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SPECIAL ISSUE
END OF WORLD WAR TWO
August 2020
Issue No 568,
Vol 48,
No 8
VICTORY
HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911
75
33-PAGE SPECIAL SECTION INCLUDING…
Could a Lancaster have dropped the atom bomb?
‘Wowser’ factor: Allied aerial success in Italy
Dismantling the defeated Luftwa e
Aussie ‘Boomers’ over Bougainville
BRITAIN’S MOST
BEAUTIFUL BIPLANE?
Fairey’s inter-war Firefly in detail
HIDDEN COLD WAR HISTORY:
“WE NEED
ARK ROYAL”
An American plea for the British flagship
AUGUST 2020
£4.99
tic Adv
ke an
ts ce
on
ly
Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September 2020
Be part of this spectacular three-day event commemorating
the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain
Contents
August 2020
See pages
26-27
for a g
reat
subscription
o er
6
28
68
74
80
NEWS AND
COMMENT
FROM THE EDITOR
NEWS
• Ex-Braathens DC-6 back in Norway
• Mikael Carlson’s Pfalz flies
• Lilienthal glider being conserved
…and the month’s other top aircraft
preservation news
14
WORKSHOP
A very rare Miles Hawk is being
rejuvenated in Montrose
18
HANGAR TALK
Steve Slater’s comment on the historic
aircraft world
20
FLIGHT LINE
Reflections on aviation history with
Matthew Willis
4
6
FEATURES
28
REPRIEVE FOR
ARK ROYAL?
Why did the Royal Navy consider
giving the old HMS
Ark Royal
a last-
minute stay of execution? Our archive
exploration tells all
34
OPERATION ‘WOWSER’
VICTORY
How the Allies used
air power to achieve a
decisive victory in the
Italian theatre
DISMANTLING THE LUFTWAFFE
After VE-Day, it fell to the RAF to
begin dealing with the remnants of
the Luftwa e in Norway — as this
previously unpublished personal
account describes
NUCLEAR ‘LANC’?
Could the atom bomb have been
dropped not by a B-29, but an RAF
Lancaster? We investigate
‘BOOMERS’ OVER BOUGAINVILLE
It was as a close support aircraft
that the Commonwealth Boomerang
proved its worth, right to the war’s
end —
PLUS
Operating Europe’s only
flying ‘Boomer’
75
68
FIRST VISCOUNT SERVICE
Looking back 70 years to a great
British achievement — the inaugural
passenger flight by a turbine aircraft
74
1937 YORK INTERNATIONAL MEETING
A friendly German aeronautical
‘invasion’ of the North Country
80
AEROPLANE
MEETS…
CHRISTOPHE JACQUARD
The would-be vet — yes, really — who
ended up as one of Europe’s leading
warbird owner-pilots
TECHNI
CAL
DETAILS
WILLIS
44
50
REGULARS
22
24
SKYWRITERS
Q&A
Your questions asked and answered
78
PERSONAL ALBUM
A splendid set of colour images by
Malcolm Martin of RAF Abingdon-
based airlifters
100
REVIEWS
The latest aviation books and products
in the spotlight
106
NEXT MONTH
60
89
DATABASE: FAIREY FIREFLY
T
FAIREY FIREFLY
Before the carrier fighter
and anti-sub platform, Fairey
applied the Firefly name to
IN DEPTH
a far more elegant machine
PAGES
— this beautiful, if not overly
successful, inter-war interceptor.
Matthew Willis is your guide
IN DEPTH
PAGES
DATA
BASE
DATABASE
KAWANISHI
An air-to-air
demonstrat view of Firefly
IIM
the period
or G-ABCN during
looking for when Fairey was
the type. export customers
VIA MATTHEW
for
The Firefl
y
of quite di name covered a variety
erent develop
ments
Development
N1K1 SHIDEN AND N1K2
Development
Technical Details
Technical
Details
11
89-99_AM_Dat
The prototype Firefly
IIM as it appeared
during its competition
with
Hornet in 1930.
VIA MATTHEW
the Hawker
WILLIS
AEROPLANE
AUGUST
2020
89-99_AM_Database_Aug2020_cc
C.indd 89
11
S
Military load:
Flying weight:
PERFORMA
NCE
Maximum
speed:
WEIGHTS
Span:
Length:
Height:
Falcon XIIS
ARMAMEN
T
825lb (374kg)
3,259lb (1,478kg)
215mph
(347km/h)
at
13,000ft
Cruising
(4,000m)
speed:
167mph (269km/h)
Climb to
26,000ft:
19 minutes
Two Vickers
6 seconds
0.303in machine
ammunition
guns, 1,150
rounds
30ft 5in (9.3m)
24ft 7in (7.5m)
9ft 2in (2.8m)
(Kestrel IIS),
530hp
he Fire y
I was a
convention
the cockpit,
Avions Fairey-built Firefl
all-wood al biplane of
ring through
y IIM Y-60 (c/n
troughs in
AF5037)
internal
while
the cowling.
in service with Belgian
structure,
the fuselage
Aéronautique
While generally
Militaire unit
highly
streamline
d and
wing spars
chie y of steel tube,
similar, the
4/II/2 Aé around
Fire y II
ying surfaces faired. e
had
the outbreak of war.
