAGRvsg

they cant take the Spitfires Mitch

I'll drink to that

:Kaleun_Cheers:

^ :haha: one of the better films, still full of propaganda..
Yes, Adolf Galland had really said that, to Goering.

Galland also wrote in his book that it was not the hardware though, or the german pilots, but the strategy. The Spitfire and Messerschmidt types were not so different (yes, curving, radius, weight, wing-loading, i read it all, but after all the differences were small and evenly distributed). Carburettors here, injection and turbocharger there, better curving for the ME at high altitude but not at lower where most fighting took place in the end, and so on.

1st main problem was the fights did take place at lower altitudes, where Hurricanes and Spitfires were a worthy opponent. Bombers flew at lower altitudes and the hunters were ordered to accompany them at that altitude. Big mistake. Galland wrote the fighters should alway have freedom of movement and tactics, the orders given to them removed their main advantage.

2nd problem was the fuel load. The german fighters had around 10 minutes of time to fight, until they had to return to make it to France.

3rd problem was that ejecting pilots landed on english soil, and some of course in the channel. But every surviving english pilot was able to fight the other day, while german pilots were either dead, or taken prisoner.


When Germany switched from attacking aircraft production and military targets to bombing cities for retaliation, the english commanders could not believe their luck. It gave them the time to rebuild enough planes to counter the attacks.
B.t.w. the main defense was done by the Hurricane, not the Spitfire.

The Hurricane was a better gun platform also being made of wood and fabric was easier to repair unlike the Spitfires all-metal construction that had to spend many hours in the repair sheds when battle damaged
as the battle progressed our new pilots that had just got their wings after going solo in their tiger moth Raf Bye-Plane Trainer
then posted to an operational fighter squadron may have had 6-10 hours on Spitfires or Hurricanes if they where lucky
then your up against a German Fighter Pilot with 6 kills in Poland 8 Kills in France and 4 kills already in the air war over England
he flys is ME-109 to the aircraft limits for he knows what his aircraft can do our young cadets had to learn quickly or he's a dead duck
but if R J had not invented the Spitfire and the Hawker aircraft Company had not invented the Hurricane then the Raf Fighter Command would have been crossing swords with the Luftwaffe in Gloster Gladiators and Hawker Harts
Also radar was our ace up our sleeve with a limited number of aircraft outnumbered 4-1 we would have had todo standing patrols
with Radar, we sat around the dispersal hut supping tea resting waiting for the phone to ring "2 section scramble"
as they got airborne beeswax squadron airborne were to go Cowsley control I have trade for you over Beachy Head Bandits 40 Plus heading west make Angels one nine

Also when your fighting those Fanatics that believe they are superior to the week feeble democracies and have to prove it daily when military necessity was in direct conflict with the Nazi doctrine the later always won through as in the blitz on London on the 7th September with all our Squadrons up guarding airfields they thought September would be a walk in the park and a prelude to the invasion

Regarding the first part it might have been wise to think of that before declaring war to Germany. :O:
You know there was a reasonable proposal which could have solved the Poland 'problem', but the english government chose not to react.

This is was propaganda made of it, the guys of the Luftwaffe were as national socialist as Mickey Mouse. You do not really believe fanatics flying towards England with bone-in-teeth and the urge to kill because of some made-up english inferiority and "because democracy"?

If you are young and dumb and strong and feeling invincible, operating the latest technology, another country declares war to yours, and your government gives you the excuse to act it all out even against better knowledge, what do you do?
They were as young, dumb and inexperienced as the english. Some higher ranks pulled the strings.

Regarding experience some german pilots had made experience before, but most did not fly as pilots anymore in WW2. Some exceptions of course, like Moelders and Galland.

Also lots of pilots from both sides helping each other, german red cross planes landing in the channel to pick up downed pilots of all sides, anchored rescue buoys for pilots, invented by Udet. Never heard of it?
From all i read the english were much more relentless in this war, the radio message "Total Germany" to inform about the declaration of war had already made clear that it was a total and relentless war for them, right from the beginning.
Germany had no interest or reason to fight against England, not in the beginning.

Being young, superiority complex, thinking of being invincible, hybris and folly, yes. Show me young Americans in the Marine corps or anywhere in military circles on this world without that. Which is exactly the reason how wars are possible.

Or, as Len Deighton wrote:
“Both armies were ardent novices, stumbling about in confusion and dying by the hundreds because they didn’t know enough about war to know it was time to run away.”

“When old men decided to barter young men for pride and profit, the transaction was called war.”