Pete TrumanFor old gits like me, Airfix is part of our history, I’ve still got the original Mk 1 Spitfire which was made of light blue plastic for some reason.
I agree about the Mk9, ours was so distorted that it had to be put in a vice, even then it retained a distinct curve to port.
My brother was the model king, he never built anything according to the plans, ie :- Halifax and Lancaster having their engines swapped over, the Wellington was a gem, he built it as a Coastal Command variant complete with faired front turret, dorsal antena and rockets, night fighter Bf 110 with nose radar, Mossie converted to a Meteor, now that was good, and very tricky, a Walrus turned into a Stranraer, various variants of Stukas, a cannon armed type springs to mind, plus an Eastern Front white example with skis.
He had this amazing book of different a/c and their various appearances and colour schemes, every kit was built to represent something in there.
My own experiment was to convert the Sunderland into BOAC markings and fare over the turrets, I made the transfers out of Scotch tape, they tended to peel off with age.
When my son came along, I had a brief rennaiscance with Airfix, covering his ceiling with everything going, we had an 8th AF scenario, when I was amazed to find myself buying B-17, ‘A little Bit of Lace’, the same kit from years before.
This was the time of the first Gulf War and everything was painted pink, the Bucc kit was pretty basic, but good old Humbrol brought out the basic shade of desert camo very quickly and the Bucc was converted, I even changed the Jag kit to the ‘Guardian Reader’ with over wing Sidewinders.
Ho hum, sad days, but I have been unable to get modern youth into Airfix kits, they haven’t the patience.
Pete TrumanBeen sitting at the computer since 9:00, waiting for my son to get up, I leave my panoramic window to go to the toilet and guess what, at the vital moment, the sound of Merlins out the front.
I rushed outside to see 2 Spitfires racing through the murk, heading south, I was too late to get an ID but I presume that one of them was MH434 heading for Goodwood, seems strange to see Spitfires flying away from DX prior to a major airshow.
Looking at the previous posting, it could have been the same pair, it would only take them 10 minutes to get from here to Billericay, thought they were both Spits though.
Pete TrumanI just caught the end of a report on BBC Look East last night, I didn’t see much, but I got the impression that everyone, including the planners, were totally opposed to any scheme that would affect the operation of the airfield.
No planning application has yet been submitted by the developers, who interestingly enough, declined to make a statement on the programme.
Pete TrumanWell, what a thread this has been, I wish I hadn’t been reading it before I watched the programme, but I was determined to try and watch it in an unbiased way, my missus quite enjoyed it due to my running commentary on the people involved, and so did I, especially the presentation of the flying helmet at the end.
A question for Andy, and I thought you got a bit shy in front of the camera, don’t be intimidated:- The old French boy was quite adamant that he had found the spot where Baders leg had come to rest, which leg would that have been. As the right leg had been jammed in the controls, the explosion theory would point to it possibly being this one, however, did the left leg fall off while he was descending, was it the right or left leg that was delivered by the RAF and which one was repaired by the Germans, the one found in the field, or did he retain the left artificial leg on descent, which was the one as shown on ‘Reach for the Sky’
Not a morbid curiousity, I think it would explain the mid air explosion theory.
Pete TrumanBoth the Hans Dittes ‘Bf-109’ and Black 6 were used for the strafing sequence, which I thought was filmed at Sculthorpe.
I saw both a/c at DX at the time of flming and they had been temporarily painted in a different colour scheme, I also seem to think that the ‘Bf-109’ had been fitted with a standard cockpit cover as well, yes, I did take some pictures of them at the time and will publish if I can find them.
I also have all 3 episodes on one tape somewhere as well.
Pete TrumanMystery a/c spotted flying very low heading north and seen about half a mile from the end of the Wethersfield runway, about an hour ago.
According to my eyewitness here, who was up at her stables at the time and got all excited, it was grey with black crosses under the wings, doubt whether it was the Beighton Buchon, but could it have been an Me108 heading for Gransden, I notice that there is one booked to appear.
Pete TrumanHooray, back to sanity, Chippie heading north, good job he didn’t time it to coincide with those 747’s.
Pete TrumanAny chance of JCB putting these record breaking engines into their standard excavators in order that we can be spared the 10mph trundle at rush hour while the driver talks on his mobile phone and pretends not to notice.
I knew nothing about this record attempt until I saw it on the midday news today, and the only reason I watched that was because of some desperate report on the Vulcan.
It’s no longer the 50’s and 60’s with the Campells and their showbiz derring do’s, does anyone in the general public really care anymore, times have changed, I preffered the news article on the new Hindu temple in the Midlands, thought it was magnificent and more worthy in our changing society.
Reach for multiple steel helmets, lock the doors and starve the dogs.
