Maryland, My Maryland

[cardboard_killer 1073]

[80 years ago today] "• The Martin Maryland enters squadron level operational service with the RAF, replacing Blenheims in some squadrons. Developed as the A-22, it lost out to the Douglas A-20 for the USAAC contract. It saw its combat debut in France, with newly arrived aircraft committed to battle lacking their bombsights. 75 French aircraft not yet delivered were turned over to the RAF and the British ordered another 150 with stronger engines. It will see most of its service in the Mediterranean, equipping British and South African squadrons. British pilot Adrian Warburton will make ace shooting down enemy aircraft with the forward guns of his Maryland."

 

[ZachariasX 2390]

8 hours ago, cardboard_killer said:

Adrian Warburton

You can become an ace being a PR pilot...

[Heliopause 774]

[ZachariasX 2390]

There were still arguments, of course. [Air Vice Marshal Hugh Pughe] Lloyd did not approve of photo reconnaissance pilots who got distracted into dogfights with enemy aircraft. He wanted them back at base with their photographs intact, not taking risks and showing off. Lloyd later remembered how he would say to Warburton, ‘“Really Adrian, it’s very naughty of you to go chasing these poor Italians,” and he would answer a little shamefacedly “Well, sir, it was too easy.” Then he would come into my office [on another day] and say rather sheepishly: “I’ve shot down another one”. “You musn’t do that Adrian,” I told him: and so it would go on.’2 Even allowing for the rose-tinted nature of memories recalled years after the event, the story still reveals the remarkably frank and informal way the most senior RAF man in Malta dealt with the junior flying officer.

Downing, Taylor. Spies In The Sky: The Secret Battle for Aerial Intelligence during World War II (S.166). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle-Version.