Just learned of the sad news while on holiday in NZ. A great friend over so many years. Donna McLuskie was gathering material for an autobiography so perhaps that may emerge in due course.

Hairyplanes anecdote on the lack of cushions for John’s safety pilot was absolutely true. John’s response to the comment was priceless – “Thanks for the good advice… I will borrow a couple from Shuttleworth”. After the display the Stearman vanished in the general direction of Little Gransden still with insufficient cushions for the required safety pilot. Happy days.

Sincere condolences to his family.

Trapper 69

Janie,
The grass 06 and a three point arrival would have been my ideal choice with your tailwheel shimmy problem however it was probably too soft for comfort yesterday having a clay subsoil With that in mind then I would have used tarmac 04 and a wheeler but ensuring I got an early touchdown at the right speed.
All the runways at Leicester are plenty long enough for the Chipmunk however, on the shorter ones, you do need to be in current practice and to nail the correct threshold speed plus, say, 5 knots for a wheeler arrival.
At least the approach and overshoot obstructions are minimal on all the runways.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

If the A47 is not snowbound I should be there with the Skybolt having an airing.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

An old friend in South Africa gave the brief on water skiing. He does it in a Cub. The recommended technique is to approach the water at normal flight speed with the BRAKES ON, touch down as for a wheeler and apply a little forward stick to maintain a level attitude and there you have it. Simple he says, nothing to it, first time is the worst. On a large lake, he says, you can do flat turns with the rudder but must keep wings level.

Frankly I think to whole business is utter lunacy and if there were to be an incident then the likely repercussions would be appalling both from the insurance and the “endangering” aspects.

Cheers,

Trapper 69

The aircraft storage hangar is a Bellman which was dismantled at Peterborough/Westwood aerodrome when that land was redeveloped and re-erected at Sibson in the late 1960’s. There is an original wartime T2 hangar on adjacent land now converted for “emergency” office relocation purposes.
Thanks to the local fire services for their rapid response which meant that damage was limited to the cafe and parachute centre lounge area.
If indeed this was a case of arson then I do hope the culprit will soon be identified and suitably punished.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

Mention of the Purple Parrot VP2 brought back easily forgettable memories. One of my least favourite aeroplanes though the VP1 was quite pleasant. Its one and only cross country to Tollerton was eventful in that engine problems caused the pilot to do a forced landing on the dual carriageway A46 on the return flight. Then parked in a layby to await ground transportation for both pilot and aircraft. The local constabulary were quite amused.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

Leicester has free landings to club members.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

Really sad to learn of Dizzy’s passing. He was a fabulous character with an enormous sense of humour whose skills as an airshow pilot were of the highest order. He had flown a great number of types in so many roles to places right round the world so his tales always attracted an attentive audience which usually collapsed in mirth.

I will never forget one show at Coventry when Dizzy was flying a Dakota and the pyrotechnic lunatics had laid some simulated bomb strikes a bit too close to the runway. As the Dak rumbled along just approaching liftoff the explosions bodily shifted the aircraft sideways. After landing Dizzy nearly strangled the over enthusiastic special effects boss saying it was far worse than anything he had experienced in WW2.

Sincere condolences to his family.

Rest in peace Dizzy. I do hope we meet again one day.

Cheers,

Trapper 69