I think you’ve all made some valid points, even if coming at the topic from different angles.

Yes, the weather struck most cruelly. Sunday at Popham was lovely, with lots of flying. The rain on Monday co-incided with opening time and lasted for about five solid hours, enough to drive all but the most dedicated away.

Yes, there was some interesting stuff there, although for most of the day it was inaccessible due either to visitors crowding the “drier” stalls or traders in the open covering their wares and/or packing up early due to the constant rain and concerns about being able to get their vehicles off-site.

Yes, there’s a mix of stalls (it’s advertsed as an auto/aerojumble) and there’s a bit too much of the antique/sunday market in my opinion, but if that helps keep stall prices down and attendance up, I’ll live with it.

Yes, it’s getting harder and harder to find new treasure, whether at Popham or Shoreham, Whitwick, Newark, Hooton Park, etc. A lot of the stuff to be seen at Popham was the remnants of the Staravia auctions of the mid-1990’s. That means ten years since there was a major new injection of material, so what’s left on those stalls will have been well picked over by now.

Yes, I think there’s a question about the long term survival of many events. Ever increasing fuel costs and stall fees, coupled with the difficulty of sourcing fresh stock will slowly kill them. (not to mention concerns about health hazards from some older instruments). A criticism I would make of many events is that the organisers fail to publicise them well enough and widely enough. An ad in Flypast is likely to produce the “same old stalls, same old stuff” result, whereas more imaginative advertising may prompt a few people to clear out their lofts and garages, which is where I believe much treasure still remains.

For all its disappointments, I still thoroughly enjoyed the Popham weekend. For the record, we packed our stall up at about 3.00 p.m., but only because almost everyone had departed by that time. I picked my route carefully and got off-site without undue difficulty, even though the usual exit routes were very churned up, and we enjoyed a 200 mile drive home in lovely spring weather. Now all I’ve got to do is dry me, the camper van and the tent and I’m all ready to do it again at the next one!

I’d rather do it anytime than sit at home, lobbing bids at inaccurately described rubbish on Ebay.

By the way, I heard that D1ck Richardson suffered a heart attack a few days ago. I hope he makes a speedy recovery and continues to host a great event, I’ll certainly be there in August!

One of Pink Floyd’s video’s was filmed at North Weald – where the hospital bed runs down the runway. Can anyone name the song? I confess to having forgotton.

I believe it’s On The Run and I’ve always assumed it was filmed at the same time, or maybe using out-takes from the video that accompanied Learning To Fly, on the Delicate Sound of Thunder video, the one with the Dakota.

The Hospital-beds-on-the-cover album was A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, another post-Waters let down, in my opinion, but rather better than Division Bell. The best “Pink Floyd” album of recent years has to be Amused to Death, a Waters solo effort. Just my 2d, as they say!

I think you will be referring to the same B26 I mentioned having viewed in a Warrington scrapyard in about 1971, in a thread of a few weeks ago. The throttle box is still in my garage!

There was also a B17 nose in the open and several other unidentified fuselage sections, buried under a mountain of scrap.

The poor old Anson doesn’t seem to have fared too well once taken out of service. They are difficult to maintain unless kept under cover, and restoring one such as VM325 is a daunting prospect.

Here’s the nose of VP519 (the only bit that survives). It was another resident at Halfpenny Green in the 1960/70’s until chopped up by a Manchester scrappie. The Northern Aircraft Preservation Society acquired the nose and kept it for many years without a serious attempt at restoring it.

My pal and I took it on in 1984, by which time it actually looked worse than the latter photo of VM325. We stripped it down to (literally) every last nut, bolt and screw and gave it the best treatment we could. Twelve years later, and after god knows how many hours of effort, we produced this result. We’re quite proud to have done our bit for one of Avro’s finest….

It’s a Simmonds gauge, No. 2 tank, from a Stirling.

Regards

682al

A very small, and previously unpublished part of EN224’s history, circa 1969…

The tail section was owned by the Northern Aircraft Preservation Society at one time and as a newly recruited member, I was offered the job of paint stripping the interior (can’t remember why now, and too awed to ask at the time).

It was kept in a more senior member’s garage in my home town and when my school’s Open Day came around, I wheeled it through the streets to display it in the Hobbies exhibition and I won first prize! 😀

2306/35 BSA G4 AID 5J7. On the levers, BSA G3.

Hi Der,

Sorry it’s taken a while to reply.

Looking at your numbers etc, I’m beginning to wonder whether your grip might be from a Gloster built machine, i.e. G3, G4 etc. Besides their own products, Glosters built the Hart, Hardy and Audax on contract to Hawker.