Ted Thorn

The only time you'll see the word 'Spitfire' in this blog post is in this very sentence, but please bear with me ...

Have you ever heard of the idea of six degrees of separation? The idea that every human on earth is connected to every other human via a maximum of six links ("A knows B, who knows C", etc)? Well, even though we are Dutch and were born and raised in Holland, it turns out that we are connected to a Battle of Britain fighter pilot via only two links ... 

Neil, a former member of our sport kite team mentioned to us recently that his father flew a Defiant in the Battle of Britain. He never knew his father, as he was killed in a crash when Neil was just 16 months old. It didn't take us long to identify Neil's father: ER 'Ted' Thorn (shown in the picture on the left, with moustache).

And Google was helpful finding a few other pictures showing Ted Thorn.

The Defiant was designed as a bomber destroyer. Ted Thorn and his gunner Fred Barker (the Defiant had a crew of two: pilot and gunner) were the most successful Defiant crew during the war, first flying missions during daylight and later in a nightfighter. The 13th and final bomber they shot down was a Heinkel 111, on April 9, 1941.

More information on what happened during that day can be found here. To honour the crew of that Heinkel (one survived, three were killed), a statue was recently unveiled along Hambledon Road near Godalmimg, on the site of the crash.

Ted Thorn was killed on February 12, 1946, when the Gloster Meteor jet he was flying crashed. He was buried in St Peters churchyard, Bishops Waltham.

This cemetery is not far from where we live, so we felt we ought to pay it a visit and see if we could find his grave.

At the entrance of the cemetery is a memorial, on the plinth of which the name E.R. Thorn is inscribed.

It didn't take us long to find Ted Thorn's grave.

As a token of respect, we had brought some flowers.

But not only did we bring some flowers, we also brought two scale models of a Defiant. Both are sporting the letters 'PS', the code for 264 squadron in which Ted Thorn served (though I don't know whether he actually flew either of these Defiants).

One of these models is of a Defiant used in daylight operations ...

... and one is of a nightfighter. 

Both models in their rightful place on Ted Thorn's gravestone ...

If you're interested in knowing some more about the role of the Defiant in the Battle of Britain, this book by Robert Verkaik gives a lot of information, on the development, strenghts and weakness of the aircraft, as well as on its operation history and the politics around its use in the war.

Not surprisingly, Ted Thorn and Fred Barker are mentioned more than once!

'Merlins over Malta' Spitfire

In September 2005, a Spitfire and a Hurricane flew over Malts, to mark 60 years since the end of WWII, and to commemorate the fighting that took place over the island. This event was named 'Merlins over Malta'.

I managed to obtain a model of the Spitfire that was used for 'Merlins over Malta'.

As far as I can tell, these are pictures of the actual Spitfire that flew over Malta, both before and after it was painted blue.

Two books are recommended if you're interested to know more; one a military history book, the other containing the personal experiences of one of the pilots flying in the battle then and there.

Spitfire mural

By chance, I recently stumbled on a mention that the Premier Inn near Southampton Airport has a Spitfire mural in the lobby ... As that's just a 10-minute or so drive, needed to check that out, of course!

And, sure enough:

The mural clearly is a photo of the Spitfire model on the Mitchell Way roundabout (compare the propellers if you're in any doubt):

SEAC Spitfire

SEAC (South East Asia Command) was the Allied body in charge of military operations in Southeast Asia in WWII. I came across a model of a Spitfire with the SEAC blue-in-blue roundels: a Mk XIV Spit, with a five-bladed prop, and clipped wings. Being a Mk XIV, it's currently the most recent Spitfire in the collection.

As far as I can work out, this is a picture of the actual plane. It was flown by James 'Ginger' Lacey, based at RAF Selatar, Singapore, in late 1945.

Tangmere Aviation Museum

During the Easter break, both last year and this year, we paid a visit to Tangmere Aviation Museum (they have so much on display that one visit really isn't enough to take it all in!). This blog post combines pictures and information from these two visits (and there will be more visits in the future, I'm sure).

Lots of displays and other information on a wide range of airplanes, including, obviously, Spitfires.

This is a replica of a cockpit from a Mark IX Spit.

And, of course, they have a Merlin engine on display!

And then there is this display, around a replica of the Spitfire prototype.

And, no, I don't mean this scale model ...

... I mean a full-size replica!

Next to the replica aircraft is a 'replica' of RJ Mitchell, sitting at his desk.

And the display also includes some design drawings.

I came across this small display of 'sweetheart brooches', very similar to the brooch I got from Penny!

Hot chocolate in the small cafe comes with a Spitfire silhoutte!

Finally, among the Spitfire-related objects in the museum is this cockpit rear-view mirror.

And this is the picture that just had to be taken ...

1938 Spitfire

The very first Spitfires had a 2-bladed prop, and it took me quite some time before I could add a model of a 1938 Spitfire, with 2-bladed prop, to the collection.

It's a model of K9789, the third Spit ever produced, and I couldn't find a picture of this particular aircraft.

Unlike many of my models, this model has a pilot in the cockpit.

I like to think it's Jeffrey Quill, Supermarine's most famous test pilot. He writes about flying this specific aircraft in his book: