Popham Aerojumble Monday 2nd May 2011

POPHAM, POPHAM 2012

ITS NEARLY HERE AGAIN, A FEW DAYS TO GO, STILL GETTING OVER THE V REUNION AND LINING UP BOTTLES OF VARYING HUES TO TAKE WITH US, HOPE THE WEATHER HOLDS OUT AND THAT WE HAVE ANOTHER 3 DAYS TO REMEMBER, WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE IF THE HIKES IN SELLER’S PITCHES PRODUCE LESS PEOPLE COMING ALONG TO SELL.

‘WAR & PEE’ AT BELTRING-FEEDBACK ON FEEDBACK

Aaah yes, the heady aroma of a W&P portaloo after it’s stood out in the July sunshine for a week…and the anticipation of what you will be presented with when you open the door.

As one aerojumbler said to me “I’d rather **** in a Tesco bag” Actually, the loos were so diabolical one year, I did!

Few visitors realise that the loos are deliberately allowed to get into such a state so as to re-enact the typical latrine found in a Japanese POW camp with an outbreak of dysentry.

They did eventually do something about the problem – they removed most of them, forcing you to either hire one of your own at £100 per week or queue even longer to use the overstrained (no pun intended) facilities of the Hop Farm.

That said, the Hop Farm did actually improve their own cleaning standards a few years back. I well recall how strange it was to be straddling the bog at 8.30 a.m., contemplating the day ahead like us men do, knowing that there was a dazzling 20 yr old Polish blonde the other side of the cubicle’s door, waiting to clean it out as soon as you’d finished.

“Sank you very much, haff a nice day!”

I made the decision not to go this year as it does not coincide with Brookland’s aerojumble. It wasn’t a hard decision.

I’d had enough of it last year, after spending a full week eating the dust blown up by traffic and visitors. Everything was covered in a thick layer of it by sunday evening when I started to pack up. In fact, about 9.30, just as it went dark, a jeep drove towards me with its headlights on and I realised I was working in a 30′ layer of dust which was slowly settling over everything – it had been churned up by the final tank displays in the arena that afternoon. I managed a (cold) shower about 11 p.m. which washed some of the dust off but the state of the shower cubicle meant it was only for those with a strong stomach.

The dust (or mud depending upon the week’s weather), the ever escalating costs, the dire state of the toilets etc and the fact that my stuff is a minority interest and I really don’t sell that much finally pursuaded me to jack it in. Plus, there’s no longer as much stuff to buy as there was a few years back and the whole show just feels like deja-vu every year – the same lorries and tanks are parked exactly where they were twelve months previously.

There was a weak attempt to improve the attractions last year. They hired a clown to drive around on a battery powered cart of some description while doing an impression of a drunk in RAF pilot’s uniform. I assume he was playing at being drunk anyway.

And the “bureaucracy” and hassle at W&P is worse than any other show I’ve been to, as your stall holder pal concluded too.

Like you, I won’t miss it.

Ironically, I will be doing Brooklands, having said I wouldn’t if I didn’t have the advantage of doing W&P in the same week. I accidentally paid twice last year so they are giving me a “free” pitch this year. Even so, I doubt it will be worth the effort!

——————————————————————–

Thanks for that update, Polish blondes aside I’m very disappointed to read of your descriptions of the toilets in particular as when I last mailed an organizer 7-8 years ago he admitted to the problem and said they were going to tighten up on it as I mentioned.

REMOVAL
your revelation about management actually removing most of the toilets is simply astounding, it will surely drive people away even more than it did ourselves – who wants an event like that and which due to withdrawal of facilities, forces you to shell out even more on top? I hope that foreign sellers/enthusiasts and particularly visitors, register their disgust which seems to have seen management washing their hands (no pun intended) of ensuring that adequate facilities are on-site to accommodate the crowds attending.

I remember well the smell in the evening when you sat outside your pitch with a beer or some food in hand while enjoying the fading heat at last and orange sunset, only to be downwind of the portaloos which had not been emptied regularly enough – it was just rank and many felt, typical rank British festival treatment towards paying customers. One classic was waiting till my mate went to sleep in his tent one night, then sneaking out in the car back to London, having a bath and shave, a few hours kip then driving back again in the early morning – when he looked out next day there he remarked on how fresh I was looking – I couldn’t help but laugh and he guessed where I’d been – a good grin.

PRECAUTIONS & BEING PREPARED
Towards the end of going there we chipped in with some mates and shared their own loo which though much better, didn’t stop the smell from the other ‘regular’ loos that were so poorly maintained though. Taking your own paper was the order of the day when using regular loos in case none was available, or it might be on a surface that could have picked up germs instead of being suspended.

Lack of running water in ‘plastic’ toilets due to poor maintenance again was also a big prob when it occurred as this was not in the days of convenient personal anti-germ dispensers that you can buy at ASDA and Tesco etc now, I always have one with me if I go to a show these days for extra protection. I haven’t found the article I did on Beltring yet on a stuffed external drive, but I have a hard copy somewhere so will try and dig it out sometime.

