Walter Leslie Handley
Q Michael Walters says that the above-named famous motorcyclist (four times TT winner) died in the crash of a Bell Airacobra, and asks why he would have been flying it, and whether there are any further details./p>

Lightning F.3 XP701
Q David Harvey of the Robertsbridge Aviation Society, which has the cockpit of the above English Electric Lightning, is compiling brief history of it for the society’s website, and asks if any readers can contribute information or photographs of XP701..

Earthquake Beverleys
Q Recent questions about a Blackburn Beverley reminded Peter Huggett that Beverleys of 242 Operational Conversion Unit were involved in relief work following the Agadir earthquake, which occurred on February 29, 1960. The aircraft were flying-in 45gal drums of lime for most of March to “deal with” the death toll, estimated at 35,000, but there seems to have been no coverage of this anywhere; hardly surprising in view of its sensitivity. Can readers comment on the operation, which was also used to give student crews route-flying experience?.

Checkpoint Charlie
Q On a recent visit to Berlin, Geoff Dobson noted the propeller and a pair of wings of an aircraft inside the Checkpoint Charlie exhibit, but, having no time to go in, photographed the pieces from outside. The wings, bearing registration D-EDDG, are obviously from a Fieseler Storch, but it is not clear if it is genuine. Does anyone know more?

Presentation Spitfire
Q David Lloyd says The Spitfire Society is trying to trace information on presentation Supermarine Spitfire IIB P8643 Margaret Helen. He has details of its service history with various units, including a belly-landing near Rye on January 29, 1943, but would appreciate any photos from pilots or others who had connections with it.

Lancaster W4986
Q Glenn Lightfoot asked for information on the above 460 Sqn Avro Lancaster in our August issue.

A David Barrington, a member of the No 460 Veterans and Friends Group based in Sydney, got in touch and said he would be pleased to make contact with Glenn and hear of his interest in the squadron and current projects.

Lancastrian crash
Q Bill Bartle says that as a cadet in the 1960s he was told that an Avro Lancastrian with two jet engines had crashed, leaving a hole “as big as a house”, but can find no reference to this.

A RNeither can I. There were nine Lancastrian test-beds, but none was cancelled as having crashed. Several Lancasters were turboprop testbeds, but none with pure jets in the UK.

US Army Air Force Station 134, Eye
Q W.D. Edwards has the handwritten combat ledger of his late father, who served at Eye as engineer and waist gunner on Boeing B-17 Alice Blue Gown and Consolidated B-24 Old Baldy with the 490th Bomb Group. Mr Edwards hopes to transcribe the entries into a narrative, and seeks more information on the base and activities, and would also like to hear from the people of Eye at that time.

Kestrel conundrum
Q Peter Winning, referring to the letter in the September 2011 issue, has a Hawker Siddeley Kestrel nozzle which he believes was recovered from the Shoeburyness site some years ago (left), and would be interested to know the aircraft involved.

Buccaneer loss
Q Rudolf Koenen heard that in the late 1970s or early 1980s a Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer being transported by low-loader from RAF Laarbruch to Brüggen at night was struck by a car and wrecked. He asks if this is true, and if so, where and when it happened, and what was the identity of the aircraft. Buccaneer files show that XX890 crashed at Laarbruch on August 18, 1977, XX891 likewise on August 11, 1983, and that Royal Aircraft Establishment Buccaneer XN975 crashed near Brüggen on June 14, 1978, so perhaps a damaged aircraft was being recovered from one of these incidents.

Mosquito inferno
Q Richard Chapman follows up accounts in earlier issues of de Havilland Mosquitoes being burnt with a photograph of an allegedly brand new NF.30 burnt on a fire dump at RAF Cosford (left). Does anyone know its identity?

Brooklands Museum Swift
Q Brian Drew, as a member of the Brooklands Museum which now has record-setting Supermarine Swift WK194, remembers that the aircraft was blue when it visited Hawkers in 1953 - the museum would like to paint it in that blue instead of its present yellow and asks if anyone has a colour photograph?

Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2
Q Robert Wright, referring to the feature Deeds not Words (July issue) asks if there are any recorded instances of the observer/gunner falling out of the F.E.2’s precarious nose position, which had no harness or parachute?