CHRIS SANDHAM BAILEY
of riveted
had similar
tensile steel
high-
and
tube forward
a bolted-up steel-
were fabric-cove rear fuselage
alterations
strip,
in terms
fuselage
from duralumin and ribs made
while the
of structure
to the IIM
forward fuselage red, and the
engine-bea
structure,
. e n and
surfaces.
and ying
rudder were
a welded
clad in removableto the cockpit
steel-tube rer was
with wheel e MkIIIM was tted
the headrest now rounded, and
Wings and
‘cradle’
metal panels.
brakes.
e wings had
and fairing
rear fuselage .
deleted.
e Fire
no stagger,
of wooden
were
the lower
were
but
structure.
developme y IV was an unbuilt
wing was
e Fire
of slightly
lesser span
e wings
nt
on the Fire from 1933 based
the MkII y III was similar to
upper. Wingand chord than the
y IIM. It
but developed
and horizontal
as a ship- of increased area, had wings
surfaces
e Fire y IIM
similar to
tail
were rounded
those of the
planform,
Fairey Fantôme,
of metal,
in
introduc
and was
while
with the
to be powered
was trapezoida the vertical
fuselage
ed a structure entirely
tail
RR Falcon
by a
l. It was powered
chie y of
by a Curtiss
XI
WORDS:
MATTHEW WILLIS
engine. Some S (supercharged)
steel tube
were now
liquid-coo D-12 12-cylinde
accounts
heavily
r
the MkIV
led engine
with narrow-ch staggered,
designation apply
driving a
MkIIM re-engined
duralumin of 460hp,
to a
plane to operate
all four wings. ord ailerons on
Reed propeller.
Fairey-
with a
Hispano-S
from
A headrest
carriers.
Two Vickers
pilot was
0.303in machine
uiza 12Y,
It therefore aircraft
for the
blended
if this designation but
wing area,
had a
into a fairing
running
guns were
carried, one
through greater larger
most
existed, it
was uno
on each side
and chord,
rear fuselage. of the length of
span
cial.
forward fuselage
and
of the
the was
positioned the lower wing
just ahead
e Fire
further aft
of
on the landplane
structure y IIM introduced
than
BELOW:
a
entirely of
The
Fire
interchang
SPECIFICATIO
metal, with
fighter being
Firefly IIIM ship
eable oat ies. It had
hand-starte
undercarri
and wheel
before a
NS: FIREFL
POWERPLA
d
test
ages. e
NT
Macmillan flight with Norman
Fire y IIIM
Y IIM (Belgiu
One Rolls-Royce
at the controls
DIMENSION
In Service
In Service
Insights
Insights
m)
1929.
VIA
MATTHEW
WILLIS
in late
AEROPLAN
E
AUGUST
2020
abase_Aug202
0_cc C.indd
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lanemonthl
y.com
95
29/06/2020
11:02
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89
29/06/2020 11:00
103
AEROPLANE
ARCHIVE:
NEWS FROM 1940
How
The Aeroplane
covered a
momentous year
COVER IMAGE:
The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage
Centre’s Lancaster VII NX611 — with added ‘V for
victory’ searchlights.
BEN MONTGOMERY
See
Key.Aero
for
details
Your Aviation Destination
SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE
AEROPLANE
AUGUST 2020
www.aeroplanemonthly.com
3
s these words were being
written, Britain was basking in
its hottest days of the year so far,
and dealing with consequences
hitherto unimaginable in a pre-COVID-19
world. e combination of glorious
summer weather and a seemingly
widespread feeling that measures taken
to stem the spread of the coronavirus
had ceased to apply led to chaotic scenes
on the beaches of Bournemouth in
particular, a major local incident being
declared, and a warning from the chief
medical o cer about the need to uphold
social distancing. ere was the feeling
of the stable door being bolted long after
the occupants had legged it. It remains
to be seen whether occurrences like this,
and the UK’s more general easing of
lockdown measures at a time when the
virus remained in general circulation, will
have consequences in terms of public
health. But the mass,
non-distanced
coastal crowds came
at a sensitive time,
with organisations
and businesses
around the country
preparing gradually to reopen — and the
prospect of crowds being readmitted to
public events.
e organisers of those few airshows
still scheduled to take place in the UK
this year will, of course, be watching
developments with interest. eir
challenges are considerable. To some
extent, things are out of their hands.