I’ll also do something when I can of the final time I went there and the bad experience I had due to a lack of loos being available nearby, which sent me on a long excruciating yomp to the top of the oast houses where the main / nearest toilets were, as the shower block near the dealers parking area was actually being renovated at the time (I never used them anyway, but especially so after a mate told me he found a ‘Captain’s Log’ floating in one shower cubicle and nothing else was available).

My final emergency yomp to get relief proved an unforgettable and lower clenching experience to get there in time anyway, and it finally told me enough was enough for coming to the event, which for daytime attendees was getting expensive too – I think it was £14-£15 when someone came to visit us on our stall for the day and if you didn’t bring food with you it could be an expensive day out, while pick-pockets were warned against though the police seemed to have a reasonable presence there.

LOCAL OUTLETS
When we were newcomers to selling there it seemed hard going driving around to find local places that did breakfast off the farm or a local pub which did meals and though we soon found a Tesco that got us some fare we eventually found ourselves going into town some evenings to have a decent pizza or sit-down. At the very last show we found to our delight that as at Popham, a Red Fort curry house was in fact nearby, a place we would have made more use of at previous shows had we known about it then.

WATER TAP
Another minus at Beltring was seeing a water tap on display that had a sign ‘not for drinking’ – while someone told me that someone did actually drink it after the sign went missing – we always had fresh drinking water on caravan hols when we were kids, yet this major and regular event couldn’t supply one lousy drinking water tap for visitors so it seemed – almost certainly to do with maximizing beer and soft drink sales I would suggest, which made the event something of a third-world offering, and an inconvenience for visitors and sellers alike.

BAR TOILETS-ALSO UNFORGETTABLE
I felt sick one evening when I went into the loos at the evening bar area – no maintenance yet again. The floor was awash with urine, it stank, and I looked back to the toilet entrance after to see people walking out straight into the carpeted bar area which was damp nearest the toilet entrance, with pee. Not far away, some kids were sitting on the floor with their parents as they do playing and I felt even more sick thinking about what they could be getting on their hands and clothing, the thought made me shudder and left me feeling disgusted in equal measure.

I’d better go, I feel dirty just on recounting all this and feel like I should go wash my hands just at the hot, sweaty, reeking, inadequate, offensive thought of it all.

SALMSON AD.9 ENGINE, POPHAM 2010

Thanks to the two contributors on this engine previously, I had a look at some info on and it looks like it could well be this item as quoted by Pogno. It was a nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aero engine and French designed by Salmson., other variants being the AD.9R and AD.9NG.

It was also reportedly manufactured under license by British Salmson in the late 1920s. Though it had relatively low power (divided among nine cylinders) this in fact made the running of the engine notably smooth, while the torque was said to be very even too.

It was fitted to 12 different aircraft of various nationalities and actually went into the Comper Swift which was a real surprise to me, along with the BA Swallow, General Aircraft Monospar and Boulton Paul P.41 Phoenix. Apparently it cost £175 in 1929 so given its condition at Popham last year it must have been regarded (by the seller anyway) as somewhat rare, given the price that was posted up here previously.

Beers

Aaah yes, the heady aroma of a W&P portaloo after it’s stood out in the July sunshine for a week…and the anticipation of what you will be presented with when you open the door.

As one aerojumbler said to me “I’d rather **** in a Tesco bag” Actually, the loos were so diabolical one year, I did!

Few visitors realise that the loos are deliberately allowed to get into such a state so as to re-enact the typical latrine found in a Japanese POW camp with an outbreak of dysentry.

They did eventually do something about the problem – they removed most of them, forcing you to either hire one of your own at £100 per week or queue even longer to use the overstrained (no pun intended) facilities of the Hop Farm.

That said, the Hop Farm did actually improve their own cleaning standards a few years back. I well recall how strange it was to be straddling the bog at 8.30 a.m., contemplating the day ahead like us men do, knowing that there was a dazzling 20 yr old Polish blonde the other side of the cubicle’s door, waiting to clean it out as soon as you’d finished.

“Sank you very much, haff a nice day!”

I made the decision not to go this year as it does not coincide with Brookland’s aerojumble. It wasn’t a hard decision.

I’d had enough of it last year, after spending a full week eating the dust blown up by traffic and visitors. Everything was covered in a thick layer of it by sunday evening when I started to pack up. In fact, about 9.30, just as it went dark, a jeep drove towards me with its headlights on and I realised I was working in a 30′ layer of dust which was slowly settling over everything – it had been churned up by the final tank displays in the arena that afternoon. I managed a (cold) shower about 11 p.m. which washed some of the dust off but the state of the shower cubicle meant it was only for those with a strong stomach.

The dust (or mud depending upon the week’s weather), the ever escalating costs, the dire state of the toilets etc and the fact that my stuff is a minority interest and I really don’t sell that much finally pursuaded me to jack it in. Plus, there’s no longer as much stuff to buy as there was a few years back and the whole show just feels like deja-vu every year – the same lorries and tanks are parked exactly where they were twelve months previously.

