On This Day… October 28th
Following the theme of downed Battle of Britain aircraft, here is the first Luftwaffe plane to be brought down on British soil.
The Heinkel was flying with a Luftwaffe squadron who had been dispatched to destroy Royal Navy vessels in the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh (my home town).
The RAF sent Spitfires from 602 & 603 squadron to meet the attack over the fields of East Lothian in Scotland. 25 year old Archie McKellar was among those on interception duty and he shot down the first German casualties of the Battle of Britain on October 28, 1939.
These next two images are well known to me following a marathon Enterprise build last year. These two photos were taken on the hangar deck of the Big E on the 28th October 1941.
The gorgeous lines of the USS Iowa as she sails into Pearl on October 28, 1952.
Lastly, October 28th is ‘Oxi’ (no!) day in Greece. This celebrates the start of the war with Italy in 1940 after the Greek government refused to bow to Mussolini and Hitler’s demands to capitulate to the Axis powers. Churchill famously said, “hence, we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks”
Interesting with the small balkenkreuzes at the wing tips... never saw before.
Hi Stellan. I had meant to draw attention to that and have looked for an explanation. The closest I got was that as these were the first attacks in a new ‘theatre’ and they expected fighter opposition the Luftwaffe wanted to ensure against friendly fire.
Interesting, and yet another great diorama possibility.
Equally weird looking are the HUGE crosses...nothing looks like it should. Almost look like an old kit from 60s... Someone ought to have done the research better.
I have/had a book titled Luftwaffe Crash Sites (or something similar) that I bought at Telford I think four years ago. It had all these Heinkel crash sites. I think they’ve published three or four further editions since then. As you say, a good source of diorama material.
Was this the book, Rob?
Looks really interesting with great resources.
Yep. I think mine was Vol 1.
Am I seeing things or are there aircraft hoisted off the hangar deck floor to make more room below...? I absolutely never knew that procedure existed - then OR now.
Craig, as David Mills has pointed out you are 100% correct. Aircraft were hauled up on the underside of the flight deck to make valuable space. In the second photo (below) you can see the spare props getting the same treatment.
Love the Devastators hanging from the roof!
Ain't no 'roof' on a ship, David. Learned that the hard way from John Snyder (@john-wem) my ship building 'guru'. Haven't seen him in an age around here, which is a shame. Correct term is deck, as I now know...
Roof or ceiling, is overhead, wall is bulkhead, floor is deck.
Damn, that’s it - overhead. You are a star, Robert.
I'm just an old squid with a lot of flashbacks... Remember, every day's holiday ,every meal's a banquet, every paycheck a fortune. Time to get a drink at the scuttlebutt.