So, U.S.Army helicopters were named after native American tribes? – I guess we can forgive Sikorski’s R-4 Hoverfly as it was the first.
However the follow-on R-5 Dragonfly – was that a British only name?
Were there any other helicopters named after insects?

Roger Smith.

Will miss the old bu**er 😀

I bet he’s up there now laughing at the irony that these comments are appearing on “the FlyPast Forum” Whenever at a BAPC meeting I might mention reading something on “the FlyPast Forum” he gave the impression I had been consorting with the Devil – he played the Luddite part for all it was worth.

He exercised his sense of humour regularly and I don’t think I ever saw him without a suit on!

RIP Steve.

Roger Smith.

Just read that it is planned to demolish the workshop hangar near the gate at Old Warden.
I don’t doubt that it is perhaps a little impractical as a workshop but it’s been there a very long time.
I can just about remember when there were just two hangars (and the Spitfire and Hurricane outside) and I would be saddened to see that one go.

Roger Smith.

Haw, haw, that did make me chortle!

Well spotted AA :applause:

But I think you’ll have to explain it – there’ll be forumites unable to sleep tonight trying to work it out!!

Interesting to read of the relationship between the Aeronca/Czech Praga/British Praga/Jowett, set me thinking about the old Birmingham Science Museum and they would have probably been interested in a Jowett aero engine.

By coincidence the B’ham S.I. have (or did have) a Gnome-Rhone radial engine that was in a ‘relationship’. Gnome-Rhone built Bristol Jupiters under licence(?) but started to redevelop which Bristol became very unhappy about. They designed and built their version and despite court action by Bristol somehow interested Alvis to build it in the UK. Alvis, in turn, via the Alicedes and the Pelides ultimately came up with the Leonides – a worthy successor to the Jupiter!

Sorry about thread-drift back to the Hillson Praga

Roger Smith.

Classic Flight are planning to display 6 of it’s aircraft in the air – Anson, Proctor, JP5, Meteor NF.11, Vampire and Dove. The Dove is also one of 4 aircraft doing pleasure flights – the others Rapide (G-AIDL), Prentice and Chipmunk.

The Shackleton will be engine running and there will also be an Alvis Leonides and a Bristol Hercules running. A Venom cockpit arrived today to participate.

Car Parking is via the Rugby field off Rowley Road that is on the north side of the airport – the west entrance (Baginton village) is meant for pre-paid visitors, disabled visitors and airport tenants and their visitors.

Be aware of massive roadworks going on at the north east corner of the airport (end of Rowley Road) that might cause delays.

See you there? Roger Smith.

PS careful if using satnav – putting in the postcode CV8 3AZ I believe might take you to the village of Stoneleigh. Lovely though it might be it’s a couple of miles down country lanes away from Coventry Airport!

It was first aired a lot of years ago now.

I saw it and I too remember being told (or reading) later about who did the restoration.

Roger Smith.

Re post 19. I visited Long Marston last Saturday (Convoy for Heroes event).

Only the Shackleton and the dismantled Meteor are still in the compound. The gates were unlocked/ajar but I resisted the temptation to go in.

The Percival Prince is still ‘gate-guarding’

Roger Smith.

The situation at Newquay has highlighted again the fact that as a volunteer you have no say in the outcome of an enterprise………

Not all Museums are the same.

The Midland Air Museum for example was set up as a Company Limited by Guarantee with a Board of Directors and each person joining the Museum as a member is therefore a member of the company and should have a say/vote in it’s affairs. In parallel the Museum also became a Registered Charity and the Museum Directors are also the Trustees of the Charity. Quite a few museums have this same legal set up.

I have not checked on the Charity Commission’s or the Companies House websites but I think Classic Air Force is a Registered Charity with a Board of Trustees which includes Mr Skeet and Mr Collett. Classic Flight-cum-Air Atlantique is a Limited Company and I think Mike Collett is Chairman of the Board of Directors. I’m not sure how the Classic Flight Club and the Ground Support Team is constituted but assume they take the form of a supporter’s club and have no vote.

This ‘lack of representation’ is where there have been problems in the past even at well-established museums like IWM, Duxford and Shuttleworth. You “pays yer money an’ takes yer pick”.

I hope I’ve got that more-or-less right.

Roger Smith.