Pete TrumanI took the sensible precaution of leaving home around 6:15am to get there early (was parked and enjoying a bacon roll by 8:15am) and was lucky to get parked near the Superhangar (as was – now Airspace). Friends who arrived late morning couldn’t even get into the north-side car parks which were chokka, and ended up watching from a field off the Western end of the airfield. I think some people never even got that far, the roads were pretty-near gridlocked for miles in all directions.
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I remember it well, my friends came down from Sheffield and my brother and sister in law from Nottingham on the Friday night.
We had a few beers in the Fox at Finchingfield on Saturday and went for a walk down the river while the girls prepared the barbecue, bad mistake.
When we got back the girls had also over prepared themselves with red wine.
Despite my insistance at leaving at 7:00 the next morning, the Sheffield contingent refused to get out of bed and arranged to meet us on the tank bank later.
We also had bacon butties at 8:15 near the Superhangar and listened to the radio with increasing alarm as the roads started to clog up as early as 9:00, I think that the car parks were full by 11:00.
The Sheffield lot never made it, they had to make a huge detour to avoid the area and went home instead.
I gather that one of the visiting BoB veterans had to walk from Whittlesford Station as the courtesy car couldn’t get through to pick him up.
Could be an idea to cycle in this time.
Pete TrumanThis is not so gorgeous, the dogs suddenly got twitchy, then I heard an increasing racket and ran out to see a 747, acting as if the Stansted runway threshold was at the bottom of my garden, why, I don’t know, it’s markings were indistinguishable because it was so low, but when it, just, dissapeared over the trees, there was another one to the north, no doubt just clearing AG’s old man’s bungalow, hope they missed Thaxted church tower.
More cluster bombs for Israel no doubt.
Pete TrumanI put the film on yesterday afternoon but was unable to take a lot of it in due to a constant stream of phone calls in connection with the new planning requirements, but that’s another story.
The film was released in 1945, but you would think it was made later due to the initial and final scenes of a derelict airfield, perhaps the ending of the war during production caused a revision to the plot.
First a/c in view were Hurricanes, 3 of them, presumably there were still quite a few around at that time, even if not in front line service.
The main a/c in use were Blenheims, ok, no doubt a few still about then, but I’m sure that one of them was a Mk1 with it’s distinctive nose, I’m surprised that any of those had survived in flying condition till 1945, perhaps it’s the one that has provided the nose for our DX Bolingbroke, via a caravan site.
The next switch was to 3 Bostons, nice to see those in a film for a change, were they still in use operationally over here in 1945?
I wish I could have concentrated on the film and tried to get serial numbers, the American sequence I mainly missed, I don’t know whether it was all stock footage or B-17’s were flown into Catterick where the film was made.
All in, it seemed quite a good film that took in the realities of arial warfare and wasn’t as ‘Gung Ho’ as most films of the period, but I suppose that’s because it was made when we were winning.
Incidentally, I work mainly from home, I have a nice office with a wide screen telly in front of my drawing board and a permanently connected computer, this protects my sanity in the constant battle against new planning and building regulations legislation that I can’t cope with anymore, I’m an artist not a beurocrat, I’m on the point of packing it all in, and so are a few of my pals in the same business, anyone got any good job offers.
Pete TrumanPoint taken and understood chaps, I hope that the bloke who originally gave me the Hali gunsight won’t come knocking on the door, if he does, I’ll direct him to Shelford tip, mind you, he was a good sort and I know he would appreciate the gesture, but who knows.
Bruce, how could you not love that dog…….. just imagine it’s really called Nigger, get it dyed black, it will love you forever, or does the political correctness issue loom too large, imagine, Mossies, Gibson, black dog, what a combination.
Pete TrumanCan’t remember any of it being set in WW2, did the series progress through the ages to wide lapels and flares, madam being pretty indestructable of course, I was inclined to watch it at the time due to a photo published in the press which made WW look very like my ex-wife, I wish, no thats not fair, there were similarities in various departments.
Pete TrumanDo remember offering YAM some Hali bits I had on loan but after a meeting with someone was told ‘we are not a warehouse either they are donated or we’re not interested’ kinda put me off after that!
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Which ‘bits’ were they, I offered them a turret gunsight, whether it was used or not, I don’t know, but I had to fill in a form refuting any future claim to it, which surprised me, hopefully it proved usefull.
Love the dog Bruce, hope it’s not as mental as mine, they look very similar, could be from the same batch, my God, she heard me write this and came in to see whats going on, dog psychology, I suspect.
Sorry, love the Mossie as well.
Pete TrumanI’ve looked at some pictures of West Malling and I’m sure it wasn’t as ornate as that, curses for not taking enough notice and concentrating too much on the a/c, I’m sure that the tower had a black board with white identification letters top right.
Incidentally, I’d be interested to know how long it took them to demolish the rc blast pens at Malling, we once had the bright idea of taking a ladder to the Warbirds display in order to sit on top of one and get the perfect view, unfortunately, we didn’t have a car between us that could take it, I think the ladder was longer than my MGB.
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