My earlier remark about preferring to see the Bev hangered at (eg) Cosford was simply a wish as to how this rare bird could best be preserved. That may not have been an option at the time the Bev had to be moved and I appreciate the Paull Fort staff are doing their best to preserve and display this aircraft. And I’m not getting involved in this “why was the RAFM Bev scrapped” business again!

I visited Paull Fort two weeks ago to see the Bev. They are planning to allow public access to the interior of the Bev. The site is quite interesting in itself and worth combining with a visit to a few other places of historic interest in the area. Also a very well-painted Hunter outside the nearby Humbrol factory! Good to see the Bev being looked after but I would be even happier if it was in Hanger 1 at Cosford.

My local football club (Birmingham City) is owned by David Sullivan (Sunday Sport, Playbirds) and the Gold family (Ann Summers stores). Without them the club would have been consigned to history. So from that experience I don’t mind who provides my leisure facilities. Probably draw the line at war criminals and drug-barons (if hard-drugs). And don’t lots of historic aircraft have naked women painted on them anyway?

I agree with Mark12. Great idea but better in a sub-section.

My uncle Stuart was a Lanc navigator on the Dresden raid and never felt any regret about taking part. He felt he was just doing his duty to defeat Nazism. However, it is still worthwhile thinking about such events and how we can avoid future wars. And “Slaughterhouse 5” by Kurt Vonnegut is worth reading to get one perspective on the raid. It also contains some excellent material relating to Battle of the Bulge and POW life that many WW2 buffs would find of interest.

I’m sure that chasing V1s in a Meteor over Kent would be extremely thrilling, almost like a crazy sport. But I’ve known too many vets who lost their mates as well as risking their lives and now have to live on a pittance of a state pension as their reward. If it all happened again, I would not blame any young person who refused to take the risks for a vague promise of a better tomorrow.

Caernarfon was a bomber-training base still in use for GA and with lots of interesting buildings to visit all around it. Surprisingly good museum, too.

Is it true that part of the reason for the high German scores is that pilots included aircraft they destroyed in airfield strafing missions? Not sure if this would be enough to explain the difference.