Our conclusions of the last week have just been turned upside-down with the recent observation by an eagle-eyed aviation enthusiast who saw what dozens of others failed to see, even after close scrutiny of the photographs!
Read on:
The Tailfin
What has been staring us in the face all this time but has gone unnoticed until Laurence Bean from Malaysia, who 'stumbled' onto our discussions, spotted it: a Squadron symbol of a playing card symbol - the Clubs - on a square white background. Well done, Laurence!
Can you spot it?
To help you, I have drawn the outline of this symbol in the cleaned up photo below, as well as extrapolating the portion not shown in the original pic.
Can you see it now?
Playing card symbols were usually carried on the tailplanes of 84 Squadron aircraft, as seen most clearly in this picture of a Brigand firing rockets at a communist target in Malaya:
This practice continues till this day. Check out the tail of the modern day Westland Wessex helicopter from 84 Squadron below which clearly shows the Club symbol:
(Photo featured on www.royalwings.co.uk)
Well, the proof is before us at last: our Bristol Brigand wreck came from 84 Squadron, and not Sgt Sid Hayler's 45 Sqn aircraft VS838, 'OB-A', as put forward by several contributors.
While personally, I am a little disappointed that our intense investigation and conclusions have been proven to be premature, I am excited at the re-opening of this case and this new insight which brings forth (and back) many questions:
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Which aircraft is this?
When did it crash?
Why did it crash?
What happened to the crew?
I hope the various enthusiasts and Brigand veterans from 84 and 45 Sqns will come in again to ponder over this.
Here's another picture of a Brigand from 84 Sqn, clearly showing the Aces card symbol on its fin; this time a painting by noted aviation artist Michael Turner:
Picture courtesy of Peter Weston
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