It came that close.

Feel like a TOTAL PRATT. Returned to car in carpark, turned on ignition, but engine wouldn’t start. Tried everything i could think of, but no luck. Phoned my Friendly Garage, who thought it was a startermotor problem and would come out to get me started. Then while putting the car in a better position for towing, I noticed that I had a different key in the ignition. Put my usual key in the ignition, and the car fired-up first go.

Had to apologise to the mechanic for wasting his time, and gave him some “beer chits” for his trouble.

Felt like kicking myself all the way home.

R.I.P. Joe.

I’m sure he will “Get by with a little help from his friends” up there.

You’ll have a hell of a job. As far as I’m aware, the only airframe at  Binbrook is a E.E. (BAC) Lightning.

As an addition to my previous post, on one detatchment to Gibraltar, the aircrew were “entertaining” a couple of elderly ladies, and showing them around. After convincing them that the safest place to sit on an airliner was next to the Black Box, (well they always look for it after a crash), the crew were asked about what the periscope was for.

With a slightly strained strait face, the crew told them that when hunting submarines, the Nimrod flew low enough, so that with the bomb doors opened all the way up (as for loading weapons), the periscope could be used to look under water for the target. The two old dears went away quite happy. (well they had been hitting the booze somewhat).

I remember seeing her on display at the Overloon Museum, in the early 60’s.

My Dad was stationed at Laarbruch then, and we were regular visitors to the museum. There was only one other aircraft exibit I remember from then . That was what was always called “The Mitchell Bomber”.

Somewhere in my late father’s film collection, are cine films, “standard 8 film”, of the family visits.

It’s still happening. On the Photographics Forum a person using the “among1” name has posted several different entries, all with the same wording, but including different links.

The words they use are “Interesting post. I was wondering about this, so thanks for posting. Pretty interesting post. It’s really nice and useful.”

I’m not 100 percent sure, but it looks very similar to the face blind handle fitted to a Vulcan’s bang seat. I’m going baack nearly 40 years since I last fitted/removed the seats from a Vulcan, but I seem to remember the connecting wire fed through the top box, over the drouge chute housing cover, and was the connected to the B.T.D.R.U., fitted on top of the main firing gun. This was to prevent the seat from operating, until the canopy had been blown off.