If you manage to catch the rationed 2 hour slot each day during which the Grahame-White Factory at Hendon is open, you’ll see most of the Nash Collection on show.

Must be “severe” rationing going on these days Robbo, as it was closed all day when I went on the 28th Feb. No doubt Fopp would be giving it “budget restraints, end of year financial restrictions blah blah blah” if he ever came out of his Ivory tower to answer some questions on his policies at RAFM.:mad: I remember him churning all this rubbish out in one of the Monthlies about 5 years ago, when asked. You’d have thought he would have got it sorted by now. Maybe its time for him to get a nice big clock on the mantlepiece and one of those “oh so now” golden handshakes that seem to be in vogue at the moment… :rolleyes:

Funny thing is I thought museums are pursuing the “education” agenda these days? Can’t see how you can educate anyone about the First World War and early aviation if you keep it locked away. He should have been a puppet for Doug Arnold in the Blackbushe days or maybe that’s where he nicked the idea from? 😉
Anyway Mosquito’s, lovely aeroplanes and I’m glad I got to see a few flying. I too had the “milestones” example as the backdrop to my RAF passing out parade at Swinderby back in the early ’80’s. It’s looking much tidier these days despite suffering a broken back when it got moved to St.Athan as the jury struts got left out after wing separation due to the team leader having an unfortunate sudden illness and the lads having to carry on without his knowledge IIRC.

Anymore? The 70’s & 80’s is the era of DX that i wish i could’ve witnessed, by far the most exciting time to be there IMO!

I did and it was…

That was in the days when the aircraft were the purpose of the place (it being an airfield after all) rather than the priorities of car parking spaces (right outside the hangars) and ugly buildings that dominate the scene of today although to be fair there are a few aeroplanes in between the boats and corporate entertaiment facilities…:rolleyes:

I understand the colours used have all been well researched and in the pictures that I’ve seen it has just the right sheen on the paint finish…;)

Comparing the Dark Earth and Green on P9374 with BS381 the colours look spot on. Well done to all those involved and to the owner in chosing that colour scheme. When you look at the front of the March edition of Aeroplane showing Hurricane R4118 and Spitfire AR213 the Dark earth colour looks distinctly different from P9374. Is this because they were outside in the “sun” , is it just the different printing or is there a different colour used? Perhaps its just my eyes!

Different paint chips to begin with, different painter, different interpretation of shades, different magazine….

Thanks for the nice comments about it. Paint shades are very difficult to interpret and to photograph. Ambient light can make a good looking shade look wrong just by the sun coming out to play. I know both colour specialists personally for AR213 and R4118 and they are very experienced in the field they operate in. I for example would say the colours on AR213 look a bit “suspect” myself, but that may be a fault of the manufacturer that was not noticed when the aircraft was painted inside a dingey polythene tent at Booker. Even in a Spraybake facility the colours can look strange due to the lighting provided within. You’d be amazed how dark the cammo looks until the roundels are applied! When the Mk1 and 1a, R4118 and P7350 (which I am doing the scheme for, I was just “advising” on the HFL machine) are all lined up outside in the sun one day somewhere I am sure Steve, Tom, Clive and myself will all be having an “interesting” discussion as to who has the right shade of Green or Brown! And what a sight those four aircraft would look together. 🙂

When the the articles in Flypast come out we all slaver over them

That’s more like it…:)

What do the code “42” stand for?

Cheers

Cees

Err… The meaning of life of course! 😉

It would be nice if it stayed at bruntingthorpe. Atleast it will be garaunteed regular fast taxi runs.

So who is going to pay for the fuel and insurance? Not the lottery for sure, they’ve been milked enough! :rolleyes:

I was the crewman (loadmaster) on that Chinook with my head stuck down the hatch lifting the Bucc! The Bucc had been stripped of almost everything to bring its weight down so we could lift it.

As if by magic…;)
From my archives:
Credit; Pic and article by Southend Evening Echo