Initially, at least, a degree of adaptation
and imagination will be required. As the
truncated season goes on, perhaps there
will be a return to something approaching
a degree of normality. at’s probably
the best we can hope for at the moment.
Whether there will be an audience
appetite for non-traditional formats —
‘drive-in’ airshows, for example, one of
which is taking place at Vesivehmaa in
Finland during mid-August — is as yet
unknown. Forcing visitors to stay within
the immediate vicinity of their car for the
A
Editor
duration of a ying display can only be a
temporary ‘ x’ But, where such a format
.
is practical, it may allow airshows to get
back up and running. at can only be a
good thing.
While high street shops have been
opening up once again, we fully
understand that, for some of you, buying
Aeroplane
from the usual outlets is still
not an option at this di cult time. With
that in mind, we’ve introduced some of
our best-ever subscription deals, so you
don’t need to worry about obtaining your
copy. Most attractive of all is our ‘bundle’
o er, which gives you both our print and
digital editions at a saving of up to 45 per
cent when compared to the cover price.
See pages 26-27 for more details, and visit
shop.keypublishing.com/amsubs.
You certainly won’t want to miss
what we’ve got coming up, starting next
month with our
Battle of Britain
80th anniversary
salute. e free
reproduction of
e Aeroplane
from
23 August 1940,
which we’re delighted to present with this
issue, leads in to a 148-page special on
the events of 80 years ago. We’ll analyse
how the real battle compared to the one
Churchill had expected to ght, and how
Britain’s aircraft manufacturers met the
‘production versus losses’ challenge.
On the operational side, we’ll focus on
some lesser-known stories: accounts of
the De ant and Bf 110 squadrons that
were all but eliminated from the ght, the
eminent ghter controller who served as
Duxford’s station commander, and many
more. Nor will we forget non-Battle of
Britain topics: never-before-seen photos
of the aftermath of Israel’s 1968 strike on
Beirut Airport, and a Database on the
Avro/Hawker Siddeley 748 and Andover
family, to name but two. Subscribe now to
guarantee your copy!
Ben Dunnell
From the
CONNECT WITH
AEROPLANE…
www.facebook.com/AeroplaneMonthly
@HistoryInTheAir
CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH
VIC FLINTHAM
Vic was born at the height
of the Blitz in north-west
London, then to be bombed
out in 1944! He has written
on military aviation since
1965, with many articles
and five highly reviewed
books, and two more due
later this year. His career
was in NHS management,
then the family property business. Vic learned to
fly in his 60s and now combines travel with
photography. He is on the Court of the Worshipful
Company of Needlemakers, and lives in
Hertfordshire with Christine and fox terrier Poppy.
BRUCE HALES DUTTON
To some extent,
things are out of airshow
organisers’ hands
After a career as a press
and public relations
specialist in the air transport
industry, Bruce turned to
freelance writing 20 years
ago. It was while
researching material for his
seventh book, on cross-
Channel pioneers, that he
was reminded of the story
of the inaugural Viscount commercial flights in
1950. Although it created a stir at the time, he
doubts whether the true significance of the first
scheduled services by turbine aircraft 70 years ago
this summer was fully appreciated then.
MALCOLM MARTIN
“With a passion for both
photography and aviation”,
says Malcolm, our Personal
Album contributor this
month, “several years as an
air cadet in the ’60s
provided the ideal
opportunity to combine the
two interests. Flying to
airshows in one of the
participating transport types based at Abingdon
was a regular treat. My first flight was in a
Blackburn Beverley — it’s therefore a coincidence
that my daughter now lives in the East Yorkshire
market town from which it takes its name and a
few miles from XB259, the last surviving complete
airframe.”
GRANT NEWMAN
ESTABLISHED 1911
Aeroplane
traces its lineage back to the weekly
The Aeroplane,
founded by C. G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was
relaunched as a monthly in 1973 by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25
years until 1998.
An aircraft engineer
performing line
maintenance on regional
airliners at Nelson, New
Zealand, Grant has had a
fascination with aviation
history for as long as he can
remember. Formerly
employed by the RAF
Museum, he worked as a
research curator, and as assistant curator at
Scotland’s National Museum of Flight at East
Fortune. He now writes for a New Zealand aviation
magazine, while devoting his time to photography
and travelling to aviation museums worldwide.
4
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AEROPLANE
AUGUST 2020

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