Unsure why, but this is my screen saver shot.

Spitfire XVIe TE184 (G-MXVI) Cosford14 June 10 by jamtey71, on Flickr

Scotavia is correct, very pistols used for signalling do require a Firearms operator licence and certificate, they are still used in all military towers where the armoury take care of the stock and pistol. Ready use pyros are kept in a safe at a certain distance from the tower, with the bulk being kept in a dedicated armoury building. Runway caravans where used also have the very pistols mounted in the roof. Coloured filter signalling lamps are still used as well, for both air and ground use.
They are not used for bird scaring cartridges anymore as the MoD retain BCUs and do not hold BSCs.

I’m not sure it has much to do with the incident though. I hate the way that these things always become polarised at both extremes on forums, more so than they do for the people involved I suspect. It was an accident that can happen to anyone with a whole range of experiences, simple, and hopefully people have taken a small bit of the experience away with them and have learned something else for another day.

Good news, thanks for the update, must be great to hear a Gyron running.
I hope this also good news for the whole collection?

That Ryan Navion looks gorgous, like it the way it is though, one can get enough of cheques and stripes!

Faked – the Avon’s blades are static.

The front blades (ie visible to us) are static, they’re the variable Inlet Guide Vanes (IGV).

Any chance of changing the title to Fake or Real?

Or, ‘Fake or Fake?’!:rolleyes:

Actually ‘Fake of real’ is quite close to the truth!:D

This is a very well known old (magazine published 1956) and faked picture.
It doesn’t look real in anyway, apparently the RAAF Canberra was on jacks at the time and these were removed from the final print.

But thankfully we’re all privileged to see Tuck1940s shots here!:)