Thought I'd start a thread on damaged aircraft that made it back to English bases.
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During World War Two, thousands of allied bombers, many of them severely damaged and carrying critically wounded crew, limped back across the North Sea to their home bases in eastern England. But in many cases they couldn’t make it back to their assigned units due to fuel shortages, poor weather or flight control systems completely shot out by enemy fighters and ground fire. As a result, three unusually long and wide landing strips were constructed from Kent to Yorkshire, enabling crippled aircraft to recover safely when their chances of reaching a conventional runway were marginal at best.
The single 9,000 ft strips were built at RAF Manston in Kent, RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk and RAF Carnaby in Yorkshire. At 750 ft wide, they were more than five times the width of conventional wartime runways.
The northernmost of the three landing strips, RAF Carnaby opened in March 1944 two miles from the seaside town of Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire. In the relatively short period between its opening and the end of the war, more than 1,400 bombers made emergency landings there. One of 15 bases equipped with the ‘FIDO‘ fog dispersal system, Carnaby remained operational into the Cold War as a Thor missile base.
As the closest emergency landing ground to the front, RAF Manston soon became an aircraft graveyard for heavy bombers. Severely damaged over mainland Europe and destined never to fly again, their heroic hulks littering the edges of the strip."
Source - The Three RAF Runways - Album on Imgur
Most, if not all returning crews & aircraft had remarkable stories of courage attached.
If anyone has a photo and story of a aircraft or crew, fill free to post it with all sources named.
Cheers,
John
K for Kitty Crew - Winthorpe, 1661 HCU's - stirlingaircraftsoc.raf38group.org/
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
I am always in awe of the pilot who got this 51sqdn Hali back
51sqdn MZ465.jpg (66.86 KiB) Viewed 5495 times
MZ465-Y-51-Sqdn.jpg (73.14 KiB) Viewed 5494 times
There is no paralell in warfare, to such courage and determination in the face of danger, over so long a period. Such devotion, should never be forgotten.
Yes, great photo Alan. Do you know how the aircraft was damaged?
John
K for Kitty Crew - Winthorpe, 1661 HCU's - stirlingaircraftsoc.raf38group.org/
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
Collision with a 347sqdn Hali just after leaving Saarbrucken on 13th Jan 45, Bomb Aimer and Nav went down with the nose section, both killed. The French Hali crashed, all but 3 of the crew escaped by parachute.
There is no paralell in warfare, to such courage and determination in the face of danger, over so long a period. Such devotion, should never be forgotten.
Here are a few more. If anyone has images they'd like to add, please do so and list all sources, thanks.
John
K for Kitty Crew - Winthorpe, 1661 HCU's - stirlingaircraftsoc.raf38group.org/
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
Many thanks for those photos, David.
Here are a couple of Stirlings.
John
These images come from http://www.abpic.co.uk/search/
K for Kitty Crew - Winthorpe, 1661 HCU's - stirlingaircraftsoc.raf38group.org/
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
These gents were extremely lucky to make it back .............
John
K for Kitty Crew - Winthorpe, 1661 HCU's - stirlingaircraftsoc.raf38group.org/
630 Squadron - East Kirkby
" There is nothing glorious about war with the exception of those who served us so valiantly"
