Assembly Ships

[Twokidsnosleep]

I am sure many have seen these, but I found these photos interesting

[Stokesy44]

Fascinating.

Cracking pics mate. The intricacies of putting on large scale deep penetration raids like the 8th did in 43-45 is staggering. Before you even think about the heroics of the crews, the logistics alone are mind boggling.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Fascinating.

Cracking pics mate. The intricacies of putting on large scale deep penetration raids like the 8th did in 43-45 is staggering. Before you even think about the heroics of the crews, the logistics alone are mind boggling.

Thanks kind sir
I imagine that these assembly planes would bank off and not participate in the actual bomb run...yeah??
I think the little Mossie Pathfinders would mark the targets and then go in and harass the enemy as well bombing and strafing

[Stokesy44]

Fascinating.

Cracking pics mate. The intricacies of putting on large scale deep penetration raids like the 8th did in 43-45 is staggering. Before you even think about the heroics of the crews, the logistics alone are mind boggling.

Thanks kind sir
I imagine that these assembly planes would bank off and not participate in the actual bomb run...yeah??
I think the little Mossie Pathfinders would mark the targets and then go in and harass the enemy as well bombing and strafing

Yep, the assembly ships would turn back once the formation was assembled and heading out over the sea.

The RAF Pathfinders were different. They did no formation work, instead they used timing to arrive ahead of the main force and drop markers and target indicators to pinpoint the target. Some carried blast bombs and incendiaries to get the target burning along with the use of marking flares.

They went further than marking the target as their role evolved, using the master bomber technique they would re-mark the target and radio the main force raiders and tell them which markers and flares to bomb on based on different colours and altitudes. The master bomber concept was first used in the raid on the Peenemunde rocket works on 18th August 1943. It was only partially successful that night resulting in the deaths of many prisoners at a nearby concentration camp as the aiming points went astray.

[Timplastic]

Love these liberators in these schemes and i have the very first one from hasegawa, will be great fun too build

[Twokidsnosleep]

Love these liberators in these schemes and i have the very first one from hasegawa, will be great fun too build

Why you could almost use that kit to enter a sig...now if only there were a bomber building sig somewhere, hmmmm yes, that would be nice.


EDIT:
wait a tic. You just got that big monster 1/32 one didn't you? I think you showed it Friday.
Ya ok you are excused form building that monster in two months

[Twokidsnosleep]

Fascinating.

Cracking pics mate. The intricacies of putting on large scale deep penetration raids like the 8th did in 43-45 is staggering. Before you even think about the heroics of the crews, the logistics alone are mind boggling.

Thanks kind sir
I imagine that these assembly planes would bank off and not participate in the actual bomb run...yeah??
I think the little Mossie Pathfinders would mark the targets and then go in and harass the enemy as well bombing and strafing

Yep, the assembly ships would turn back once the formation was assembled and heading out over the sea.

The RAF Pathfinders were different. They did no formation work, instead they used timing to arrive ahead of the main force and drop markers and target indicators to pinpoint the target. Some carried blast bombs and incendiaries to get the target burning along with the use of marking flares.

They went further than marking the target as their role evolved, using the master bomber technique they would re-mark the target and radio the main force raiders and tell them which markers and flares to bomb on based on different colours and altitudes. The master bomber concept was first used in the raid on the Peenemunde rocket works on 18th August 1943. It was only partially successful that night resulting in the deaths of many prisoners at a nearby concentration camp as the aiming points went astray.

What aircraft were the Pathfinders???
Mosquitoes is my guess.
I believe the Mossies had the lowest mortality rate in WWII as well ??

[Timplastic]

Love these liberators in these schemes and i have the very first one from hasegawa, will be great fun too build

Why you could almost use that kit to enter a sig...now if only there were a bomber building sig somewhere, hmmmm yes, that would be nice

May be a possible
Got to get builds finished and not start more, but im aircraft free on the bench except that darn salmson

[Fridgy]

Thanks kind sir
I imagine that these assembly planes would bank off and not participate in the actual bomb run...yeah??
I think the little Mossie Pathfinders would mark the targets and then go in and harass the enemy as well bombing and strafing

Yep, the assembly ships would turn back once the formation was assembled and heading out over the sea.

The RAF Pathfinders were different. They did no formation work, instead they used timing to arrive ahead of the main force and drop markers and target indicators to pinpoint the target. Some carried blast bombs and incendiaries to get the target burning along with the use of marking flares.

They went further than marking the target as their role evolved, using the master bomber technique they would re-mark the target and radio the main force raiders and tell them which markers and flares to bomb on based on different colours and altitudes. The master bomber concept was first used in the raid on the Peenemunde rocket works on 18th August 1943. It was only partially successful that night resulting in the deaths of many prisoners at a nearby concentration camp as the aiming points went astray.

What aircraft were the Pathfinders???
Mosquitoes is my guess.
I believe the Mossies had the lowest mortality rate in WWII as well ??

Yep the pathfinder flew the mossie

[Stokesy44]

The Pathfinders flew Lancs and Mosquitos and yes the Mossie has very low loss rates, certainly the lowest in Bomber Command by a country mile.

[Tomcat64]

Well you learn something new every day - I don't think I've come across the assembly ships before - thanks for sharing!

[ElCapitan]

Me neither, fascinating!

Was it just Liberators?

[Stokesy44]

Me neither, fascinating!

Was it just Liberators?

Looks like Forts too.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-ar ... ships.html

[Twokidsnosleep]

I had seen some pics of brightly painted aircraft, but never realized their purpose.
Thought guys were just fooling around, but no there was a purpose.