TonyT, as Dakotas in the UK had to stop giving passenger trips how likely is it that with the ever tightening of European/CAA regulations that a Lancaster can give passenger rides in the UK?

I don’t think that it was ever the case that Dakotas had to stop giving passenger flights, more that Classic Flight (or whatever they called themselves on that particular week) chose to surrender their “A to B” AOC in the face of tightening legislation.

As a journalist, I’l explain.

The way people listen (or don’t listen as the case may be)…what they’ll hear is…
“He was killed in Halifax”.

Then they’ll ask themselves…”What were we doing bombing Canada in the war”.

Except for the fact that, to 99.99% of the target audience in the UK, Halifax isn’t in Canada. In fact, most of them will have no idea that there is a place in Canada called Halifax.

Happy New Year to all at OW, and here’s to a better year for the Collection than 2012 turned out to be.

I’m glad yesterday’s event at OW was a success, and I’ll be seeing you there shortly Mr Jones.

The cockpit surround is a roll of leather, dark brown in colour.

Yes indeed!! I am quite surprised that the IWM has not produced anything.

Not really their remit. Most of the activity has been by the private owners, that’s what makes the place buzz.

Mind you, there could be an interesting chapter showing departures from the IWM collection on low-loaders, either as complete airframes or piles of scrap.;)

Charliehunt, the Magister is still based at Old Warden with the Shuttleworth Collection.

Great to see these photos, they bring back many memories of Duxford’s early days, but it is sobering to see how many of the aircraft pictured here are no longer around. Both Sea Furies, the A-26, Firefly, Mosquito, one of the Rapides, the T-33 and Proctor were all lost, and Hurricane LF363 was almost destroyed at Wittering. The IWM Comet and Convair VT-29 were chopped up for beercans, the Provost was damaged and hasn’t flown for a quarter of a century, and now the IWM have shamefully cast off the AAC.1/’Ju-52′. So much for ‘preservation’! 🙁

I think the Meteor parked along with the camouflaged Javelin was VT229, which ended up in storage with Kermit Weeeks at Fantasy of Flight.

Did anything come of the “AP51 Palomino” kits from Flugwerk, or did that die a death altogether?

I suspect the problem is that you can buy airworthy longerons for a price, but there is nobody making cheap non-airworthy ones. And, as Jason says, restorers are unwilling to part with replaced unairworthy original parts due to provenance issues.

Glad you’re happy with the gunsight Jason. 🙂