TBG - Bulleid Nutters New Blog

Beautiful model, one of the first kits I built, nowhere near as good as that though. I will have to show this to my girlfriend, her grandfather flew Wellingtons then went on to Lancasters with the RCAF in WW2. 

Last time I had a close look at a Wimpey, it had just arrived at Weybridge on a back of lorry from Loch Ness. We connected the electrics to the lorry battery and were delighted to find that the lights still worked.

Its now sitting in Brooklands Museum.

 

The first guy I was working with as an apprentice at Weybridge was Ted Walker. He told me that his first job as a "boy" was to assist in assessing the damage to aircraft that had been returned to Weybridge for repair. His job was to find the bullet hole in the skin and trace where the bullet had bounced off the structure and log each point.

 

These aircraft were very popular with aircrews as they had good survivability in combat. i.e. they could soak up a lot a bullets and still fly home. An advantage shared with the Hurricane that was also being produced on the other side of the track (The Byfleet side of the site).

 

I recall that Barnes Wallis was proposing a bigger version to carry his bouncing bomb. I think it was either going to be a four, six or even eight engined monster. But this design was dropped by the War Office in favour of the new Lancaster which itself was an improved version of the two engine Manchester Bomber. So if you fancy doing some kit bashing there are two prime candidates.

Last time I had a close look at a Wimpey, it had just arrived at Weybridge on a back of lorry from Loch Ness. We connected the electrics to the lorry battery and were delighted to find that the lights still worked.

Its now sitting in Brooklands Museum.

 

The first guy I was working with as an apprentice at Weybridge was Ted Walker. He told me that his first job as a "boy" was to assist in assessing the damage to aircraft that had been returned to Weybridge for repair. His job was to find the bullet hole in the skin and trace where the bullet had bounced off the structure and log each point.

 

These aircraft were very popular with aircrews as they had good survivability in combat. i.e. they could soak up a lot a bullets and still fly home. An advantage shared with the Hurricane that was also being produced on the other side of the track (The Byfleet side of the site).

 

I recall that Barnes Wallis was proposing a bigger version to carry his bouncing bomb. I think it was either going to be a four, six or even eight engined monster. But this design was dropped by the War Office in favour of the new Lancaster which itself was an improved version of the two engine Manchester Bomber. So if you fancy doing some kit bashing there are two prime candidates.

 

I got told about the lights working, by various ex-Weybridge employees, who ended up at Dunsfold (some via Kingston, others went direct)

 

Funnily enough the guy who taught me the dark art's of Tinsmithry was ex-Weybridge lad, Jesse (John) James was his name - he was no cowboy though. He was there when R for Robert came 'home' to Weybridge, he recalled how eerie it was.