Author Topic: Dallachy Strike Wing Beaufighter Photos (Read 2574 times)

KD303 · « **on:** January 06, 2006, 10:10:27 AM »

OK, as promised here are some of my Dallchy Strike Wing photos. Dallchy Strike Wing was near Banff Strike Wing in NE Scotland and operated Beaufighters. It was found that using Mossies and Beaus together was impractical due to performance differences so they had their own wings. These pictures are all from the same attack on shipping in Risnes fjord, Norway on April 23 1945. They were all taken within seconds (fractions of seconds in some cases) of each other but from different aircraft and offer a fairly unique, multi-perspective view of a single attack with rockets, cannon and machine guns. Black flak bursts can be seen in most of the photographs.
These scans aren't of great quality because they are of large photographs and even then I had to crop them a bit.

This first picture was taken by aircraft "U" of 455 squadron which had just fired 2 rockets. Two Beaufighters can be seen on the left with a lot of tracer coming from the lower A/C. Flak splashes can be seen in bottom left of pic. Much more flak is visible in original but due to cropping you can only see some of it.
http://www.fileul.com/view.php?file=m4ce4R

This one from "T" 144 showing a higher view of the scene.
http://www.fileul.com/view.php?file=IhEPOYD

This is from "W" 144 Squadron and is quite something. A flak burst can be seen near on of the beaufighters just in front of the plane which took this picture.
http://www.fileul.com/view.php?file=Qvclxd

This is very dramatic due to the very close proximity to the target and is from "F" 144. This aircraft is just a few feet from the flak postion in the bows of the ship and just about to fly over the flak in the stern. Brave pilots. Note the tracer rounds glowing just to the left of the ship's masts. These appear to be from A/C rather than flak.
http://www.fileul.com/view.php?file=yGK5HMIX

And finally a rear view as they break off the attack leaving a lot of destruction in their wake.From "O" 455 Squadron
http://www.fileul.com/view.php?file=ZkqcAU1N

I hope these are of interest and I'm glad to share them. It's worth bearing in mind just how fast this attack would have been and that these images freeze action that took just a few seconds.
I'd be interested to hear any comments about these photographs.

KD

Fencer51 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 06, 2006, 10:56:40 AM »

er.. links?

KD303 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 06, 2006, 12:15:07 PM »

Links took a while to get working properly. Also I wrote Dallchy in the text of my post. Should be Dallachy.

KD

Furball · « **Reply #3 on:** January 06, 2006, 12:23:46 PM »

unbelieveable.

thank you so much for sharing these & the Banff pics.

KD303 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 06, 2006, 03:29:01 PM »

BTW, if you want to see the pictures in a smaller form to give you a better over-all view then click under the photo where it says, "You can download your file here". Left click the "Here" and you'll get a small version.

KD

Scherf · « **Reply #5 on:** January 06, 2006, 09:27:36 PM »

Those are quite exceptional photos mate.

Only two words come to mind:

More! More!

SMIDSY · « **Reply #6 on:** January 07, 2006, 08:58:54 AM »

i showed these photos to my dad. apperently my grandfather flew in them durring the war. and here i thought he only flew in black widows.

Furball · « **Reply #7 on:** January 07, 2006, 10:28:08 AM »

iirc the US used beaufighters for a while when they were waiting for Black Widows to be made. i may be mistaken though.

i love the beaufighter, made such an under rated contribution during WWII, i bet the pilot has a fantastic forward view from that position.

Debonair · « **Reply #8 on:** January 07, 2006, 04:15:53 PM »

I met a USAAC P-61 pilot once, he said they used Mossies before the P-61s & that the Mossies were better because they were faster

Angus · « **Reply #9 on:** January 07, 2006, 05:17:05 PM »

The Beau was well armed, decently fast, and rugged.
However, I've heard that it was hard to fly.

It would probably have a place in AH, someting with cannons, Rockets AND a torpedo is a formidable anti shipping weapon.

Anyway, wonderful pictures and thanks for sharing!

Karnak · « **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2006, 07:16:32 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Debonair
I met a USAAC P-61 pilot once, he said they used Mossies before the P-61s & that the Mossies were better because they were faster

Yup. Mossie was the best nightfighter of WWII.

Well, maybe those Me262 nightfighters, but I'd have to know more about their radar performance and the pilot's workload.

KD303 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 07, 2006, 08:05:48 PM »

Glad you find them as interesting as I do.
The Beau was also a good NF in its day. "Cats Eyes" Cunningham himself (he hated the nickname apparently) clocked many of his kills in the Beau. Most? If I remember correctly, he and R/O John Philipson made the first Beaufighter radar interception of an enemy A/C.
It's amusing that even today people write that he was called "Cats Eyes" because of his exceptional eyesight, seemingly unaware of the fact that it was a cover story, along with the carrot eating story, to protect the then very secret airborne interception radar.

Anyway, let's try and keep this thread about Beaus and preferably the above photographs and related stuff.

KD

Angus · « **Reply #12 on:** January 08, 2006, 05:27:31 PM »

The top scoring RAF nightfighter pilot "pair" started off in a Beau, and ended off in a Mossie, - named the "eager beaver"
The pilot's name was "J.G.Benson", he flew together with Lewis Brandon most of the time.
Benson scored his first in a Defiant (!), then onto Beau's and eventually Mossies, Mk II and the XIX. KIlls were He 111, Do's, Ju88's, Ju 188's, 110 and closing with a He 219.
Much of the action was over the mainland of Europe.
They bagged some V-1's at night as well. (not a radar scramble, they saw their flares and caught them!)
I have a book from them something for Karnak I guess

Klum25th · « **Reply #13 on:** January 08, 2006, 07:03:38 PM »

Nice pics. Its just cool to see photos taken of one pass with about 5 planes can do to a ship.

Beau would be awsome to have in AH2. I can see my self blowing up some ships, and bases with thing.

Do you have any P47 ground attack photos. I know P47 guys liked to go for trains, buildings, just about anything that moved and had something german on it.

KD303 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 09, 2006, 01:48:29 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Klum25th
Do you have any P47 ground attack photos. I know P47 guys liked to go for trains, buildings, just about anything that moved and had something german on it.

If you do a search on google you'll find P47 gun camera pics and movies. I have no original P47 photos.

By the way, there were a lot more than 5 planes involved in the attack in Risnes Fjord.

KD