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Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC, Part 2
This Tale is a continuation of the interview of World War II pilot Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC. At the age of 103, Colin recalls with perfect clarity what it was like to fly his De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito bomber into action as part of a Pathfinder Squadron. This Tale is the second part of the interview with Colin, the opportunity for which I have to thank my old friend Bob Judson. Having had a high ranking career in the RAF, Bob is now a consultant in the field of psychological, life and executive coaching and has a podcast, Leading 4 Life, which explores leadership in the stories of his own life and those told by his many illustrious guests, such as Colin. Bob was kind enough to allow me to share in this opportunity to interview Colin. If you want to take advantage of Bob’s services or listen to his free podcast then check out his website, here: https://www.leading4life.co.uk/ and his great podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2227500 The Nissen Hut was wartime emergency accommodation with a single coal burning heater. It was notoriously cold in the winter. A No 608 Squadron Mosquito, B Baker March, takes off from RAF Downham Market Bomber Command aircrew mission briefings RAF Bombers attacking Berlin with Pathfinder flares below them Most of Colin's bombing attacks were made as individual aircraft Colin Bell talking to us during his interview Hanover under attack from US forces during a daylight raid Germani Anti Aircraft Artillery A Mosquito formation A period description of how OBOE functioned The bar of the Crown Hotel Downham Market A Focke Wolf FW190A similar to the type that employed the Wild Boar tactic Jimmy Stewart who flew the B17 and B24 in operational missions and became a Brigadier General in the USAF Colin stands beside one of the few remaining Mosquitos Images shown under a Creative Commons Licence with thanks to Mark Vickers, Colin Bell, the RAF, Bert Verhoeff, the Australian War Memorial collection, the IWM, RAF Bomber Command, German Federal Archives, the USAF and the USAAF.
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20:56
The Safety of Safety
You are sitting in your airliner and the handsome, pretty or in a non-binary sense cute, elegant, lovely or in a non exclusive way charming, fine, interesting or personable flight attendant is standing in front of you to demonstrate the safety features of your aircraft. Hopefully if you enjoy the airline pilot guy enough to be listening to this you might have more than just a passing interest in what safety equipment there is onboard the average big, well equipped, airliner. Most airlines show the gender-specific pronouns that are typically used to refer to people in the way they identify Door Arming controls Girt Bar system that can be found on older style aircraft Steph beside 'her' emergency exit Slide use in theory and in practice Disobeying safety instructions can lead to increased danger and possible loss of life The early days of air travel Jack Grant, an Australian, who invented the modern inflatable slide and won the Cumberland trophy Aircraft safety equipment Halon (halo-genated hydrocarbons) are the world's best fire extinguishing chemicals but banned from manufacture Safety cards through the history of aviation Images are used under a Creative Commons licence with thanks to Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, Airbus, Oleg Bkhambri (Voltmetro), Boeing, Dr Steph, Marc-Antony Payne, Qantas Airways Ltd, John Collier, the Library of Congress, The Museum of Civil Aviation and SOC.
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15:34
Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC, Part 1
It is rare to have the opportunity to meet one of the brave young men who flew and fought in the Second World War so I was delighted to be able to talk to Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC. At the age of 103, Colin recalls with perfect clarity what it was like to fly his De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito bomber into action as part of a Pathfinder Squadron. This Tale is just the first part of the interview with Colin, the opportunity for which I have to thank my old friend Bob Judson. Having had a high ranking career in the RAF, Bob is now a consultant in the field of psychological, life and executive coaching and has a podcast, Leading 4 Life, which explores leadership in the stories of his own life and those told by his many illustrious guests, such as Colin. Bob was kind enough to allow me to share in this opportunity to interview Colin. If you want to take advantage of Bob's services or listen to his free podcast then check out his website, here: https://www.leading4life.co.uk/ and his great podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2227500 Flt Lt Colin Bell DFC RAF The lonely and dangerous job of a tail gunner The PT17 Stearman The Vultee BT-13A Valiant The North American AT-6 Texan trainer AKA the Harvard. The Bristol Blenheim The de Havilland DH98 Mosquito Colin with Bob (left) and myself (right) at the RAF Club in front of a painting of the Mosquito gifted to Colin and then presented to the RAF Club to display. All images are shown with permission or under the Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, the IWM, the USAAF, the National Museum of the USAF and Fotoafdrukken Koninklijke Luchtmacht.
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19:22
RAF Form 414, Vol 31
I’m moving things on a bit in my logbook tales as it seems to be taking forever to get to the end so here’s the next one. I’d found a temporary job with the aircraft manufacturer British Aerospace flying Tornados and Hawks but now I was getting invitations to interview for jobs with a number of airlines. After months of drought, the flood gates seem to have opened and after wishing for just one offer I now had the opportunity to chose who I would go to. First, however, I needed to get through the interviews. A Monarch A300 A Cathay Pacific Tristar Virgin Megastores worldwide RB's Manor House and the album cover for Tubular Bells Richard Branson starts his own airline, Virgin Atlantic Northwest Airlines put in a substantial order for Airbus A340s which were then flown by Virgin Atlantic The BAe Hawk delivery team One of the RMAS Hawk 108s In formation and we're off to Malaysia First stop Nice Then on to Tanagra Luxor Dubai Mumbai A little 'hot start' in Bangkok Images under creative commons licence with thanks to RHL images, Virgin, Jaco Ten, Northwest Airlines History Centre,
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RAF Form 414, Vol 30
My logbook tales continue and after 5 months without an income the bucket of shekels I had to keep us afloat was starting to run dry... I could see glimpses of the bottom. Luckily the mortgage on our modest 2 up, 2 down, 250 year old, Scottish stone, terraced cottage at Leuchars wasn’t excessive and we had pared our living expenses down to the bone. The sniff of some flying work for British Aerospace down at their factory at Warton, however, was very, very welcome. RAF Warton during construction in 1938 The TSR2 and Panavia Tornado, both built at Warton The Eurofighter Typhoon, soon to begin construction at Warton The F3 Tornado in weather The BAe Hawk The Joint Tactical Information Display System An F3 Tornado with a towed decoy A Monarch Airways Airbus A300 Images shown under a Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, the MOD, British Aerospace, British Aircraft Corporation, the USAF, the USN, DoD and Monarch Airways.
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19:01