SkyboltI am so sad that we will never see his mastery of display flying in the Spitfire again. The duo with Ray leading Cliff Spink at the last Duxford show as part of the Spitfire finale was superb and it was magnificent to watch the master at work. Another classic memory of a wonderful career that gave so much pleasure to so many.
Thanks for all the good times over the last four decades.
Deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Sincerely,
Trapper 69
SkyboltRoger Freeman
The man who kept the Mighty 8th alive in the UK
The UK’s historic aviation community has been saddened at the news of the death of Roger A. Freeman, the peerless military aviation writer and historian who coined the phrase “The Mighty Eighth”.
There is to be a memorial service for Roger at 3pm on Friday 21st October at St Mary’s Church in his home village of Dedham, near Colchester, to which those who knew him are cordially invited.
Roger was, of course, best known for his seminal “Mighty Eighth” series of books about the US 8th Air Force’s bomber offensive launched from the UK in World War II. In addition, he wrote some 50 books covering many other aspects of the wartime British and American air offensive. As such, he was a major consultant for the American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford; David Puttnam’s 1989 film Memphis Belle; and many TV documentaries.
Lt General E.G. “Buck” Shuler (USAF ret.), who commanded the US 8th Air Force during Operation Desert Storm, said: “Roger Freeman was the finest aviation historian and writer since the dawn of military aviation. He aided me immeasurably in putting together the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, Georgia in the mid-90s. A true gentleman has departed from the scene.”
General Shuler added that the entire library complex at the museum will be named The Roger A. Freeman Mighty Eighth Air Force Research Centre – a fitting tribute indeed.
Please also see my 2002 magazine article about Roger’s life, which is now online at: http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/oldstuff/2004/freeman/freeman.htm
SkyboltHello there,
Good news for the 2006 season.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
____________________________________
14 October 2005
Hope on the Horizon for Sally B
As Aviation Insurers, Politicians, and enthusiasts rally to the cause of ‘living’ aviation heritage
In an unprecedented move, the immediate threat of permanent grounding to an important living piece of national heritage, B-17 Flying Fortress Sally B, has been temporarily lifted. On 29th September, aviation insurance underwriters came up with an affordable ‘stop gap’ solution to comply with a new controversial European Union regulation that had placed crippling financial demands on the operation of the 60-year old bomber. New legislation had put a burden of an extra £1,000 per flying hour on this national aviation icon. Sally B receives no direct state funding to keep her airborne.
Elly Sallingboe, B-17 Operator said: “Our fight to change this rule goes on, but we are delighted that the insurance world has again come up trumps with an affordable solution to help. Meanwhile, we wait for the EU to change this totally unrealistic law. “We thank Lloyds brokers Marsh, Sally B’s broker Arthur J Gallagher (UK) and other London insurance companies and Lloyds Underwriters. The B-17 is now fully covered by third party liability insurance up to the 30th September 2006.
“With the help of politicians, the Civil Aviation Authority and our many friends and supporters, we have managed to get the ear of the Regulators in Brussels. It is now appreciated that an oversight has been made in this third party issue for Sally B.
“But, to change a law like this will take time. Once an EU law has been made, it takes years to reverse it. But, the pioneering work has now been done and I am confident that within the next 18 months this unjust law will be changed, not only for Sally B, but for vintage aircraft in general. Like Sally B, they are not commercial airliners, they are flying memorials loaded not with bombs but with memories. Such aircraft salute those who gave their lives for our freedom, a sacrifice that must never be forgotten”.
This has been a hard season for Sally B and her team, condensing as much work as possible in a season reduced to three months. But with dedication and enthusiasm, helped by loyal members and friends digging deep, the impossible has been achieved and on the 10th July Sally B joined the London flypast marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two and has since flown proudly through her special anniversary year – her 30th flying season in the UK.
A petition seeking an exemption to the new EU regulations has now been signed by 25,000-plus people – all by hand. This will be presented to Downing Street in due course.
Thousands of B-17s, nicknamed Flying Fortress, flew daylight raids over German cities during the war. The aircraft is permanently based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. It is backed by a registered charity and relies solely on charitable donations for its survival. This year it celebrate 30 year flying in the UK and its 60 birthday. To learn more, join the Supporters Club and/or make a donation to the Sally B Anniversary Appeal, please visit http://www.sallyb.org.uk. or contact Elly Sallingboe on 01638 721304
Sally B is one of a mere handful of survivors from the 12,731 Fortresses which were built, and her future in this country can only be secured through fundraising.
SkyboltSad news indeed. Roger was the supreme historian for the 8th USAAF here in England in WW2 and his books fill many spaces on my bookshelves.
We used to spend fsmily holidays at Poringland south of Norwich in 1943/44, myself as a small child. I well remember the noise as those 2nd AD B24 Liberators took off and formed up before setting course for enemy territory. Later in the day they would return, smaller in number. Roger lived further south in Fortress country and his youth was spent adjacent to an American base. We were both influenced by our respective wartime experience but Roger turned to authorship and became a superb historian.
Those who attended his summer schools at UEA will always remember him as will those who continue to use his many books as really valuable reference works. A veritable giant of an aviation author and historian is no more.
