Brian Woodman Spitfire XIV

[hurricanejim]

Kia ora

I am looking to model the Spitfire XIV flown by Brian Wallace Woodman RNZAF of No. 130 Squadron RAF, who was credited with 4 and 1 shared destroyed, 2 damaged between March and May 1945.

Aside from ordering his personnel file to scan for information, does anybody have on hand the Spitfire(s) he flew during this combat? No. 130 Squadron seems to have flown 'razorback' XIVs as compared to the 'bubbletop' XIV as modelled by Airfix in 1/48.

Ngā mihi

Jim

[McFly]

Woodman's combat claims & dates...

[11SQNLDR]

Hi Jim,

I don't have an exact answer to your question other than to say that 130 used 'AP' codes during that time.

This site is interesting as it lists the serial of every Spit known to have been on strength with the Squadron although it gives no reference to W/O Woodman.

www.worldnavalships.com/directory/squadronprofile.php?SquadronID=38

Good luck with your search, I will keep digging

[woadism]

Mar 30, 2023 18:07:34 GMT 12 hurricanejim said:

Kia ora

I am looking to model the Spitfire XIV flown by Brian Wallace Woodman RNZAF of No. 130 Squadron RAF, who was credited with 4 and 1 shared destroyed, 2 damaged between March and May 1945.

Aside from ordering his personnel file to scan for information, does anybody have on hand the Spitfire(s) he flew during this combat? No. 130 Squadron seems to have flown 'razorback' XIVs as compared to the 'bubbletop' XIV as modelled by Airfix in 1/48.

Ngā mihi

Jim

Hi Jim

Sorry if I'm seeing this too late to be useful.

My Dad has just checked Grandad's (Brian) logbook; he apparently flew:

AP-A
AP-B
AP-C
AP-D
AP-E
AP-F
AP-G
AP-H
AP-J
AP-L
AP-N
AP-O
AP-P
AP-Q
AP-R
AP-S
AP-V
AP-Y
AP-Z

Without putting things into a spreadsheet, AP-D and AP-H seem to show up the most often, and his last flight in a Mk XIV was in AP-L.

I'm not 100% sure of their provenance, but here are some photos we have; I think a friend of Dad's unearthed some, and maybe the others are from Grandad's photo album?:















Cheers

Hamish

[baz62]

As an aside, NH799 when owned by Tim Walli was painted as AP-V. Was she actually with 130 Squadron as all i have read is she went to the Far east with 9 MU and then to the Indian Air Force so probably not.

[Dave Homewood]

Great post woadism! Thanks for posting those photos.

[ZacYates]

Nov 26, 2023 20:36:34 GMT 12 baz62 said:

As an aside, NH799 when owned by Tim Walli was painted as AP-V. Was she actually with 130 Squadron

Every time I remember the paint scheme being mentioned in print it was stated to be "fictitious". It would be interesting to know how the decision was arrived at. It's neat to see Brian flew the real one as well as AP-D, which was the subject of a FROG model kit back in the day.