Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Smart
Hello Dan,
I don't know if you misunderstood my list ?
I only gave AL Serial numbers of those that were transferred to the USSR.
The only ones I noted that went to SAAF were those in the HK Serial number range that were swapped by the Russians for Spitfires in 1943.
IIRC the original enquiry was for details of Bostons that were delivered to the Russians in the early years of WW2.
If you have access to "85 Years of the SAAF, all the Bostons are listed therein.
Starting with Serial numbers, Squadron's, aircraft fate and losses which have a/c Serial number and crew names.
The Serial numbers start with W (3) followed by Z(60), then AL (55) ending with HK (40).
All the best
Alex
|
Hello Alex,
I did not misunderstand your list, and I was only looking for the serials of these 40 Bostons which still trouble me
Only the SAAF aircraft with AL and HK serials would be relevant to my query, since the W and Z serials were all assigned to earlier production blocks.
As I understand things at present, following the discussion here, three of the 55 AL serials and 37 of the 40 HK serials should be the aircraft in this group of 40, reassigned from Soviet deliveries in July 1942. This is not definitive, however. I'll wait until Stig sends me the relevant pages of Brent, as he has so kindly promised, before I comment further.
There is a separate issue with the second batch of Bostons. To quote your earlier message, Alex, "44 specialy equipped Boston III's in transit to the USSR in 1943(in the HK869 - 972 range) were released by the Soviet Commission in Abadan for use by the RAF in the Middle East in exchange for Spitfires." These were A-20C-10 aircraft from the 42-33*** serial range, and they were indeed used by the RAF, not the SAAF. Their American, and indeed British, serials also remain obscure, though Zoran has identified several. I am interested in these, too, but somewhat less than in the earlier batch, because the later transfer did not merit a correspondence between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.
Kind regards,
Dan