[jamesinnewcastl]

Hi

In my research on the Stirling I got to talk to Jim Coman DFC, a W/O who interestingly had been on over 30 sorties but stated that very little had happened to them - that's statistics for you I guess. Mind you, his story of being 'coned' and his pilot dropping to roof top height with the 'computer' controlled flak guns shooting off the roofs of the said houses was something to wonder at!

He said that the communication with the ground was very clear and reliable - like talking on the telephone. Every 30 mins after take off he had to monitor a transmission from their airfield because the aircraft might be recalled.

He stated that he would play the BBC broadcasts to the crew - just low enough that the crews voices would be louder - just in case.

Part of his job was to broadcast a signal derived from a microphone in the inner engine nacelle so that he would deny that frequency to the Germans.

The crew would use nick names or christian names on the intercom. All the microphones and earphones were common so that everyone heard everyone talking. I think that you had to switch your mic ON to talk and switch it off afterwards - you see crew doing just that on old films. The pilot did have another switch that he could let the crew listen to the Beam Approach signal - nice for them. I think that the W/O could connect his comms to the crew or keep them private.

I think that he said that he operated the Fishpond equipment.

He noted that the engines exhausts glowed brightly and would 'flame' frequently. He always wondered just how visible the aircraft were to the enemy.

The Stirling had a very spindly undercarriage (a result of RAF bureaucracy demands for short take-off) which was prone to collapse on landing. Jim had to decant from his a/c on three such occasions. He said that they would often see a burning engine sliding past as they spun around on the airfield.

Cheers
James