Starve Acre Hill
Q Tim Carbury mentions an Army training area about a mile east of Blackbushe Airport just south of the A30. A Service exercise in the mid-1950s involved the construction of a runway at the top of Starve Acre Hill, shown on the Ordnance Survey map. Legend has it that a Blackburn Beverley landed and took off from there at the end of the exercise. Remains of the runway can still be seen, especially from the air. Does anyone recall this episode and are there any photographs of the Beverley?

Twin-engine Initiation
Q The February issue contained an answer regarding a Bristol Blenheim crash in Devon in January 1941, but raised another question - why was 263 Sqn with Westland Whirlwinds operating a Blenheim?

A J.W. Shellard, who served with 263 when it was receiving Hawker Typhoons to replace the Whirlwinds, says that fighter pilots were trained on single-engine types, but when the Whirlwinds arrived the Blenheim was used to initiate pilots into twin-engine flying before getting airborne on the Whirlwind, a single-seater. An Anson had replaced the Blenheim when he arrived.

Props as posts
Q The September issue contained a query from Brian Peacock on propellers used as fence posts near Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

A Anthony Miller writes that his uncle, a farmer around Buxton, Derbyshire, bought a quantity of single-bladed propellers about 50 years ago, each about 6ft long, of wooden laminate construction covered with a plastic-type material and with a large steel collar at the hub end which had a yellow painted circle. The metal leading edges were mostly ferrous, but with some lead towards the tips, and were black with yellow tips. He does not know the aircraft type.

Airacomet over the UK
Q P.A. Wells asks if it could have been possible to see a Bell Airacomet over London around 1945?

A Bell YP-59A Airacomet 42-108773 was exchanged for the prototype Meteor F.1 EE210/G, which went to Muroc Air Base in 1944 (some publications incorrectly refer to F.9/40 DG207 going to the USA, but this became the only Meteor F.2). The Airacomet became RJ362/G – a long way ahead in serial terms! Presumably it returned to the USA, since the Meteor came back to the RAE Farnborough before becoming 5837M in March 1946. Details of UK Airacomet flights are not known.

Victoria sleeves
Q Joseph Edis, while reading Showing the Flag in the July issue, noticed the sleeves fitted to the Vickers Victoria propeller on page 44, and asks their purpose, since he has never seen one before.

A These sleeves were to protect the blades in the extreme heat of tropical climates and a similar sleeve may be seen on the FB.19 on page 49 of the September issue.

Stampe escape
Q Nicholas Empson asks what became of a Stampe SV-4 used to escape from Belgium during the Second World War?

A The aircraft was OO-ATD, belonging to Baron Thierry d’Huart. Two Belgian pilots, Michel Donnet and Léon Divoy, managed to secretly obtain petrol and on the morning of July 4, 1941 left Belgium at 0245hr, landing two hours later at Thorpe-le-Soken, near Colchester in Essex. Allocated the British military serial MX457, it served with 24 and 510 Sqns and the Metropolitan Communication Squadron (MCS), all based at Hendon (the MCS had been formed by renaming 510 Sqn). The Stampe survived the war and was returned to Baron d’Huart in 1945, one source saying it was re-registered OO-ATO, and continued to be flown until 1957, when it was written off. A replica in the Brussels War Museum was made from parts of the Belgian Air Force V-57, which had suffered an accident in May 1957. In 1976 the film Flight to Freedom told the story of the escape and SV-4B G-AZSA (formerly V-61) was painted to represent MX457. Subsequently fitted with a sliding cabin top, it appeared at several air shows and is currently registered to Michael Dolman at Cliddesden, Hampshire.

Captured U-boats
Q Warwick Kelly asked in September about the fates of captured U-boats post-war.

A Barrie Downer, secretary and historian of the Barrow-in-Furness branch of the Submariners Association, says that 156 were surrendered post-war and 116 were sunk during Operation Deadlight in sea areas north-west of Loch Ryan and Loch Foyle, Northern Ireland in 1945. Seven were sunk by submarine torpedoes fired from HMS Tantivy and HMS Templar, 13 by RAF (possibly Coastal Command) and Fleet Air Arm aircraft and the remainder by scuttling charges or gunfire from naval ships. Another 30 submarines were shared equally between the Royal Navy, US Navy and Russian Navy for research and experimental purposes. Further details (fully researched by Derek Waller) are available on www.submariners.co.uk.

