Some of My Banff Strike Wing Mosquito Photos

[Furball]

Originally posted by Angus
Furbie, do you hold that site?
I have tons of stuff that I could give to ya. Freeeee!

i think i missed this - it is Morph's site.  he is very eager to create a "gallery" section of wwii images etc, im sure he will take you up on it!

[spifirepr1V]

In January 1945, my uncle Flight Lieutenant W.M.O. Jones was posted to RAF Banff as the pilot for the RAF Film Production Unit covering the operational missions of the Banff strike wing Mosquitoes and some of the RAF Dallachy Beaufighters strike wing missions as well.
>He flew DZ 592, a PR 1V Mosquito up to Banff in January 1945 from RAF Benson after it had been modified for film work.
>My uncle was accompanied by F/O Allan J Newell as his navigator/cameraman on all missions.
>Sadly they were killed in an attack, 09/04/45 accompanying the Banff strike wing over the Katterat. The strike wing attacked three U boats sailing on the surface. The FPU a/c made three low level passes over the U boats filming each wave of the attack. As they were over the second U boat it blew up killing both of the crew.
>I have been in contact with Andy Bird and he included the info I sent him in his excellent book A Separate little war.
>If any of your photos are shot by the FPU mossie covering the Banff/Dallachy wings I would be very grateful for a copy.

[spursmichaelj]

My cousin was F/O A.J.Newell who I met once when a small boy but he made a lasting impression on me and it is fascinating after 67 years or so to find so much information and indeed pictures.The basic facts were part of family folk lore but this is the first time I have ever seen them substantiated.

[bozon]

The pics are gone!

Can someone post them again by any chance?

I developed a fascination with the exploits of coastal command. They had some insane Mossie/Beau raids including wild dogfights with the LW.
"A separate little war" is in my shopping list.

[Scherf]

I have them bozon, will try to post, will require an enormous act of organisation to get it done, bear with me.

[Scherf]

Copies of photos, not mine as indicated by thread. Titles give some info:

[bozon]

Unbelievable!
Great many thanks Scherf.

In the one with the ship parked at the fjord wall, they couldn't have been more than a couple of meters above its masts.

[Scherf]

Yeah, rather white-knuckle stuff.

There was one Mosquito, right at the end of the war, came back to Banff with a ship's ensign embedded in its nose.

[Fish42]

Yeah, rather white-knuckle stuff.

There was one Mosquito, right at the end of the war, came back to Banff with a ship's ensign embedded in its nose.

And in mid 42 a Beaufighter hit the cable between the 2 masts of a merchant ship and snapped it with only minor damage to the plane. Same could not be said of the ship as it had taken collisions from multiple 20mm shells and 303 bullets.

in 1 attack six Beau used 1400 cannon and 20,500 rounds of 303 attacking japanese at Leahy's farm in New Guinea

[gpwurzel]

Excellent pics - many thanks for reposting them Scherf, missed them first time round.

Wurz

[nrshida]

Fantastic pictures! 

[Scherf]

The title of the pic with the U-Boat indicates 3 May 1945 - I believe Beaus attacked subs on that date, but not Mossies. If it's actually 2 May, that might be U-2359, which was sunk by the Banff wing on that date, another u-boat being damaged and an M-Class minesweeper left burning. I have know idea if the shape of the conning tower ir right for U-2359 however.

The other startling shot is the one with the Molins shell racing towards the ship - very rare pic. Another M-Class perhaps, though that's just a guess.

[Scherf]

This site has shots apparently of U-2359, for comparison. Seems the boat has been found, and there is an effort underway to raise it.

http://www.u2359.com/?p=813

[Fish42]

Alot of Coastal Command attacked from low to wave height.

[bozon]

Alot of Coastal Command attacked from low to wave height.

From my understanding, when they started to do rockets attacks, they were doing them at shallow angles in an attempt to hit the waterline (or under) on the ship hulls. With cannons, the bridge is the prime target which favors shallow angles as well. Inside the confined space of the fjords this was not always possible to do.