Crazy coincidences - Now with Spitfires!

[MDFrench]

Will coincidences never cease?!

The crazy connections with my American citizenship, stint in Weybridge, England, and the Battle of Britain seem to never cease! As I grow older and learn more about the events of 1940-41, I continue to be amazed.

1. My goal as a kid was to get the Eagle Scout award, which uses the Eagle symbol from the US Passport, which is the same Eagle used by the American Eagle Squadrons in their insignia with the RAF in WWII.

2. 609 Squadron at Warmwell was home to three American volunteer pilots in the Battle of Britain who became the original members of the first Eagle Squadron. On Sept. 15th, Battle of Britain day, those three pilots and their squadron met the first German planes in the air at 11:50 AM over Weybridge, my old home town!

3. HERE'S A NEW ONE! Of the Spitfires that flew in the Battle of Britain, the majority of them were MK Is. Naturally, very few of these MKIs still exist - BUT of the six that do still exist, I recently discovered that TWO OF THEM were originally with 609 Squadron! One hangs in the Imperial War Museum's main gallery with the post-Battle of Britain paint scheme and 609 markings while the other is on display at RAF Hendon adorned with the early Battle of Britain paint scheme and markings! As a kid, I saw both of these planes, but I never knew what I was looking at!

Life is funny...

Mike
www.geocities.com/rafeaglesquadron

 

[schwammy]

Okay, this has nothing whatever to do with your post except that it involves another coincidence.

My wife called me at work Friday afternoon and said she was in the emergency room. She was having pleuritic pain - she's chronically ill. Anyway, I grabbed a random stack of magazines out of our lounge (so she would have something to read - we've spent many nights together in the ER) and headed off to see her.

Upon arrival, and once she was safely ensconced in a room, I proceeded to read to her to take her mind off the pain. The first article I read to her was from an Opra magazine from April 2002 (I work with mostly women, so we have a lot of women's magazines laying around) called "Life, the Sculptor." Among the many people it quoted was Michael Cunningham, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Ordinarily when I'm reading to myself I skip right over the names and titles of 'experts,' but since I was reading out loud, I of course read it.

The very next article I read her was from Reader's Digest from March 2004 - 10 Keys to True Happiness. It quoted a professor from the University of Louisville, and I jokingly said, "Oh, him again!"

My wife stopped me. "I think that really was the same guy," she said. So I looked, and sure enough, it was. Michael Cunningham, University of Louisville in Kentucky.

I checked, and the articles were written by different authors. Maybe this guy is a professional expert witness, or whatever they're called. But I still found it strange to find two different magazines, with vastly different political agendas, published two years apart, with two random articles featuring the very same expert.

Make of that what you will. Sorry to hijack your thread, Mike.

 

[MDFrench]

Just learned that Weybridge was also home to a major Vickers aeroplane factory during the Battle of Britain that took a direct hit from a German raid, which put added strain on Dowding's stressed Fighter Command.

Another interesting connection...