Monsanto Catalina
Q Following a mention of a Consolidated Catalina owned by Monsanto Chemicals in our December 2010 issue, Roy Gressett recalls a Monsanto Catalina illustrated in a 1959 issue of Flying which had been retrofitted with 1,600 h.p. Wright Cyclones in place of the original engines and asks if Monsanto had other Catalinas with this modification?

Lasham Halifaxes
Q D. Gorman had a flight in a Handley Page Halifax in late 1940 or early 1950, one of three stationed at Lasham airfield and thought to be operated by General Aircraft Ltd for glider towing. He asks if any reader can quote the serials of the Halifaxes and any special markings carried?

Heston Festival 1951
Q Laurence Hole, a researcher on Heston Airport, says that BOAC organised a successful sports festival at the airport on June 9, 1951 celebrating the Festival of Britain. Whitney Straight arrived in a D.H. Dove and five Airways Aero Association aircraft flew in from Denham, three for the static display and two for joyrides. If there are any former BOAC staff who experienced the event and may have photographs, Mr Hole would be pleased to hear from them.

Wormwood Scrubs trimotor
Q Ron Wyman has a childhood memory of what he thinks was a trimotor landing on Old Oak Common, known locally as Wormwood Scrubs, around 1937–39. The only British-registered Ford Tri-Motor around at that time was G-ACAE, impressed in 1940 as X5000. Does anyone out there have a long memory and can add further information?

Scottish York 1954
Q Jack Garry flew home from Fayid, Egypt, in an Avro York, leaving on October 16, 1954, refuelling at Malta and eventually landing at Stansted in the late evening. He remembers the interior decor was of Scottish design with thistle emblems etc with a civilian hostess — possibly a charter from Hunting Clan or Scottish Airways. Can anyone identify the actual aircraft?

Propeller query
Q Joakin Karlsson bought a propeller from a Second World War Swedish soldier who took it from an aircraft, allegedly British, which made an emergency landing in southern Sweden. The propeller blade has a mark on it, and a Swedish weapons expert says that by its measurement it might have been caused by gunfire from a Messerschmitt. Numbers on the blade are 511401, 910589; can the aircraft type be identified from these?

Amazing landing?
Q Graham White recalls a radio interview some years ago with a Second World War crew member who said that his badly damaged aircraft descended through solid black cloud and suddenly came to a stop on solid ground which turned out to be a German airfield runway. Some of the crew had to be helped out and were made prisoners. The incident made such an impact on the interviewee that post-war he became a priest. Is this a true incident, and if so, are there more details?

A Rob Kirby wonders if this was Manchester L7456/ZN-?, a 106 Sqn aircraft allocated to 50 Sqn for the first “Thousand bomber” raid on Cologne on May 30/31, 1942? Damaged by flak and losing an engine, Sgt Jim Wilkie ordered the crew to bale out at a critically low altitude before attempting a forced-landing assisted by second pilot Sgt Cyril Tobias. Switching on the landing light, he saw pine trees and when closing the throttle to belly land on the treetops was surprised when the aircraft came down on Dusseldorf airfield with both engines burning fiercely. The crew escaped unharmed but were captured.

Lancaster W4986
Q Glenn Lightfoot is writing a book on 460 Sqn, Royal Australian Air Force, and mentions the above Lancaster, the first aircraft missing after a move to Binbrook on May 13, 1943. He quotes the code as AR-F, while The Avro Lancaster by Francis K. Mason says AR-E. It was shot down over Dortmund on May 24, 1943. Crew names are known. Sergeant E.L. Jones, the bomb aimer, spent three years as a prisoner of war until liberated by the Russians. Mr Lightfoot is making a model of the Lancaster for his son, so would like to obtain a photograph of the aircraft; can anyone help?

Glasgow Lancaster
Q Gerard Muir recalls being allowed to sit in a Lancaster on show behind the Kelvingrove Art Glasgow, post-war — he thinks it was painted white. He asks its identity, operational history and date of the exhibit?

A Douglas Rough, with help from Phil Butler, D. Cameron and T. Macfadyen, has supplied an answer. Built by Austin Motors, it first went to 32 MU St Athan, then RAF Swinderby, 617 Sqn, was allocated to SE Asia in January 1946, back to the UK in June 1946, to 20 MU Aston Down, then RAF Flying College, back to Aston Down and finally to 58 MU Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, for the Exhibition Pool. The 1951 Festival of Britain Exhibition showed a pool of aircraft, so presumably NX791 was drawn from the pool.

