Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: steely07 on March 23, 2002, 10:15:37 PM
-
heres a picture of my grandfather's "ride"
R for Robert :)
-
Cool pic. What did your grandfather do??? Tell us the story! :)
-
Sorry for the delayed reply :(
He was the radio operator in this bird from i beleive 1940 to war's end,did many trips to Rekjavik in iceland too,he has a lot of great stories and photos of the war,i'm trying to get some of the stories recorded,but he is so busy (at 84 he still plays tennis twice a week and kicks my ass) it is hard to get him to sit down and do it :).
My fave story is the time he was up with just the pilot and one of the pilot's friend's,doing a test flight after some minor repairs.
Grandpa was hanging out of the top left gun position snapping some pictures,he wasn't wearing the safety harness as it was just a test flight....so the pilot decides to show his mate how well the big baby could manouver (he had forgotten gramps was on board),so he chucks it into a fairly serious left roll,gramps had to drop the camera and grab something to stop himself being thrown out :),he said it was a very close call,needless to say the pilot apologised and they had a few laughs about it.
Ill try to get more photos,he has a scanner and email so ill get him to post some to me and show em here if anyone want's to see? :)
Steely
-
Just a to say that Grandpa has viewed the thread,and decided it's high time he got started on his "memoirs"...the family has been after him to do it for a few years now and it seems the aces bbs broke the camel's back,he has decided to sit down and get started,so,stay tuned,i hope to post a new picture and the story that goes with it each week :)
PS 133 views,1 reply? :(
Thanks Mav :)
-
give us more steely
to ur grampa
-
That's a Sunderland, right?
-
Hya Steely
You and your grandpa are both fortunate in that he has a grandson to tell the story to and you have him to tell you the story.
Hope you have a great time
:)
Bonden
-
'nuff said! :)
-
Give Grandpa a big ol' salute from all of us Steely.
-
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 :)
-
:)
29 tons of fun
-
And
-
Nuff Said...
-
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Keep them coming!
-
He won't send me any more,he's too busy :(