Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory

Ok..

Nothing..

But I was only wanting to ask what plane he used during the Battle of Britain. I knew he flown a Hurricane, but all I want is the markings of his plane.

I watched Battle of Britain and it showed the actor played him flown a Hurricane.

Am I correct on the right person or who did fly a Hurricane?

William

Had I known anything I would have responded but I'll speculate. I'd believe it was a Hurricane. They outnumbered Spits during the Battle. I'd think 10 Group would have had more Hurris. I have no recall of any pictures in my references of his aircraft.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Mad-Modeller wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@nextline.com:

It seems many of the "personality" figures, aces, wing leaders, etc often had thier initials as thier aircraft "squadron code". Gouglas Bader was DoB. R.S.Tuck had RoST. I would venture to guess TLM's bird might have been marked ToLM. Just a guess mind you, but until proven wrong, that's how I stand.

If you're referring to the film "Battle of Britain", the senior officer flying in his white overalls and personal Hurricane to visit his fighter squadrons on their airfields is Keith Park (played by Trevor Howard).

Leigh-Mallory was an Air Vice-Marshal, and commanded 12 Group during the Battle of Britain. He and AVM Keith Park (commanding 11 Group) were staff officers whose place was on the ground, in the Group Operations Rooms (Watnall and Uxbridge).

Both were decorated WW1 pilots, both Air Vice-Marshals commanding fighter Groups, both born 1892 and so 48 years old in 1940. Neither of them *should* have been flying. After Dowding, they were the most important RAF officers in 1940.

Park is known to have made recce flights during the Battle of France: "Park was often in the air himself over Dunkirk, spotting weak enemy positions and taking note of targets for his own pilots. When the order came to evacuate, Park was up in a Hurricane fighter making reconnaissance missions within range of German guns. He watched the last two British ships set sail while making a final survey. He was the last airman to leave". There are accounts of him making visits to airfields during the Battle of Britain, in a Hurricane, wearing white overalls.

After extensive googling I can only find reference to the markings on a replica, at the Sir Keith Park Memorial Aviation Collection, Auckland, New Zealand. There is some evidence that his markings were OKo1 ("squadron" code OK, aircraft code the digit 1).

I dont know of any acounts of Leigh-Mallory piloting during WW2. Incidentally, he was the younger brother of George Mallory, of Everest fame.

Whilst somewhat on the subject of Hurricanes, I have a question. A guy in our modeling club said something to the effect that Hurricanes had an open cockpit floor. The way he said it, and the way I understood it, was that they were indeed, actually open to the air, not just lacking a complete floor like early Corsairs. I can't find any reference pics that will either confirm or deny this allegation, they're all too dark to tell. Can anyone here say for sure? And, like the Corsairs, could there be this situation on one variant and not another? I have a HobbyCraft Hurri I'd like to get together. I know there are probably other kits that might be more accurate than HobbyCraft, but I already have this one, and I'm trying to get out of that "gotta be perfect" mindset. It's the only way I'll ever get anything built. It's not a critical issue, but would like to at least get it right for something that obvious.

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. --Leonardo Da Vinci EAA # 729686 delete the word spam from email addy

IIRC, any officer over the level of Wing Commander was entitled to put his initials on his aircraft. Most did. I'm sure someone will correct me if I've got the wrong rank! However, as stated elsewhere, Leigh-Mallory, as a high ranking staff officer, shouldn't have been pootling around in hostile skies...

RobG

"William L. Powell" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@enews3.newsguy.com:

I had a little brain fizzle at work today. The Air Vice Marshall you saw flying a Hurricane at the beginning of movie is Keith Park. Leigh Mallory wasin charge of 12 Group in the north, think the Spitfires that bagged the He111s coming in from Norway.

Park had 11 (or 10) Group in the southwest corner and got almost all the action. That would make his plane KoP.

Frank

Not quite. The Groups areas of responsibilty are shown on this interactive map at the RAF BoB site.

Dive down into the map to view each group in detail.

11 Group (Keith Park) had the invasion coast and the approaches to London to look after. Rapid response was most urgent for his squadrons, as they had little time to react to incoming raids, even with the warning that radar gave. Leigh-Mallory was at 12 Group, covering East Anglia and the Licolnshire coast. He was supposed to stay North of the Thames, protecting London unless Park called on him. With more time to react, the Big Wings favoured by Bader (based at Duxford) had a chance to form up - but didn't always manage to, and Park was scathing about them always arriving late. 13 Group (AVM Richard Saul) covered the North-East and Scotland, where squadrons were "rested" from the intesity of the southern conflict. It was 13 Group who savaged Luftflotte 5's long-range attack from Norway (He111 and Me110) and Denmark (Ju88)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only evidence I can find from googling is that Keith Park used the markings OK-1 (OK-one) at the time of the BoB. I have also found a reference to him using OK-2 on a Hurricane leter in the war, when he was in charge of the air defences of Malta and the Middle East.

Whilst somewhat on the subject of Hurricanes, I have a question. A guy in our modeling club said something to the effect that Hurricanes had an open cockpit floor. The way he said it, and the way I understood it, was that they were indeed, actually open to the air, not just lacking a complete floor like early Corsairs. I can't find any reference pics that will either confirm or deny this allegation, they're all too dark to tell. Can anyone here say for sure? And, like the Corsairs, could there be this situation on one variant and not another? I have a HobbyCraft Hurri I'd like to get together. I know there are probably other kits that might be more accurate than HobbyCraft, but I already have this one, and I'm trying to get out of that "gotta be perfect" mindset. It's the only way I'll ever get anything built. It's not a critical issue, but would like to at least get it right for something that obvious.

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. --Leonardo Da Vinci EAA # 729686 delete the word spam from email addy

Wrong. They were like the Grumman Wildcats and early Corsairs. If you climbed in, there were a set of foot boards running fore and aft under the rudder pedals, and some structure supporting the seat but otherwise if you looked down, you were looking into the bildges of the fuselage, the structure of the bottom of the aircraft and plumbing to the radiator in the case of the Hurricane.

Bill Shuey