Aeroplane Monthly – Cracking Gladiator article

Very odd. It doesn’t seem to make any sense.

The politics, skulduggery and, occasionally, out-and-out nastiness that goes on behind the scenes in the vintage aircraft world has very little to do with ‘sense’.

Both that and the article on Dave Southwood were brilliant reading. Well done AM on a brilliant issue of the magazine.

Surely £40,000 would have been beneficial to Shuttleworth? And Guy is certainly not a fantasist as his record of restored aircraft shows.

Very odd. It doesn’t seem to make any sense.

Moggy

‘Mr. Stratospheric’ was Guy Black, boss of Historic Aircraft Collection – apparently he bid £40,000 more (hardly ‘Stratospheric’) and had been after this Gladiator for years, before approaching OW. There was much gnashing of teeth and steam above their HQ after they lost out to a lower bid, but you get over these things.
See HAC’s Fury at the May Dx airshow?

Also it sounds like I definitely need to get this latest AM issue, whichever month it lands in NZ.

If you have an IOS or Android device, you can download a copy via the AM App, quicker (and cheaper) than waiting for the boat carrying hard copies to arrive!

Seconded, brilliant reading. Love those interwar colour schemes.

Wellll, as Black Knight has mentioned it, it seems rude not to post a link to Nick Grey’s Gladiator article…

What a great read that was! Thanks for posting the link, Elliott! I was very entertained, hopefully I can find more articles from Nick on the site as his enthusiasm really shines through as he writes. And I wonder if Nick and Stephen are aware there’s a paper model of ‘NFM in the colour scheme Nick wrote of? http://www.ecardmodels.com/index.php/1-72-tiger-moth-g-anfm-great-britain-paper-model.html

Also it sounds like I definitely need to get this latest AM issue, whichever month it lands in NZ. My mum taped [i]Test Pilot[/b] when I was a baby and I watched it endlessly as a kid so I’m always interested to read about Dave Southwood.

Wellll, as Black Knight has mentioned it, it seems rude not to post a link to Nick Grey’s Gladiator article. Very different to Stephen’s excellent Aeroplane contribution as you might imagine, but interesting to get two perspectives from within the same family!

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2015/04/29/battle-of-britain-75-pt-4-nick-grey-on-flying-tfcs-gloster-gladiator-mk-ii-n5903-g-glad/

Look forward to reading the article. Long time ago when a few of the early crowd occupied the old IWM shop next to hangar three, Stephen came in one day and gave me a cut away drawing out of Flight Magazine which I pinned on the office wall. He had written on it, “Dream Machine”. Some time later the dream came true and we picked up N5903.

As usual with Stephen, an excellent entertaining read. His son has written about his 1st flight in it on the Global Aviation page.

I am reminded of Hamish bidding to buy the Spanish Air Force aircraft for the Battle of Britain movie,he was also subject to a mystery bidder way over the estimate.

Can’t say from what was disclosed, but maybe an attempt to slow the process up and buy time.

But surely if they made an offer and it was from a credible source, how would this be a ‘blocking’ bid? Just say ‘Yes’ and take the (stratospheric) money.

I can’t see a random bid from somebody with no track record being employed to fix the market price.

(I know little of this stuff. We are talking many times more than I have ever paid for an aircraft.)

Moggy

Indeed, a fantastic article and great photos. Ob: Mr “Stratospheric”, it was said the valuation turned out to be just a blocking maneouver rather than a genuine offer.

Excellent piece indeed, as is the whole issue. Very good interview with Dave Southwood, too.

The Gladiator has always been my favourite biplane. If I had to choose just one warbird to fly it would be my first choice by a long way, so ten pages of Gloster-porn in this month’s magazine was impossible to resist.

Two things stood out for me. One was the glimpse of Stephen Grey’s early life and his progress to the head of TFC – Funny, it seems he’s always been there, but to read in his own words the path that brought him there was fascinating.

The other was the behind-the-scenes insight into the acquisition of N5903. I was left wondering who “Mr Stratospheric” was (And why his offer wasn’t grabbed with both hands).

Topped off with the fantabulous John Dibbs double page image too. Pure Gladiator magic!

Moggy

PS: If you are thinking this is a thinly disguised Key Publishing promo, think again. I bought my copy with my own hard-earned. :apologetic:

Read my copy flying back yesterday Lanzarote to Thruxton. Got to agree, a great read, photos of exceptional quality, beautiful aeroplane shame so few survive

It’s a fabulous read. Another article I found particularly interesting was Dave Southwood’s. What a career he’s had.

The article is very good and the single full page John Dibbs image of the Gladiator is one occasion when using the word awesome is correct.

Looking forward to reading this article.

For many, the Gladiator is the nicest of the pre-war biplanes, and a type that everyone want’s to own and fly.

Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed articles written by Stephen Grey, which, like his displays, are never dull or boring!

(I’m still trying to find out who the “Famous aviator” was who didn’t take any notice of the briefing he gave them prior to their first flight in the TFC Wildcat, only for them to return from the flight with a broken wrist and the radio chord from their helmet severed!)

Cheers

Paul

I have to agree, it is a very interesting and informative article. I really want that double page gladiator picture to be blown up onto a massive poster!