Just found some interesting economic facts of the cost of waging the air war as regards the USAAF. Average cost of laying down a new airfield. £1million as previously said. USAAF airfield requirements were first put at 75 but as the war progressed,the number of airfields developed for the USAAF increased to a total of 250,to which the US Government contributed £40 million (not £25 million) from a total cost of £645 million.(not £650 million) Such was the pace of construction of airfields when the US entered the war,that the Air Ministry commissioned 77 airfields in 1942.
I see that Kee's book is currently on e bay. David I always check the prices on www.alibris.co.uk, Amazon.co.uk: Low Prices in Electronics, Books, Sports Equipment & more and AbeBooks Official Site - New & Used Books, New & Used Textbooks, Rare & Out of Print Books before I buy from ebay. I have often found that they are cheaper than on ebay... At least with those websites they sometimes have reviews of books and if not you can put them on. Alibris is my favourite. I just ordered a book for Sgt Nunn that he had only seen for £25 for £13 (inc p&p) and it was practically brand new! Dee
David I always check the prices on Alibris UK: Second-hand books, Rare & Out-of-Print Books, Textbooks, Amazon.co.uk: Low Prices in Electronics, Books, Sports Equipment & more and AbeBooks Official Site - New & Used Books, New & Used Textbooks, Rare & Out of Print Books before I buy from ebay. I have often found that they are cheaper than on ebay... At least with those websites they sometimes have reviews of books and if not you can put them on. Alibris is my favourite. I just ordered a book for Sgt Nunn that he had only seen for £25 for £13 (inc p&p) and it was practically brand new! Dee Another one I use is BookFinder.com: Search for New & Used Books, Textbooks, Out-of-Print and Rare Books Better quit before I get a rocket from Gage for getting off topic!
Yes please, David. I'm interested. And I still have this question: Kee writes that one bomber went out to drop one mine off Terschelling. But the thing about mines is that any one mine has a low probablility of blowing up a ship. So it makes sense to drop a whole lot of them together. Why just one? As I understand it, the aerial mines used by the RAF were quite large, and the Hampden was one of the few aircraft capable of carrying them - although only one at a time! Although you're quite right in suggesting that it seems to make little sense to send individual aircraft out to drop these weapons, the shipping around the Friesian Islands used known sea lanes, and so the mission planners must have known in which general area to drop them. According to his logbook, Adams had flown with Kee only three times, and that over a period of two days. They hadn't flown together on operations. Interestingly, he had also flown two training flights with the commander of 'A' Flight, Squadron Leader Campbell. Whilst at 44 Squadron he had mostly flown with a Pilot Officer MacLagan on operations to Kiel, Dusseldorf, Cologne and Brest. If I can get it to work, attached is a photo of James Adams (on the left) during his Wireless Operator/Air Gunner training at Yatesbury in 1941. Hopefully this is 'on topic'!
I have only just come across this site, and I hope that you are still interested in this thread! Kee and his crew previously flew with 44 Squadron. I understand that 420 (Snowy Owl) Squadron was formed at RAF Waddington, and the crews (and quite possibly aircraft) were simply moved across, Canadian nationality clearly being unimportant! My interest in this is to do with Sgt. Adams, one of Kee's gunners, who was killed in the crash. He was the uncle of a friend of mine. If there is further interest, I am happy to expand further on the history, as I have his logbook and service history. As I understand it, the aerial mines used by the RAF were quite large, and the Hampden was one of the few aircraft capable of carrying them - although only one at a time! Although you're quite right in suggesting that it seems to make little sense to send individual aircraft out to drop these weapons, the shipping around the Friesian Islands used known sea lanes, and so the mission planners must have known in which general area to drop them. According to his logbook, Adams had flown with Kee only three times, and that over a period of two days. They hadn't flown together on operations. Interestingly, he had also flown two training flights with the commander of 'A' Flight, Squadron Leader Campbell. Whilst at 44 Squadron he had mostly flown with a Pilot Officer MacLagan on operations to Kiel, Dusseldorf, Cologne and Brest. If I can get it to work, attached is a photo of James Adams (on the left) during his Wireless Operator/Air Gunner training at Yatesbury in 1941. Hopefully this is 'on topic'! Thanks David. Good stuff.
Dear David, Hoping you are still reading this side but Iam very interested in the history of all those brave men buried her on the cemetery Vredenhof her on “my” island Schiermonnikoog The cemetery is tended by me voluntarely for more then fourty years, and since that time I am trying to find out as much as possibel about those men her resting it resulted in letters pictures and documents of almost every grave Very special are the buriel pictures of every buriel during the war years and the German documents after the dead of each person So you can understand why every small detail so important is for me and for the history in the future... Hearing from you would be great w.groendijk@schiermonnikoog.nl
vredenhof s., Alas David Fairhead has not been aboard since April 2012. You could try a private message to him, assuming the email address he gave originally is valid. Click on your name and use 'Start a Conversation'. Otherwise you might have to try a message to others who contributed now twelve years ago.
