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No.258 Sqn RAF Founded : 25th July 1918
In medias re - Into the middle of things
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No.258 Sqn RAF
| Aircraft for : No.258 Sqn RAF | |||
| A list of all aircraft known to have been flown by No.258 Sqn RAF. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name. | |||
| Squadron | Info | ||
Manufacturer : Hawker Production Began : 1936 Number Built : 14533 | Hurricane Royal Air Force Fighter, the Hawker Hurricane had a top speed of 320mph, at 18,200 feet and 340mph at 17,500, ceiling of 34,200 and a range of 935 miles. The Hurricane was armed with eight fixed wing mounted .303 browning machine guns in the Mark I and twelve .303 browning's in the MKIIB in the Hurricane MKIIC it had four 20mm cannon. All time classic fighter the Hurricane was designed in 1933-1934, the first prototype flew in June 1936 and a contract for 600 for the Royal Air Force was placed. The first production model flew ion the 12th October 1937 and 111 squadron of the Royal Air Force received the first Hurricanes in January 1938. By the outbreak of World war two the Royal Air Force had 18 operational squadrons of Hurricanes. During the Battle of Britain a total of 1715 Hurricanes took part, (which was more than the rest of the aircraft of the Royal air force put together) and almost 75% of the Victories during the Battle of Britain went to hurricane pilots. The Hawker Hurricane was used in all theatres during World war two, and in many roles. in total 14,533 Hurricanes were built. | ||
Production Began : 1943 Number Built : 15683 | Thunderbolt Alexander Kartveli was a engineer with Seversky Aircraft who designed the P-35, which first flew in 1937. With Republic Aviation Kartveli supervised the development of the P-43 Lancer. Neither of these aircraft were produced in large numbers, and neither was quite successful. However, the Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt, also nicknamed the Jug, was quite a different story. The Jug was the jewel in Kartvelis design crown, and went on to become one of the most produced fighter aircraft of all time with 15,683 being manufactured. The P-47 was the largest and heaviest single seat fighter of WW II. The P-47 immediately demonstrated its excellent combat qualities, including speed, rate of climb, maneuverability, heavy fire power, and the ability to take a lot of punishment. With a wingspan of more than 40 feet and a weight of 19,400 pounds, this large aircraft was designed around the powerful 2000 HP Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. The first P-47 prototype flew in May of 1941, and the primary variant the P-47D went into service in 1943 with units of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The Jug had a maximum speed in excess of 400 MPH, a service ceiling in excess of 42,000 feet, and was heavily armed with either six or eight heavy caliber machine guns. With its ability to carry up to a 2,500 pound bomb load, the Jug saw lots of use in ground attack roles. Until the introduction of the N model, the P-47 lacked the long range required for fighter escort missions which were most often relegated to P-51 Mustangs or P-38 Lightnings. In his outstanding painting entitled Bridge Busting Jugs, noted aviation artist Stan Stokes depicts Eighth Air Force Jugs in a ground attack mission in the Alps in June of 1944. The top P-47 ace was Francis Gabreski who had flown with the 56th Fighter Group, the first unit to be equipped with the P-47. In August of 1943 Gabreski attained his first aerial combat victory (over an Fw-190) and by years end he had reached ace status with 8 confirmed victories. As Commander of the 61st Squadron, Gabreski continued to chalk up victory after victory, and on seven different occasions he achieved two victories during the same mission. However, in July of 1944 Gabreski damaged the prop on his Jug during a low level attack on an airfield near Coblenz. Forced to make a crash landing, he was captured and remained a prisoner of war until Wars end in 1945. Following the War Gabreski returned to military service with the Air Forces 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea. Flying the F-86 Sabre Jet, Gabreski attained 6.5 more aerial victories in 1951 and 1952 becoming an ace in two different wars | ||
| Signatures for : No.258 Sqn RAF | |||||||
| A list of all signatures from our database who are associated with this squadron. A profile page is available by clicking their name. | |||||||
| Name | Info | ||||||
 Flight Lieutenant John Cambell Click the name or photo above to see prints signed by Flight Lieutenant John Cambell | Flight Lieutenant John Cambell John Cambell flew Spitfires with 234 Squadron, before joining 121 Eagle Squadron. After the transfer of the Eagles to the USAAF, John chose to remain with the RAF and was posted to 258 Squadron for the final defence of Singapore, and then to 605 Squadron defending Java. With four victories in the Far East to his credit, in March 1942 the squadron was over-run by the Japanese, and John became a POW in a harsh prison camp in Java for the next 3 and a half years. | ||||||
Warrant Officer Terrence Kelly Click the name above to see prints signed by Warrant Officer Terrence Kelly | Warrant Officer Terrence Kelly As a pilot for 258 Squadron flying Hurricanes, Terrence left England in October 1941 for Singapore. Flying against the Japanese he was caught on the island of Java with no means of evacuation and went into the bag in March 1942 and was a prisoner of the Japanese for 3 long years. | ||||||
  Squadron Leader Doug Nicholls DFC Click the name or photo above to see prints signed by or with the mounted signature of Squadron Leader Doug Nicholls DFC | Squadron Leader Doug Nicholls DFC A pre-war RAFVR pilot, in June 1940 Nicholls converted to Hurricanes at 7 OTU, Hawarden. Nicholls flew during the Battle of Britain with 85 and 242 and in September joined 151 Squadron.at Digby On September 30, 1940, he shared in the destruction of a Ju 88 and returned to Digby with his Hurricane P 5182 severely damaged by return fire. Nicholls spent only a brief time with 242 but Bader made a considerable impression. After a hard day Nicholls remembers Bader taking off his legs and dressing the stumps with lotion and talcum powder. Few people realise, Nicholls feels, just how much strain combat flying with artificial legs must have been. Later in the war Nicholls flew Hurricanes with 258 Squadron in the Far East to Seletar airfield, Singapore and flew their first operation on January 31 1942. On February 10 1942 the three surviving Hurricanes of 258 were withdrawn to Palembang with the fifteen surviving pilots, six remained behind to fly with 605 Squadron, with Nicholls being one of the nine evacuated from Java to Ceylon. 258 Squadron was reformed at Ratmalana on March 1 1942 and Nicholls rejoined it. Awarded the DFC (19.5.44) he remained with 258 until August 1944, when he was posted to HQ 224 Group, Burma, as Squadron Leader Tactics. | ||||||
  Squadron Leader Mahinder Pujji DFC Click the name or photo above to see prints signed by Squadron Leader Mahinder Pujji DFC
| Squadron Leader Mahinder Pujji DFC In 1940 Mahinder, a qualified pilot flying for Shell in India, volunteered to join the RAF and was commissioned as Pilot Officer. Arriving in England, he was posted to 43 Squadron, and then 258 Squadron at Kenley, flying both Hurricanes and Spitfires. Later posted to the Western Desert, then to India, and finally to Burma, where he completed two tours against the Japanese. Sadly, Mahinder Pujji passed away on 22nd September 2010.
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