Have received some scanned photos from Grandpa,having scanner trouble myself tho,trying to get the .jpg's mailed to me,have also sent him a link to this thread,he will be looking in occasionally
..say hi personally,his name is Ernest Binns (you Gent's may call him Ernie
)
Gentlemen,thank you for the reply's they are appreciated....and stay tuned
Just a letter i received,a few corrections...
"Dear Neil (steely)
These photos are the pick of the bunch.They illustrate a couple of action shots,taken in the bay of Biscay,the other one is R for Robert,being pulled up the slipway,to be serviced.For this purpose a set of wheels were fitted,whilst the aircraft was moored,and then it was brought to the edge of the slipway and pulled into position by manpower.
Number 3 photo show's a U-Boat which has been straddled with depth charges,and is about to sink.Number 2 shows an enemy ship which has been hit by a bomb and is sinking.These are a few examples to show the kind of action that 10 Sq was involved in,as part of Coastal Command,and took place in the bay of Biscay,and west toward Ireland.
As far as my position was concerned,I enlisted in late 1940,and was called up in June 1941,I enlisted as a radar mechanic,and did my radar course at Richmond air base,it was the first course to be held in Australia.I did very well on the course and 10 of us were posted to 10 Squad in England.
I was called on to do some operational flying,as at that time no Aircrew had been trained to operate the radar.Even later on i was chosen to operate the radar,on some special operational patrols,such as the trip to Iceland,where our Squad was chosen to take the Air Officer Commanding Coastal Command to Iceland to inspect the base at Reykjavic.It was true what i told you about nearly falling out of the Aircraft,as the mid upper turret was open with just a platform to stand on.
Another patrol i was on a night action in the Channel,where 7 spitfires had ditched,as someone had made a mistake on their flight duration and they had run out of fuel.
Another one i can recall,was flying west out of Ireland to escort the Queen Mary or Elizabeth,as they were too fast to travel in convoy.These are just a few examples,and i hope they will be of interest to you.
As for writing a resume of my time in the Airforce,i may never have the time to spare to do it. (
)"
PS photos to come in a day or so
