Talking of flying A does anybody have any info on a Storch N436FS?? that I saw in their hangar about 4 years ago? If was in full Luftwaffre scheme as ZE+RA with a small US reg under the tail. I saw it one day after getting lost going to the market! It was next to the Corsair and Wildcat, the only time I have seen that hangar(very slightly) open.

Aaaah St. Maarten,next years holiday desternation for me having got bored with Barbados(wost airport terminal award). The beach is narrow and is at the far end on the photo. The hotel at that end has many rooms overlooking the threshold. 😀 . There is nothing like laying on a caribbean beach and being able to smell jet A1.

The only Belgian DC-8’s were operated in 1972-4 by BIAS(Belgian International Air Services) on charter work. They were OO-AMI,CMB,TCP .

As another spotter type I managed to get there for the gates opening at 07:30 walked the static line up twice, with 75% of that time doing the 100 years of flight exhibition twice. I departed the field at 14:00 having seen one fast jet fly you have seen them all.
I am still sulking from the fact that altough I got a cheap ticket via my other half who works for BAe(they used to make aircraft you know!) I missed out on the staff hospltality( granstand,free lunch,programe etc) for the same price. Nearly resulting in divorce proceedings as she was too late in registering for this offer!
The argument used to be that the admission was set at a price compatable to a day at a theme park. Now it has reaced the £30 barrier any pricer and it will cease to follow that trend. I choked when I saw the public grandstand was £18, that is a rip off. Is the photo bus the most expensive bus ride in the world?
I too think Concordes absence was a big blunder.

We seem to be there allready in the case of some of the Spits built from ground up. Things like the Me262 are fine as you would not want to risk flying an original. I think it will be many years before we see a Stirling replica in the sky! What the airshow scene will be like in 30 years is anybodys guess. Will the WW2 mania for things of that era have subsided?
If I had a personal choice of what shapes I would like to be back in the air would be..
Handley Page V/1500
Cierva C30 autogyro
Avro Tudor(as long as they don’t reporduce its defects!)

I am not one that watches many displays(once the numbers are in the book its time to move on elsewhere) but..
The Connie when it was at the PFA rally at Cranfield. Following its display it taxied in (there are no crowd barriers at the PFA) and it rolled to a stop just a few feet away from me and the ground was shaking and the noise wonderfull.
Living at farnborough you get to see the practice week displays,frightening!
The Su-32 doing a tail slide at 1000ft over Farnborough town centre during one of its practice sessions.
Also at Farnborough 2000 the US Navy F18 going out for a test flight was cleared to climb straight ahead to 18000ft on departure and went straight up and reported level at 18000ft about a mile off the end of the runway.
last show the the F-15 arrived landing on 06 and rolled a very long way down and with about 150m left realised it wouldn’t stop and piled on the power missing the Swan pub by feet!

According to the civil bible(AJ Jacksons ‘British civil aircraft since 1919, 1959 edition).
Their civil historys were
730hp Panther engine, redesign of Armsrtong Whitworth AW16 with lower front decking,two civil aircraft only
G-ACCD C/N AW.828 CofA issued 28/6/33 scraped 1936
G-ADBL c/n AW460 CofA issued 7/12/31 dismantled and ‘preserved’ at Whitley,broken up in RJ Coleys yard Hounslow 10/58
span 33ft,length 25ft,max speedd 217mph,cruise 185mph

Shame it was bot really preserved. Although you never know like the Gloster Gamecock G-ADIN somebody might find the manufacturers plate and rebuild one!

My dad being a spotter it was not long before I was taging along. First show visit to a airport was Blackbushe 1976 highlights were G-BDYA CASA He111,G-BCOV,BCKH Sea Furys and BECL CASA 252!!
First show 26/6/77 Greenham Common Aussie Skyhawks,Belgian,German,Canadian,Danish and Italian F-104’s,French Mystere B2’s,Dutch Wasp and I-BILL P51. Shortly after that Blackbushe 30/7/77 with flypasts from VR-HHC CL44 and G-ASHZ Carvair, pleasure flights from G-APWA Herald!
Anybody remember the excellent Bassingbourne Harvard meet of 1978? 15 Harvards.
First visit to Duxford 26/4/80….aaah oh to be young again!