With the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie, it has me thinking of Roald Dahl. I read that he fought in WWII flying the Hurricane and even managed to shoot down a couple enemy bombers. My question is, does anyone know what type of Hurricane he flew (I hope to use the Hasegawa kit), any info on markings, pictures… anything would be greatly appreciated. I think this would be a fascinating subject to model.
Great idea! I don’t know the markings but aren’t there pictures in his book “Solo”?
And do you know in which squadron he flew?
Thanks, I’ll check out the book.
Roald Dahl flew with 80 Squadron. According to Shores and Williams ‘Aces High’, he used Hurricane I serial V7826 to destroy a JU88 on 15 April 1941. Dahl actually qualified for ‘ace’ status - 4 JU88s and a Vichy French Potez 63, but the serial for the aircraft used for this aircraft isn’t given in Aces High. His other ‘kills’ were on 16 April, 20 April, 8 June and 15 June (all 1941). To complicate matters, Francis Mason’s history of the Hurricane supposedly lists all Hurricane serials, but doesn’t seem to have that particular aircraft…
His aircraft may not have worn codes for the kills in April 41, but probably carried the letters ‘EY’ from May onwards. The pictures in ‘Going Solo’ might resolve that, while he may have made some reference to the serial/aircraft letter in the book too.
Roald Dahl was an ace? Cool! [8D]
Check this out: http://www.xs4all.nl/~blago/planewriting/bios.html#dahl