RE: Schneider Trophy.

Hi ageorge,
I think the ‘S65’ you might be referring to was a replica of the Supermarine S.5. I’m not sure how authenticly built the rest of the machine was.It operated at one point from the large lake at Thorpe Park in Surrey,although I think you’re right in saying it’s accident occured in the Lake District.
Personally,I think a replica of the floatplane Mk.IX (9) Spitfire would be a nice idea,especially considering Supermarine’s involvement in the competition in the past.Oh well,we can dream…

RE: Commonwealth CA-15

G’day Wombat,
There’s a size limit on the attachments you can post up on the forum, I think it’s around 50kb.You can try putting the pics you’ve got through the Windows paintbrush program and trimming them down and resizing them a bit.
Hope this helps.

RE: Centaurus

Cheers Kieth,that Centaurus is a mean looking piece of kit.I was just wondering if you could explain the term ‘Brake Horsepower’.Is it different to straightforward horsepower and if so in what way?
When I think of rotary engines I think of Norton motorbikes from the 1980’s.A friend of mine has a pair of these machines,one an ex-police, air cooled Interpol,and a liquid cooled Commander.I’ve had the honour(!) of helping him strip and rebuild both machines,and boy they’re pretty complex!Having said that,they run smooth as a baby’s bum.I’ve stood a 50p piece on it’s edge on top of the fuel tank with the engine running,and it stays there throughout the rev range. Quite a number of microlights also use Wankel rotary engines and they have always given a very good account of themselves.

RE: The meaning of D-Day.

This one confused me for quite a while.In fact,it’s a corruption of both French and English.The French were waiting for what they called ‘The Day’,the day when the liberating forces would come.So in literal terms, D-Day means ‘Day-Day’, or mare clearly,’the day of The Day’.
Hope this helps.

RE: The “Falco” outside.

Thanks Kieth,nice pictures again. 🙂 Certainly shows her off to better effect to put her out in natural light.

RE: Lancaster NX622 engine run

Ok,thanks Peter.I was sure they’d already been fitted,sorry about that.Whilst it would be good news in a sense to have them refitted,I can’t help feeling that the rest of the machine should be following them into the workshop,rather than the ailerons going back out!Keep sending those letters folks…

RE: Hendon’s 109 outside.

Cheers Kieth,good pictures 🙂 I can’t help feeling she looks better there than she does now,having been glossed over before going on display at the RAFM.I know the camouflage pattern here is slighlty inaccurate (no yellow cowlings,wavey demarkation lines on the wing leading edges etc) but atleast it doesn’t look like an Airfix!
Is this one of those machines you worked on yourself Kieth?If so,well done mate,she looks terrific.