rotfl!!! Even I had a bit of that one~!

😀

TD248 was totally re-skinned when rebuilt to flying condition and its RAF service skin is also still extant on a static model.So TD248 is nowhere near as original as many others. I suspect Israeli AF 57 is very much still largely as it was in the 1950s and still airworthy! As a non flyer SM914 is a good candidate

What an excellent thread. Reminds me of the 26 happiest months of my childhood spent a few stops up the track in KL Malaysia 1973-75 while my father worked for the Crown Agents helping the Malaysian,Singaporean and Indonesian governments spend British foreign aid on supplying Land Rovers,Uniforms,Weapons & Ammo and similar to their military and police forces.
We had the same school uniforms as Ian Old above at Highgate Hill British Army school in KL.And that special chocolate milk was called ´Milo´ -still available and still tasted the same when mixed with susu lembu back in 1988 when I went back to see my old home and school (now Malaysian army premises). I also bought Milo in Thailand when there in the 1990s – comes ready made or in take home powder form -probably still a huge brand in south east asia….
The only old plane I saw back in 1973-75 was the twin pin displayed outside the Malaysian national museum- but I was making Airfix kits back then….
And the oddest feeling of going back as an adult is how much smaller everything looks when I am taller, the only thing I didnt miss was the smell of the durian fruit:eek:
When I started my very first real job in 1985, my first supervisor was retired RAF aircrew officer Bill Parren who once told me he was substituted at the last moment on a flight from Seletar that crashed with no survivors – some kind of large plane that may well have been a new aircraft -my hazy memory!

The Mustang pilot did a great job landing in one peice, excellent pix here and on the other forum showing what happened.A very safe pair of hands for any warbird operator needing a cool head.
Its wonderful to see a happy ending when things go wrong:)

Absolutely Moggy..you dont play at war,it just costs casualties on your own side.

cheers baz

A legitimate target as it was Argentine and we were at war.
Loss of life is always a lifetime of tragedy for the families of the dead, and no amount of mony can take away that pain.
Unlike the Iraq disaster, the outcome of the Falklands war for the average Briton meant less socialism ,and for the average Argentine, less dictatorship, and for the Falkland Islanders, accelerated peaceful development – a much better set of directions than perhaps would have been experienced if the war had not been fought.

10/10 excellent thread. I think many of us know a woman or two who fail to appreciate the historic significance 😀 and nag about Spitfires, cars and buses in the garden awaiting restoration……
I would also like to see pix any extant material from ML411 & MJ147 that Mervyn would care to share with us, and put an end once and for all to the speculations of the doubters. I think it is stretching the point way too far when folks suggest even in jest that buying a set of Turkish made saucepans is the basis for a Spitfire restoration project!

Silver City Bristol 170 on the Paris – London route with my parents and their car, christmas 1964.Too small to remember anything but apparently I threw up more than my folks imagined possible:p

The profits of Biltema have been very well spent buying this Spitfire:), it makes me even happier to visit their store in Malmo whenever I pass by. Where is this Spitfire normally based? ( I have a summer house near Angelholm)

Well, I’m just about to prove you wrong. Aircraft in Hampshire railway tunnels…TRUE. A company called Staravia bought the tunnels after the old Meon Valley line was closed in the 1950’s. They filled the tunnels with aircraft parts Airspeed Ambassadors, oxfords, DH Heron and Dove, Meteors, Hunters etc and all other manner of types involved. As a lad I was intrigued along with a couple of friends and paid a visit to all the tunnels over 30 years ago now. There were propellors from DH engined aircraft, A load of Gipsy Queen engines, rudder pedals, instruments, aircraft mounted cameras, fuel tanks, drop tanks, canopies for Hunters, Vampires and so many sealed boxes of spares that it could take years to inventory it all!! There was a stack of ground equipment probably from an American AF base that took up over 200yds of tunnel from trolley-acs to giraffes. We spent the whole day poking around and were never once stopped by anyone and also point out that we didn’t take a thing (most was too heavy anyway!). I believe the tunnels have had bigger reinforced doors fitted since then, with concrete blocks (only moveable by JCB) leant against them. A truly fascinating place and an experience I will never forget.

History at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meon_Valley_Railway

Thankyou for the comments and link.
So the next question must be, have any aviation experts examined the material left in the tunnel to see if there is anything useful for static or flying projects?