There was a weak attempt to improve the attractions last year. They hired a clown to drive around on a battery powered cart of some description while doing an impression of a drunk in RAF pilot’s uniform. I assume he was playing at being drunk anyway.

And the “bureaucracy” and hassle at W&P is worse than any other show I’ve been to, as your stall holder pal concluded too.

Like you, I won’t miss it.

Ironically, I will be doing Brooklands, having said I wouldn’t if I didn’t have the advantage of doing W&P in the same week. I accidentally paid twice last year so they are giving me a “free” pitch this year. Even so, I doubt it will be worth the effort!

McSplurgle in Super Injunction Gagging Order?

I wonder if McSplurgle will ever be aware of the amusement and interest that his recent accident has stirred up on the blog, and I was actually considering publishing pictures next year (unless he gives me some better prices) besides wishing to blow his rumoured super injunction via the web, as with other high-profile cases recently. It is always possible of course that we might witness his eventual uncloaking, along with other media ‘personalities’ and footballers in due course.

I recently mused that if ever unmasked, then media invitations to appear on ‘Brown Peter’, ‘Block the Week’ or ‘Have I got Booze for You’ along with other mass-audience panel shows would surely follow in the light of his new-found celebrity. This would inevitably lead to the attentions of the Paparazzi, with McSplurgle being pictured leaving establishments like ‘Nobu’ after having enjoyed one rosé too many while supporting an equally listing Jordan on one arm, and nursing a precautionary toilet roll under the other.

His luxury Mayfair flat would eventually be burgled by improperly-cleared legals/illegals/cheats/criminals from abroad whom Labour welcomed so readily to the trough of our much-fleeced benefits system in their unwanted ‘social experiment’, which saw officialdom happy to let our local council services and schools be over-run from abroad without any proper planning or thought for the future.

If indigenous citizens could see this problem occurring way before all the unrestricted EU invasions flooded the UK however, then why didn’t a supposed ‘government’ also possess such basic foresight, but who are now telling us from their unhappy opposition benches how much better they are, so soon after sending us all additionally, into generations of penury by their profligate overspending?

Any looting of McSplurgle’s new main residence would undoubtedly see ‘The Sun’ duly enjoying a field day in such circumstances. The unforgettable headline ‘McSPLURGLE BURGLED!’, would surely rank amongst its finest front-page reportage, along with ‘GOTCHA!’ as published during the Falklands campaign.

In the light of my first Popham update an anonymous sender has sent me an anonymous photo showing a pair of anonymous boxers (anonymously reinforced) purporting to belong to the man himself. No location was given but their general condition as seen, does lend some weight (though they weighed more at Popham) to the claim that they could indeed belong to the unfortunate man in question.

Time might inevitably tell on this (as the rosé wine and curry did so disastrously in Hampshire) and besides the other mounting expectation of ‘CockpitFest’ once again, some people are also looking ahead to July and Beltring, this being well after the more immediate aviation attractions of the glorious annual Newark pilgrimage.

I mistakenly thought ‘War & Pee’ as we soon came to refer to Beltring after some unpleasant sanitary experiences there, was in June also for some reason, and I’m ‘relieved’ I don’t have to use the facilities there anymore or risk getting ‘caught short’, whereas the excellent toilets and their maintenance at Popham and Newark are to be applauded, besides the very inviting additions of the cafe and well-stocked shop at the latter Notts location.

Interaction with staff at events is important to smooth running, and at all times the staff at both the aforementioned events are always friendly and helpful, with Newark notably always coming up with initiatives or ways in which to assist or improve the experience for sellers/cockpiters and collectors with their displays, as well as that of the general public. You get the definite feeling that your efforts to put on a display are really appreciated, whereas at Beltring it was just pure business and increasing rules and regs/H&S requirements, which the stall holder I used to assist was notably fed up with towards the end.

At ‘War & Pee’ I found it too large an event to have the same level of inter-action and assistance from organisers, while unfavourable TV coverage of certain antics as also heard of by some fellow attendees re a small contingent of ‘re-enactors’ getting a bit the worse for wear and aggressive at night, didn’t help the overall experience either.

I haven’t been to ‘W&Pee’ for 5-6 years and I don’t miss the smells and other disadvantages at all from those times, with one toilet-telling experience in particular that I may recount at a later date proving to be the final straw. Hopefully things have improved since then as when I e-mailed one of the organisers shortly after writing of my experiences in the newsletter years ago, he did admit that it was something they were aware of and were trying to redress – including more prompt emptying of portaloos, which were sometimes not being emptied for up to three days if I remember correctly.

God knows what any American and Canadian visitors in particular would have thought of this. I did however have some good times with colleagues regardless, where plenty of pics were taken, and again I may post some of these at a later date for our readers as we revisit some events from past aviation and military events.

Nice artwork here Gokone, can’t wait for Newarks Cockpitfest and Aeroboot either! It really is an event not to be missed so “Be there or be square!”:cool:

Garry,

I’ve no idea what the small radial was but when i asked the price, to be told with a cheerful “seven grand to you guv” we had to stifle a snigger as we quickly walked away.

