Remembering the crew of Halifax B.II JB803

At 23:53 on the 30th of April, 1943 No 77 Squadron Halifax B.II JB803/KN-G piloted by Sergeant Gordon Watson took off from RAF Elvington. Its target that night was Essen, a German city in the Ruhr industrial area. The Battle of the Ruhr was in full swing.

The aircraft

The Handley Page Halifax was a four engined heavy bomber in use with the RAF from 1940 until 1952 and was broadly comparable to the more famous Lancaster bomber. The Halifax B Mark II was powered by the legendary Merlin engine of Spitfire and Hurricane fame. 1,966 Halifax B.II's were built, not only by Handley Page but also by other manufacturers. Later versions of the Halifax used the Bristol Hercules engine that proved to be a better match to the Halifax airframe than the Merlin. 

JB803 was an English Electric built Halifax B Mark II and was delivered from their Preston factory to the RAF somewhere between the 21st of February 1943 and the 1st of March 1943. After acceptance it was used almost immediately. Known missions of JB803 are:

11/03/1943    Stuttgart raid

21/03/1943    Essen raid

29/03/1943    Berlin raid

02/04/1943    Lorient raid

03/04/1943    Essen raid

04/04/1943    target unknown

08/04/1943    Duisburg raid

10/04/1943    Frankfurt raid

14/04/1943    Stuttgart raid 

16/04/1943    Pilsen raid

20/04/1943    Stettin raid

26/04/1943    Duisburg raid

27/04/1943    Mine laying

28/04/1943    Mine laying

30/04/1943    Essen raid

The crew

JB803 carried a mixed Royal Air Force/Royal Canadian Air Force crew of seven that night:

Pilot Sergeant Gordon Watson, RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 1383608

Flight Engineer Sergeant Ian Douglas Crawford, RAF service number 634710

Navigator Flying Officer Arthur Edward Parsons, RCAF service number J/11636

Bomb Aimer Sergeant Leon Hannam, RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 1383305

Wireless operator/Air Gunner Sergeant William Robert Louth, RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 1198324

Mid Upper Gunner Sergeant Raymond Shepherd, RAF Volunteer Reserve service number 929961

Tail Gunner Flight Sergeant Thomas Deuel Scarff, RCAF service number R/95040

The mission

Watsons crew was going back to the Krupp factory in Essen. After takeoff from RAF Elvington at 23:53 Watson steered JB803 towards Cottesmore Light and proceeded afterwards to North Walsham, Happisburgh and Egmond before heading to Essen. After reaching their target they would return via Egmond and Hornsea and land back at Elvington. It was their 13th mission as a crew (with the exception of Louth who was on his sixth flight with Watsons crew and Shepherd who was on his fourth). Their Halifax was loaded with two 1,000 lb general purpose bombs and thirteen incendiary bombs of two types.

After crossing the Dutch coast line they were intercepted by a Messerschmitt Bf-110 night fighter from 11./NJG 1 flown by Feldwebel Heinz Vinke, Feldwebel Karl Schödel and Unteroffizier Johann Gaa. Vinke and his crew were based at Bergen airfield on the Dutch coast that night. Vinke located the Halifax and shot it down. Vinke was a night fighter ace, racking up 54 kills before he and his crew themselves got shot down and killed whilst flying Bf-110G-4 werknummer 740136 by Flight Officer Hardy in a Hawker Typhoon on February 26th, 1944.

Watson ordered his crew to bail out and all but Scarff and Watson himself did so. They died when their bomber crashed and exploded at the Noordpolder near Muiden, the Netherlands at 02:26 on May 1st, 1943. The rest of his crew landed in the cold water of the IJsselmeer lake and never made it to shore.

Watsons crew lies buried at the Muiden General Cemetery with the exception of Sergeant Louth. His body was never recovered.

The memorial

The current memorial for the crew of Halifax B.II JB803 was erected at the Zuidpolderweg at the site where the Halifax crashed in 1943. It was unveiled on September 5th, 2020. Each year at May 1st the local community gathers at the memorial to remember Watson and his crew.

All photos shot with a Canon EOS 1000N fitted with a Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.4-4.5 USM lens, Agfaphoto APX 400 blackd and white film, developed in Adonal and scanned with an Epson Perfection V850 Pro. 

