Not terribly obvious here, but I am wearing my revolver as I am about to go on duty as guard commander.

When we first went out to the Canal Zone in 1952 we were told we had to fly with a revolver for self defence, for some reason the locals didn’t like us. So we dutifully collected our armament from the armoury, but when we went to stores for holsters, were informed they had none in stock. Ever tried carrying a service revolver and 12 rounds loose in your pocket? When times were difficult I had the habit of loading the thing and sleeping with it under my pillow. Not really recommended when you have a belly full of beer.

Perhaps I was a little harsh. BUT it was well behind the times relying on a wing designed circa 1940, with compressability problems above Mach 0.8, which could only be reached by diving.
On the plus side it was a wonderful aeroplane to fly in, felt safe and solid, provided the pilot had some sense.

Thanks for this labour of love

I remember there were a mixture of black and tan radomes but cannot now remember if it indicated the flight although I’m fairly certain not. Note the tailbone of WS788 is blue which does indicate the flight. The factory no doubt had a shortage of black paint.

Yes it was natural sort of tan colour, and yes we were in B flight.

In the movies, the Top Gun, say someone from Tenessee in a Wildcat, coming into the revetment does, what my 18 year old self released into my first abused car would call a ‘hand brake stop’, slashing the aircraft into a neat sideways stop. Everybody needs to know how to do this, in case the girlfriend is watching and you have the chance to slash a Mosquito sideways…

Try that and you would skid to a rapid halt , very red faced, with the aircraft on its belly

As a member, sorry to see this happen, but guess it was inevitable.

As an aside on the price, when I served on the NF I remember being told that they cost £250,000, being £125,000 for the airframe and £125,000 for the US radar.