Vertigo Grumman Avenger in P3D - info and opinions, please

[Paul K]

Very nice, Jens, though I couldn't comment on the font.

I do like the Avenger ( the real one, not the Vertigo one ). There's been a couple flying in the UK over the years, one owned by Tony Haig-Thomas, which is now based in France, and another that was owned by OFMC - someone will now tell me they were one and the same aircraft . Duxford's static Avenger has now been moved out of the American Air Museum building, and is to be repainted in Fleet Air Arm colours - maybe BPF ? Maybe with that mystery font, Jens ? It'll be interesting to see when it's done.

By the way, one of my favourite books is 'Flights of Passage' by Samuel Hynes; his recollections of flying USMC Avengers during the Pacific War. Considering he's a professor of literature, the book's title is a dreadfully clumsy play on words, but it is one of the best aviation memoirs I've ever read.

[petermcleland]

Hi Paul...I knew Tony H-T when he was on 8 Squadron in Aden and at other places in Arabia...I wonder if you have read his book "Fall Out Roman Catholics and Jews"...It is a very good read and the book is extremely well produced with a large number of excellent photos of various aircraft...When I knew him we were on Venom FB4s and Hunter FGA 9s, but he did manage to fly an amazing variety of aircraft in his time in the RAF. If I ever wrote a book I think I would use his publisher because of the outstanding quality of his book. It was published in 2008 by Old Forge Publishing, Lincolnshire and its number is ISBN 978-1-906183-04-2.

[Paul K]

Peter, thanks very much indeed. His book is available through Amazon, so I shall put it on my list - it sounds fascinating. Do you get a mention, by any chance ?

I think his Avenger was one of the first privately owned warbirds on the U.K. airshow scene in the 1980's, before Stephen Grey and Ray Hanna started their collections - that's the feeling I have, because it was such an unlikely aircraft to see in Britain at that time. Things have progressed since, of course. From what I've read, Tony is still very active in the aviation preservation world, though I don't know whether he continues to fly.

[petermcleland]

Peter, thanks very much indeed. His book is available through Amazon, so I shall put it on my list - it sounds fascinating. Do you get a mention, by any chance ?

No, I'm not mentioned in his book...He was on 8 squadron in Aden and I was on 208 squadron in Nairobi, so we only met when I was moving around Arabia with 208 squadron...We always stayed at Kormaksar for a bit of time before moving on to Sharjah or Bahrain or Kuwait or wherever!. When I last saw him it was in 2009 and he signed my copy of his book...This was at Old Warden and I think he was the Boss there then...The event was a gathering of ex Hunter pilots and there was a great air display.

[T6flyer]

I've known Tony since the late 1980s and ground crewed on the Avenger for two years and then flew with him in his Harvard, Super Cub and Jet Provost. Wonderful, wonderful character and I fully recommend his book. Well worth a read.

See I haven't gone, even though all my sim stuff has!

Best wishes,

Martin

[JensOle]

To go with the Avenger I'm making a little HMS Formidable remembrance pack with both new textures for the Flying Stations Victorious to make it look like Formidable as it looked during the later BPF ops and textures for the AF Corsair as "133" of 1841 NAS.

Just one Norwegian pilot took part in the British Pacific Fleet operations in 1945 and that was Lt. Inge Storheill. He had first flown Northrop-N3PB floatplanes with the first Norwegian squadron to be activated after the fall of Norway, 330 Sqn at Iceland. Later on he attended the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth and ended up as a fighter pilot in the Fleet Air Arm in 1944. From February 1945 to the Japanese surrender he flew Corsairs with 1841 NAS from HMS Formidable. The most famous pilot from 1841 is without doubt Lt. R H Grey which posthumously was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions with sinking a Japanese escort ship on 9 august 1945 during a Ramrod over Japan. Storheill flew as Greys wingman on this mission. He was himself hit on a mission the next day flying Corsair IV KD560 “133” and made a successful ditching near the USS Yorktown of the Japanese coast.

[DaveB]

Nice one Jens.. looking forward to it

ATB
DaveB

[JensOle]

It has been uploaded over at the SoH. Enjoy!

[DaveB]

Cheers

ATB
DaveB