I, personally, prefer silver Cats over white ones. :diablo: Especially this fully airworthy Dutch machine PH-PBY. Pics of it during the first public outing at Lelystad in September last year.

Greetz,
Aerovet

Oh, I just hope this returns to Duxford for Legends in this scheme. We may even get two Catalinas in formation. :rolleyes:

I’m delighted to see ‘680 being so well looked after, but what a shame that they haven’t taken the opportunity to apply a proper F.1 colour scheme. The incorrect scheme when on display at Aberporth seems to have just been replicated – minus the 54 Sqn. badges.

With High Speed Silver undersides instead of the much later Light Aircraft Grey, 3 colour roundels and hard-edged camo pattern instead of ‘soft’ edges, she would have looked like an F.1 rather than appearing to be disguised as an FGA.9 or F.6.

Maybe they had their reasons, or it may just be down to bad research. Pity.

Quite agree! It’s just as bad as the Midland Air Museum painting their Danish Hunter F.4 as a RAF ‘Black Arrow’ F.6 !! 🙁

I am not Irish, but I have a great affection for Aer Lingus and any national airline that has lasted this long. Have a look on http://www.Amazon.co.uk as there is a book entitled:

Pioneers in Flight: Aer Lingus and the Story of Aviation in Ireland by
Niall Weldon

I think this may have the answers to your questions.

Wasn’t the F100 brought over from Wethersfield slung under a helicopter when the last USAF personel pulled out,1991,and didn’t it originate from the French Airforce?

No, not quite right! The F-100D at Lakenheath was indeed a former French Air Force machine and wears a false serial. It has been on the pole since at least 1982 and is really 54-2269. It made its last flight into either Sculthorpe or Lakenheath in early 1976. Here it is at Lakenheath in April 1976, shortly after arrival and this is how it looked in 1982 mounted on the gate with its first false serial as ’54-0048′ (I wonder why???) 😉

Sally ‘B’ (still as N17TE) at Finningley, September 1975 during her first UK display season….very nearly 30 years ago, an amazing achievement, to keep her running in private hands for so long.
Not wishing to be controversial, but my main memory is the manner in which she was displayed in those days…..at one Finningley show (probably 1975), she was flown up the grass, BETWEEN the runway and the crowd line at an absurdly low altitude, enough to make my teenage toes curl (and which would presumably give the CAA a fit if flown like that now!)

….like this…Don Bullock showing off in front of HRH Prince Charles at White Waltham in May 1977

Them’s the ones. It’s not every day you see the top of a B17 from the flightline…

Yeah….right? :diablo:

Saving Private Ryan??

Ryans seem to be pretty fluid in the UK. Their owners import them, then seem to get fed-up with them and they end up returning to the States…or in the case of G-BPUD, crashing! We’ve been fortunate to have about one or two in the UK since around 1980. Here are four I have photographed over the past 15 years or so….

HP’s G-BPUD seen from a Cessna 182 out of Badminton on 10th July 1990, prior to the Badminton Air Day.
N56028 also over Badminton the previous year, 10th July 1989 and finally
N56421 and N1344 on the ground at Wroughton 24 September 1989. N1344 was a regular Old Warden performer for several years throughout the ’80s.

Score DC 1 Senility 1
The Eagle Years page 17 : 13 Oct 1955 Lanc NX739 arrived ‘Bushe on contract loan to Eagle, to be flown by Eagle crews for air to air photography, turrets to bemodded with enclosed perspex..pic of nose on this page..Used 1956 Farnboro, and occasionally by Flight photographers. Lanc stayed ‘Bushe until 16 Jan 1957 until replaced by Linc RF332 (close Albert !!) which went back to RAF 15 May 1958.
No mention of fate of Lanc
Lanc G-ALVC joined Eagle 24 Aug 1949, not flown, used as spares for the Yorks

DC

Wow! Can you imagine ANY airline today buying a four-engined aircraft for air-to-air photography? I think the nearest we come to that today are one or two B-25 Mitchells in the States hired out to movie makers.