Yes it is sort of an autobiography, flying memoirs would be a more accurate description.
Very little relating to his background or family, other than he describes himself as ‘half French’. Mention also of him being in France at the start of WW1, his Grand Fathers farm house in northern France being torched by the advancing German forces.

Alas the book is not dated, published by Hurst & Blackett Ltd. I reckon it must be circa 1935, the text a bit 1930s Boys Own in style.

Worth a read if you can find a copy alas a bit rare, one on offer via Abe- Books for £77!!!

Cheers, Chumpy.

…One of the rudder pedals from P9374, this taken shortly after its arrival in the UK in 2000.

Chumpy.

There are a couple of brief passages relating to C.B. Field in the British Light Planes volume by Arthur Ord-Hume.
Mention made of him converting various Avro’s for ariel banner towing work. eg G-ACAW fitted with a large roller blind type affair under the lower wing, painted a repulisve bright red and dark yellow, based at Hanworth for a time.

Chumpy.

…No doubt still very young at heart though!!

I did a bit of digging on the web managed to track down the pilot of the B.17, John Gooch still very much alive..(or he was three years ago).
He recalls the incident very clearly, in his words…’I remember to this day gasoline from those engine prime lines spraying me in the face when I returned to the cockpit. Whew thanks be to God that we all got out’

An amazing guy!

Cheers, Chumpy.

..Gear doors an optional extra!:diablo:

dear all
I am not specifically interested in the spitfire currently but only details relating to Julian Savage and also the Spitfire when he was the custodian

regards terry

Hi Terry,
TE184 was acquired by Nick Grace around 1986 thence selling it on to Spencer Flack and Julian Savage. Nick undertaking the rebuild of the fuselage, whilst the wings came to Airframe Assemblies on the Isle of Wight in 1987.
Work progresed steadily until Nicks death in a car crash, as previously mentioned, the whole project then handed over to Trent.

Julian was a keen competitor in the UK air racing scene flying his Christen Eagle G-EGLE. He took part in the ‘Schneider’ race at Bembridge in 1988, whilst on the IOW he visited Airframe Ass to view progress on the wings.

The rest as stated by other members, alas I can find no details of his death though I seem to recall it was in some of the magazines of the time. I think it was whislt flying a light aircraft, maybe another Eagle, certainly not a Spit. Possibly in Kenya or S.A. also probably a bit further back than the ten years that I first thought.

Cheers, Chumpy.

On regard of drawings how much is there for the low back spits??

Hi Spitty,
Yes there are low back drawings fus frame G/As etc, no doubt lots of detail stuff. The Spifire drawings run to several thousand sheets covering various marks. Normally they have every drawing, except the one you want!!

Cheers, Chumpy.