The Damcasters - The Aviation History Podcast

20/12/2024

Well, Joe and I found a F-101 Voodoo while we were in Denver and it would be wrong not to placate all those upset by our dismissal of the One-Oh-Wonder in our first Century Series video, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/09afNDGY54w

Not long to wait now (even less if you are on our Patreon!).

19/12/2024

The weather over The Buldge is legendary and often debated. But the loss statistics for 2TAF Typhoons and Tempests show just how bad it was. From December 16 to 22, 1944, no Typhoons and only three Tempests were lost. From December 23 to 31, 1944, 51 Typhoons and nine Tempests were lost.

This is not to say that ops were not flown in the weather. Only 2TAF losses were very low. 2TAF's Tempests were their usual super-aggressive selves, with 122 Wing bagging 10 Luftwaffe aircraft on the 17th of December for losing two aircraft to flak. American 'Foob' Fairbanks claiming two Me109s in EJ762.

When the weather cleared on Christmas Eve, 2TAF's aircraft would be in the thick of it. Not only would they have to contend with the cold, flak and enemy fighters, but they would also have to worry about the USAAF. 439 Squadron RCAF lost two aircraft and a pilot, Bill Wright, to P-47s on Christmas Eve 1944 while flying a support mission for US Forces on the ground.

Image 1 - LAC Vic Bell and Chris Peterson preparing a 440 Sqn RCAF Hawker Typhoon at B.78 Eindhoven in the winter of 1944. Image: Library and Archives Canada PL42739

Image 2 - American RCAF volunteer David 'Foob' Fairbanks, The Terror of Rheine, with Hawker Tempest Mk.V EJ762 in which he claimed two Me109s on the 17th Dec 1944. This image is from 19 November 1944, when Foob was hit in the fuel tank, and the fire burnt his tail surfaces.

Image 3 - F/S William Wright RCAF of Pembroke, Ontario, was shot down by American P-47s on Christmas Eve. He was 22.

18/12/2024

Goodness... Thank you, everyone, for watching the channel! You really have too much spare time. ❤️

18/12/2024

Opinions sought! I'm playing around with a few different video styles for the YouTube channel, and our fab Damcasters on Patreon get to have their say. (You can join from just £3+vat per month if you'd like to)

Get more from The Damcasters on Patreon

17/12/2024

It would be wrong not to commemorate the birth of powered flight in 1903, when Orville Wright made the 12-second, 120-foot flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Wilbur and Orville made two more flights of 175 and 200 feet that day.

This is the John T. Daniels image of Orville's first flight at Kitty Hawk held by The Library of Congress.

16/12/2024

Of R.J. Mitchell's Supermarine flying boats, the Walrus will forever hold a special place in my heart. However, the Southampton was a stunning creation, and if you ever get a chance to visit N9899 at The Royal Air Force Museum London, you should. Those lines! 😍

16/12/2024

Some splendid images of Mercury and Maia as we discuss in our latest episode about Don Bennett's flights in Mercury. Thanks for sharing Short Brothers - Aviation Pioneers - Kent!

14/12/2024

A look back at Martin JRM-1 76820 Philippine Mars, in port, July 1946.

14/12/2024

12/12/2024

✈️New Episode✈️ In our final episode of 2024, we conclude our conversation with Ian Campbell about AVM Don Bennett before The Path Finder Force. This week: The Short Mayo Composite!

Join us on YouTube or wherever you grab your pods. Brought to you in association with the
Pima Air and Space Museum.

📺 https://youtu.be/lhfiN2v5KnU
🎧 https://www.thedamcasterspod.com/podcast/the-most-efficient-airman-the-life-of-don-bennett/

12/12/2024

When your friends do cool stuff without you... 😭😉

11/12/2024

The time has come! The exhibition is ready. With great joy I can say:”The doors are open!”

What will be on display?
Downstairs the workshop rebuilding Spitfire PR IB N3069 full scale. The cockpit…”the office” is ready and fully equipped. Preps for the rear fuselage build. The history in photo of early RAF photographic reconnaissance developments. Upstairs the story of F/O Mervyn Wheatley and the crash of his Spitfire N3069 near the village of Herwen.

Free admittance.
Opening times:
Sunday 15 December 2024 from 11.00hrs – 17.00hrs.
Sunday 29 December 2024 from 11.00hrs – 17.00hrs.
Sunday 05 January 2025 from 11.00hrs – 17.00hrs.

Address:
Ketelhuis 22D
7005 CA Doetinchem
The Netherlands

Parking at Industriestraat 19 or at the carpark on the junction Hamburgerbroeklaan/ Ketelhuis. As indicated in the attached picture. Regrettably there is no parking space directly in front of the premises. It is approx. a 200m walk from the furthest carpark.

Future opening hours in accordance with my own availability and via appointment.

06/12/2024

The Hawker Tempest V (SN354 pictured here) looked the business, but when you add a pair of S-Guns? 😍 The S-Gun was used to great effect in the Western Desert under Hurricanes. However, in testing again, the RP-3 rocket in the hilly and wooded terrain offered more offence and defence against the same targets. This second angle shows that Camm's team clearly got involved in shrouding the S-Gun, as they did when they took the design and production of the Tempest's drop tanks away from the Ministry of Production.

Images San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive

06/12/2024

Waipitis, Ciskins and Southamptons? Oh My! Don Bennett's RAF career went from fighter jock to flying boat skipper that would, under Arthur Harris' direction, take the Pembroke Dock aircraft up at night. Join us for our latest pod as the Bennett/Vial Archive curator at the Queensland Air Museum, Ian Campbell joins us to discuss Don Bennett's early life.

📺 https://youtu.be/1uvD6S40TTU
🎧 https://www.thedamcasterspod.com/podcast/relentless-skies-the-life-of-don-bennett/

05/12/2024

Part 1 of our discussion with the Bennett/Vial Archive curator, Ian Campbell, about volume 1 of his superb new biography of AVM Don Bennett is available now! Relentless Skies is my aviation book of 2024.

Brought to you in association with the Pima Air and Space Museum who are getting a new flying boat, don't you know?

📺 https://youtu.be/1uvD6S40TTU
🎧 https://www.thedamcasterspod.com/podcast/relentless-skies-the-life-of-don-bennett/

04/12/2024

It is Wednesday, and as I haven't done a in a while, here is a Supermarine Walrus being tugged by an elephant at a Fleet Air Station in India during the Second World War. You're welcome.

Image: IWM (A 24291)

04/12/2024

Our fab Damcasteers on Patreon have access to our full-length interview with Ian Campbell about volume 1 of his new biography of AVM Don Bennett.

Here is a clip of the intro to that episode, which will be shown as a two-parter on the main channel.

Join today! 😘

Get more from The Damcasters on Patreon

30/11/2024

Western analysts' biases in examining the Japanese development of their airpower led to false equivalencies, such as Mitsubishi G3M being a Henkel.

Join us as Justin Pyke tells us about the allied capability studies before 1941.

✈️YouTube: https://youtu.be/y-OqxUYELtI
✈️Podcast: https://www.thedamcasterspod.com/podcast/what-the-allies-knew-about-japan-in-1941/

How did cultural perceptions influence Western assessments of Japanese military potential? Justin Pyke joins us to discuss the Allies' capabilities assessmen...