Indians For Guns

I came across an interesting thread in SIGForum.
http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/ ... 7640091662
This was about a visit to the D-Day museum.

Apart from some interesting equipment images, there is a photo of a Spitfire named "Gurgaon II Punjab"
I found out some interesting info about this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maitri/33685206/

Gurgaon 2 Punjab.
Gurgaon is now in the state of Haryana.
But during the World War it was indeed a part of Punjab.
Punjab -- The land of 5 rivers.
Extending from what is today Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh and the Punjab which went to Pakistan.

xl-target you never fail in history! and guns.

In those pictures:

1. Rolls Royce Merlin, used in Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancasters, Mosquitos, and other aircraft. Also made by Packard in the USA (Packard versions were preferred for highly stressed applications) and were used in the later and more common versions of the P-51 Mustang.

2. & 3. USA M3 Halftrack. (Could be an M2, but I tend to think it's an M3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Half-track

4. M4 Sherman tank. I can't quite tell from the angle of the photo, but this could be the M4A4 variant, which used an engine comprised of five 6 cylinder (yes, that's 30 cylinders!) Chrysler industrial engines. Note that the hull of the tank is not cast, it is welded, made of flat slabs. The forward gear box is cast, however. Also, additional side armor slabs are welded to the hull. Next to the Sherman is what I believe to be a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 14 cylinder radial engine, used in B-24 Liberators, Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and F4F Grumman Wildcat fighters, along with other aircraft.

5. Jeep. The R-1830 is next to it.

6. 7. & 8. Some kind of landing craft -- don't know anything about them.

9. C-47 Skytrain (the British called them "Dakota" -- these were the militarized version of the DC-3 commercial liner) painted in "Operation Overlord" scheme -- these were the three stripe designs used for the Normandy landings.

10. US Navy SBD Douglas dive bomber, used mainly at the beginning of the war. These aircraft were made famous at the naval Battle of Midway for sinking 4 Japanese carriers and turning the tide of the Pacific War.

11. RAF Supermarine Spitfire. I'm not good with Spitfire marks, but I believe this Spitfire to be one of the earlier marks.

12. Me 109 Messerschmidt. I'm not the best at Me 109 versions, either, but this one seems to be an later one, as there are no bracing struts for the tailplane surfaces that I can see.

The rest are the same subjects from different angles.

Please look at the link again. He added some more photos to the post.

Tim,
The Spitfire BL370 should be a Spitfire Mk V. It is not easy to tell with Spits as there were 24 variants with many sub-variants. As such it should have the large Hipano-Suiza wing cannon rather than the .303 ports shown on it.

The Me 109 though is a later variant (F through K) due to the lack of tailplane struts and the lack of wing guns. Once again its hard to tell the variant shown from just seeing one side.

xl: I'm sure no whiz at Spitfire spotting: I'd always assumed that the Mk V Spits had that ugly chin scoop, but that's not so.

Here's another page on that same Spitfire: http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregi ... bl370.html

I did catch the absence of tailplane struts on the Me 109. I would have felt more comfortable if I could have seen the left hand side for a view of the supercharger intake -- that's the more "interesting" side of the aircraft.

timmy wrote:xl: I'm sure no whiz at Spitfire spotting: I'd always assumed that the Mk V Spits had that ugly chin scoop, but that's not so.

Here's another page on that same Spitfire: http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregi ... bl370.html

I did catch the absence of tailplane struts on the Me 109. I would have felt more comfortable if I could have seen the left hand side for a view of the supercharger intake -- that's the more "interesting" side of the aircraft.

Tim,
Yes, it's unfortunate that he only showed the right side of the 109. I googled for other images of the same aircraft in that museum but didn't come up with a left side image.
Slightly OT, In my 1911-22 thread, I posted a photo of the pistol which included an image of a book with the page displaying the 109's REVI C gunsite (as being of interest to a WW2 bomber pilot - note the B3 jacket). I figured for sure that you would catch it.

BTW, take a look at the original link again. The poster has added photos of Axis and Allied small arms now.

Brings back fond memories of my time in the US when as a budding aviator i would visit all warbirds museums i could find. @xltarget i love the pic with the sheepskin bomber jacket and the 1911 wonder if the knife is a variant of the Fairbairn Sykes

captrakshitsharma wrote:Brings back fond memories of my time in the US when as a budding aviator i would visit all warbirds museums i could find. @xltarget i love the pic with the sheepskin bomber jacket and the 1911 wonder if the knife is a variant of the Fairbairn Sykes

Its actually a 440 Stainless boot knife (with a metal boot clip) with thumb snap. It is a double edged dagger but wider and shorter than the typical Wilkinson type Fairbairn-Sykes. The reason I didn't show the blade is that a friend tried to put an edge on it and damaged the finish. I will have to have it professionally redone as it has a lot of sentimental value.
The blade shape is similar to this one:

xl: I have that same Revi C picture in The Great Book of World War II Airplanes[/quote] -- at least, it looks the same! I haven't had a chance to comment on the new pics he posted...

xl, I bought it for $10 at a gun show in Albuquerque, and paid another $10 for "The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft." My two sons grew up loving those books.

Nothing like a gun show, is there?

BTW, I also traded some old bike parts for a Campagnolo derailleur at the same show -- lots of useful things go on at gun shows!

Apparently my first flight was in a Dakota, when I was precisely 22 days old, on the Udaipur-Ahmedabad leg in Jan 1969. Indian Airlines was still flying them then on shorter routes. Probably remnants of old private airlines, who in turn had bought them at auction post the War. My father tells me they were like jeeps, bumpy rides et al and that the stewardess' would give out brown paper paper barf bags instead of the hot towels they do now.

Meanwhile, WW2 jeeps are still running around today, despite them being designed for maximum of 90 days service only! In fact my grandfather's Willys MB is still with me. I know a person who even has the amphibious version.

Talking of Spits, I remember reading of a Spit being found in Pune about 10-15 years ago. If I'm not wrong there is an IAF memorial flight with biplanes too based out of Safdarjung. Don't know how far this is true.

In 1995 I remember seeing a pair of P51s in flight over Yangon(Rangoon) airport. Apparently they used them for training.

Not too far off topic, these are from last month:


Checking out a newly installed preoiller, had an oil leak that needed checking on.


Had a bit of a delay to chase down an oil drip, but all was good to go.

Vultee BT-13


Pratt & Whitney R985, 450 hp

Katana wrote:the stewardess' would give out brown paper paper barf bags instead of the hot towels they do now.

Err, you're not supposed to throw up on the hot towels. The barf bag these days is situated in front of your seat along with the safety brief.

Speaking of Indian Spits,

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Aircr ... tfire.html