In just 37 days between 1 May and 6 June 1944, No.140 Squadron, RAF flew 143 PR sorties over France. The foresight they helped provide saved countless lives on D-Day and after. This is the story of how they did it.
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In early 1944 the US Navy assembled an untrained and ill-prepared fighter squadron and shipped it for immediate action in the final stage of Operation Cartwheel. This is the story of the first Fighting Squadron 34.
The Bottisham Four, 26th July, 1944; iconic images that spawned a hundred pages of discussion. Blue or not?
The Photo Recon pilot had no wingman, no flight, no formation. He flew alone in radio silence for hours at a time, navigating on dead reckoning all over mainland Europe; in his unarmed Spitfire he had only its altitude and speed, along with his wits and airmanship as protection.
The Battle of the East China Sea.
“Nearly all [Beast] stories depend for their success on Jack killing the Giant, Beowulf or St. George slaying the Dragon… That is their inner grammar, and the whole shape of the story leads towards it.” – A.N. Wilson
JV44’s “Papagei” Staffel only existed as an operational unit for a couple of weeks, but they live forever (whatever one may think of that…) in plastic. Here’s mine.
After the VLR P-51 I felt like doing something quick and easy. Here’s my Hasegawa Ki44-II as a straight up modelling piece.
Seven hours, covering 1300NM over open ocean, limited fuel, one engine, enemy fighters; there were few missions more relentlessly hazardous, nor with so many different hazards to face.
If you read to the end, a sense of fatigue wouldn’t be unexpected. It will pale though when compared to the fatigue these men must have endured. I don’t know how they did it.
