G-AIDN

I was delighted to see the photograph of the Skyfame formation as I was flying the Anson. John Cole, who replaced me as CFI of the Cotswold Aero Club, was flying the Oxford.
It was quite hard work as John and I were operating at almost full throttle while John Fairey was worrying about coolant temperatures as he had to keep IDN’s speed low.
Happy memories!

Castle Mill

I remember using the strip in 1961 when I took part in a rally that required as many landings as possible in a day before the final one at Antwerp. We flew a non-radio Auster Autocrat and managed 21 airfields in the day. Not easy to do these days! I remember the beautifully smooth surface at Castle Mill.

Javelin

The Javelin brings back memories as I was an apprentice at Glosters and worked on it on the shop floor making components, then in the Design and Lofting Departments designing tools and components for it. I remember being sent to the experimental department with drawings of the pipework and told to make them agree with the actual pipe runs. During my RAF service I not only flew the Meteor that I worked on at GAC but had several conversion flights in the Javelin T3.

Vampire T22

Sorry, but it is more than 40 years, and a whole lot of other aircraft, since I last flew a T11. My memory fails me in this respect.

Javelins

Very Interesting. I have the unusual, but not unique experience of working on two front-line fighters, the Meteor and Javelin, both on the shop floor and in the drawing office when I was an apprentice at Glosters. I later flew both types during my RAF service.

E O Tips

I have flown the Tipsy B, Belfair and Nipper. All a pleasure to fly. There was also the Tipsy Junior, but it.I wasn’t lucky enough to get my hands on

Nanton Lancaster

Fifty Years ago I was one of many RAF trainee pilots sent to Canada to train as Canada’s contribution to NATO. I did my piston stage at Penhold, Alberta and on the road to Red Deer, our local city (Population at that time 1200), there was a Lancaster standing by the side of the road near a gas station.
Would thid be the one at Nanton?

Wellesbourne

I am starting my letter as soon as I have posted this. The management have spent a lot of money improving the airfield and they deserve all the support we can give. I must declare a personal interest as I spend one day a month doing A/G in the tower there, but that is by the way.