.

I thinks its a Salmson AD.9

Richard

POPHAM TRIBUTE / PROMO POSTERS

I thoroughly enjoyed my first aerojumble venture to Newark. I’ve just got to source the instruments to fill the Vulcan instrument panel I bought off you now! 😮

I may have a suitable rear fuel guage Blue-2 but finding it in one of many plastic containers will take time, its similar to the one on the Bucc and same shape with raised semi-circular glass profile.

Re Mark, if you thought the previous was epic here’s the latest, had to dash in tonight as not sure when I’m back in next so just in case here’s the latest trib, after which I must hightail it back to the East End.

Haven’t had time to upload it to the blog previously, but you nevva know, maybe this Popham Airfield Recreational Promotional or ‘P.A.R.P.'(!)* exercise will be well received or the Local Council Marketing Board of Royal Basingstoke and Popham (if it exists) or someone might be pleased to discuss these with me – six linear posters that convey something of the flavour and atmosphere of the public event days at the airfield – I’ve put them three-up to save on uploaded images and reduced their file size too, I’ll have to look at something for Newark in the future after all my event shots there over the years.

The pics are compiled from (I think) 2003 onwards, and feature some of my best photography from both aeromart/fly-in events plus the Annual Motorcycle Mega Meet & Vintage Aircraft Fly-in. There is also an aeromart event existing from 2003 that I did a special on in the Victor Association newsletter from that period, which will also be converted later to a digital version and uploaded when I can sort it – its great to time-travel back to kit we once knew isn’t it?

Unfortunately the size and format used on the V.A. website means that we can’t show stories and articles in their original page layout to a comfortable viewing size format via PDF or jpeg files, but I’ll see if I can reproduce the 2003 two-page article I mentioned on the Popham blog soon – I think this was the one and only time that an intrepid pair of modern Otto Lilienthal flyers made everyone look to the skies as they zoomed about while powered by small (but noisy) jet hair dryer engines strapped to their backs from what I remember.

I recall one chap not going with the wind for too long at any time as he was clearly speeding up quite quickly, and he seemed to keep turning back into it before he got a good head of steam up and over-exceeded his Mk.1 Body design limitations.

The major thing I miss about Popham in the ‘noughties’ is the September aeromart they used to have, and quite why it was stopped I don’t know, but it tied in beautifully with the end of Season Shoreham 2, whereby we would drive from there on a Saturday afternoon after the aeromart there, and arrive at Popham in leisurely early evening time for a good laugh and curry before awakening to the airfield’s aeromart in the morning.

This lovely 2-day weekend arrangement of pursuing aero kit while having a great time socially ended probably 5-6 years ago (or possibly even more as time flies as ever) but they were great days to remember in the 90’s and for some time afterwards.

I’m going to blub a bit now so time to upload and yes TwinOtter is right, its off to Newark soon for the Fest and more aerojumbles later, so support this museum’s events as much as you all can cockpiters and collectors.

Beers and goodnight

(* I’m sure Tim McSplurgle would approve..)

😀 Then why not pay another visit? You know it makes sense!! :diablo:

I thoroughly enjoyed my first aerojumble venture to Newark. I’ve just got to source the instruments to fill the Vulcan instrument panel I bought off you now! 😮

POPHAM – I CAN’T WAIT!

I can’t wait!!

Me neither. I’ll try and do it by Friday latest, basically all done but I don’t want to labour too long on the words as all-in editorial, design and photography of the type I’ve been posting are major exercises and very time-consuming, its been interesting though to show how an ‘ordinary’ blog can be enlivened and hopefully made interesting with some considered words and suitable images – and not a little humour too I hope*, I’m glad that its been well received and appreciated to date.

Unfortunately its like supplying a major design job gratis and I must get back to the business side of things though the domestic and getting ready for Cockpit Fest is just as challenging as ever, have to try and sort a boiler today also (no not that kind of boiler missus) but I’ll try as I say to get it all posted in what is a very busy week ahead.

Beers

* And beer

I can’t wait!!

OF POPHAM & OTHERS

Great blog GOKONE, you must keep this up for the next event you attend, so good for us lot who were not there, would be interesting to know the prices of some of the stuff there though!

Some used helmets Mk4 and 1A £5 each, working Mk.4’s in green & white £60ea, F4 Horse Shoe pack £50, the two posters I’ve posted previously and the attached brochures herewith £10 the lot, and Tony D almost wet himself when I let him have some Harvard bits for £20 instead of £35. Cutting disks 11 for £5, 8 metre hauliers straps new, 3 for £20, iclonometers for guns & solid brass £30 ea from Mike Shaw, the orange Beaufort life preserver on previous mail £5 complete and unused, control yoke believed Privateer £75, lap strap as posted £10.

I think its right to post other opinion as not all visitors will obviously do as well as others, its the law of averages and all that, and its the usual case of paying your money and taking your choice. But for a townie its a welcome relief from the stresses and recent smog and a chance to let the hair down. If you have any left of course. Here’s one disgruntled comment anyway:

“A bit naff I thought! Not that many traders and some ebay prices. I came away with a JP horizon for a fiver, and a couple of 2 quid books but that was all. The rest of the stuff seemed to be rubbish, and mixed in with some right car boot crap too.”

