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The Navigator

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February 19, 2015 at 11:50 pm in reply to: Bears near Cornwall #2220788

The Navigator
Participant

I agree, I was very surprised to hear that the ‘Bears’ were close to the Cornish Coast, but this is being played down by the govt & I heard on the radio today that it was normal for the Bears to fly west of Scotland & then south over the Irish sea during the cold war. Absolute rubbish! They would not have got that far. I live in Worcestershire & I have not really seen or heard any fast jet activity since the Berlin Wall came down, I shouldn’t really say this, but it’s great to hear the combat air patrols back in the evenings.
Regards, Rich.

February 19, 2015 at 11:33 pm in reply to: Memphis Belle Filming 1989 #896568

The Navigator
Participant

I spent a few days at Duxford during the filming & observed quite a few engine changes going on.[ATTACH=CONFIG]235419[/ATTACH]

February 19, 2015 at 11:22 pm in reply to: We'll Meet Again [TV Series] on youtube #896580

The Navigator
Participant

Excellent, thank you for sharing that, I have many memories of that series & particularly that it in part enabled the first of ‘The Great Warbirds Air Displays’ at West Malling. I attended the first GWAD & arriving at West Malling early on a misty morning, I was amazed to see that in addition to ‘Sally B’ parked near the hangars, there were several B17’s parked on the other side of the airfield, I was of course intrigued by this, until the mist cleared, revealing the flat ‘cut-outs’. I was privileged to meet some of the stars of ‘We’ll Meet Again’ including Susannah York, great days & great memories.
Regards, Rich.

February 19, 2015 at 11:07 pm in reply to: BBMF article #896676

The Navigator
Participant

They don’t seem to mention the amount of work that is now shipped out as the RAF can’t or won’t do it.

There certainly have been some changes as regards the contracting out of major services since the closure of the maintenance units at RAF Abingdon & RAF St.Athan, but the BBMF do as much ‘in house’ as manpower allows, a major service to Hurricane LF363 was carried out at RAF Coningsby last year. As you correctly say, Trumper, the Daily Mail have not picked up on this & give the impression that all the work is done by the BBMF.
A Hurricane on fire? Good job they’ve never seen a Griffon starting when the un-burnt fuel lights up in the exhaust ports!
I bet ‘Parky’ is really proud of that nav light!:)
Regards, Rich.

January 29, 2015 at 11:27 pm in reply to: Churchill's Funeral #917579

The Navigator
Participant

I was 14 years old at the time of Churchill’s funeral, I watched on TV at the time & it must have had a big impact on me, because I remembered every detail as if I’d seen it yesterday. I think it’s great we we salute the great man again 50 years on, my belief is, he did a job second to none in WW2, I heard some negative mention of him being an imperialist, hardly surprising, he was defending the British Empire!
To the best of my knowledge, the Spitfire over Bladon church was AB910 & am I right in thinking that Spitfire G-AIDN was a two seater at one time owned by John Fairey?
Regards, Rich.

January 29, 2015 at 11:04 pm in reply to: AB910 – Engine Runs at Duxford! #917587

The Navigator
Participant

Did she already have the “ejector”-type exhausts fitted before the overhaul, or are they new too….. ?

There was a time when most (all?) of the then airworthy BBMF Merlin Spits had stub exhausts whether correct for the mark or not… good to see that they have progressively been made ever more representative of their “time” .

Looks lovely doesn’t she, can’t wait to see her back on the display circuit. Well done to all involved.

The exhaust ejectors may be new, but it already had that design of exhaust when it flew in the colours of Jan Zumbach of 303 Squadron.

January 15, 2015 at 3:10 pm in reply to: I finally got a scanner after all these years… #926964

The Navigator
Participant

Next to a printer, I find a scanner is the most useful addition to my computer & on the Memphis Belle theme, here are a couple of my scanned images.
Regards, Rich.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]234600[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]234601[/ATTACH]

December 25, 2014 at 9:04 pm in reply to: Happy Christmas and a happy New Year to all #1833332

The Navigator
Participant

Merry Christmas & a Happy & safe New Year to you all.
Regards, Rich.

November 10, 2014 at 1:13 am in reply to: National Holiday on 11th of the 11th? #904971

The Navigator
Participant

This occasion began as ‘Armistice Day’ & as the armistice was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, it was a defining point in history, it didn’t happen on the nearest Sunday, it happened at a finite time & I think it should be commemorated with a day to remember, as it was when I was at school, if the 11th Nov was a weekday we all used to assemble for a service at the local war memorial, after which we had the rest of the day off. If it fell on a weekend, we did not get a replacement day off!

October 28, 2014 at 11:52 pm in reply to: Mosquito Flying In UK 2015 #916912

The Navigator
Participant

Here’s a photo of VR796 during it’s time with Spartan Air Services as CF-HML, with starboard prop or engine removed. Sorry for the poor quality of the image, but the registration on the tail can be seen.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]232794[/ATTACH]
Regards, Rich.

October 24, 2014 at 11:45 pm in reply to: Historic aircraft on Bank notes and coins #920910

The Navigator
Participant

I have this coin, which I bought from the Westminster Collection 4 years ago. I hope this works, I haven’t tried attaching any images on here before! Regards, Rich.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]232673[/ATTACH]

October 19, 2014 at 1:46 am in reply to: Season Highs & Lows #925075

The Navigator
Participant

Highs: Seeing the Canadian Lancaster on FR24 as it crossed the north west coast of Scotland en route from Iceland to RAF Coningsby & the subsequent tour by the 2 Lancs. The Canberra & Hunter at RAF Cosford. BBMF Spitfire PRXIX PS915 over my house low & fast (& loud) running in to display at the Severn Valley Heritage Railway WW2 weekend.

Lows: As said before, the belly landing of the Sea Fury at Culdrose, the cancellation of the 2 Lancs at Sywell due to the weather, the supercharger problem on the Canadian Lancaster, & FM213 going back to Canada, although that became more of a high when it was known that they were home safely.

Regards, Rich

October 16, 2014 at 1:04 am in reply to: 'Guy Martin's Spitfire' TV programme #926580

The Navigator
Participant

As it’s his company, I’d be rather surprised if he wasn’t………….;)

I guess I should have put that more into context, as the owner of a business, it is possible to be impressed by the work of your team, not just because you own the business.

October 14, 2014 at 11:58 pm in reply to: 'Guy Martin's Spitfire' TV programme #927148

The Navigator
Participant

Speaking as an engineer rather than a historian, I enjoyed the show, as I have enjoyed all Guy Martin’s shows about restoration of various machines & other items. I enjoy his down to earth enthusiasm & his obvious engineering skills, many people have compared him to Fred Dibnah, not only on this forum, but it is the consensus of opinion in my local pub! & I can certainly agree with that. I have no problem understanding him, but I have the advantage of having spent a lot of time in Lincolnshire.
Obviously there will be inaccuracies in such a TV show & there is always the ‘restore’ or ‘re-create’ discussion, I work with Classic Cars, so I’m used to that! But what a beautiful job they made of N3200, John Romain seemed impressed.
I am in total agreement with Moggy C, a show about ‘restoring’ a Spitfire, prime-time on a Sunday night? Priceless!
Regards, Rich

October 11, 2014 at 5:32 pm in reply to: Record hours Spits #928805

The Navigator
Participant

According to Alex Henshaw’s book, he had 8,210 hours on Spitfires, so I imagine he would be the highest, maybe someone will know the figures for Hanna & Quill.
Regards, Rich.
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