FlyPast – August 2018

F LYPOST
FlyPast, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ, UK
email: [email protected]

118 FLYPAST August 2018

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Flying with a real-life Dambuster

From Dam Busters

to Death Star

Thank you for your most

excellent article about the

restored version of The Dam

Busters.

I am especially pleased to

say that a personal mystery

has been solved with the

information that Gilbert

Taylor, responsible for filming

and special effects, went on

to work on Star Wars. In this

classic film, the intensity of

one of the final scenes (the

Death Star trench run) always

reminded me of the dam attack

sequences in The Dam Busters.

I had always thought this to

be little more than a strange

coincidence. However, knowing

that the same person worked on

both movies, I assume that the

similarity between the two

scenes can be described as

more than coincidental.

MARCO VEEN

BY EMAIL

Reading the article about the

recent revival of The Dam

Busters film (June issue)

brought back some personal

memories related to the movie.

In 1955, the year of the

film’s original release, I was in

my first year of training as a

fitter/armourer at RAF Halton,

Buckinghamshire. I was one

of the so-called ‘Halton Brats’.

During my summer break I visited

Baginton airfield, in Coventry,

Warwickshire, to attend a flying

display and King’s Cup

air race.

At the airshow was an Avro

Lancaster* that had been

modified for the film. Because the

Upkeep ‘bouncing bomb’ weapon

used in the 1943 raid was still on

the ‘secret list’ the production

company had no real idea of

the size of it. Consequently, the

mock-up looked rather ungainly.

Certainly, the pilots must have

noticed a big difference in the

flying capabilities of the Lanc.

Roll forward to 1962 and I

was just commencing a flying

tour with 53 Squadron at

Abingdon, Oxfordshire as an Air

Quartermaster (now generally

titled ‘loadmaster’). The

wartime 38 Group within RAF

Transport Command had been

‘re-born’ with the two UK-based

Blackburn Beverley units part

of it. In late summer I went on

my first overseas exercise to

Larissa, a Greek base.

We were told this was to be

the biggest airborne drop since

1945 – aircraft included 20

Hastings, ten Beverleys and one

Argosy. Prior to the main drop

we carried out a practice, with

an observer on board, a certain

AVM Martin. This was none other

than ‘Micky’ Martin, an ex-617

Squadron Dambusters pilot. I

can now proudly say that I have

flown with one of the original

Dambusters! Thanks to FlyPast

for reviving some memories.

THOMAS A GOWANS

BOLTON, LANCASHIRE

*Another reader, Geoff

Arnold, would love to know

the names of the pilots who

flew the aerial sequences

in The Dam Busters film. If

anyone has information on

this, please email us:

[email protected]

Cast and crew on the set of ‘The Dam Busters’, including actor Robert Shaw, second left. STUDIOCANAL

In search of the

Queen Bee

Thank you for such a fascinating

article on the de Havilland Queen

Bee drones (June issue). There

was a lot of information there that

I had not known previously, so it

was much appreciated.

One section of the article stirred

a memory, and as such may

solve a puzzle that has niggled

away at me for many years. The

feature mentioned the post-war

destruction of the Queen Bee

fuselages – while adding that the

wings were retained.

After a check of my old

logbooks, I finally found the

entry I was looking for. Back in

September 1965, during my ‘aero-

spotting’ days, I paid a visit to the

site of the former Croydon Airport

with my mate John. We wandered

into one of the old hangars to

be met with the amazing sight

of rows and rows of what we

assumed were Tiger Moth wings

arrayed on racks. These were all

stacked very close together, like

books on a shelf, so frustratingly

for ‘spotters’ we could only read

a few serials. Looking back, and

in light of your article, I wonder

if these were actually Queen

Bee wings? The only serials we

could read were N6848, T7794,

T7230 and DE298. Perhaps other

readers could shed some light?

Diverging slightly, what we did

see clearly enough was Dutch

Tiger Moth PH-NIK with the

modified tailplane that the Dutch

authorities had specified after the

earlier spinning problems. Also

there, I had my first encounter

with Monospar VH-UTH. I later

encountered it at Redhill and

Shoreham, both in the care of

branches of the Chelsea College

of Aeronautics. FlyPast is great –

keep up the good work.

PHILIP HAYES

BY EMAIL

An air-to-air view of DH Queen Bee LF858 featured in the June issue. DARREN HARBAR