Not very good quality I’m afraid but here is a pic of East Fortune’s Comet touching down at EF after its final flight.
g45
25th June 2005 is the 50th Anniversary of the Twin Pin’s first flight. The Prestwick Branch of the Raes are holding a conference to celebrate and Air Atlantique’s Twin Pin will be visiting Prestwick. More details at http://www.raes.org.uk/raes/divisionsandbranches/AA2005.pdf (Its a pdf file so you need Acrobat to read it)
g45
A couple more from the early days. de Havilland Dove up on jacks whilst being reassembled after transport and privately owned Saab Safir which was on loan to the collection for a while. Both taken in Hangar IV which is now the main Hangar (where Concorde) is but in the early days was the Storage and Restoration Hangar.
Apologies for the poor quality – they are scans from v small prints.
g45
Slightly later than Robert’s photos was the arrival of Vulcan XM597 seen here taxying into the Museum grounds after landing at East Fortune in 1984. Hope its of interest. More to follow in due course.
grow45
Originally posted by Dave Homewood
Are they allowed to display aircraft at airshows without insurance then? Or even fly at all without insurance? The cost seems terribly off-putting to want to even get in the thing.
In the UK at least there is no legal requirement to insure an aircraft – either for third party risks or accident damage. However it is unlikely a display organiser will allow you to display if you cant produce a Certificate of Insurance.
g45
Daz
I’ve been following your project from the sidelines as I was in a very similar position to you twenty years ago when I gave serious thought to designing and building a simple single seat mildly aerobatic aircraft for fun flying. I have no engineering training and fairly quickly realised it was well beyond my capabilities – both in terms of expertise and cost.
I then looked at existing designs but nothing came of it for various reasons. If I had gone with it 20 years ago it would be flying by now. Instead I am only just now looking at a homebuilt again (Lynn William’s Flitzer – a 20’s style single seater biplane).
I think you have been given some sound advice and all I would say is start now while you are young even if it is only in a small way so that you can spread the cost. Dont do as I did and wait as you will only regret it.
grow45
Originally posted by Firebird
100% complete…..
Did they refit the engines when 935 was rebuilt at Hendon..??Other candidates must be the 2 preserved F.2A’s at East Fortune and the Luftwaffe (??) museum, although not sure if these are 100% complete…..??
I would dispute the East Fortune one. Superficially it looks OK but when it was repainted and reassembled by the RAF before going into the museum it was given some cosmetic work which included fabric taping over the corroded bits and painted a completely incorrect shade of green – it is too light and the green has too much yellow in it for a 92 Sdn a/c.
grow45
Originally posted by DazDaMan
I’ve always fancied a replicated cockpit that one could get into and play with the controls, or a nose section. I think you used to be able to at East Fortune, could be wrong, although I distinctly remember being hefted up into a Spitfire at one point – I was very small, of course! 😉 :D)
If that was in the early to mid 1980’s there is a good chance it was me helping you into the cockpit although the Spitfire was only opened up on rare occasions when the boss wasn’t around or when a veteran wanted to relive his youth. It was normally the Sea Venom and the Sea Hawk whcih were opened up to let people sit in them.
Anybody else from the early days at East Fortune still take an interest in Historic Aviation and lurk here as well? Malcolm G, Kevin F, Alasdair McR?
grow45