Christmas Greetings and Thanks

Hello Everyone: As my first year with the forum draws to a close, I wanted to extend Christmas greetings, and my thanks to all of you. As a lay enthusiast, I’ve really enjoyed participating in the forum. I especially enjoyed hearing from all of you who preserve, restore, maintain and fly historic aircraft.

This has been a terrific year for me when it comes to historic aviation.

April: Open Depot Day at the Military Aviation Museum, Soesterburg, NL. My first chance to see the replica Brewster Buffalo which is kept in storage offsite from the main museum.

May: A visit to Meier Motors in Bremgarten, Germany. Achim Meier showed my wife and I the many ongoing projects in their facility, including Big Beautiful Doll. He then very generously set us loose in their hangar for more than an hour among the priceless collection of aircraft. A very gracious welcome by a professional to someone who is only an enthusiast.

July: Flying Legends 2011, my first. It was very exciting to follow the buildup to this event here on the forum. All of your advice and comments helped me to enjoy Legends immensely.

August: Shoreham Airshow. My wife’s parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a family reunion, and the whole family attended the Shoreham airshow. The set pieces for WWI and the Battle of Britain were great, and I especially enjoyed seeing the Catalina and the Hunter.

Later that week my father-in-law and I visited the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, a lovely collection including three world speed record setting aircraft.

Anyway, all the best to all of you for the coming year.

Bob