A few more pic’s that I’ve just uploaded from yesterday:

IMG_9742 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9769 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9803 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9741 by sboreeves, on Flickr

I hope Brian doesn’t mind if I post a few pics I took at the B of B hall at Hendon today. They’re taken on a cheapy Canon EOS camera so not quite the same standard as his, but you can see that the chaps at Hendon have been busy. The Spitfire, Hurricane and BF 109 are all visibly more dismantled and some of the others seem to have changed as well.

Not having seen a Defiant before in the flesh, it took me a little while to spot that it, too had parts missing!

It was my first time at Hendon and I thought the place was pretty impressive. The crashed Halifax and Supermarine flying boats were highlights, as were the Defiant and some Axis types that I’d not seen before. I can see what people mean when they talk about the lighting in the Battle of Britain hall – it’s not the best for photography, but perfectly fine for seeing all that there is to see. We also greatly enjoyed getting inside the Sunderland – not been inside Duxford’s one yet although I believe that it’s sometimes a possibility.

Anyway, here’s the progress as of today (29th Jan): (the full album is here.)

IMG_9725 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9732 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9733 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9735 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9738 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9758 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9789 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9809 by sboreeves, on Flickr

IMG_9814 by sboreeves, on Flickr

Thanks for the heads-up David. I had thought it was Saturday only and was gutted that prior commitments meant that we couldn’t make it, so it was a very nice surprise to find out that we could go today instead.

My Mrs and I arrived soon after the doors opened and our intention was to have a look round the engineering hanger before looking at the rest of the collection. Perhaps unsurprisingly, once we got talking to the Shuttleworth volunteers and saw quite how much there was on display, we actually spent pretty much the whole day in the one hangar, with only about half an hour for a very tasty roast pork lunch in the restaurant there.

I think the highlight of the day was chatting to one of the chaps who looks after R4118 (the Battle of Britain Hurricane). I learnt quite a lot about that particular aircraft and also about early hurricanes in general, as well as the other aircraft that he’s involved with. Seeing the Lysander undercarriage rebuild nearly complete and learning about some of the challenges that have faced them in rebuilding it was also very interesting. It’ll be great to see that particular aircraft back in the air this year will be a treat.

I’ll stick a few pics up later on but for now here’s a photo of the flying that took place right at the end of the day – it was getting dark so I shot this off my car door at 300mm and 1600 ISO.

Many thanks to the Shackleton Preservation Trust for such a great event today. I’d never seen a live Shackleton so the sight and sound of those four Griffons thundering away and the exhausts glowing nearly white hot was a treat. It was also very interesting to be able to get inside WR963 and have a look around, as well as meet some very knowledgeable people.

The weather was pretty ropey, and it’s the first time I’ve ever nearly had my camera and tripod blown over but the conditions didn’t dampen our spirits, even if they did cause a bit of camera-shake on those long exposures.

I’ve had a bit of fun with the pictures so look away now if you don’t like post-processing. I’ve also uploaded the engine-start video.

Avro Shackleton WR963 Dusk Engine Run by sboreeves, on Flickr

Avro Shackleton WR963 Dusk Engine Run by sboreeves, on Flickr

Avro Shackleton WR963 Dusk Engine Run by sboreeves, on Flickr

Full album here.

I am sure I am not the only one who would appreciate a good photo opportunity, although knowing the museum site layout options are sadly limited. How good it would look on an open grass field ?

I don’t think it’s been mentioned elsewhere on this thread – from the Museum website:

“The deHavilland Aircraft Museum is commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the first flight of the de Havilland DH 98 Mosquito Prototype.
Friday 27th to Sunday 29th November 2015* Open daily from 11am until 3.30pm.
At 2.45pm on each of these days, the fully restored ‘The Wooden Wonder’ will be rolled out of the hangar to emulate the same event 75 years ago.”

My other half and I are going to be there tomorrow, our second visit to the museum, and it’ll be great to get back there…. I’m going to take plenty of photos, especially of W4050 outside the hangar, so will share a few for those who aren’t able to travel.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Tickets booked – really looking forward to it 🙂

In terms of a definitive date – if the pics of the Vulcan prototype VX770 are from the same set as the first post, and the Rotordyne means they can’t be pre 1958 then the photos must date from summer 1958 because VX770 crashed on September 20th 1958.

I absolutely love this pic:

It’s over on the other Vulcan thread. Someone has put a stop-gap animation type film together by merging frames from multiple videos, which looks like the Vulcan is being rolled.