SPITFIRE 944

In 2005, an 83 year-old World War II pilot is surprised to see 16mm footage of his 1944 Spitfire crash for the first time.

VINTAGE WW2 PHOTOS HIDDEN FOR 71 YEARS

Spitfire "tipping-off" a V1. If you've never heard of this insane tactic ....... At first V1's were shot down by gunfire. .With the high risk of being blown up, some of the best pilots started tipping the V1's wing, because of damage to wing tips they later developed a tactic of disrupting the airflow by placing their wing very close to the V1's wing, causing it to topple. Not every pilot did this. At night this was not possible, the flame from the V1 blinded the pilot to everything else, though some Mossie pilots flew past closely in front of the V1, again causing it to topple. The thought of doing this at 450mph, 4,000 feet above the ground, at night, and being blinded gives me the willies.

THE COOLEST RAF PILOT OF WORLD WAR TWO

His name was Francis Mellersh, and it turns out his daughter is a friend-of-a-friend. She sends more of the story:We have the original of the photo, and the book (he was crazy about John Buchan) and that bloody pipe killed him in the end at 72. I'm afraid those who have been to war and daily diced with death are rather cavalier with their health. I'll tweet you a pic of him in his 60s...the red hair's faded to strawberry blonde but still recognisably the chap getting his hair cut.Read more HERE

ROYAL AIR FORCE WW2

Royal Air Force

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Spitfire nursed back to life after 11 year restoration

Rogue Gunner at the annual shows when its not raining

You would have thought I would have had enough of military vehicles from my time in the army, as I cleaned and painted enough of them in my time, never mind wrecked a few on exercise.