OT: Hurricane Found Buried in London

I believe the Dornier involved in this incident is the one in the famous picture of a Do-17 plunging above the roof tops of London. The tail is gone and both wing panels outboard of the engine nacelles. If I remember correctly, Holmes bailed out and landed in a dustbin. As he was cleaning himself off and climbing out, up to him walks a chap he had been to school with, who promptly asks what had to have been a stupid question. "What are you doing here?"

Bill Shuey

Bill Shuey wrote

They showed parts of the excavation live on Channel 5 on Sunday night, and Ray Holmes there so they could ask him vaguely idiotic questions. "What goes through a young pilot's mind when he takes off to fight the Germans ?" "Nothing in particular"

Holmes claimed that he was caught on a fence or something, and was freed by two "rather pretty" women, made dates with them, but couldn't keep the dates because of a squadron move.

The best part of the programme was Holmes' perfectly reasonable lack of interest in bits of the Hurricane he broke 64 years ago. Presented with a choice between inspecting the engine and inspecting a bubbly blonde in a hard hat, he got a secure grip on the blonde, leaving the engine to younger men.

They also were showing a simultaneous dig in Germany, where an Australian had left a Spitfire XIV in a pond. Again, they had the pilot on hand to answer questions. Best moment here was, after lectures about Hurricanes and different models of Spitfire, the interviewer turns to the pilot and earnestly enquires "And which plane do you think affected the war most ?" "Oh, the Mustang" answers the pilot, at which point they cut back to London where Ray Holmes is whispering in the blonde presenters ear...

I'm glad someone else found Channel Five's programme less than stimulating. The BBC and even Channel Four do this kind of thing much better. Mr Holmes was by far and away the most entertaining participant, proving that you can't keep a "fighter jock" down no matter how old he is.

I think on CNN they mentioned he was 89- I guess once a fighter jock, always a fighter jock. Good hunting with that blonde!!

yes he was more interested in the chicks and blonde in the hard hat, seemed he thought he hadnt done anything special.

Old wrinky and hard of hearing yet more botherd about the ladeeeeeeeees, my type of guy

There's a man with his priorities in correct order! He's not as old as they think he is. :)

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Ralph Barker devotes a chapter to him in "That Eternal Summer", a great book about some lesser known heroes of the Battle of Britain

He certainly has some lead in his pencil still! I loved the way at the end he was more interested in the blonde than any/thing else and seemed really disappointed that she wanted to talk about his bits, okay, the bits of his aircraft.

Richard.

"Richard Brooks" wrote in news:c9l39g$sr9$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk:

You mean his naughty bits?

I fear a surge of Pythonesque humor will follow.

I was imagining him doing a crotchety old Peter Cook impression and saying "Hello! I've got a bag of Werthers and some puppies at home. Would you like to come back to my place ?"

Richard.

Or a Benny Hill-esque romp with "Yakkety Sax" playing in the background...

did you know he was born into a rich family and never needed to work a day in his life? he did an awfull lot and made lots of laughs. when i heard his story, i got a lot more respect. and he was actually funny.

I saw some clips of the Benny Hill Show on the Russian Ostankino channel some years back so it's not just armaments we export! ;-)

Richard.