finding a halifax

[Pearson.J]

Hello everyone,

My uncles birthday is coming up (90th) I was planning on building him his Halifax that he flew in WWII.

All the info I have on his plane is that it was 429 squadron, and it had a yellow F on the nose.

Im not too bothered about the plane's serial number, but if anyone can tell me what squadron markings it had I would be very thankful.

Thanks

Jamie.

Edited December 24, 2011 by Pearson.J

[Edgar]

429 codes were AL; no guarantee, but one "F" was JD325, and another was MZ318.

Edgar

Edited December 24, 2011 by Edgar

[Paul Alan Bardell]

Hello Jamie

What Edgar said, but i can add the following:

(from Bomber Sqdns of the RAF) -

Halifax B11 (Aug 1943 - Jan 1944) - JD318 - F and JD325 - F were mark B11's

MZ318 - F was a B111 used March 1944 - March 1945

Do you know which Mark of Halifax he flew in?

I had an uncle on 429 sqdn, i think he was a navigator, and somewhere i have a photo of him - standing in front of MZ282 - AL-K

Hope this is of some help

Regards and Merry Christmas

Paul

[Rayviation]

Hello Jamie

What Edgar said, but i can add the following:

(from Bomber Sqdns of the RAF) -

Halifax B11 (Aug 1943 - Jan 1944) - JD318 - F and JD325 - F were mark B11's

MZ318 - F was a B111 used March 1944 - March 1945

Do you know which Mark of Halifax he flew in?

I had an uncle on 429 sqdn, i think he was a navigator, and somewhere i have a photo of him - standing in front of MZ282 - AL-K

Hope this is of some help

Regards and Merry Christmas

Paul

Hello,

My Uncle served with 429 Squadron as a Halifax Flight Engineer Dec 43 - Sept 44. I have modelled two of his aircraft (Mk.V and Mk.III) and the articles have been published in Model Aircraft monthly. I have been researching 429 and have details of 5 Halifaxes coded F . Which one your Uncle was in depends on the period he was with 429. If you have the dates, I can let you have the details I have. Incidentally, your photo intrigues me as I have MZ282 as AL-A. Any chance of seeing a copy ? Ray

[Paul Alan Bardell]

Ray

I would be happy to scan you a copy of the photo, but it will have to wait until the 3.1.12, as i need to use the scanner at work!!

Don't tell the boss!

Could you let me have your email address?

I am not sure of any details - dates - opps etc - as he was reluctant to talk about his experiences, and now it is too late to ask him as he passed away several years ago, so any details you might have would be of great interest to me.

I have several other photos of my uncle (Sidney Bloodworth) taken during his training in Canada 1943/44, which i will also send you.

Regards and have a great Christmas.

Paul

[Rayviation]

Ray

I would be happy to scan you a copy of the photo, but it will have to wait until the 3.1.12, as i need to use the scanner at work!!

Don't tell the boss!

Could you let me have your email address?

I am not sure of any details - dates - opps etc - as he was reluctant to talk about his experiences, and now it is too late to ask him as he passed away several years ago, so any details you might have would be of great interest to me.

I have several other photos of my uncle (Sidney Bloodworth) taken during his training in Canada 1943/44, which i will also send you.

Regards and have a great Christmas.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the response. Please have a look at http://www.429sqn.ca/429pers.htm. This lists 429 Squadron personnel. I am sure they will be happy to include any update to their records from information you have.

I don't want to make my email address public, but you can upload the photos to this Britmodeller site. That way all of the participants interested in 429 Halifaxes can have help from your photos.

Have a good Christmas too and all the best for the new year. Ray

[Pearson.J]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the response. Please have a look at http://www.429sqn.ca/429pers.htm. This lists 429 Squadron personnel. I am sure they will be happy to include any update to their records from information you have.

I don't want to make my email address public, but you can upload the photos to this Britmodeller site. That way all of the participants interested in 429 Halifaxes can have help from your photos.

Have a good Christmas too and all the best for the new year. Ray

Hi, thanks for the link, from this i think my uncle joined in 1944, and i know that he was a flight engineer.

i will ask for some more info when he gets back, in a few days.

Jamie

[Edgar]

Can't see his name anywhere, or am I not looking straight? Can't see a Pearson in that list, which is why I'm asking.

Edited December 27, 2011 by Edgar

[Pearson.J]

Can't see his name anywhere, or am I not looking straight? Can't see a Pearson in that list, which is why I'm asking.

no, you are ok, he is C.W Chatham.... my fault sorry.

