On This Day ... in 1942
US Army Air Force personnel joined the RAF in action against the Germans for the first time, when Captain Kegelman and three crewmen of the 15th Bombardment Squadron manned an RAF Boston bomber during an attack by 226 Squadron on the marshalling yards at Hazebrouck.
The twelve Bostons, escorted for the first time by the new Hawker Typhoon fighter
bombed from 13,000 feet, scoring hits on the yard itself, some sidings and a railway embankment. All the aircraft returned without loss.
Kegelman subsequently led with distinction the first formal US bombing mission on 4 July 1942, when six US crews joined six crews from 226 Sqn in attacks on German airfields in the Netherlands
Comments
The Typhoon was a bitchin' cool aiplane, we adopted the bubble canopy for to our P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolt, and probably the P-38 Lightning too.
Posted by: DirtCrashr | June 29, 2006 5:09 PM
Do you think they'd come back and help us bomb Europe again if we asked them nicely?
RM
Posted by: The Remittance Man | June 29, 2006 8:26 PM
Nope.
It's lawnchairs and popcorn up on the cliffs of Dover with spotting scopes to watch the fun across the channel.
With maybe some sniping at the bobbing heads trying to swim to England.
Posted by: trainer | June 30, 2006 1:38 AM
Used to work with an RAF veteran who flew Spitfire IX and XVI in 485(NZ) squadron, mostly on ground support work, including the Falaise Gap operation.
The squadron at one point received Typhoons, in preparation for conversion to the Tempest, but the Tempest ended up not happening.
He said the Tiffie was quite nice, once they got the tail sections to stay on.
At the end of the war, he was being trained on the Mustang, the squadron he was in was to be transferred to the Pacific theater for the home island invasion; glad he missed out there.
He did say that, as far as flying qualities went, the P-51D was his favorite of all he flew.
Posted by: steveH | June 29, 2008 10:42 PM
Modern rubbish. As far as I'm concerned, aircraft development reached its apogee with the Spad XIII and Fokker D.VII. All developments since have been the installation of geegaws and shiny bits.
Forgive me: I'm halfway through the wonderful Duchess of Duke Street miniseries (made back in the day when the BBC actually produced watchable TV shows), and I'm just reminded again of the fact that I'm a 1910 man in a 2010 world.
Posted by: Kim du Toit | June 29, 2009 3:03 PM
Oh no, please don't start asking the USAF to get anywhere near us! During WWII they bombed their own troops on a regular basis, to the extent that part of the USAF based in Britain was nicknamed the American Luftwaffe. Kit they have, the guys to work it they lack!
Posted by: Frank | July 1, 2009 8:55 PM