Camera review: The Exa Ib

The camera

This review is about the Ihagee Exa Ib single lens reflex camera. The story of its development is pretty much the same as the Exa Ic which I reviewed here. The main difference of the Exa Ib and Exa Ic is that they have an M42 mount as opposed to all other Exakta and Exa camera which have the Exakta mount. This means that using lenses such as those wonderful Takumar and Carl Zeiss (both Oberkochen and Jena) lenses is possible on these cameras. 

Jaguar. Shot with my Exa Ib fitted with a Takumar 135mm f/3.5 lens.

As I said in my Exa Ic review I obtained the Exa Ib and Ic together and they are pretty much the same camera. Sure there are differences, but mostly cosmetic. Most Exa Ib models were built by Ihagee apart from the very last series. These were built by VEB Certo-Kamerawerk Dresden under license from Ihagee. You can tell if it's a Ihahee or Certo built camera by checking the serial number. If the serial number is preceded by a C, you've got a copy built bij Certo. It is said the model name was changed from Ib to Ic to denote a Certo built camera but as I said the last Exa Ib models were also produced by Certo. Make of that what you will. ;-)

Exa Ib front view.

Exa Ib top view.

Exa Ib film counter.

Exa Ib with the back removed.

Exa Ib bottom view. Align the red dots to release the back.

Specifications

Camera:                Ihagee Exa Ib

Built:                    1977-1985

Mount:                  M42

Shutter speeds:     1/30th - 1/175th of a second, B

Self timer:            no

Size:                     130 mm wide, 97 mm high* and 46 mm deep

Light metering:     no

Hot shoe:              no

Battery:                none

* with the pentaprism viewfinder fitted

Shooting

I find the Exa Ib very intuitive to use, but there are a few things you need to know about this camera. To load the film in any of the I series Exa cameras you release the back of the camera. Once detached you load the film just like any other camera apart from the fact that there is no fixed take up spool in the camera body. The take up spool is a separate part. Now all Exa cameras had a take up spool supplied with the body but if you are buying one today, do check if it's still there. Once your film is loaded, you slide the camera back back onto the body again and you're ready to shoot. My copy of the Exa Ib was built from 1977 until 1983 and has a frame counter that needs to be reset manually. It counts down, so set it to 36 (or 24 if you're using 24 exposures film). I actually got 38 exposures out of a 36 exposures film with this camera. And then there is the shutter button on the left side of the camera that I already covered in my other reviews.

Exa Ib fitted with a Takumar 28mm f/2.8 lens.

Exa Ib fitted with a Takumar 135mm f/3.5 lens.

I've loaded the Exa Ib with some Fomapan Profi Line Classic 100 and drove up to the fine people over at the Cool Classic Club. They just happened to have part of their classic automobile collection displayed outside. I've used a Takumar 28mm f/2.8 lens and a Takumar 135mm f/3.5 lens for this review. 

All in all I am very happy with the images I got from the Exa Ib. A keeper ;-)

Last call! A tribute to the Memminger Brewery (1886-2024)

If I were ever asked to organize a Beers and Cameras event I would probably have chosen the brewery of the historic city of Memmingen, Bavaria, to host the event. This Privatbrauerei (Private brewery as opposed to a Ltd.) can trace its roots back to 1886 when brewer Josef Herz bought the brewery and gaststätte zum Schwarzer Ochsen in Memmingen and expanded it. 

A glass of Memminger Lager Schwarz. Canon EOS 90D with a Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 50mm f/1.8 at f/1.8.

In 1911 Herz owned the third largest brewery in Memmingen (out of 21) and fused his brewery with the breweries of zum Schwarzen Adler and Weisses Ross to create the Bürgerliches Brauhaus. In 1920 the two biggest breweries in Memmingen joined forming the Bürger- und Engelbräu brewery. This was shortened to B & E and this remained the brand name until 1998. From 1998 onwards this became Memminger. In the 2000s I was introduced to the brand and although all their beers were good I quickly developed a taste for their excellent Memminger Lager Schwarz dark beer. In fact, their Memminger Lager Schwarz is still my benchmark when sampling dunkelbiere from other German breweries. 

The brewery struggled heavily in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, having trouble to regain their former market share and went into bankruptcy in the summer of 2023. In January of 2024, the brewery and grounds on the Dr.-Karl-Lenz-Strasse 68 were sold, ending 138 years of beer brewing by the company.

Having learned of the bankruptcy in September 2023 I shot the following as a tribute to the Memminger Brauerei.

All photos shot with my Canon EOS 1000N fitted with a Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 on Agfaphoto APX 100 film.

Fellow photographer Pedro Stubert lamenting the loss of the brewery.

