In the good old days when airshows where fun. At Dunstable gliding club (LGC) they use to have an airshow once a year. Can anbody else remember or has a photo of a air race that took part in the mid 60’s. A mighty Luton Minor G-AFIR took on a Spitfire G-ASJV and a Pawnee (which dusted the Bowl on each lap). I cant recall the other types, may be a Tiger Moth or who one the race. I remember the Luton Minor laging way behind, the engine put, puting away. It may have been handy caped.
Dave :diablo:
By: Mike Smart - 14th April 2009 at 16:49
Apologies Mike. Arthur has sent me a lot of photos of his aeroplane but didn’t tell me whose they were. In hindsight, the filename of the photos should have given me a clue. :rolleyes:
Hope you don’t mind them being shown. And yes, I for one would love to see some others!
Also if you run a search on www.britishpathe.com there are some movie images of the Dunstable air shows too.
No I don’t mind them being shown. I will try and dig out the others, but I may have to do some scanning, so bear with me.
Mike
By: low'n'slow - 14th April 2009 at 16:15
They are actually my photographs, I also have some of the Pawnee, closed cockpit Turbulent, Gunbus etc.
Mike
Apologies Mike. Arthur has sent me a lot of photos of his aeroplane but didn’t tell me whose they were. In hindsight, the filename of the photos should have given me a clue. :rolleyes:
Hope you don’t mind them being shown. And yes, I for one would love to see some others!
Also if you run a search on www.britishpathe.com there are some movie images of the Dunstable air shows too.
By: Mike Smart - 14th April 2009 at 15:55
None of the race, but here, from Arthur Mason’s archive, are a couple of G-AFIR ‘limbering up’ in 1967:D
They are actually my photographs, I also have some of the Pawnee, closed cockpit Turbulent, Gunbus etc.
Mike
By: pogno - 14th April 2009 at 08:03
Dave
Yes I remember the dogfight, Gunbus and Fokker E111, and the other thing about the Turbulent was it had a wooden handled wire brush as the shoe or the tail skid, and Dad said it had a car engine.
Dont remember any Spitfire when I was there.
But they did have a really good helterskelter to play on, which at the time had nearly as much fun value as the aircraft, well I was only nine.
Richard
By: G-ASEA - 14th April 2009 at 07:08
Dave
I went to an airshow at Dunstable sometime in the 60’s possibly 67. The only aircraft I remember were the Vickers Gunbus replica, a J3 Cub, several Tiger Moths, a Druin Turbulant with a enclosed canopy and the Pawnee. The air race seemed to be arranged so that a turning point was the other side of the car park, and during the race a Tiger clipped the roof of a car with a endercarriage wheel. The Gunbus had engine trouble and a glider tug landed with its rope narrowly missing some spectators.
A while ago someone posted some pictures taken at the time but they were quickly taken off because of copyright issues.
Richard
The Turbulent was G-APWP built by Colin Rogers. If you went alont the foot path between Tring road and the bottom of the Downs you where always in danger of being hit by a tow rope in those days. The Gunbus at one airshow damaged its undercarrige,when some body stood up on the foot path just as the aircraft was on approch and had to lift its wing very quickly made a heavy landing! Also one year the Gunbus had a dog fight with the fokker E111. A hot air balloon made of cellotape and polythene took off and later hit power cables cutting the power of to a village.
As I said Air Shows where more fun in the past.
Dave
By: pogno - 13th April 2009 at 23:34
In the good old days when airshows where fun. At Dunstable gliding club (LGC) they use to have an airshow once a year. Can anbody else remember or has a photo of a air race that took part in the mid 60’s. A mighty Luton Minor G-AFIR took on a Spitfire G-ASJV and a Pawnee (which dusted the Bowl on each lap). I cant recall the other types, may be a Tiger Moth or who one the race. I remember the Luton Minor laging way behind, the engine put, puting away. It may have been handy caped.
Dave :diablo:
Dave
I went to an airshow at Dunstable sometime in the 60’s possibly 67. The only aircraft I remember were the Vickers Gunbus replica, a J3 Cub, several Tiger Moths, a Druin Turbulant with a enclosed canopy and the Pawnee. The air race seemed to be arranged so that a turning point was the other side of the car park, and during the race a Tiger clipped the roof of a car with a endercarriage wheel. The Gunbus had engine trouble and a glider tug landed with its rope narrowly missing some spectators.
A while ago someone posted some pictures taken at the time but they were quickly taken off because of copyright issues.
Richard
By: Arabella-Cox - 13th April 2009 at 19:52
I remember FIR dropping into Redhill on a hot day in the sixties (from Fairoaks I think). The pilot spent some time running the engine and tinkering with the mixture screw before departure. This created some interest from the ‘hangar rats’ and pundits. Soon we realised why as it took off with a minimal rate of climb in the summer sunshine, disappearing to the south of the field towards Gatwick only a few feet above the trees. It was about twenty minute later that the dear old aircraft appeared overhead at about a thousand feet and set course towards home. I guess that was what flying is all about – a Jap engine and the oldest (then) Luton Minor – on a hot day.
Priceless!
By: low'n'slow - 10th April 2009 at 21:48
None of the race, but here, from Arthur Mason’s archive, are a couple of G-AFIR ‘limbering up’ in 1967:D
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April 10, 2009 at 5:40 pm