Steven Westwood
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tamino78.bsky.social
Steven Westwood
@tamino78.bsky.social
120 followers 220 following 780 posts
Aussie ex-pat in France. Retired scientist, bibliophile, amateur historian. Primarily memorials to RAAF aircrew in NW Europe. Pics & info believed open source - please advise if not. Avatar: W/O Don Kairton 1921-1944. Banner: 105 Sqn Mosquito
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Can recommend "Wings For Victory" 👍
Reposted by Steven Westwood
Reposted by Steven Westwood
82 years ago today Flt Lt Peter Isaacson flew a Lancaster under Sydney Harbour Bridge
Despite this "indiscretion" he subsequently completed a full tour with 459 Sqn in the Middle East, became an OTU instructor and reached the rank of Flying Officer. In a confidential report a superior officer assessed him as "a keen and efficient instructor, but very headstrong" 😅
A quirky find in an RAAF service record. A handwritten summary of the court martial of a 23 y/o RAAF F/Sgt accused of (a) Causing a distrurbance in a brothel in Asmara (b) calling the MPs who arrested him "English yellow bellied bastards". Found guility of both charges and severely reprimanded. 😬
Nice article about a classic film. However it fails to address the big question - did the Parkes School Band really play the theme from Hawaii 5-0 in place of the Stars and Stripes to welcome the American Ambassador? - I think not but I can only hope they did.
The Dish: Fact vs fiction

The Dish is an Aussie classic, set at Murriyang, a.k.a the Parkes radio telescope. Most of the film is based on fact, but what was added for the sake of a (rollicking) good yarn?

www.csiro.au/en/news/All/... 🧪🔭
The Dish: Fact vs fiction
The Dish is an Aussie classic, set at Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope. Most of the film is based on fact, but what was added for the sake of a (rollicking) good yarn?
www.csiro.au
The podcast with Roland Perry hasnt dropped yet for non-Patreons but will be available soon at www.australianmilitaryhistorypodcast.com
As an aside, Perry is happy to express some strong opinions. Despite Oliphant's apparent enthusiasm, take his comments re "cold fusion" with a large grain of salt.
#histbookchat #SWW After listening to a podcast featuring this biography of Mark Oliphant it (the bio) has gone into the TBR (Kindle) pile. I had forgotten his critical role in the atomic bomb project (written out of Nolan's Oppenheimer) and in developing the cavity magnetron. A great Australian.
BK270 was shot down and crashed, bursting into flames, near Monchengladbach, again with the loss of all aircrew on board. Sgt Noonan is now buried along with his crewmates in the Rheinberg War Cemetery. His mother visited his grave in 1955. Sgt Hall is buried at Becklingen Cemetery. #LWF 🧵 6/6
On 15th October Sgt Noonan was WOp in BK270 for an attack on Cologne, the first since the “1000 Bomber” raid in late May. As for Sgt Hall, it was his 6th combat sortie. His pilot, 21 y/o F/Sgt John Jolley was the son of another serving pilot, the only father/son combination flying in the RCAF. 🧵 5/6
On 13th October Sgt Hall was WOp in Wellington DF664 on a raid targeting Kiel. His pilot, F/Sgt Wakeman, had been the second pilot on four earlier raids in which Noonan was the WOp. DF664 was shot down with the loss of all onboard, crashing into the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe. 🧵 4/6
They followed separate paths to the UK but were reunited when posted to RCAF 419 Sqn in June/July 1942. As a result they were present during the creation of 6 Group under Canadian control in Bomber Command in August and were members of the small coterie of RAAF crew serving under RCAF command. 🧵 3/6
Like many wartime RAAF recruits they were clerks prior to enlisting in Jan 1941. Their training had overlapped, first at 1 WAGS in Ballarat and then 2 BAGS in Port Pirie. In June 1941, but on different days, each went AWOL from 1 WAGS for a few hours and as a result were confined to barracks. 🧵 2/6
#SWW 15.10.42 #OTD 406508 Sgt Vince Noonan, a 25 y/o from WA, was W/Ag in Wellington BK270 of RCAF 419 “Moose” Sqn. Two nights previously the only other RAAF airman serving in 419 Sqn, 401213 Sgt Rex Hall, a 21 y/o from Victoria, was missing after his plane had failed to return a raid on Kiel. 🧵 1/6
#SWW #WW2 Here is a CWGC identification mystery from Abbeville - an unidentified Australian airman found in the Pas de Calais region in March 1941. Nothing fits in the IBCC database, predates 452 Sqn. So served in another RAF Command Sqn with RAAF insignia or maybe from RAAF 10 Sqn? Any thoughts?
Question for @mikehistorian.bsky.social . How did a sergeant with the Glider Pilot Regiment end up in Abbeville Cemetery in the Somme as a result of D-Day? A fair distance away from Normandy !
#SWW Visit to V-1 launch site 671 in the Somme. Seen several in museums but hard to describe how menacing and sinister the rocket looks on an actual launch site aimed at England. The small bunker to the left is the firing control. Hats off to anyone game enough to stay there for an actual launch.
Reposted by Steven Westwood
I love that Beckett is still confounding people after all these years. It’s like “I went to see The Rite of Spring. I don’t know what the hell that was but it sure wasn’t music. I felt like rioting. One star”
TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it
It was impossible not to be moved by how uniformly he appears to have been admired by others throughout his life. It was evidently a great blow to those who knew him closely, felt even years later, after he was lost. He is buried with F/O Hannah in Schoonselhof Cemetery, Belgium. #LWF 🧵 8/8
The ORB entry concludes “Loss is deeply regretted by all”. Poignantly, Kerr intended to announce his engagement to WAAF Margaret Gardner on his return. In another blow he was reported in 1944 as a POW by the Red Cross although this was later corrected. It was his 20th operational sortie. 🧵 6/7
The raid this day was hampered by poor visibility and heavy cloud the whole way. His plane was last seen on a shallow dive towards the target, having taken over the lead role when the formation leader was hit by flak. HX912 subsequently crashed due to unknown causes 300 km away near Antwerp.🧵 5/7
He and his regular Ventura crew, two Australians and Hannah, were presented to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May when they visited RAF Methwold. His plane, F-Freddie, bore a painted nose art depicting an emu and kiwi above a boomerang inscribed with the motto "Per Astra Ad Australian" 🧵 4/7
Phillip Kerr was one of the squadron’s founding members. Always flying with Hannah as his navigator he had taken part in its first action in Operation Oyster, the Eindhoven raid, on 6th Dec 1942. He flew so low on the return leg that the bomb bay doors of his Ventura were spattered in mud.🧵 3/7
It was only the 2nd operation by 464 Sqn since changing over from Venturas to Mosquitoes. On their first, six days earlier to a target in Brittany, the squadron ORB entry only lists 11 crews - including Kerr & Hannah - but the AOC 2 Group, AVM Basil Embry, also accompanied the raid incognito. 🧵 2/7
#SWW 09.10.43 #OTD 405106 F/Lt Phillip Kerr, a 25 y/o former school teacher from Qld, with his navigator RNZAF F/O Bernard Hannah, 31 y/o, was piloting Mk VI Mosquito HX912. His was one of 12 464 Sqn planes targeting an aeroengine factory near Metz in NE France. 🧵 1/7 vwma.org.au/explore/peop...