WJ244Looks to me like it is a model. As previously said the way overscale grass is the real giveaway.
WJ244As far as I can see the bottom line is that the original set up at Coventry wasn’t attracting sufficient visitors to make it viable as a museum which was open to the public. The lure of Cornwall was incentives such as reduced rents for a set period. Someone did the sums and with the number of tourists that visit the West Country during the season it was thought that it was viable to make the move.I had my doubts that it would work, mainly because the holiday season in the West Country is comparartively short and I said so in a post when this was first announced.
Unfortunately it didn’t work out and when the costs of being in Cornwall were set to increase substantially a decision was made to move back to Coventry. This is disappointing for the volunteers who have put time in at St Mawgan/Newquay but at the end of the day it seems to be a harsh but sensible business decision and should ensure the continuation of Classic Flight.
I doubt that Classic Flight would have made the initial commitment to acquire the larger airframes that remain in Cornwall unless they thought the venture would be viable but let’s hope that the volunteers at Newquay can find a way to establish a smaller volunteer run museum and are able to maintain the remaining aircraft although I fear that they face a long uphill struggle.
The outcome is rather sad but at least Classic Flight walked away before the increased overheads dragged them down and risked putting them out of business altogether.
WJ244Latest in the local paper is that the organisers weren’t aware that the council wanted £50,000 to cover the cost of road closures so they looked at moving the show to East Beach, Shoeburyness.
East Beach has become a non starter because the MOD aren’t happy about the display aircraft flying over their land adjacent to East Beach some of which forms part of what was the Proof and Experimental Establishment which includes Foulness Island. The other problem is that there is no way that East Beach is big enough to handle the crowds and has little in the way of car parking so, unfortunately it just isn’t a viable alternative.
WJ244In the 90’s I worked in a model shop in Ongar Essex and met Ray Thomas when he was working at Aces High. At that time they had G-AWHB at North Weald and he was doing some work to make her presentable for static display. He told me the spars had suffered badly from corrosion due to salt in the air at Southend and they were barely usable for static rebuild and flying her again was out of the question.
From what Ray said it would take a huge amount of time and money to get G-AWHB airworthy but times have changed so let’s hope that we do eventually see an airworthy CASA again.
WJ244I would also like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread. When I first joined the forum I hadn’t visited Duxford for 15+ years and the posts here encouraged me to visit again and I have managed a couple of visits a year ever since so if anyone at IWM is wondering if this thread serves any useful purpose then please be assured that it has helped persuade me and probably many others to come along and part with my entrance money.
A Happy and prosperous new year to everyone and let’s hope 2015 is at least as good for vintage avaition as 2014.
WJ244I bet shes sturdy though, whats she like at aerobatics?
I saw Ladi Marmol fly G-AVZB many times. Very short landings and almost hovering in strongish winds (both party pieces which he also carried out to even greater effect in Turboporter HB-FCL/G-AWDS) were almost commonplace. He also flew a display at a Southend airshow (held on the airfield) around 1968 where the Bumblebee and either the Turboporter or a Pawnee gave a spraying demonstration with scented water that covered the crowd. The displayincluded some impressive tight low speed turns but I never saw him try any aerobatics in the Bumblebee.
As other have said Ladi was a real character and if there was any chance of aerobating a Bumblebee I am sure he would have tried.
He used to land the Turboporter on the old runway 33/15 and made full use of the reverse pitch prop. There was a white spot which was clearly visible on the tyres and there were often conversations with tower about how many times the wheels would revolve before the Turboporter stopped.
WJ244At that time I was one of the local aircraft spotters and remember seeing the crash site the following day. The Viscount ended up almost on top of the bank at the Rochford end of the runway. The crane was supporting the port wing to keep it clear of the railway line. Somebody had also been pretty quick with a pot of paint to try to obscure the Channel Airways titles.
For some reason Channel Airways kept the props and, after Channel Airways folded, a couple of them went to the Historic Aircraft Museum where they were on display up unitl the museum closed in the 80’s.
Looking at the pictures again it is a wonder that there were no fatalities and I assume that everyone made a full recovery.
WJ244Have to agree with everything that has been said already. I have visited for two Old Warden shows this year and I thought both were better than most of the others I have attended in the past. I was slightly disappointed that the Midget Mustang and Cassut didn’t show for the Formula One race but thought the Taylor Titch and Cosmic Wind put on a good display and it was nice to see Ballerina flying aerobatics (never seen Peter Kynsey’s display before).
The commentator mentioned that there are plans to relaunch the F1/Goodyear class in Europe so how about a proper F1 race in the future. It would be good to arrange the circuit to give top side passes along the crowd line but, on the other hand, the circuit used on Sunday does give spectators a good view of the whole race.
