The Spitfire type displayed at Squires Gate was Seafire LA447 now airworthy in th USA.

My views..
Uk sites with human remains should where terrain permits be subject to a full recovery by MOD funded means.The often mentioned phrase wargrave in relation to aircraft wrecks is nonsense unless there is an accesible real grave on site. Landowners should insist that the site is cleared and made safe.

MOD has declared that the wreck is still their property therefore the landowner can instruct MOD to remove it. MOD cannot have it both ways which is what they have tried to do over the years.

Its only a result of dedicated research effort by volunteers that many sites are relocated and proper recoveries carried out.

Non MOD recoveries have in my view good cause to recover costs by selling aircraft parts surplus to the aims of the recovery.Double standards are rife in this world, car breakers have recycled many parts from vehicle accidents for years and no one is making a fuss. Airlines have put aircraft back into use after repairing accident damage even if fatalities have happened.

Grew up in Blackpool watching Warton test flights, Canberra,Lightning, JP,MRCA, TSR2 and Squires Gate Dakotas, As57,Viscounts,Herald,Anson.
Air cadet
Spotter(lapsed after two visits to Heathrow made it to much like hard work)
RAF 22 years air traffic assistant
aviation historical research for AAA while based in the London area
now full time photoagrapher specialising in aerial ,so I get to fly as part of my job at last ! http://www.scotaviaimages.co.uk

GAOCR NJ673

I provided the service history from the form 78 when a friend of mine Jerry Edis owned this Auster, we had some great adventures including getting stuck overnight at Cliff Bakers strip when the wind shifted.

Some of the 2 ATAF bases used by the Austers were featured in an issue of After the Battle which I shall have a look for .

A few thoughts
Intercepts on slow moving targets in Lightnings were known to be very tricky, a mid air collision occured over the North Sea between a Lightning and a twin engined Piper..Aztec or Apache.

I worked on night shifts at an air traffic centre, one night I watched at least six very fast moving contacts appear for about one minute then vanish. the were not UFOs but part of a meteorite shower, so its not that unusual to see such objects on radar.

And another factoid…..to confuse the potential enemy it is a well used tactic to mark several airframes with the same external military serial and codes. The actual ident is displayed inside the undercarriage bays or in very small numerals on the data panel below the cockpit , for example C135 intelligence gathering aircraft, U2 variants.

I really cannot understand why anyone thinks there are too many? If you were talking of a thousand then you really would not say rare. But 150 or 100 is rare and situations change quickly for factors which affect the numbers able to fly.
Some current vintage flyers may not fly often and some which never appear at public events are not fully insured due to the costs involved.

The current scene is healthy but at times fragile, I am just pleased that projects are still underway.