His publications on the Martlet and Corsair are ground-breaking in their forensic analysis and detailed narrative, while maintaining a human element throughout.

Dave is indeed a most excellent chap. But has his Martlet book actually been published yet?

Well there you go Brian, straight from the book of excuses, page 17. I wonder if they’ve already got a parking slot allocated in Krakow for it?

Oh, I’m sure they’ll finish it. And then declare it ‘not an original Blenheim’ and flog it to the Poles for 50p. 🙁

The tone of the release does sound rather final. A real shame. 🙁

“The National Museum of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm” What a mouthful. And very American.

And then there’s the sneaky trick, occasionally practised by Aeroplane, of sticking a rogue ‘Autumn issue’ or ‘Christmas issue’ on the cover instead of a month. Confused retailers then leave it on the shelves for a few months, alongside the following month’s issue which then reverts back to the usual monthly-dated format.

Not neccessarily completely true. Due to an accident of history (basically, the folks who came together to form Travel Air, then split off to form their own companies) the GA manufacturers congregated in the Wichita area in the late-20s and have remained there ever since. Boeing have remained in the PNW, LA has become too costly, the remaining major plants are spread around in various locations, mainly also for historical reasons (Fort Worth and Connecticut) or investment for political reasons (Charleston)

I thought they were Handley Page Heyfords

And don’t forget the HP.42, and the secret supply of Jupiters from Czech, that we’ve been hearing about for about 15 years now!