Regarding the Beryl engine replacement (£200 for a Gnat complete with serviceable engine!):

“By early 1966, K7 was back in the Norris brothers workshop being stripped down and prepared for the installation of a lighter, more powerful Bristol Siddeley Orpheus Turbo-Jet engine developing over 6,000 lbs of thrust. Donald also purchased an entire Gnat fighter from the Air Ministry for a small fee of £200. This was stripped with the engine retained as a spare and several items, including the fuel pumps and starter system added to K7. Ken Norris, on walking past the stripped plane one day suggested that they also use the tail section from the plane to increase K7’s stability.”

From http://www.racingcampbells.com/content/boats.asp

More (old) pix of Shoo Shoo Baby

atc pal,
Air Classics Quarterly Review Vol 2 no. 4 has an article that includes quite a lot of detail about Shoo Shoo Baby’s wartime and subsequent exploits. Here are scans of a couple of snippets from that article . . .

Shoo-Shoo Baby is the last picture of the first set, in post #1

There is a room full of turrets at Elvington!

From Jane’s:
Cruising speed above Mach 2
Range 0.75 to 5 miles (1 to 2.8 km)
Length overall 10 ft 5.5 in (3.19 m)
Body diameter 8 3/4 in (22.5 cm)
Wing span 2 ft 5.5 in (0.75 m)

Washington Navy Yard Corsair

On a blistering hot July day in 2003 I walked from the Metro station (miles away!) to the Washington Navy Yard without booking ahead, got signed in (British passport was useful) and looked around for aircraft. The only one I found was this Corsair hanging from the ceiling. Nice museums there, though, and the air conditioning in the US Marines Museum was almost too cold!

Superb! Thanks for sharing.

Very nice, with impressive background scenery – thanks for sharing!