CHANGING TIMES
In recent years its true that the aviation proportion of the boot has dwindled and yes there are fewer traders too – fuel considerations by some dealers perhaps and knowing that many attendees are only browsers and of a ‘certain age’ perhaps? As with Shoreham this year we saw some get-rich-quick prices at certain stalls which take their cue from E-Bay, as driven up in recent years by chancing traders out for a quick increase in their living standards.

M.A.S. EFFECT
Remember again though, that this is also the knock-on effect of over a decade of scrapping by the original disastrous M.A.S. (Military Aviation Spares – also dubbed ‘Military Aviation Sickness’ in our newsletter at the time) who scrapped so much of our aviation spares heritage thanks to a Tory -‘inspired’ scheme to try and get silly money back and if not, to frag valuable spares that dealers should have been allowed to purchase an sell on to us. They’re called something else now I believe.

One dealer told me at the time that they wouldn’t even let him bid for some paint that he formerly used to bid and get at reasonable cost – it was apparently more cost-effective to bin it, and one memorable occasion saw a well-known aviation concern preventing at the last minute three Hunter nose legs from being trashed – all boxed and fully certificated, and with obvious retail value to the civil sphere, while two were still in the RAF at the time.

LOOK HARD
So much however was destroyed and often because the set-up didn’t have the knowledge to know what it was scrapping. E-Bay prices at traditional events will not fool regular aero collectors who will simply ignore them – or the general public who aren’t interested, or don’t have the money if (possibly) interested, in a one-off buy. Yes there are browsers, but you get them at any kind of show, you just have to remind yourself that its even tougher now though, and especially for families, and the cheaper ‘tat’ or non-aviation stuff can still give value if you look hard enough.

Like I said I always find more than one thing to be pleased with, but Popham is more than that if you come for more than the day – if you’re married though or have other obligations like so many do, then this may not be possible, and the potential for a great weekend is missed, for we do need breaks like this besides having to pay the bills.

TAXED OUT
The disgusting price hike of our C-Tax – one of the biggest rip-offs ever perpetrated onto the British public, which more than doubled under the financially inept Labour Loadsamoney spenders in above inflation increases for over a decade, has helped in large part to destroy the opportunity for many people to spend in the way they used to, and is even a consideration for those moving to a different part of the country now.

MORE TAXED OUT-JEEZ, ITS DISGUSTING DAVE!
Then there is fuel tax, road tax, VAT and the rest of it which are so much more than in the days when more kit of both WW2 and the Jet-Age was available. I let my passport expire this year because I refuse to pay any more airport duty for sod-all, its £40 I believe foe Europe, for places like Oz its a disgusting £240 – for what? Sod all, that’s what. I’m busy anyway over here but I hate seeing the British public, who still give so generously to natural disasters, get so shafted by toffs or middle-class inadequates who only care for themselves as seen in the expenses scandal, and who can’t be trusted to spend our money wisely.

STILL MORE TAX, MY BACK’S HURTIN’ NOW
And we must keep in with Pakistan because of its nuclear capability (proof positive of the danger of letting the genie out of the bottle) so Dave finds out of nowhere another £650m for their kids education – while generations of ours couldn’t learn the three R’s while we give to a country who have more millionaires then we do. And this happened before and after the disastrous ‘direction’ of ‘The Lying Scot’, aka ‘Golden Brown’ who was unelected, and who wouldn’t allow us, like Mr bLiar, to vote on Europe while it shafted us on so-called ‘Human Rights’ and foisted ridiculous unwanted legislation onto us as accepted by our ‘governments’.

The EU is now demanding a 17% for the next financial years and STILL produce no set of audited accounts of where it all goes – bring in Alan Sugar please, the Royal Mint must be working overtime!!! So much of our taxes are wasted and always have been, so I’m not shelling out for a passport that has more than doubled from when I last got one, only to see it lose its value while I stay over here to write pieces like this.

ANYWAY BACK TO THE KIT
Every so often a cache will be found, or someone will see something in their loft, or will sell up, so bits will always come along, it just won’t be quite so bountiful as in the past, but support aeroboots whenever you can – look out for Newark and others like Shoreham 2 later this year, as without support the heritage side will dwindle – and you won’t get to meet so many good people.

E-BAY v AEROBOOT GUAGE PRICES
If you also want to pay £20-£25 or more for a basic exhaust or oil guage that you can get for a fiver at a boot without the hassle of postage and PayPal fees etc then you need to get about – it will save you around four-fifths the cost on an engine panel fit-out alone. But like I say, I know its harder now all-round, and we all know that fuel is just too expensive – like insurance too, which is also ripping us off with lame excuses – kids can afford a 2nd hand car but not the insurance – absolutely crazy, and on the safest roads in Europe apparently – so why all these whiplash claims???

