Airfix 1/72 Halifix B 3

[Allan]

Picked this one up at our hobby club swap and sell and am really looking forward to making it as my late godfather flew a tour of ops over Germany in 1944 with 640 Squadron and want to model his plane.
I'll call his daughter later on in the week to ask if she knows what Uncle Fred's code letter where, assuming he flew the same plane all the time, and also if he had any personal markings on the nose.
There is a bloke called Bill Norman who had done some work on the history of 640 Squadron and I am trying to contact him through the net, but no luck yet. Any help?
Allan
also need to know if the bulge, some sort of radar I assume, on the underside of the fus was in use in mid 1944. If not, I'll have to remove it.
Won't go to town on the pilot's cockpit/seat/ instrument panel with this one. Any tips on making it look presentable, but not too cluttered???

[MikeD]

The bulge will be H2S, I think. A ground scanning radar for improving target identification and navigation.



(Image from http://robertalfredjay.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/appendix-xvi-navigation.html)

It was in general service from 1943.

[Tophe]

Is Halifix in the title (not Halifax?) a joke or a promess of unreal version?  or a mistyping?

[Allan]

it's a typo, Tophe, and where in France are you?
and I've contacted the Yorkshire Air Museum to ask if hey know how Mr Norman may be contacted
Allan in Canberra

[Tophe]

I am in the South-east of France near Lyon city. Did your grandfather fly over here in 1944?

[XV107]

Allan,

If you don't mind paying £3.45 a time (and know relevant dates), then you can download the 640 Squadron F540s (the operational record books) from the National Archives:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C2504797

Two caveats - it is not guaranteed that the detail of which crew flew which aircraft where (although it should be in there and a browse of the pixilated image view for one file suggests that the detail is present), so caveat emptor.

The link should work; but if not, go into Discovery, their catalogue, put in 640 Squadron as the search term and browse through the AIR 27 files. (Why the PRO [being old-fashioned...] has such a user-unfriendly catalogue is puzzling, but there you go)

[Allan]

my godfather, Tophe, completed a tour on Halifaxes in 1944 and flew over Germany mostly but also, er, attended to some French targets...will look into this and tell you more...Lyon, is that the gastronomic centre of France with the wonderful inexpensive restaurants? a few years ago my wife went on a one day tour of Paris from London and had a wonderful time, but were warned to be careful of pickpockets near the Eiffel Tower and on the metro...is it the same where you live or is it safer and less dangerous in smaller French cities?...the reason I ask is that we were thinking of going to France and spending some time pretending to be French, eating at modest cafes and travelling by train to Italy or perhaps Germany and want to know more about basic safety in cities other than Paris...can you advise?
Allan

[PR19_Kit]

(Why the PRO [being old-fashioned...] has such a user-unfriendly catalogue is puzzling, but there you go)

Perhaps they don't want the records to be TOO 'public'?

[zenrat]

(Why the PRO [being old-fashioned...] has such a user-unfriendly catalogue is puzzling, but there you go)

Perhaps they don't want the records to be TOO 'public'?

Sheer volume of records and the cost of updating the catalogue to a more user friendly system?

[Allan]

I'll call my godfather's daughter today to ask about his Halibag

[Captain Canada]

Great stuff Allan. It`s nice to see respect paid in such a fashion, and it`s great to keep history alive as well ! Is it a new kit ?

[Allan]

no, Captain, it's the old Airfix kit, so I think I can get away with just sprucing up the cockpit a wee bit and the postions on the other crew members won't be very visible though the thickish canopy

[Captain Canada]

Either way, you`ll knock it out of the park 

[Allan]

his daughter says she might have a shot of her Dad in front of his plane and will send me a copy if she finds it

[Tophe]

my godfather, Tophe, completed a tour on Halifaxes in 1944 and flew over Germany mostly but also, er, attended to some French targets...will look into this and tell you more...Lyon, is that the gastronomic centre of France with the wonderful inexpensive restaurants? a few years ago my wife went on a one day tour of Paris from London and had a wonderful time, but were warned to be careful of pickpockets near the Eiffel Tower and on the metro...is it the same where you live or is it safer and less dangerous in smaller French cities?...the reason I ask is that we were thinking of going to France and spending some time pretending to be French, eating at modest cafes and travelling by train to Italy or perhaps Germany and want to know more about basic safety in cities other than Paris...can you advise?
Allan

Sorry, I am no expert at all in tourism. And I am even paranoid avoiding to go outside...
For the allied bombardment of France, this is a big subject, I have read a very interesting English book with unusual critics of the Allied propaganda.