All photos shot with my Canon EOS 90D fitted with a Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 50mm f/1.8.

Frugal Film Project 2024 - January

A few days ago I mentioned that I would be joining the Frugal Film Project for 2024. One film a month shot with a low-cost camera and lens (not to exceed $ 75). The idea is to show that even on a budget you can still get some great photos on film. My camera of choice is the Canon EOS 1000N, a 1990s camera that can be had for a song these days. I've paired it with a 24-85mm lens and am shooting Agfaphoto APX100 black and white film (really rebadged Kentmere Pan 100). I'll be home developing using Adonal.

I have since joined the official FFP24 FB page and found out that I'll be joining 410 other photographers. I am really interested to see what the others come up with. As for me, I've been able to get some shots in the snowy days last week. Enjoy!

Black swan

Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno (a bird as rare upon the earth as a black swan) was first uttered in the second century by the Roman poet Juvenal. Back then, a black swan was thought impossible and the phrase was used as a metaphor. It was used to show the fragility of any system of thought. Should a black swan magically appear that system of thought would collapse. 

Canon EOS 5DsR fitted with a Canon EF 100-400mm f/5.6L USM lens

But no, we are not here to discuss the black swan theory or even the 2010 motion picture film starring the lovely Natalie Portman, we are actually here to celebrate the sighting of an actual black swan! I felt a bit like my 17th century countryman Willem de Vlamingh when he first discovered a black swan in 1697 when I first observed this lovely bird, literally in my back yard!

Now my 'back yard' is a series of meadows surrounding the fortress city of Naarden. A bank of swans had arrived here about a fortnight ago and is still happily grazing here. To my surprise, a black swan was part of this bevy. So when the sun - you know, that shiny thing in the sky that is sometimes seen when there are (almost) no clouds - actually decided to grace us with its presence I grabbed something digital, fitted a 100-400mm lens and started the hunt for the black swan. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Frugal Film Project 2024 - an introduction

Over the last few days I've been reading up on the Frugal Film Project. Started in 2018, the goal is to show that you don't need expensive stuff to get great photo results. The rules are simple: Get a camera and lens for under $ 75 and use a cheap film throughout the year. Shoot one roll a month and share the images with the other participants. I have decided to join in.

The camera

I opted for the Canon EOS 1000N. The EOS 1000N was released in 1992 as an improved version of the EOS 1000. The EOS 1000N, known in the Americas as the EOS Rebel II, is a no-frills SLR equipped with autofocus. It has one focus point and no in-built flash. Prices are about € 10 to € 15 these days although mine was a gift.

Specifications

Camera:                        Canon EOS 1000N/Rebel II

Built:                            1990s

Mount:                          EF

Shutter speeds:             30-1/2000 seconds, B

Self timer:                    yes

Auto DX:                       yes

Exposure modes:           Av, Tv, P, M

Film speeds                   ISO 6 - ISO 6400

Battery:                        one 2CR5

The lens

The lens I am planning to use is the Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. I bought this for € 60 and this lens gives me a little more flexibility than the 28-80mm kit lens.

Specifications:

Focal length:                        24-85mm

Minimal focus distance:        0.5 meters

Aperture:                             f/3.5-4.5 - f/22

Aperture blades:                  6

Diameter:                            67mm

Mount:                                EF

Manufacturer:                     Canon

Built:                                  1990s

The film

My first thought was Fomapan 100 but in the end I decided on AgfaPhoto APX ISO 100 black and white film which is most likely rebadged Kentmere Pan 100. It tends to have less grain than Fomapan and is only slightly more expensive at around € 5,50 a roll of 36 exposures.

The developer

I will be using Adox Adonal developer for the project.

The last photos of 2023

So it's 16:36 hours on December 31st, 2023 and I just got back from my 'daily mile'. It sounds like a war zone out there, with the local younglings having more fun with fireworks than Merry and Pippin at Bilbo's birthday. 

Canon EOS 90D with a Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 50mm f/1.8

I wanted to get some last shots of the year and much like last year, it was wet and drab today so I grabbed something digital to capture the last day of 2023. That 'something digital' had a Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 50mm f/1.8 lens fitted, a lens that that I have become quite fond of since I acquired it earlier this year. Yes, lenses like this Oreston are old but there is something about them as they deliver images with something that I can only describe as, well, instant coolness. A few examples: 

Cherry blossom in December?

Thanks for visiting this year. You all have a very, very good 2024 and see you next year!