My sincere condolences to his family and so many friends on both sides of the Atlantic.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltDiana and I will be there over Easter for the southern hemisphere airshow warbird extravaganza. Enjoyed the show in 2004 so much we decided to squander even more of the kids inheritance with Cathay for the flights to and from Auckland and will be in NZ from early March to mid May. So many other aviation attractions to catch up with as well plus (DV) knocking off my 300km to finish my Gold “C” in the finest gliding country in the world IMHO. Gore/Mandeville is high on the list for an extended visit too. I will read through the threads carefully tomorrow.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltA gorgeous airplane that has been with the Scandinavian Historic Flight for decades and usually flown immaculately by Anders Saether. Presumably the Vormezeele family have been leasing it from the SHF and baseing it in Belgium temporarily.
Bud Anderson must be pleased that a Mustang bearing the markings his aircraft wore in the latter stages of WW2 while flying from Leiston is still making that inimitable whistle as it displays at European venues.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltLaviticus,
Your personal suffix is a prayer I should remember always when working in the “Zero Error Margin” regime of airshows and practising for them. Many thanks for the reminder.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
PS – Perhaps it might be wise to correct your spelling of “busy”.
:dev2: :dev2: :dev2:
SkyboltThe aim must be to train as you intend to fight otherwise the mortality rate on going against the bad guys will be astronomic. The only problem is that the nationality of the bad guys has altered in the last 15 years as has the nature of the threat. PGM’s now mean the proverbial accuracy of that ascribed to the Norden bombsight in the early days of WW2 can now be achieved without going in at suicidally low level. We found that out the hard way in Gulf war 1 in losing far too many fine Tornado GR1 crews. Why then do we persist in ultra low level training that costs lives and p***es off the UK population…??? I would be grateful for some responses.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltIt was a great couple of shows however the turbulence on Saturday shook some fillings loose during my aerobatic slot with the Skybolt. Savage indeed.
My Arab cousin had a great time with the colleens and thoroughly enjoyed his opportunity to make a celebrity VIP flypast each day. He does however apologise for the mayhem that followed the toppling of his pot of steaming coffee and which continued until he had retrieved the container and resecured it.
The return back to Leicester via Blackpool on the Monday was quite interesting until we passed Stoke on Trent and flew into quite the most superb evening this year.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltHaving been on the rig of the Tiger Moth many times while checking out new pilots for the SOW routine I found the airflow at 50 to 70 knots quite punishing.
On the Utterly Butterly Stearmans the girls reach maximum speed of around double that so experience four times the resistance.
At, say, 240 knots that resistance gets up to a multiple of sixteen and I simply cannot imagine what the sheer pain must be like. The guy must have had some form of metal windbreak for his upper torso plus pressure breathing through a mask. Either that or land as a corpse.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltHerbie,
Good to see you in print after far too long. There was plenty of room through the Winston Bridge. I know ‘cos I surveyed it. The biggest problem was needing to lop off a few branches of the trees on one side. Ray’s wife was most dischuffed when I agreed to write an exemption for the scene but relaxed a little when I assured her that I would happily fly through it in a Tiger with my daughter on the wing. What I did not mention was the speed difference, 65 knots for me and, possibly, 150 knots for Ray in MH434. One of those occasional weird requests that the CAA General Aviation Department deals with from time to time. It made for an excellent piece of television if not being exactly a simple piece of cake.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltThe CAA website has the following information –
CAA consultation on new SRG charges proposals
UPDATE 7 September 2005
The SRG Charges Consultation has now closed. Thank you to all those who have
responded. The CAA received 219 submissions from industry and the views will
be included in our document to be published on this website in late October
2005.
With all the implications for General Aviation I would have expected a far larger number of responses from those who will be affected by these draconian proposals. I fear many of us in GA suffer from the delusion that it will not happen or that someone else will respond for me or that they are just too busy making the money to afford to fly anyway. Apathy rules once more.
Nevertheless the number of responses were significantly larger than usual, probably by a factor of five. May I personally thanks those who did take time to respond. your efforts just might make the difference.
We shall see what emerges in late October.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltKing Airs give me the hump anyway………….!!
Cheers,
Trapper 69
PS – But not the one at Leicester which is operated most professionally as a corporate aircraft.
Skybolt£1.30 at Leicester including VAT. Just back from Portugal and it is much cheaper there probably due to a lower rate of duty.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
SkyboltMay I add my six pennyworth to the debate.
When the SHF first acquired the A26 it flew on the continent and the UK in a spirited fashion and it still does. They are meticulous in hitting the correct “gates” in terms of height and speed.
At that time I was the UK CAA airshow boss and had the opportunity of flying in the aircraft on an airshow in France. The aircraft certainly did excellently flown half cuban eights rolling on the way down and barrel rolls as well as the steep chandelles and wingovers described before. They wanted to do the same routine in the UK and I was adamant in refusing the real aerobatic manouevers as the FAA flight manual did not permit aerobatics. We had a few interesting discussions and they did their very best to persuade me to alter my stance. I did not.
Many years previously I had seen Don Bullock perform a tight barrel roll in his A26 at the Leicester Airshow. This only a week before he took the aircraft and some keen, enthusiastic, but unsecured, passengers to an early grave at Biggin Hill. The torsional effect on the wing as he rolled was very evident from the triangular patches of light and shade on the wing skins. They were easily visible as he applied aileron at high speed going away from my viewpoint. A sight never to be forgotten.
I am glad the SHF still shows the aircraft in a spirited fashion and have no doubt that every possible effort is made to ensure the safety of the aircraft and its crew throughout the display.
Cheers,
Trapper 69
:dev2: :dev2: 🙂 🙂 😎 😎 …….. and now a cascade…….!!!
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