Jamie

[Rayviation]

no, you are ok, he is C.W Chatham.... my fault sorry.

Jamie

Hi Jamie, According to the records your Uncle joined 429 Squadron on 12/07/44. At that time Halifax III LW127 was coded AL-F. Regretably, this aircraft was lost on 18/07/44 when it was struck by bombs from higher flying aircraft over Mondeville. Over the next few weeks, the Squadron received some attrition replacements and one of these, Halifax III MZ318 became the new AL-F. This aircraft was fairly recent build, although it had spent a short time with 427 Squadron. If you are doing a model, this aircraft would have had the extended wings with the rounded wing tips. Hope this helps.

Ray

[Edgar]

Your uncle's a/c was Halifax III MZ318, individual letter "F." The rest of his crew were P/O Lee as Captain, Navigator F/Sgt Quail, Bomb Aimer Sgt Goodman, W/Op Sgt Britten, M/U Gunner Sgt Winton, Rear Gunner Sgt Roy (F/Sgt Sheardown deputised for him once.) Information comes from the ORB, at Kew.

Edgar

Edited December 28, 2011 by Edgar

[Pearson.J]

Your uncle's a/c was Halifax III MZ318, individual letter "F." The rest of his crew were P/O Lee as Captain, Navigator F/Sgt Quail, Bomb Aimer Sgt Goodman, W/Op Sgt Britten, M/U Gunner Sgt Winton, Rear Gunner Sgt Roy (F/Sgt Sheardown deputised for him once.) Information comes from the ORB, at Kew.

Edgar

Wow, thank you very much! Thats amazing!!!

Thank you, all of you

Jamie

[jpp]

Wow, thank you very much! Thats amazing!!!

Thank you, all of you

Jamie

Good evening Gentlemens,

first of all allow me to wish you a very good 2012 year for you , your family, and your relatives

i was a contributor to the french modeling magasine REPLIC which sadly stopped publishing last month.

for a long time i try to find infos to model a Halifax which collapse the hill near my native village in north east france, Carignan

the only informations i have are:

crash date 5/26 november 1943

SERIAL JD325 CODE AL-F

That's the reason why i request informations about this particular bomber, this post interest me as some of you may have some usefull informations

i try to check the following parts:

nose : stream perpex or turret?

Vertical rudders, rectangular or arrow shape?

engine, in line or rotary?

The info i have is that it is a IIs type, so it coulb be : nose turret+arrow shape rudders and in line engine.

my neigbourg gave me some years ago i sheet of metal, black painted on one side, natural metal on the other with stress print and something which seems to be blood.

on the field someone dig and extract a perpex tiny sheet and a bullet.

My father was 7 years old and he only remember the day after with germans soldiers and dogs which guarded the relics

i thank you by advance for your help

best regards

J PAUL

[Test Graham]

JD325 was a late production Mk.II, so yes, inline Merlin engines. At this date it will have had the series 1a nose, with no turret and a perspex nose, but probably not the rectangular fins or the Merlin 22s with Morris block radiators. It is not possible to be certain without a photograph of the aircraft, or a very close serial at the same time, but JD300 had the late nose and the earlier radiators with the central bulge for the oilcooler. The aircraft will have carried a 4-gun dorsal turret, probably flush with the top of the fuselage as on the later Mk.III. The rudder is likely to have had the bulged leading edge - the top third (or so) extended forward to the fin rather than curving inwards.

[Rayviation]

During the period August 43 - October 43, 429 Squadron were equipped with Halifax IIs passed on to them from 408 Squadron. Most of these had the Tempsford Z Nose. On 5th October 1943 Halifax JD327 AL-F was destroyed in a crash and the Squadron received Halifax JD325 as a replacement and it was coded AL-F. This was a former 419 Squadron Halifax and by that time most of their Halifaxes had the full perspex nose. At the time, 429 Squadron Commander was Wg. Cdr. J.D. Pattison DFC and to improve the performance of his aircraft, he had ordered that the mid-upper turrets be removed. Certainly, when my Uncle arrived at 429 Squadron in December 1943, this had been enforced. JD325 would have had the 4 gun mid-upper turret described at the time of delivery, but whether it still had it on 26th November 1943 is another matter. As it had been with the Squadron nearly two months, I think it would have been removed, but I'm not certain.

Happy to have been able to confirm some points, but also sorry to have added a doubt.

Ray