.

Oddly enough, also saw a single “commando” comic book in WH Smiths, £1.35 which is less than a Dr Who comic or Transformers etc

I might be wrong but the circulation of the fortnightly Commando comics may be on an upward trend as I have noticed over the last couple of years that the number of copies WH Smith have on their shelfs has increased considerably. My local branch has 8 copies of each issue & manages to shift them all. When I first got back into collecting these you were lucky to find 1 of each and not all branches carried them.
I think part of the reason for their continued survival is that DC Thompson do their own printing and so can fit niche titles into slack points in their print runs so that helps to keep the price down and the profitably up. Long may it continue. 🙂

Love the head on shot of Miss Demeanour, I do love that paint scheme.:)

I remember John Bradshaws “fury” was the most recent participant Thanks Guys!

Beautiful paint job on that machine, not to mention the highly polished prop blades. one of my favourite Furies. 😀

Not a fan of the re-engineing process as I dont like the look of a Fury with the wrong number of prop blades, but I can appreciate why people do it & if it means keeping them in the air then I wont complain.
As I said in the thread about WG655 we could potentially have an 8 ship formation at some point, when was the last time that number were seen in european skies. 😮

Latest Commando collection announced

I say chaps, those boffins over at Carlton have announced the next volume of their Commando reprint titles for October this year its called “Battle of Britain scramble”
and has another stunning Ian Kennedy cover.
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Here’s the “blurb” that goes with it, “take that Fritz !”

For everyone in Britain, these were the darkest days of the Second World War. Our army, or what was left of it, had been withdrawn from France via the beaches of Dunkirk, disabling and abandoning arms and equipment during the desperate evacuation. While they reorganized and re-equipped there was no effective fighting force to stand against Hitler’s Wehrmacht should they choose to invade. Crossing the channel with an invasion fleet was, however, not an operation to be contemplated without complete control of the sky, otherwise the transports and landing craft would be blown out of the water by the RAF. The Nazis’ answer? Neutralise the RAF. Destroy its runways, destroy its aircraft on the ground, destroy its support networks and, most of all, kill its pilots. The RAF, of course, had other ideas and during the summer of 1940 the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over southern England. The courage and skill of the RAF pilots and ground crews during those few hectic weeks has formed the backdrop to some of the most outstanding Commando tales ever published. Stories like “Ace Without Honour”, “Island of Heroes” and “Brigand Squadron” as well as “Blind Courage”, “Fly Fast-Shoot Fast” or “Spitfire Spirit” bring the atmosphere of the battle spinning into the 21st century. Presented 25 per cent larger than when originally published, this special edition drops you out of the sun into the midst of the dog fights, the howl of the Merlin engine on full boost almost drowning out the roar of the Brownings thundering away in the wings either side of your cockpit. Whether you are a novice ‘sprog’ comic book pilot or a seasoned veteran, the fantastic aero art created by the Commando artists and the compelling stories will leave you gasping for the next ‘Scramble’!

And dont forget that its only just over a week to go before the publication of the “Air Ace” compilation.
“Tally ho chaps”
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It’s always possible to improve on the original…..

Get that mans coat !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😮 😡
Yay, at last another Centaurus to grace our skies, well done Mr Gray & TFC, along with the other two he has under restoration and I think another 3 in the UK we are hopefully seeing a renaissance in the good old Fury / Sea Fury in its country of origin, and not before time.
Hopefully at some point in the future we could potentially see 8 of these birds in the sky together if we include the French examples with the “dodgy engines”.
This has always been my favourite airplane since seeing the static example at the old Southend Historic Aircraft Museum back in the early 70’s.
You can keep your Bearcats, this is truly the ultimate piston engined warbird bar none.:D

I commented on the lack of Griffon Spits in the UK in an earlier post.
Although its all relative there does seem to be a “glut” of Merlins, I guess our continental & American friends appreciate the extra “legs” that the latter marks give them whereas its not such a issue in the UK.
Here’s to Rolls Royce & TFC getting their respective machines back in the air to help increase the “Big Spit” population. 🙂

According to the listings this was being simulcast in HD on the Channel 4 HD channel.
Did anyone see it in this format and what was the quality like ? I have heard that on the American Blu-ray disc the aerial sequences exhibit quite a bit of picture grain compared to the ground scenes.