I’ve done some comps of some pics of previous visits over the years to Popham, so watch out next week – I’m waiting to hear from Flypast as to what the maximum pixel width is so that they are all optimum when uploaded. If you know of this then tell me if poss plz anyway. I’m going home to lie down now, a good weekend to you all, aerobooters everywhere.

Great blog GOKONE, you must keep this up for the next event you attend, so good for us lot who were not there, would be interesting to know the prices of some of the stuff there though!

Garry,

I’ve no idea what the small radial was but when i asked the price, to be told with a cheerful “seven grand to you guv” we had to stifle a snigger as we quickly walked away.

Never saw the Jag throttle or Meteor panel though. Early birds get the worms ?

.

POPHAM 2010 REVISITED & 9 SQN UPDATE

Hey GOKONE! Fabulous Popham insight here! although I could not attend, I feel as if I had what with all those photos and reports!

All that beer? Talk about “Famous Five go mad at Popham” Nice one.

Like the photo of the German Air Force Secumar Pilot Lifejacket, looks like and early 80’s model? (I do own one of these and after closer inspection it does prove a wonderfully designed and engineered LSJ.)

Nice to see some good stuff on sale, here’s to the next one! Cheers mate.

NB:THE DATE ON DICK’S PICTURE SHOULD BE 2010-NOT 2011 – SORRY ALL!!!
Additionally, I have remembered since this was first uploaded that I must record that most of the Whittle comment below was from an excellent article by Robert Altman of the Daily Mail.

POPHAM 2010 REVISITED & 9 SQN UPDATE
AT LAST! SOMEONE I CAN PING BACK TO INSTEAD OF REPLYING TO MYSELF! AND A FLYING SAUCER TOO! HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD? IS EVERYONE ASLEEP? AT LEAST SOMEONE’S RESPONDING ANYWAY, ‘KEEP IT GOING’ THEY SAY AND THEN THEY DESERT YOU AND GO ORF ON ANOTHER THREAD OF THOUGHT – YOU IGNORE POPHAM AT YOUR PERIL EARTHMEN!

POPHAM 2010 REVISITED (THE NON-BEER/SATURDAY NITE BITS)
Still having to do this as a reply to one of my replies, hope you’re not as confused as I am. Anyway here we go for last year – and what a lovely time again for kit it was, with a number of new dealers coming along and making their mark on collectors and browsers alike.

9 SQN UPDATE
RG called me back just after I’d mailed off the 2nd batch of 2011 Popham pics, to say that it was just a flypast to celebrate their b’day – actually its No.13 who are to go next month. Now onto the kit etc of last year.

How many great Popham’s has this man Dick Richardson given us to date? And I say this regardless of some collectors voicing disappointment this year because there ‘wasn’t much WW2 stuff’ for some of them to buy. If you’re going to come along purely to get certain kit or to source and sell it on then it may prove to be a disappointment if you’re only coming for the main day. Long may Dick and trusty bike reign over lovely Popham anyway.

Many people though go for the crack and the full 3 days too, but regardless of any general enjoyment of the event I have to say that in every year I have been I have always come back with some kit or one item in particular that I have been very happy with – the tools are very good value in places too and offers like 11 cutting discs for a fiver are a very welcome offer for me with my various cutting exercises on the V’s at Flixton.

C1: Last year Dick duly obliged when Kai Choi bought a nice Hunter seat and had to get it to his car – you’ve heard of the James Bond ejector car and other gadgets, so here is Dick after letting Kai load said object into his side-car – now there’s some inspiration for the next James Bond film maybe. Kai was relieved to be able to get it back to his van OK as he rode on the back, after the dealers had helped us carry it in the hot May sun to near the entrance way out to the car parking area. Nice one Dick and hope he gets some royalties if they take that one up!

C2: A nice G4 helmet and a Jaguar throttle box from the event, no probs getting good kit for Fast Jet freaks anyway.

C3: Mike Shaw last year had a steady stream of people looking at his various instrumentation and kit in general. There was also an enterprising gentleman who had scanned in and printed out some great classic colour cutaways from ‘Eagle’ comics, including all three V’s which I took full advantage of.

C4: Who could resist some mini LP’s with 21 minutes of pre-CGI adventure starring Thunderbirds and with a trip to Marineville thrown in, to boot? I couldn’t anyway. Meantime a nice framed item had 5 original patches of Liberator Sqn’s who carried out the infamous Ploesti oil refinery raid in WW2 were arranged around a photo from the rid.

C5: Plenty of instrumentation, panels, radios etc and clothing from the Tangmere Aviation Museum brightened up the day further for many at the boot.

C6: A Lightning 56 Sqn ‘Firebirds’ panel and various Jet-Age kit including a Jaguar armaments selector box.

C7: Sensibly priced life jackets -and a partially-fitted Meteor panel from 1957. Which brings me temporarily onto –

WHITTLE’S GENIUS REMEMBERED HERE ON 70th ANNIVERSARY
The Meteor was a direct result of Frank Whittle’s brilliance in inventing the jet engine, as patented in 1929, with the British Government refusing to exercise its right to keep the thing secret a year later, on the grounds it wasn’t important enough… German Embassy staff in London therefore went straight to the Stationery Office and snapped up all the details; my how they must have laughed with glee. In the aftermath of World War II, copies of Whittle’s patents were found in research labs all over Germany.

