For me, this thread is a wonderful blast from the past. I only found out about the Johnnie Johnson connection a week ago. I am quite amazed to think that I once flew an aircraft associated with a famous WW2 ace.

In 1956, when I was a cadet NCO in the Herbert Strutt School CCF, I got my A & B gliding certificates in XE799. The following year I built a 1/8 scale model of XE799, but I never actually flew it. My design had some structural issues and the model came out far too heavy as well. With that combination of problems it was safest to keep it as a display model. What eventually became of it I do not remember. A better design was later published in Aeromodeller and is now available on Outerzone.

Somewhere among my vast collection of old photos I may still have one I took of XE799 using my Dad’s Ensign box camera in 1956. If I manage to find it I will scan it and upload a copy. At that time the aircraft was still in the old RAF training livery – silver with yellow bands – and I have not seen any photos online looking like that. They all show it in the red and silver livery with the words “AIR CADETS” in black.

Updating this posting – I have finally managed to find those pictures, but XE799 is not among them, so I am afraid I can’t keep my promise to upload it. Sorry about that.

Tony B