Hurricane Crash Buckingham Palace Road

[Sgt Pilot Bernard Henson RAFVR]

The As It Happens Digging Up of The Hurricane That Crashed On BP Road after Taking out an Enemy Aircraft by Lopping Off his Tail with His Wing After Running Out Of Ammo! On Channel 5 TV {UK} Tonight:9.00pm;~~~ Should be Fun If Only To See How They Manage To Dig It Out & Avoid The Traffic!

[SteveB]

Did you manage to see the program?
Where they able to dig it up?

SteveB

[Sgt Pilot Bernard Henson RAFVR]

Originally posted by SteveB@Jun 4 2004, 09:00 PM
Did you manage to see the program?
Where they able to dig it up?

SteveB

Yes It was dug up live on TV {They only had the Quiet period of Bank Holiday To "Fit It In"}They found most of the Engine{Badly Smashed On One Side,The Other In Good Order},Part of the Dash Board,The Joystick & Gun "Tit",& Various pieces of Aluminium & Rubber Tubing,Etc;From About 15~20 Foot Down;A Most Interesting Exercise & Very Historic,The Pilot Was There Albiet a Tad Bewildered with all the Fuss & Slightly Bemused with the TV Presenters Gushing @ his Heroics~He Still Maintained It was Just His Job~He Had Chewed the Tail of The Intruder When His Ammo Ran Out,Which was the Cause of his Own Near Demise!,The Enemy Craft Crashed outside A London Railway Station,There was a Simaultaneous Excavation of a Spitfire which had Crashed In A French Forset,{Piloted By An Sergeant Australian,Who Was Also There & More Akin to the Media Attention}but Unfortunately the Dig Had to be Abandoned due to the Discovery of A Mass Of Aviation Fuel In The Crash Site! when They Got Down About 10 Feet!!!Sure Beat The Hell Out of so called "Reality TV"
PS:The Results Of The Dig Are Destined For The Hendon RAF Museum

[allanair]

Watched this programme with a lot of interest , and there was something special just watching the pilot of this plane,to him it was just another days work, so where have all these people gone today, or am I just getting old.




Regards Allan Wisener

[Sgt Pilot Bernard Henson RAFVR]

Originally posted by Allan Wisener@Jun 4 2004, 10:19 PM
, and there was something special just watching the pilot of this plane,to him it was just another days work, so where have all these people gone today, or am I just getting old.




Regards Allan Wisener

I totally agree!I think its a "Duty" thing;today every body wants to be a Celebrity just for the sake of Celebrity,to him going out in a Hurricane,Dogfighting then ramming an enemy Plane & having to bale out was just "routine"if anything the poor chap looked slightly embarassed by the whole kerfuffle,I have found an original interveiw with him from 1940 in War Illustrated,He was very blase about it then too!I think were all getting old!!natures way of telling us to slow down.

[SteveB]

Hi Comrades,

I went o the Imperial War Museum today, and the engine from the Hurricane discussed on this thread is now on display in the main foyer.
I will now attempt to attach a picture of it.

Cheers
SteveB

[Sgt Pilot Bernard Henson RAFVR]

Excellent A Fine Resting Place For It!
Thanks For Sharing That!!

[Harry Ree]

I remember Ray Holmes's story from long ago.A Sgt Pilot from the Battle of Britain.One thing we should remember is that the majority of the few were Sgt Pilots like Ray and quite a number were members of the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve.
The documentary did not reveal Ray's service after the Battle of Britain which would have been interesting.

I do remember that the Dornier Pilot was reported as being lynched although this was not fully revealed in the documentary.

Interestingly a Polish Pilot was nearly lynched after bailing out when he was mistaken for a Luftwaffe pilot during the Battle of Britain.A dangerous situation to be in, speaking a foreign language after bailing out over what you think is friendly territory.