Over subsequent years, Whittle’s story was one of constant ingenuity thwarted by sluggish bureaucrats and devious businessmen.

RAE & ESTABLISHMENT EMBARRASSMENT
Much of the British scientific establishment still treats Whittle as a contributor to the jet engine’s evolution rather than its exalted creator, saying it was a German who got off the ground first. This was because British aviation innovations were supposed to come from the old Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, not a junior RAF officer.

‘Whittle was an embarrassment because he left Farnborough standing,’
says Nicholas Jones.

These days he seems unfashionable too to our ruling elite, who they would rather commemorate the Brixton Riots 30th anniversary.

Lord Tebbit, a former Tory Trade Secretary and ex-pilot, put it another way: ‘Why expect the Government to be interested in Frank Whittle? He’s not modern. He’s just a dead white man, isn’t he?’

SHRINKING THE WORLD
The Science Museum has planned NOTHING for the 70th anniversary of the jet engine’s first flight, as invented by a British genius who shrank the world – but Gagarin events run there throughout the Easter holidays however, with a huge Gagarin exhibition at the the Royal Albert Hall to come.

Can you imagine the French or American’s ignoring this INCREDIBLE man’s achievements? He was a fantastic pilot too. No wonder he went to America – where they get things done. Astonishingly the South Ken crowd credit him with no more than an ‘imaginative leap’ in the development of the gas turbine – hey, they did hold a buffet at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire though…

C8: “Do you know the way to Billy Smart’s Circus?”, and a very good condition bombing computer, used on WW2 aircraft and the Valiant.

C9: Touring roadies stop off for a chat about the forthcoming tour. The ancient radial engine didn’t look in great nick, I think was priced at £2k or more, and didn’t sell.

C10: RAF badges and broaches, gunners insignia etc, always a popular collectors interest. Lastly, these drogue chutes go on for about 30 feet or so, amazing that they pack into the tight confines of the ejector seat headbox.

So that’s last year’s Popham though not all of the event of course though it does give an idea of kit as opposed to the other lovelies of cars and bikes etc, and with two-up pics in an overall image as a departure from the norm for this presentation – this allows me to show double the usual image total instead of doing a 2nd post, but what time it saves I’m not sure about due to P’Shopping, hope it looks good to you all anyway.

Beers,

A Tim McSplurgle survivor

Hey GOKONE! Fabulous Popham insight here! although I could not attend, I feel as if I had what with all those photos and reports!

All that beer? Talk about “Famous Five go mad at Popham” Nice one.

Like the photo of the German Air Force Secumar Pilot Lifejacket, looks like and early 80’s model? (I do own one of these and after closer inspection it does prove a wonderfully designed and engineered LSJ.)

Nice to see some good stuff on sale, heres to the next one! Cheers mate.

POPHAM 2011: MORE PICS / No.9 SQN DISBAND

I’ll take the cheese every time, its making me hungry too. Well what was it then? I can always ask the old white haired guy when next I see him, who always comes up with interesting items, he was at Shoreham too and I had a nice shot of him some years ago in our newsletter when he sold a Seahawk nose cone to someone who promptly put it on his head when it started raining.

The old chap has a Brittania cockpit or similar I think and its all complete apart from a control yoke, he’s still looking for one. He probably went to one of the places you mention as I imagine he gets around various places over the course of a season and good luck to him too. He sold me the attached F4 lump 4 years ago now at Poppington too, I must do something with it one day. Right I must away, pack up time!

Beers

Don’t know how to post something without clicking on a previous mail, so here goes –

Pic 1: Preparing for the off to Poppington on the Friday, with suitable beer provision that Scott of the Antarctic would have appreciated. Yes the outside one is empty, but I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I hadn’t tested at least one of the ‘Royal’ beers first for the clear benefit of the later Pophamite beneficiaries.
Pic 2: Quite why the ‘Heavy duty hanger for incontinence trousers with ‘GGG’ bra size end hooks’ didn’t sell is beyond me, as this is the only one I have spotted to date.
Pic 3: Hopefully this lap strap will be usable on Flixton’s cut-away Canberra project and will help to dress a seat nicely.
Pic 4: Ejector aficionado Nick Parker loved the Gnat ejector poster and this period Jaguar example will also make a useful backdrop to any aviation display – how we could do with this ‘hot & high’ aircraft now in Afghanistan, rest easy you ‘Flying Can Openers’.
Pic 5: The Piston Provost made a lovely pass over the airfield, veering away from an imaginary flypast that should have been at the royal wedding – come on you Avro fans!
Pic 6: Kit, lovely kit – the grey F4 horseshoe pack top right was actually for sale last year and Nick snapped this up 2nd time around.
Pic 7: How wonderful to see one of the original top dealers of the nineties and earlier, Mike Shaw, making a welcome return to the main tent. Mike is making a successful comeback from a major illness and two weeks before thought he wouldn’t be able to make it, but luckily he felt well enough at the last minute to come along and stall out. We had checked the table names during the rock evening on Saturday but could find no trace of a desk in his name, so a marvellous surprise to see him on the Monday with quality kit and instrumentation as ever – this included astro-sighting kit from MR3 Nimrods and ‘707 AWAC’s aircraft, all in their original metal cases, and in the case of the MR3, with a torch also.
Pic 8: The chap (wearing cap) who originally bought the USAF Thunderbirds pic from Hindenberg, with some of his stall offer on the day, including this lovely Nimrod MR2 model, as first spotted at Shoreham.
Pic 9: A lovely flying model of a Hunter in the main marquee which must have made Tony D drool. It had a bit of skin ripple on the wing covering but was very well made and quite what engine originally powered it on the rear I don’t know. I heard it went below £100 in negotiations though what its eventual price evolved to I know not either – lovely attention grabber though, and in a better vein than Tim McSplurgle.
Pic 10: Some Bakerlite seats by Martin Bakerlite & Co. Not sure what they’re from but will make someone happy with their cockpit project.

