Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

That's a bit harsh. It's only a bit of fun.

 

I wouldn't call honouring those who fought & fell for our freedom "a bit of fun", Lee........

I would love to see 34007 suitably bedecked........ & the Swanage is already sorted with Manston, so what would the BB do with Blackmore Vale?......

 

Dave,

You got the wrong end of the stick. I mean renumbering/renaming locos in general.

 

Maybe we both have Lee!

I agree renaming & numbering loco's is a bit of "fun", or going the whole hog a la Bittern!

BUT given the looming anniversary of the BoB, and given the apparent sombre & reflective mood generated by the poppies at the Tower of London, why shouldn't the heritage lines in the South in possession of a BoB or WC for a short time rename & number said loco to honour those who fought & fell?

As for 34007, was there (without looking) a local BoB airfield in the New Forest she could carry the guise of?...........

 

None that had a loco named after them. Those that did were 11 Group airfields, the New Forest area (why chose the New Forest anyway?) was in 10 Group.

 

Can anyone tell me where Tangmere is currently ? I thought it was at Carnforth, but apparently it isn't.... ?

David

 

Err, given the proximity of the MHR to the New Forest..............

Just me being "Southern" centric, I suppose.........

Anyway, its just a thought, if it happens it would be nice, if it doesn't - hey ho!

At least the NVR is sorted with 92.

 

Blimey, it's a bit of a walk from the Mad Hants to the New Forest. There were Fighter Command air bases much closer. Middle Wallop, the 10 Group sector station, for one. I for one think it was a disgrace that AVM Sir Quintin Brand, AOC 10 Group, never got a loco named after him. He never let down Park at 11 Group when assistance was called for, yet Leigh-Mallory at 12 Group was always striving to undermine Park and questioning his tacts and he gets a loco. Renaming a loco after Brand would get my vote.

 

Long way from the MHR to the New Forest!

I suspect of the well known BoB airfields, Middle Wallop is probably closest - home to 609 Squadron. See http://battleofbritainblog.com/airfields/raf-middle-wallop/

I'd have thought the nearest airfield to the MHR that actually had an engine named after it was probably Tangmere, but that is still quite a stretch.

Edit: Spamcan said much the same.

Tom

 

Who said anything about walking?......... its not that far as the crow flies!

And thanks for the history lesson , as you can probably tell, I'm not well up on the history of the RAF!!

 

I agree that Leigh-Mallory doesn't come out of it well, and that Brand would have been more deserving. I do wonder a bit if the naming of a loco after him was in response to a bit of late pressure from somewhere though. Look at the numbering sequence. '51 is Churchill, '52 Dowding, '53 Park. So far, so good. Then we get a mix of other figures, bases, aircraft and squadrons, with mostly squadrons as we get up to 34090 and Sir Eustace Missenden. Finally, when somebody notices that the build run is nearly finished, and there still isn't a Leigh-Mallory, there he is out at 34109.

There's a colour photo somewhere of 34052 in surprisingly clean condition hauling vans on 7th July 1967. I like to think that whoever put that effort in for a loco days from the end of Southern steam appreciated the importance of the man it was named for.

 

Of course by the time '109 was named, Leigh-Mallory was dead so perhaps someone felt the need for a posthumous honour.

 

Interesting there is no Sir Robert Watson Watt. Was his name (and contribution) still classified in the 1945 - 50 time period?

Tom

 

You could add Reginald Mitchell and Sydney Camm to a very long list of others whose contribution to victory in the BoB was not recognised by the SR/BR(S) naming programme.

 

BR(S) Eastleigh Depot were naming their 33s after Aircraft and engines developed from the Spitfire designed by Reginald Mitchell. The SELGs 33065 was named Sealion for example and others were Merlin, Griffon etc.
Our other Loco 33063, was named Reginald Mitchell in honour of him some years ago, we had a flypast by the BoB but sadly his Grandson was too ill to attend on the day. 33063 proudly carries his name and designer of the Spitfire nameplates to this day. They are very popular with the general pubic to be photographed next too and I am often asked by German visitors to the Spa Valley Railway to take their photo standing next to them when I am driving him.

Brian

 

If its marking the anaversary of the BoBs then surely it would be incredible to see Winston Churchill running in steam that would be nice to see

 

The policy regarding the airfields and the squadrons was, supposedly, they all had to have been part of 11 Group during the BoB. The airfields certainly were but there's a few anomalies with the Squadrons. IIRC one squadron commemorated by the SR was nominally northern based but had one flight detached to 11 Group.

 

2015 is the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain as a conflict nit the class of Bulleid Pacifics, that's what the recent sub thread has been about.

 

It would be nice but I cant see it happening its a rather big commitment and we're not exactly short of Mr Bulleid's pacifics that we can put a match in the firebox are we? Nice gesture from Mr Hosking though it would be nice to see a few more temporary rename/ numberings. Maybe some sort of display around 5080 at Quainton explaining about why some Castles carried those names. Wasn't just the Southern who named loco's after WW 2 aircraft!