Dedicated to all Whitley's Boys who have flown with this machine, dedicated to my friend Elliott Smock who restores this machine!
Introduction
Why have I chosen this bomber? Here is the answer. By the time I read this, I didn't make a second thought.
Flight Sergeant D. L. Lord
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died on active service, 13 August 1942, England. This Poem is written by his mother.
"He was such a lad - barely 21,
For him life had only just begun,
And took our beloved yougest son,
But God said his job of work was done.
The blow was cruel - the anguish great,
Why should this have been his fate?
God only knows and His will be done,
He said, ‘Come home to Me, my son’.
His leave was due and we prepared,
We little knew how he had fared,
The message came, the night - how long,
But God decided, and we were wrong.
The 16th dawned - the 17th too,
The day he said, ‘I’ll be seeing you’,
He came, but what a different way,
Still, silent - not a word to say.
We met him - saw his resting place,
We could not gaze upon his face,
We lift our eyes up to the skies,
God is our help and He is wise.
We gave a son of whom we’re proud,
A brave courageous lad - no coward,
Now we must carry on - we three,
Of his sacrifice worthy to be.
What of our two brave sons abroad?
Bless them and keep them safe, O Lord.
Encircle them within Your arm,
And bring them home away from harm."
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Bibliography
* Roberts, R.N. The Whitley File. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians), 1986.
* Wixey, Ken. Armstrong Whitworth Whitley (Warpaint Series No. 21). Denbigh East, Bletchley, UK: Hall Park Books, 1999.
* The Whitley Boys: 4 Group Bomber Operations 1939 to 1940
* Armstrong-Whitworth Aircraft since 1913
* Pilot’s notes
* Profile 153 - The Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following Gentlemen for their kind offer in helping me!
* Elliott Smock (Whitley_project). Elliott restores a Mk.V
* Johan Bloemers.(http://www.crashsiteslimburg.nl)
* Hendon Museum
* David Briggs
* IPMS MALTA
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Lets get started!
I bought Sanger’s Vac “kit”…but God makes it a Kit!! As far as you can see this is a piece of plastic…nothing more. I will use the two fuselage halves. Everything else are gonna stay in the dark.
I cut the two halves, sanding for days. As soon as this procedure was finished…I marked the areas that I going to open or rebuild them (in red color) according to 1/48 Whitley’s plans.
Surgery!!!!
I used evergreen sticks (L) in order of making the lips for connecting the two halves later. The Vac's plastic thickness is like a paper!!!
The most painful work, concerns the small windows on fuselage.
Yes… I know I’m late. But I had to build a huge number of sections and join them together. This step was the most important of the whole build. Too many dry fits, too many resets in order to achieve the correct fitting according to Whitley’s technical plans.
At first I had to build the cockpit floor, Main fuselage’s floors and then all the bulkheads.
The most difficult part of this build, were the bomb-bays cells. The main structure built was next. The cockpit floor, the rear fuselage’s floor, the bulkheads, radio-operator’s little cabin, and all the major components from nose to tail!
As soon as this boring part was finished we stepped forward to its final dry fit, checking gaps etc. Everything is good enough and we proceeded directly to its primer. I used Primer for car’s plastic parts.
At this point I would like to say that I didnt pay attention on the LEFT rear fuselage side during attaching the frames of its structure. Its a blind part... Mostly I did a rough work in order to strengthen the left side as well as the right one.
The most boring part and dangerous part of such a build is now finished. We shall continue next with the interesting making of all the interior’s items such as seats, instrument panel, devices etc.
Thank U for your attention. I would be grateful to you, If you post any objections so far, concerning the technical accuracy of all these. I can fix them if its possible…
Last edited by Alex Kontiveis on Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:34 am; edited 3 times in total