Historic Pix Posting Day Sunday 24 July

Heres my contribution, took at Mallory Park yesterday during a very enjoyable day of vintage sports car racing. Well, it would have been if it wasn’t for the rain which meant i left halfway through, only seeing six of twelve races (good job i didn’t travel all the way up to Breighton or North Coates!). The connection? This weird looking edwardian racer used to race at Brooklands, home of Vickers and the birthplace of British aviation. The car itself barely got itself past the starting line, the pole on top is actually part of the vehicle, think it might be steam powered, it certainly sounded like it (and with the steam coming out of it, it probably was)

Took this photograph on Sunday July 24th 2005 (yesterday) 😀

You were the model passenger too, Geoff. Hopefully next time we can get as far as Shoreham and waggle our wings for t’other Geoff!

YR

Congratulation Geoff. Quite the historic day. Well done.

Well, this was certainly ‘historic’ for me, as at the grand old age of 44 I ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ for the very first time courtesy of YakRider. I’m glad I waited, after all where better than North Weald to take your first flight, and in an ex-RAF aircraft, with a fan on the front too.

Trevor – I shall be ever grateful for yesterday.

Geoff.

image 1 – Taxying out, image 2 – We’re off (Images 1 & 2 courtesy Richard Herring), 3 & 4 – Coalhouse Fort, East Tilbury, a Victorian Casemate fortress who were having a Wings & wheels day, 5- Tilbury Fort, built by Henry VIII & where Elizabeth I reviewed her troops on the eve of the Spanish Armada, 6) Nearly home, 7- On the downwind leg, 9 & 10- Safely down.

I got my brakes working.

Well done chaps….a fantastic and eclectic mix of interests and items that demonstrate the wide range of interests we have. I hope we will get some more postings.

Not being happy with my original pix, I managed to get out and snapped Airman’s Cross near Stonehenge…it is dedicated to the first two RFC casualties on duty, very historic and poignant.

Regards Rocketeer 🙂

I was stuck at “work”, no camera, no aircraft but not far from MoTaT.
My contribution?
Surfing this forum at @ 07:00 local time

My first “Duxford” was in 1976. Seems like yesterday>>Attendees then: BOBF Spit x 2, Hurricane, Lanc. Sally B etc..

Nearest I got to aviation today, a nice little find on a second hand book stall…

The only thing going on around here this weekend was the Rolls-Royce Model Club scale weekend.

Weather was average to start and seriously deteriorated so static only but here are my offerings. I don’t know any details but the Stringbag looked gigantic.

I should have snapped Bruce. Printed my Legends pix at last, so taking more was out – especially as I was at work today.

Heston Phoenix

Photo of the prototype, from page 31 of “Hendon to Farnborough” compiled by Mike Hooks.

My offering.

The grave of Sgt Henry Victor Watts, Wireless Operator / Air Gunner, 115 squadron, RAF.

Sgt Watts and crew, Sgt N C Cook, Sgt R Edwards, Sgt A Overall, Sgt Nathan and P/O G D Waterer were returning from an operation to Mannheim in Wellington 1C R3276 KO-B.

“Hit a line of trees and crashed 05:15 alongside the Saxthorpe-Heydon Road near Corpusty, 15 miles NNW of Norwich, Norfolk. All were seriously injured and Sgt Watts died while being treated in the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital.”
Bomber Command Losses, W R Chorley.

Sgt Watts was a native of Walsall and apparently grew up in an area approximately one mile south of my home. He now lies in Ryecroft Cemetery, less than a mile to the East of my home, and I never knew he was there.

The dedication at the bottom of the stone reads….

He loved to smile
And with that smile
He served and died
That we might live.

Regards,

kev35

Found it filed under “H”

Weather lousy – although I did manage a 2-hour bike ride before the rain set in – so I dug around in the filing cabinet and found this!

I’ve been busy cleaning today, hence the before and after piccies. Its not much but its been quite pleasant standing in the shed cleaning with the door wide open and the rain pouring down……kinda peacefull really. Interestingly enough, if what I’m cleaning is from the plane we think it is, then the mission was scrubbed due to bad weather and the plane crashed on the return trip after No 4 ran away and caught fire. The pilot rode the ’17 down…still fully loaded with bombs…before bailing out at low altitude and high speed after ensuring the stricken Fort would miss a village.
Now to me, thats a hero…..not some namby pamby overpaid footballer scoring a goal !(sorry, get really p*ssed off by the media penchant for naming anybody a hero nowadays !)

I wonder what moggy’s bit is?.

So does Moggy :confused:

Around 1990 I was told that a Spitfire had come down in the River Severn near Shrewsbury during the war.

Visiting the site I found what appeared to be some form of tank (Container, not armoured vehicle) from within which I was able to liberate that component.

I suspect this could be ‘Spitfire snobbery’, more than likely the aircraft was an American fighter out of nearby Atcham.

Moggy

Piece of wreckage from a P-47 Thunderbolt.
In image 1 it clearly shows the words ‘Rework’ and a number, both written in coloured marker of some sort. I wonder what moggy’s bit is?.

Since I am working all day in my home office, and there’s nothing around here with historic aviation connections (the opening of the Gothenburg Aero Museum at Säve has been postponed for a year), please accept this humble offering.
It’s the dust jacket illustration of the Putnams Westland book, from an original painting by Wilfred Hardy, and shows Westland Wapiti IIs of No. 60 Sqn based at Kohat engaged on a punitive bombing mission over India’s Northwest Frontier in 1930.

Here’s mine

Moggy