Although the met was on the dull side yesterday, DX was full of school coach parties with many of the younger students dressed in ‘period; clothes – shorts, braces, flat caps etc. At one point, we were taxying out in the Catalina and then doing engine run ups on the grass near ARCo, the T-28 was doing the same and the B-17 was running up on the threshold then took-off. It was great to watch the students in that eastern corner from the Catalina and their genuine excitement at all that was going on! I hope they all had a great day.

Roger – hi. I am sure you have already checked it out but just in case not, the book Cold War Years – flight testing at Boscombe Down 1945 – 1975 has four pages of text and photos covering Victor testing as well as a list of all the various Victors flown at AAEE during those years. PM me if you want further details.

I always thought the Pilatus P-2 belonged to John Watts and Mark Hanna hence the association with Plane Sailing before John was lost in the sad Tornado collision.

From memory, the P-2 was actually registered to Lea Aviation which was another company with which John was associated (the first UK display Tigercat was also a Lea Aviation aircraft). I had no idea that the fate of G-BJAX had taken a turn for the better. Best news I have had all day. I was lucky enough to fly in it several times, mostly with JW. He also borrowed another P-2 (G-BONE) for a ‘synchro’ display with ‘AX at the Fighter Meet in 1986. I flew as ‘back-seater’ in ‘NE with John for the practice sessions at North Weald on the Friday evening – never to be forgotten.

I recommend the book Wings Across the Border by Derrick Pratt & Mike Grant (Bridge Books ISBN 1-84494-010-1) within which is a section on Beaumaris and the modification of Lend-Lease flying boats for RAF service. There are several photos showing flying boats (mainly Catalinas) at moorings and also a useful map of the entire area showing the location of the various rows of moorings, known as ‘trots’.

Ummmmmm

That the one that described in detail the Iraqi 727 that crashed on approach to LGW and had some sample RAF Officer selection questions at the end ?

Afghan?

I have my doubts that this is true, and so does David Legg, who I queried directly re. an Aviation History magazine article I’m doing.

What I’d said was “It sounds a bit of an urban myth to me! Maybe it happened once and gained credence?”

Why are there no fairings over the wing support joints? I have often wondered if its for ease of maintnence.

Phill

When C-FNJF/G-PBYA was acquired, it did not have them. Its predecessor (G-BLSC/VR-BPS/VP-BPS) did have them and, as Joe says above, they were prone to cracking around the complex curves.

Does anybody know the history of this particular aircraft…..did it see any active (RAF) service?

If you mean the Catalina as opposed to the Buccaneer that has also been mentioned in this thread, the answer is ‘no’.

To confirm what Mark Pilkington said in one of his posts above, it was a genuine US Navy PBY-5A (New Orleans-built) but in later life had been modified with R-2600s and larger rudder/’clipper’-bow etc.