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ORIGINAL: Dixie
In the meantime, I've got a bonus quiz. What's this a picture of? And which aeroplane?

It's a picture of a hydraulic actuator. It's on one of Dixie's rebuilds.

ORIGINAL: wdolson


It looks like a landing gear bay, though they are usually painted and I don't have a clue which aircraft.

Bill

It's a landing gear bay, not the Chipmunk. [;)]

By the by, our landing gear bays are painted. We try to keep the amount of bare metal to a minimum to reduce the effects/risks of corrosion. MK356 (Mk IX) is painted silver for that reason, but the aeroplane it represents was bare metal.

Saw the Lancaster fly over my house just south of Peterborough this afternoon. Nice low pass, wish I wasn't driving and had my camera on me. Good looking plane.

She's lovely. I'm trying to persuade the bosses that her next paint scheme needs to be a 50 sqn kite. I'm scheduled for another flight on her this week doen to Bournemouth for the air festival there.

Should get then to paint her in Commonwealth colours for a year, chase the RAAF & RCAF to pay for it!!

Today's flying by BBMF didn't involve me, because I was busy looking after a visitor! [:)]

This one is actually on topic as well, the RNLAF historic flight's B-25 painted to represent an aeroplane of 18 Sqn based in the Northern territories of Australia during the war.

The markers represent bombing missions and recce missions as well as a confirmed kill (a duck at Duxford circa 2006)

The cockpit, much smaller than the Lanc (for obvious reasons). It's accessed through a hatch in the floor and then a surprisingly long climb up to reach the seats. Access through to the bomb aimers position is through a small (in width/height) tunnel that runs under the pilot's seat. It's not the greatest for access but once you're in the nose it's roomy.

Me! On the family friendly side of the bomber so I can show my Grandmother what I did [:D]

I believe this is an original feature of the aeroplane. Interesting to note that North American were some 75 years ahead of their competitors when it came to crew comforts...

A view rearwards from the co-pilot's seat. The aircraft is fitted with a 'ferry floor' which sits over the bomb bay and would have been used for mounting the auxiliary fuel tanks for long range transit.

The rear guns, the gunner sits on (what looks and feels like) a bicycle seat. Lots of room back there though, it feels far roomier than the Lancaster's rear turret but the range of movement for the guns is a bit more limited.

Access to the rear guns, another long tunnel. Certainly a different experience to the Lanc, there's more room in the gunner's positions but getting to them is awkward and getting out can't have been easy in an emergency.

All in all, it's a different beast to the Lancaster and it's easy to tell it was designed for a different role and in another country. Whereas the British aeroplanes are built around the concept of putting wings onto the bomb-bay, the actual bombs on most US types almost feel like an afterthought and they've just fitted the bomb-bay in wherever there happened to be space [:D]

Definitely a good day today, it's always good to get a look around a 'new' warbird.

Hey, Dixie-you didn't show any insignia or surface with a visible insignia. Erm...an "official national" insignia, I meant. Was this a USAAF or a RAAF plane with the Oz markings?

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Hey, Dixie-you didn't show any insignia or surface with a visible insignia. Erm...an "official national" insignia, I meant. Was this a USAAF or a RAAF plane with the Oz markings?

She's wearing the later war Dutch flag insignia. IIRC 18 Sqn were Dutch manned and operated under RAAF control/administration.

Here you go, don't say I'm not good to you.

Beautiful aircrafts.

we have the BoBMF buzzing my hometown this week, looking forward to it.