I’ve read several times that some airmen were so young looking, they grew moustaches, not necessarily handlebars, to look older than their years. David Shannon of 617 Squadron is an example. Gibson can be seen with one in some pre-617 photos. But they were in many cases indeed very young. I guess the handlebar became an extension of that, literally.

Kermit does indeed have the forward fuselage and nose of KB976. Scampton only have the extended post war RCAF tip of the nose of KB976 which was removed in the early 70s and replaced with the standard nose of KB944 – piror to the flight to UK in 1975.
Kermit also has the remainder of the fuselage of KB994, which was purchased by Charles Church to replaced the damaged bit of KB976 following the hangar collapse.
Despite what Scampton say, they do not have the nose and forward fuselage of KB976 – bar the tip of the nose.

Correction KB994

Bump. Today is the anniversary. This was an action every bit as courageous as the Dam Busters Raid, yet rather forgotten now.

Because they were part of a Military Aid Programme to the French (and other NATO countries) paid for by American Dollars.

The company that holds the design authority for Concorde is not the same companies as the Vulcan. The Vulcan’s design authority companies are BAe, Marshalls and Rolls Royce.

The design authority company for Concorde is Airbus, the successor firm of Aérospatiale and BAC. Airbus withdrew support in 2003 and was the reason for the grounding. They will not be supporting Concorde again in the future.

When I went a few years ago, I took a taxi from outside the Madrid-Principe Pio metro station. It didn’t cost much. But coming back, just walked to the main A5 road on which the museum sits, and took the first bus back into the city. You can do it in half a day, but you may have to rush it, there is a lot to see!
Also take photo ID such as a passport as its a military base and they may not let you in. The day I was the the Queen of Spain happened to be visiting, so security is sometimes tight.

“Bombers Moon” by Mike Harding is actually about his bitterness that he never knew his father and those who sent him to his death. He was Killed before he was born. He says his mother was married, widowed and a mother in the space of a few weeks. His father was Flight Sergeant Louis Arthur ‘Curly’ Harding, a navigator on Lancaster.