>>161 did do an initial engine run today.<<

…….and you will all be pleased at the finished product. She looks ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!

Hopefully pics out soon and on here once we have the royal ‘thumbs up’;)

Must have been a lot of drag from that radiator?

Reminds me a bit of a Morane-Saulnier MS 406.

T

Long time ago now but my recollections are of G-WULF being ‘light’ and ‘skittish’. It would be interesting to fly the full size version! Flying it at airshows you had to design a sequence that used up as much sky as possible and keeping the cockpit out of profile view to avoid the pilot’s swede looking out of proportion!

I recollect we also had ‘Mike the Pipe’, of somewhere near South london, design a ‘crossover’ exhaust system that did a great deal to eliminate the ‘blat-blat’ sound of the O-200.

Now if someone out there could design a slightly larger one to comfortably handle my investment in Director’s Bitter over the years……

When I get back to UK I’ll try and dig out some photo’s.

It’s all a long time ago now but as one of the syndicate owning G-WULF way back I was ALWAYS nervous of that worm gear spinning away during undercarriage extension/retraction just inches away from ones appendages!

Excuse the digression however I remember going up to see a mate at Castle Don (refuse to call it EMA!) way back when it wasn’t a big drama to land at an airport. Spent a very pleasant lunch with him and on departure he loaded every nook and cranny of the cockpit with brown paper bags full of tomatos from his greenhouse – there was not a lot of space in the cockpit I can assure you! I laughed myself sick on the way down when the thought crossed my mind ” I wonder what the pathologist will think if I come to a very sudden stop in this thing……..”

Confession time again! I was cleared by Peter Hoare on the Miles Student a few days before the accident. As I recollect the plan was to put a higher thrust version of the same motor in the following Winter which would have transformed it. The plan was for me to do some of the display flying with it the next season.

I clearly remember the racket above your head with that motor screaming away…..and that’s what it was in that config….All racket and no Ooooomph! Having said that it handled quite nicely and as long as you wound the speed up it was OK for aerobatics except the solid roof made visibility a bit dodgy -especially during looping manoeuvres.

The last bit of my training ride with Peter was to drop into Cambridge to fill ‘er up and then fly back to Duxford. On a warm day, nil wind with two of us on board and full of gas she sure wasn’t interested in aviating! It would have been interesting to see how the new motor would have enhanced performance.

I am pleased she is being restored to static condition.

Not a Prentice and also the cockpit canopy/roof on the Dove/Devon looks wierd

Fantastic evocative shots…WELL DONE!

I was at the helm of Sally B, ably assisted by co-pilot ‘Mac’ McKinney, leading the 3 x ship formation in the shots by Trumper. In the Number 2 slot was David Tallichet and Jean Pierre(?) was in the 3 slot. I recollect we were able to persuade the producer/director to release us, after one film sortie, to beat up Bassingbourn as a three ship while a couple of coach-loads of American veterans were being shown over the tower museum there. I am reliably informed there were a lot of open jaws amongst the vets as we crossed the fence ‘not terribly high’ and commenced to wire the place for about 5 minutes.

Even better was the following Sunday when I was able to coax the 4 and 5 ships into a passable formation to overfly the church at Royston as a very large number of veterans were walking up the path to attend a Service of Rememberance. I am told not a dry eye…….

I wrote an article, which appeared in the Sally B magazine, describing some of the flying although I do not have it on disk anymore sadly.

It certainly made me sit up and take notice watching a 109, chased by P51s, half rolling in towards us, on a head on shot, accompanied by the aircraft shaking itself to bits around me as various guns opened up firing blanks!

Probably the most memorable flying I have ever had the privilege to be involved in.

>>Who do you think will be doing all the stunt flying?<<

Just check which UK Warbird operators go to Hollywood for tea and buns over the next few weeks! 😉