Wing Leader

28/01/2025

We're only on the BBC News (website)!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y7p0p1kp4o.amp

You can get the book here;
https://wingleader.co.uk/books/the-golden-years-of-matchbox-art-roy-huxley/

26/01/2025

It's no big secret that lots of WW2 and surplus military tech was used in the Star Wars universe, but this tail turret pic really brought it home. I remembered Mr Skywalker swinging into the Millenium Falcon turret with the monkey bars at the top of the manual pic, but a nostalgic YouTube visit proved me wrong.
Also, the Wingleader Youtube channel has 1.1 million views.
First correct id of the turret wins a Sunday afternoon of smug.

25/01/2025

Today's Wingleader Archive photo.
A very nice air to air of one of the RAF's first 'high altitude bombers' the Boeing Fortress MkI. AN530 is seen in the markings of 90 Squadron as it was introduced into service in summer 1941. These early B-17s were quite problematic and were eventually replaced by more reliable bombers, with the surviving early Fortresses being transferred to Coastal Command.
Click the link for more:
https://wingleaderarchive.com/

21/01/2025

The latest Wingleader Photo Archive is available to pre order. It should be in stock by the end of week. Ordering and sample pages here:
https://wingleader.co.uk/books/wellingtonmk1/

20/01/2025

It is with great sadness that we've been asked to post that the legendary aviation artist Roy Huxley passed away over the weekend after a short illness. Roy was the artist behind most of the Matchbox model kit illustrations and therefore inspired an entire generation of us aviation enthusiasts with his superb, action packed paintings.

Roy was a lovely chap with a great sense of humour and generous personality and will be sorely missed by those who knew him. We were lucky enough to work with him on two of his aviation art books which will now provide a lasting legacy of his work.

We're posting a few of his hundreds of paintings here as a tribute to one of the true icons of aviation art. If you would like to leave a message here below, we'll make sure his widow Sue gets to read them all. RIP Roy.

16/01/2025

Out now! The team try to identify the Me110 in a camera gun film, then set out to find out the exact location where it came down in Dorset. It turns out that most historians have it misidentified and it's actually a different 110 with a unique story of its own.

We hope you enjoy it, if you do, please click the like and subscribe buttons on our channel. It doesn't cost anything to subscribe and the more views we get, the more YouTube will promote it, (enabling us to make more films!)

https://youtu.be/pKWTD5rCIkE?feature=shared

14/01/2025

Exciting new releases from Airfix, and a couple of Wingleader books to help with the details! Interesting that the B-24 box art scheme is 'Lady Be Good', an aircraft with a tragic history, but a fascinating diorama possibility.
https://wingleader.co.uk/books/ccliberatorwpa30/

14/01/2025

Today's 'photo of the day' is N1526 Armstrong Whitworth Whitley over Blenheim Palace, 10 OTU, 1940. The wing stripe is interesting, has anyone ever seen such a stripe on other OTU Whitleys? We're thinking it might be some form of red doped repair to the aircraft wing fabric as it eventually crashed on 11 October 1940 when a large section of this same wing fabric tore away. The aircraft also appears to have very dark leading edges and is shedding a huge amount of oil from both engines!

12/01/2025

Today's photo from the Archive!
"Pattie of Sutton supplies a nose". Urgent requests for spare parts of every description were sent to the local Equipment Park. As soon as an aircraft, crippled in battle, had landed at an airfield in the area, the damage was ascertained, and a signal for equipment submitted, headed by letters "A.O.G." Aircraft on ground. Personnel then gave the demand their immediate attention. The most important feature of this equipment park was that it is the first unit to be entirely staffed by WAAF personnel, Commanding Officer, equipment assistants, Telephone and Teleprinter operators, clerks cooks, waitresses and administrative staff. The unit operated 24 hours a day. Photo dated 11.03.1944 Can anyone identify the aircraft type that the spinner is intended for?

https://wingleader.co.uk/wingleader-archive/

10/01/2025

If you've not checked out our FREE 'Photos of the Day' on Wingleader Archive then you're missing some great and rare images! This is a rare photo of the prototype Rose powered free gun installation in a Hampden, 20 January 1944, A&AEE. It's part of 100 new Hampden photos that we posted in this week's Photo Pack which is accessible exclusively to members of the archive.
https://wingleaderarchive.com/index?/category/1225-photo_of_the_day

09/01/2025

Thanks everyone for your interest in the 'Wingless Stuka' YouTube film. Here are a couple of extras from the late Peter Foote's files, now in the Wingleader Archive. Crashed aircraft were always the focus for souveniring, and not just by school children. The newspaper reports include a prosecution for taking the Stuka's seat, and the alleged removal of a charred skull from another crash. The bullet holed oil cooler and label from the Bowley Farm Stuka avoided the long arm of the law, and are now in a private collection

05/01/2025

We know that many of you love the films we make on our Wingleader Films YouTube channel, so we promise to make more this year! Here's the first, a brand new 8 minute film telling the story of a Stuka that landed with most of its outer wings missing on 16 August 1940.
We hope you enjoy it, if you do, please click the like and subscribe buttons on the channel!

On 16 August 1940, a Ju87 Stuka rolled to a standstill in an English farmer's field, missing most of its wings and with the crew dead and dying. How did it ...

31/12/2024

22/12/2024

For those of you who enjoy our YouTube films, we've just set live our latest, an extended version of our popular Christmas Ghost bomber story. Featuring new photos, location footage and crew accounts, this is really one to watch! Click on the link below;

A B-24 Liberator crash lands on Christmas Day 1944 near to a remote English farmhouse, but where are the crew members? How can they have just vanished into ...

18/12/2024

As we're now posting 'Photos of the Day' over on our Wingleader Archive site, (for all to see), we thought we'd post this one here first as a bit of a Christmas mystery. This is a genuine RAF recce photo, taken around January 1943, but what does it depict? We'll publish the answer in the next couple of days if nobody guesses, wrong but creative answers welcome!

For more Photos of the day, see here;
https://wingleaderarchive.com/index?/category/1225-photo_of_the_day

18/12/2024

A splendid treat in the post today. Some more obscure aspects of the Battle of Britain. If you fancy one yourself, contact Joel Diggle , long time Wingleader supporter and all round good egg.

15/12/2024

Exciting new features in the Archive NOW Live!
We are really excited to announce that the RAF Serial Number photo files are now live on the Wingleader Archive for all Members to see. There are over 8000 photos of RFC/RAF aircraft listed by serial number, including nearly 2500 NEW photos, recently bought at auction, which form the backbone of this stunning collection.

The post war photo collection is expanding too.

A recent NEW Archive feature is the weekly 'Photo Pack' update. Photo Packs are uploaded every Sunday and contain around 100 new photos scanned from private collections that we've secured over the past few years. Recent subjects include He111s in the West, K Series aircraft, Ju87 Stukas in the West and UK based Wellingtons. We're focussing these packs on kit releases you might need a reference for.

Tomorrow's Photo Pack will feature a lovely collection of Merlin engined Spitfire photos, many of which came from the P R Moyes Collection.

Also new on the site is 'Photo of the Day' where we pull out interesting images that we come across when scanning and post them immediately. These images are visible to any visitors to the site, not just members.

Membership of the Archive costs from just £1.54 a week, (£80 per year) and gives you full access to over 30,000 historic military and aviation photos. To see more about the site, please click on the link:
https://wingleader.co.uk/wingleader-archive/