WJ244Weather forecast looks good. We’ll plan on 10am then. Are there usually other food concessions there ?, as it will save taking food with us, and the Cafe could be busy. Yes, my other half likes gardens too. 🙂
I wouldn’t try 10PM although you might just catch the last of the traffic from an evening show. Can guarantee the cafe and burger van would be shut as well. That will teach me to post when I am feeling very tired.
Hope the weather is OK and you enjoy the day.
WJ244I think I shall make my go/no go decision, early Saturday. So I still have time to get tickets online.
It must be over 35yrs since I’ve been there, so one or two things may have changed ? 🙂Does it tend to get very busy there ?
Weather permitting I will be there. Any Old Warden show is well worth a visit but the air race theme and the chance to see the F1/Goodyear racers together again are the icing on the cake.
Old Warden is generally quite genteel. Busy usually means a smallish queue at the gate and it rarely takes very long to get in. I usually try to arrive around 10pm which gives plenty of time for a walk round and a vsit to the Swiss Garden for my other half before buying lunch in the cafe around 12 to avoid the queues as it gets busy in there a bit later. The queues when the cafe is busy are the only downside to an Old Warden visit. Even after the alterations a few years ago they have restricted space so there isn’t much they can do to improve the situation. The popularity of the cafe means they must have got something right.
If you haven’t been for a long time you will find many changes but the place still has the same atmosphere it has always had ever since I first visited about 30 years ago.
WJ244I bought Aeroplane Monthly from a newsagent every month from the 1st issue up until about 1995 when I lost my business and was forced to cut back spending on everything which wasn’t absolutely essential. I took out a subscription a few years later (around 2000) when I was at an airshow at Old Warden. The offer on the day was take out a subscription and get a free 1/72 Corgi Spitfire or Hurricane (I forget which). At that time I worked in a model shop selling diecasts and the model Aeroplane were giving away was sold out and had rocketed in price so I sold the model for 2 or 3 times more than my subscription and made a nice little profit!
I have continued the subscription but must admit I nearly cancelled last time it came up for renewal as I feel Aeroplane has lost it’s way a bit. My interest is mainly civil and particularly light aircraft so Aeroplane (particularly in the early days) covered my interests very well.
In the late 70’s and the 80s I also bought Flypast regularly but didn’t enjoy the magazine as much as Aeroplane so I stopped buying it.
I hope Aeroplane gets back to doing what it did best ie vintage civil aviation and inter war aircraft assuming there are sufficient enthusiasts still interested in these areas of aviation to make the magazine viable. If most of the market wants comparatively modern military then obviously the magazine will move in that direction but should that happen I won’t be renewing my subscription but equally I am unlikely to buy another mag instead as I haven’t found anything else which covers my interests.
WJ244There was an old thread about the sale of the North Weald DC-4s here
It does seem to have gone quiet but the Facebook page links still work and Airventure do seem to have been very busy so maybe the DC-4 project has gone to the back of the queue for now. Let’s hope something gets done soon and this rather sad saga has a happy outcome.
WJ244Great photos – the sort I always aspire to take but never quite manage it.
Love the DH51 and Cirrus Moth but shouldn’t the Gladiator pilot be looking where he is going!
WJ244I stand corrected; I thought that bungee launches were standard for this ‘experimental’ high-endurance aircraft.
No criticism of the pilot was intended…..it was real heart-in-the-mouth stuff to watch!
Sorry! – I didn’t intend to imply that you were criticising the pilot. I think we both agree that he did a great job both in coaxing that much altitude out of the Wren and in getting her down again. I must admit I thought that a visit to the hedge was looking likely and was very pleased to see that the pilot managed to avoid it.
I thought this was the best Shuttleworth Pageant for a long time and seeing the Comet airborne again was the icing on the cake although I was amazed at the high landing speed and was a bit concerned when she disappeared over the hump towards the far end of the runway. Roger Bailey well and truly deserved the applause when he got out of the cockpit.
WJ244On several visits to the B of B hall over a couple of years there were simply signs at the entrance to the area housing the German aircraft saying that the area was closed and it was in darkness. On each occassion we looked around the rest of the hall and returned to the entrance to find the closed signs were still there.
On my last trip we found our way towards the German aircraft from inside the display hall and were told, very rudely, to leave for health and safety reasons. It was only when we questioned the attendant further that he explained that we had to leave because they were turning out the lights to show a film and that we would be able to return if we waited for the film to finish. He didn’t even suggest that we might like to watch the film so we assumed it was a private showing.
If the signs (and staff) had explained that the area was closed temporarily at regular intervals for a film show I would have waited and been able to see the German aircraft on previous visits. There is clearly a lack of communication which could easily be resolved by making the signage more clear. I am sure many visitors must pass by when they see the closed signs and never get the chance to view the German aircraft or the film presentation.
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