Praga Air Baby
Q Further to the feature in the April issue on the restoration of Air Baby HB-UAF, has anyone information on two others? The first, HB-UAD, ex F-BCSR, visited Duxford in July 1983 and was withdrawn from use and dismantled at Lausanne in August 2000. It was last reported in September 2005 stored in a hangar at Slany, Czech Republic — has it returned home for restoration? Another ex-French example, F-BCSJ, became SL-AAG briefly on the Saar register before being absorbed in the German register as D-EMIB — where is that now?

Haslemere air crash
Q Nigel Sharp recalls that during World War Two an aircraft crashed into the roof of a nursing home in Haslemere, while an engine ploughed through the roof of the Rex Cinema. Does anyone have further details?

A Oliver Good recalls that it happened one evening in bad weather, when the wing and engine of a Douglas Havoc crashed through the end wall of the Rex Cinema during a film show and ended on the stage, fortunately without injury to the cinema’s occupants, but the crew were killed. Investigation reveals that it was AL470 of 534 Sqn. An engine fell out in a dive and the aircraft broke up at Shottermill, Haslemere, on September 22, 1942. Based at Tangmere, 534 Sqn was one of ten units operating Havocs with Turbinlite airborne searchlights mounted in the nose.

Weston Zoyland Airfield
Q Timothy Good asks if anyone who served at RAF Weston Zoyland in 1955–57 recalls a V-bomber with a two-fighter escort landing there? The OC at Weston confirms that Valiants occasionally used the base.

Sgt W. Critch DFM
Q Danielle Miles is writing a biography of her father and wishes to pay tribute to Sgt Critch (probably no longer alive), who kept his crew alive during a threeday ordeal in the North Sea after the crash of Wellington T2610 following an engine failure returning from Hanover in February 1941. Critch was last heard of in an attempt to sink the Scharnhorst at Brest. Can anyone say if he survived the war, or if any family members are known?

Hampden at Soham
Q T. Fletcher says that in July 1942 a Hampden returning from a raid and in difficulties saw the lights of the decoy airfield on open farmland at Soham Mere and landed in a cornfield. It is thought the crew included two Canadians and two Australians, one crew member baling out over Germany and being captured. The Hampden was on the site under guard for about two months until mechanics from Handley Page effected repairs after which it took off. The Soham Community History Museum would be grateful for more information — the aircraft’s squadron, identity, base etc.

LAC Garwood
Q Doug Coxell, Le Petit Menage, 1 Highlands, Mont Marche, Forest, Guernsey GY8 0HE ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) noted in a secondhand book Aeronautical Engineering (Odhams Press) mention of 3052640 LAC Garwood, Entry 220 F.E.11E, which appears to be entry to RAF Halton for training as Fitter Class 2 on engines. Does anyone know how Garwood progressed?

H.S. Andover
Q Nick Binn is researching the Hawker Siddeley Andover and would be grateful for information on its rear door, clamshell rear fuselage and kneeling undercarriage. He would particularly like any video featuring a mock battle with the aircraft delivering troops and vehicles.

Meteor F.4 G-AIDC
Q Graham Carter asks about the grilles inside the nacelles of Meteor G-AIDC, illustrated in the June issue. He says they appear to be debris guards of some sort, but why don’t they appear on other Meteors, and how were they attached to prevent them crashing through into the engine in a high-speed foreign-object ingestion?

A R.M. Rayner mentions that in Edward Shacklady’s book The Gloster Meteor he relates how test pilot Michael Daunt, standing close to the port engine of Meteor DG206 as the engine was run-up, was sucked head-first into the nacelle. Groundcrew tried to pull him out, but could not free him until the throttle was closed and the engine stopped. He was not injured, but severely shaken and bruised. After this, steel grilles were fitted over the intakes and became known to Gloster ground staff as “Daunt-stoppers”.

Kent Heinkel He 111
Q Richard Pickering, asks if anyone has information on a German bomber (He 111?) found by hikers in the early 1970s just off the A2 in Kent with bombs and crew aboard? It made the national newspapers at the time.

Mosquito crew
Q Tom Roberts says that de Havilland Mosquito Mk XXV KB405/6T-K of 608 Sqn was lost during an operation to Berlin on March 8, 1945, but pilot Flt Lt L.N. Hobbs and navigator R.M. Dennis, RAAF, survived. They were eventually reported safe, but their intervening story is unknown; were they captured or in German hospitals?