Copy of a letter sent from RAF Boscombe Down to R H Bound Dowty Chief Designer, quoting the Halifax Bomber Pilots verdict on the Dowty Undercarriage following a test flight – Oct 10th 1941
RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire provided an operational airfield with the longest military runway in the UK. The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was based there in 1939 and carried out aircraft research and testing at the station, a role which it has retained into the 21st century.
The letter reads
My dear Bound, Thought you and Dowty would like to know the pilots verdict on your Halifax undercarriage:- “The best bloody undercart we ever had in a big machine.”
I’m afraid it won’t be possible to put that in the report verbatim and in official language it will of course loose a lot of its pithiness. However I will do my best. Kindest regards, Yours sincerely, Fred Howard
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Thank you and good luck with the test flight!
Thank you so much for diagram “Fig 302 Halifax V main landing gear (Dowty)”. My Uncle Harry Binns was a pilot of MH-K out of Snaith, North Yorkshire, and I have been building a flying model of his plane for years. It’s been on and off because I kept getting stumped by the undercarriage. I’ve so often searched for details of exactly how it functions. Now all is clear ! Bless you
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