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The Royal Air Force

wireless ops position in Lancaster ac.JPGVivienne, Yes, pilot left hand seat and flight engineer to his right, the other 2 members shown are navigator on the left and wireless op on the right. I was a wireless op and it looks a bit like a Sunderland, which I flew in in Singapore 1954, but I do not recognise that radio equipment. I was also on Lancasters in Africal 1949/51 82PR Sqdn and it certainly isn,t a Lanc, that I do know, i am sure somebody will come up with answer.  Eric have attached internal pic of Lanc showing w/ops position beyond that and to the left was Navigator and directly in front was flt engs position (pilot to his left) Eric
 
Vivienne, the unit with coloured knob was the transmitter, underneath was the receiver, the morse key is on the right, tricky for me as I am left handed, but I adapted. Eric
 
Wow that's fantastic Eric! It would all have been very familiar to my dad. Seems quite roomy by comparison with the Laura Knight painting. See what you mean. My dad had a close shave in one of these. They were on a reconnaisance re-training flight and the Lanc went down in the North Sea off Scotand. Thankfully they were all rescued by a seaplane but it couldn't take the weight of the whole crew so I think they cruised back to Lerwick. Didn't do him any good as he was medically retired out of the RAF. I have a newspaper report somewhere. Must dig it out. I think the site of where the Lanc went down is a listed memorial now. You RAF people really put your lives on the line. Viv.
 
Vivienne, They certainly did put their lives on the line, but not me, I did not enter service until Jun 1948, the war was well and truly over by then, Of all the aircraft I crewed on the Lanc as always been my favourite. Hard to believe it 60 years ago. Happy days Eric
 
My dad loved the RAF too. He was inspired to join at a very young age by his uncle who was a pilot in the RFC in WW1. He too had a lucky escape when the reconnaisance plane he was flying was hit. But he managed to land it with just a gun shot wound to the leg. However the navigator was killed. So my dad must have gone into this with his eyes well and truly open. I don't think my dad ever got over having to retire from the RAF in 1948/9. I'm sure he would have stayed if he'd been able to. Viv.
 
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Hi Folk, I think it Could be a Shorts Stirling, which I believe did have provision for a Co Pilot, also the control levers above the pilots head which appear to be being operated by the Co Pilot look as if it could be a "Shorts" design.

Regards Reg.
 
The Lanc was prone to oil fires and we often came back on 3 engines, a couple of times on 2, but no worries, hard work for the pilot and flight engineer though
 
Very nice detective work all! Thanks, finding it very interesting. Afraid I'd never heard of a Stirling before, so learning new things too. Viv.
 
the Stirling wireless ops position seems identical to Lancasters including same T1154 transmitter and R1155 receiver, both very advanced or their day. Eric
 
These roles will be familiar to you Eric, from an Avro Lancaster. Well a little before your time (WW2) but I'm sure they'll look familiar. Found the photos on Wikipedia. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1349121663.747458.jpg Wireless Operator
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1349121683.113779.jpg Flight Engineer
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1349121700.701649.jpg Navigator
 
Thanks Mohawk for confirming my thoughts and for posting the link to the "Stirling" , so much detail.
Regards Reg
 
Vivienne, that first pic brings back memories, sat there over 300 times in the 2 years I was with the squadron, purely a peaceful operation, photographing all the british colonies in Africa for mapping purposes and the Lancaster was the ideal a/c, survey height was 22,000 ft, no problem there and,assuming weather OK, sorties were up to 10 hours, as we carried no pay load and just 4 crew no problem there either, it was also my job to change the the film cartridges in the 2 cameras and pass the coffee and sandwiches around, general dogsbody as I had the least to do,but I loved it. Eric
 
82 Squadron Lancaster.JPGVivienne, here is a pic of one of our lancs on survey taken by the RAF Review the 'in house' magazine of the time
 
the Stirling wireless ops position seems identical to Lancasters including same T1154 transmitter and R1155 receiver, both very advanced or their day. Eric

Quite a few radio hams still have these well loved. by them, Tx and Rx. Many use them especially at special events stations.
 
Thanks Eric. They're bigger planes than I thought, look very substantial. I suppose this type of reconnaisannce is rare now with Google maps, satellite etc. How the world has changed. Viv.
 
Yes Vivienne, 86 foot long and a wingspan of 102 feet, standing 22 foot high (top of tail fins). I am beginning to think I am the only ex-aircrew on the forum, what a pity, it would have been nice to meet others. Can you remember what squadron(s) your Dad was on, and his years of sevice, my Dad was to old, He was 39 when the war started. Eric
 
Hi Eric. I'll jot down what I know so far. (My dad never discussed what he did in the war, and as a youngster I didn't want to know. But now wish I'd asked him). My dad completed his Cambridge University Cadet training in about 1940. By 1941 he was involved in dropping agents and supplies for the French underground. He was on Lancasters in 1944. His accident occurred in 1948. The extract below is the listing from Colin Cummings's "Final Landings". It says 'OCU', but I think he was there for re-training of some sort (not sure about that). I don't actually know the squadron, maybe some of the above gives an indication? I have a newspaper report of the accident, but it doesn't mention the squadron name. I'm trying to copy the newspaper report, but it's proving challenging. Will post when I've sorted it out as you might like to read it. There were 2 Birmingham crew members on the flight. The only other service info I have is he was also based in Lindholme, Yorkshire in I think about 1946/7.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1349269489.606155.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1349269839.354269.jpg
4u4u9u6y.jpg
The loss of the aircraft Avro Lancaster III is recorded on the Canmore list of monuments.


Viv.
 
Hi Viv,

if your Dad was involved in operations dropping agents and supplies into occupied France, then chances are he could have been based at RAF Tempsford, which is on the A1 between Biggleswade and St Neots. This airfield was used throughout the War for 'secret' operations. There are numerous publications and websites about it, if you want to find out more. If I remember correctly, aircraft used included Lysanders, Hudsons and Stirlings.

Hope this is of interest,

G
 
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