Flaming heck, 23500 rpm on a Lycoming? What sort of fuel were you using as I can only get 2,400 out of mine!

This thread takes me back as I used to see DDI and her sister ship CIT ploughing round the circuit from the windows of my school, which was just down the road from Squires Gate. Just a couple of comments. I don’t think ANT was part of Railway Air Services as I always understood that Russell Whyham set it up himself. He always had a bunch of esoteric aircraft in his hangar e.g.Marathon, Aermacchi and a GA Cygnet. Despite beiing in the same class as his son, we were always being chased out of his hangar so I may have missed some of his rarer “finds”. With regard to the photos, there was a professional photographer who had a wooden office near the Terminal and I used to have a few of his aircraft prints. I’ll try and dig them out but don’t hold your breath.

Indeed it was very lucky. Especially if you compare it with the T-28 accident the following day which ended in an enormous fireball. That is really the concern for future planning of air races. I fear that the crowd will be moved further back and it will end up like Formula One. As ever life is a balance but some of the excitement could be lost if you are too remote from the action.

Hi Trumper. I was one of the lucky ones in the Harvard “Taz” flown by the lovely and very talented Anna Walker this morning. Super pair of hands (in the flying sense) and a great instructor.

Just out of interest, or not, there is an AD on the Airtourer (low wing metal construction) which needs the wing (at 3000 hours) to come off to inspect the area around the wing mount bolts. There is also an approved mod to cut an inspection panel to facilitate this and avoid taking the wing off. There was also a flutter on another forum when Aldi were doing the inspection fibre optic light for £49 but nobody found one. Looks like the same model as well.

Interesting point JDK makes about art preservation. I was watching a re-run on BBC4 of a programme about Italian art presented by a chap with a very smart Alfa Romeo (oxymoron perhaps?). He introduced Da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper and pointed out how it was deteriorating quite quickly due to the type of paint that was originally used. Nobody was suggesting a visit to B and Q for a couple of pots of emulsion but the emphasis was very much on preservation of what they had. This with probably the most iconic of all paintings.

Tragically, didn’t the SAAF HS 125 fleet fly in to Table Mountain in similar circum stances many years ago? Very sad day though.