She was low level over Nottingham City centre at about 13.15 today.

Cheered up what had been hitherto a pretty bad day 🙂

Its funny I spent a fair part of yesterday photocopying a Gipsy engine manual (double sided can be tricky!) and at the back there is a list of accessory manufactures. As I looked down the list of old familiar name’s I found myself asking I wonder what happened to them? I wonder if they are still in business?

Auto-Kleen Strainers

B.T.H Magneto’s

D.H. A.C. Fuel Pumps

Hobson Carburettor

K.L.G. Sparking Plugs ‘The Spitfire plug’

Lodge Sparking Plugs Or were these the Spitfire plug?

Rotax Electric Starters and Generators (Telephone ‘Elgar 7777’)

Plessey Vacumn pump and cartridge starter

Perhaps not as interesting or exciting as the airframe manufactures but they all have their place in British Aviation history.

I remember the B24 at the 1975 show there is a picture of it here.

I saw a picture of it recently and it was looking a bit ‘tired’ unfortunately.

I might have been a bit hasty with Gloster’s. Just done a bit of research and they amalgamated with Armstrong-Whitworth to form Whitworth-Gloster divison of Hawker Siddeley.

I remember seeing Gloster airport fire engines as they named them after Gloster aircraft, I don’t think they are still going though.

Steve

A friend of mine has a Chipmunk on Public Transport Cat and offers tailwheel conversions in the East Midlands area if you are interested.

There is also a zero timed Chipmunk for sale in the hangar where I keep my Auster, the guy who owns it also has a kit of parts for sale to.

Although the Chipmunk is a lovely lovely aeroplane it is very maintenance intense (being ex-mil does not help).

I know the maintenance / flying hour ratio on my friends aircraft is pretty horrific. He mentioned to me that he knew a syndicate whose aircraft had just come out of the hangar with a £17 grand bill after a C of A renewal:eek: 😮 😮

OK I will settle for the half-hour argument.

Not that any of this really matters, I to was also there that day as I played a part (albeit small) in the restoration of the aircraft.

The position of the aircraft on your first photo is the compass base / engine run pan at East Midlands, not the taxiway. This means it was either undergoing an engine run or positioned for photos. I cannot remember now. Prior to posting I went up to the hangar to check with the chap who was in charge of restoring the aircraft (who is still restoring Spitfires) to show him the picture and make sure I had my facts right.

Regarding the windscreen, whilst you did not say it wasn’t the personal choice of Roland’s, you implied it was replaced at the behest of he CAA which was not the case on this particular aircraft. 🙂

Regarding some of the points raised about PL983.

The MK XI lower cowling was with the aircraft at East Midlands, but was modified to a MK IX type as was the oil tank. The camera access panels were also modified to the solid type also. This was at the request of the owner.

There was no problem with the PR windscreen as far as the CAA were concerned, it was just replaced again at the request of the owner because he found it difficult to judge the landings because of the vision being distorted to the side.

I think Mark 12’s picture was not taken on the day of the first flight, as Cliff has not got his hat on, and there is a panel missing from under the tail, so was probably just out on test.