FINALLY – I had a call today from RG Durrant to say that a diamond 9 of Tonka’s flew over Marham today as No.9 Sqn disbanded – when will these contractions stop?

.

standerwick or cheddar?

That USAF Thunderbirds picture was Mine…sold at standerwick or cheddar ??

I’ll take the cheese every time, its making me hungry too. Well what was it then? I can always ask the old white haired guy when next I see him, who always comes up with interesting items, he was at Shoreham too and I had a nice shot of him some years ago in our newsletter when he sold a Seahawk nose cone to someone who promptly put it on his head when it started raining.

The old chap has a Brittania cockpit or similar I think and its all complete apart from a control yoke, he’s still looking for one. He probably went to one of the places you mention as I imagine he gets around various places over the course of a season and good luck to him too. He sold me the attached F4 lump 4 years ago now at Poppington too, I must do something with it one day. Right I must away, pack up time!

Beers

KEEPING IT COMING

Great Blog there Garry! Keep it coming!:)

That’s what we said to McSplurgle, but by this time of course he was down to only his emergency underpants and an old copy of Flight magazine.

I have to get home shortly unfortunately as I slept on the sofa after 2.30am at the office last night so I could sort the Mac and had to dump various images including 3 original wedding folders and a Surrey Proms event. All this proved no great reward for my retouching skills and the weddings included comped-in Vic formations of Lancs and Vulcans over a well-known racecourse along with step-repeated airliners over the exotic Gatwick sky backdrop.

While there were many attractive fillies and many unsuitable young suitors at the Proms event I found that retouching the various boils, zits, spots etc on the pubescent faces of various otherwise attractive young ladies was good practice, but the payment I received means I won’t be doing it again and a contact recommended a prog add-on that takes much of the drudgery out of the occasion.

Having to copy and comp in a full set of teeth for the groom of one budget wedding in particular (reception was in the car park of a local pub) was also quite a learning experience I recall and I can’t imagine that a prog exists to do this – but the before and after shots that I juxtaposed in running order were well received.

Unfortunately the brides middle teeth were so twisted and gappy that it looked odder when I attempted some P’Shop magic, that I had to leave well alone, and looking back on it all I suppose its all part of that gloriously complex tapestry that we call crap.

Fear not Riders of Popham, ‘ere the passing of night I will return with more treasures from the underworld of beer and car and aeroboot passing. Some may remind and recall the glory of the old order of Jet Age spares before their destruction on passing into the demented and unreturnable Dark Age frag-realm of M.A.S. which entered into the world of men as devised by the Dark Tory Lords, thus preventing us from enjoying dealers buying and distributing aviation spares to us, as already paid for by our taxes, and as warned of in the 90’s by High Lord Provider Nevilus Martinius, a prophecy which came true as so much Jet-age kit got scrapped by underlings and sloths that knew not what they were scrapping or cared little thereof. Remember the S & Garfunkel legend of Old fellow preservers:

“Time it was,
and what a time it was,
A time of innocence, a time of no e-bay business;
Long ago it must be,
I have a photograph;
Preserve your aero kit,
‘Tis all that’s left you”

I will post some more pics and comments soonest, might even run on with some Shoreham stuff too, but I must answer the other chap below before I go. I will leave you with a ‘Non-Doctuered’ image of a strange trick of the light at Popham before night fell that fateful flatulent night, when animals stirred and ran away wailing into the dense and secret crisp-bag Blumenthal undergrowth, before the evil stench of the McSplurgle abomination befell the airfield and small strange brown clumps appeared next day, into which no living thing would grow. I wonder if David Vincent is still around to deal with those pesky aliens on those ‘cold, dark lonely nights…’

This is all getting quite surreal which is a good time to say good night all and its probably a Stag Chill-Con tonight for quickness tonight, but unlike McSplurgle be assured that I will be in the comfort of my own home dear readers, with a “Kiss me Kate”…