John Jordan

Pity his old Pitts isn’t in the air yet as he enjoyed his display flying in that thing the best – be nice to see it up and about again.

Very sad to hear of Johns departure, Met up with him many times both in aviation & motor racing, usually at Badminton or Castle Combe, Had the pleasure of swinging his Stearman on several occasions. Along with Dizzy he will be missed!

RIP

Just learned of the sad news while on holiday in NZ. A great friend over so many years. Donna McLuskie was gathering material for an autobiography so perhaps that may emerge in due course.

Hairyplanes anecdote on the lack of cushions for John’s safety pilot was absolutely true. John’s response to the comment was priceless – “Thanks for the good advice… I will borrow a couple from Shuttleworth”. After the display the Stearman vanished in the general direction of Little Gransden still with insufficient cushions for the required safety pilot. Happy days.

Sincere condolences to his family.

Trapper 69

On the crowdline at Dux a few years back, I ‘earwigged’ on a conversation that the guy next to me started with an unassuming elderly gent who was standing nearby. Turned out to be JJ. He took the trouble to answer questions with modesty and politeness – a real gentleman, as other forumites have related.
I suspect it’s not a coincidence that the cereal bar factory resembles a large hanger!

John and his Super Stearman was a regular at the Badminton Airdays of yesteryear! I recall an interview on the local telly where JJ explained with a straight face that his navigational aids were a 1951 AA book for the maps and a brick on a piece of string to show him which way was up! One of the old school. Blue skies.

I believe that he was also a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary too – sadly the number of surviving ATA pilots is ever decreasing.

John Jordan

A real fan of the lovely Nicky’s delicious scones!

JJ’s name came up a year or so back. He kept his Stearman despite having lost his medical. He arrived solo one day at a certain airfield, to find that ‘the man from the CAA’ was there too. They knew each other well.

The conversation apparently went something like this –

‘Hello John. Your passenger can’t see out. I suggest you get him a cushion.’

I can just imagine that happening these days!!

Hairyplane

Blue Skies John.
I had the pleasure of meeting John and flying his Stearman as a Cadet when helping out at the Barnstormers events as “reward” for working that weekend. I will always remember the engine “backfiring” as we taxied out. Staring ahead at just three dials and a load of hols on teh panel infront of me. Once flying I got the pre arranged tap on the shoulder and then proceeded to fly a circiut of Cranfield (albeit descending as it turned out) I got the tap again and indicated he had control as arranged and we adjusted our circuit height and landed. A treasured memory. Thank you John. May you Rest In Peace John.
Gary

I aways remember John swinging the prop of G-AROY then running around to climb in the cockpit, as i was standing by G-AGTM’s wing tip. Then waving to him, when i was a member of Russavia crew at Duxford.

John never ran, he would swing the prop of the Stearman and it would cough gently into life. He would then walk to the wing tip whilst chatting to whoever and putting on his helmet, as the Stearman moved fwd he would wallk down the Trailing edge and climb aboard as the Stearman bumbled off!
What happy memories 🙂

I aways remember John swinging the prop of G-AROY then running around to climb in the cockpit, as i was standing by G-AGTM’s wing tip. Then waving to him, when i was a member of Russavia crew at Duxford.

He always had boxes of Jordan’s Cereal Bars in the boot of his car. If you caught him on a good day, he would give you a huge stash of them.

What terrible news- I will really miss those Raisin and Hazelnut Fruisli Bars.

Very sad! I met him several times, usually at Old Warden with G-AROY. A lovely friendly chap with plenty of interesting stories, who will be sadly missed!

Sad news.
Never met the gent but knew him only through his Stearman G-AROY. One of the memories of my first ever trip to Old Warden (1962 or 63) was calling in at Sywell and seeing ‘ROY out on the apron – I wish I could find the colour slide I took of it.
RIP
Roger Smith.

So So Sad 🙁 another character gone from the Airdisplay world. Last time i saw John he was still looking well. Many happy memories of time with John at Barnstormer Displays and listening to some of his stories about his exploits. Who can forget Johns displays in his beloved Stearman, sad news indeed 🙁