Wingspan

Hi,

I have an old copy of Wingspan about the Gladiator, for obvious reasons and I think one on the Mosquito.

Just had a look at that well know auction site and they have four on offer at the moment.

Alex

Thanks Dave,
Good post RPS. I’d just say, Dave, that Flypast has changed a lot more than you might realise if you go back to the Mike Twite days; as have all the magazines over that period.

I’ve a relatively complete collection of Wingspan. They certainly did Alf Grainger drawings of the DH Dragon (NOT Rapide) among others. They are worth picking up, but the later ones of the first incarnation (NOT the current version) were’nt as sharp as they needed to be.

Cheers

“Wingspan International” IS a new magazine – the new issue (got mine last week) is number 30.

It seems to come out about every two months and although my local newsagent only seems to get a single copy I’m in there most days so am able to catch it.

It consists of a mix of old and new – that mix pervading both the News pages and features/articles.

Francois Prins is Editor and Richard Riding is a regular with features based around his old photos.

The new issue has features on: The Doolittle raid on Tokyo, Paris airshow 2005, Elstree in the 1950’s, displaying the BBMF fighters, preview of Biggin Hill 2005, Boulton Paul Defiant, Warrior Centaur(new UK seaplane), St. James Park VE anniversary display, Airshow reports.

Here endeth the advert!!!

Roger Smith.

PS the news pages have a 1969 colour shot of the BE2c replica – was it Blue Max or G-AMSL asking for photos of it?

Cheers James. Sorry to hear about your friend that died.

Yes, FlyPast has changed a little, not as much as some magazines. I used to subscribe to New Zealand Wings, which was supreb. Two things made me stop my sub, the sad death way too young to illnees of editor Ross Macpherson who was an absolute guru of NZ aviation nd a splendid chap. The magazine was taken over by his son but seemed to lose direction a little. And then when Classic Wings Downunder came out (I’ve collected that from day one) NZ Wings dropped it’s warbird content and the historic content dropped too.

Nowadays it’s Pacific Wings and quite different from the days when I subscribed. I occassionally pick a copy up if there’s something in it worth keeping, but not often.

As for Wingspan, did you collect it at all? I wonder if they ever featured the DH86 and DH89 in the 3-view and secton drawings feature? I’m looking for drawings of these types and Wingspan did feature lots of other DH stuff.

The mag I mean used to feature news and their articles were usually indepth profiles and type histories with photos, paintings, 3 views, etc. More historical content than anicdotal stories or current operation of warbirds, etcif you know what I mean. An awesome magazine for modellers.

Hi Dave,

It had a lot of great content, and my friend, the late David Stephens, did a lot of the preservation news before he was killed in Russia as a passenger in an aviation accident.

I kew the old editor/publisher, but it never sold enough copies to survive, even with the money he pumped in.

The new magazine bought the name well after the old one folded; and has taken it in a new direction, it’s required, and if you actually compared Flypast then to Flypast now you’d see a lot more difference than you think because of the continuation.

Cheers

I was much younger, and a LOT slimmer then!

Bruce

Thanks Bruce and Daz, That clears it up, no wonder I haven’t seen it in a long time. It used to be hard to get even when it was going strong, I recall only one shop in Auckland seemed to carry it regulalrly. When I lived there I used to go to that shop specially to check it out each month, but unlike Flypast and AM, I didn’t always buy it. I wish I had bought more issues now.

As Daz says the mag was limited compared with the big two, but it did publish some jolly interesting photos and some good articles on occasion.

I’ll have to take another look at that issue and see if I can spot you Bruce.

The ‘old’ Wingspan went under in the nineties. It has always proved difficult to run a magazine that rivals the main two historic ones, and so it proved. If you have the one with the Mossies on the cover, dated about 1989, there is a picture of me in there as well…!

The ‘new’ one is under entirely different management.

Bruce

The one I refer to, according to Issue 114, Aug 1994, I have in front of me, was based in High Wycombe, Bucks. That website’s magazine is from Herts. They don’t seem to have much in common.

Dave – pretty sure it’s the same mag, albeit with a newer style, as I remember (in fact might still have) some of the older Wingspans from around 1993. Certainly remember an article on models from a firm called, I think, Skybirds??

That mag went under in the mid-90s – pretty certain it’s the same, as the content was pretty limited in comparison to Flypast or Aeroplane.

Hi Janie,

That’s the website i found (sorry I meant to put the link in) but I don’t think this is the same magazine I mean. I refer to one that was around in the late 1980’s and early 1990s. The back issues on that site don’t have any of the copies I have.

The mag I mean used to feature news and their articles were usually indepth profiles and type histories with photos, paintings, 3 views, etc. More historical content than anicdotal stories or current operation of warbirds, etcif you know what I mean. An awesome magazine for modellers.

One I have covers the Sunderland indepth, with the IWM one on the cover – another the Mosquito (with two flying together on the cover!) and another two covered a two part in depth article on Martim Baker MB1 through to MB5 (the MB3 was nice!). One issue I have also had an article about nose art used in the Memphis Belle film.

The magazine on this website looks a totally different style, and the name is Wingspan International on there. The ones I mean didn’t have the second word.

Did someone buy it out and change it all about? Or did it fold and then this other is a new, seperate venture? Pity either way.

Pretty sure it’s still around, Dave. I remember the old version went out about 1994 or so, maybe a bit later, and the new one has come along in the past couple of years, at any rate.

Do you mean this one?
http://www.wingspanmag.com/