Looking forward to seeing this progress. At the moment I’ve got a stack of 38 Hunters to build 🙂

Certainly makes me feel better about mine.
Want a good belly-aching laugh? Here’s a model I did for a ‘What if’ competition…

Got to love Meatloaf. Just been listening to Dire Straits ‘Sultans of Swing’ on YouTube, man can MK play a guitar!

Would you count the 19 years it took for ‘Black 6’ as epic? 😀

First memories are of Heathrow when my father was P.R.O for Alitalia and they had the ‘new’ DC8s !
After that living in rural Northamptonshire 1963-7 and seeing regular Argosy flights droning across the sky and once a large (16 aircraft I think) formation of Hunters doing aerobatics – I’m guessing it was the Black Arrows practicing.

First airliner was Boeing 707(720?) of British Eagle from Heathrow to Palma, 1967.

First light aircraft was a Bolkow Junior, pilot was the ATC at Sywell a Mr Ashburner – ex-Spitfire pilot, 1969ish.

First RAF flight was in a VC10, XV103, Brize Norton to Kai Tak via Cyprus and Gan, 1975. Same VC10 brought me home in 1977 via Columbo and Bahrein. At Columbo we were parked opposite an IL62.

Best flight was in a Stampe, G-AXOK, for aerobatics over Silverstone on a race day 😀 Pilot was my boss from work, a certain Andre Baldet. c1971.

WAGHORN, Sgt. P.H. 745800 British. 111 & 249 Squadrons. Killed April 11th 1941

on behalf of my uncle, the above mentioned – and of his friend, and mine, below

Flight Lieutenant Ronald Henry Smyth, DFC, 111 Squadron, London, Hurricanes.

Thank you.

Pam Am 707 at Northolt airport was one good example.

happened just before I arrived there, great source of amusement but quite a problem to deal with and then get rid of it as RAF Northolt’s runway is quite short. I was told that the problem was due to two gasometers being labelled NH and LH and the pilot picked up on the wrong one.
Conversation went something along the lines of:
707 pilot “Heathrow, Clipper xx is down”
LHR “Where?”
RAF Northolt “Hello Heathrow, are you looking for a 707?”

Northolt’s Air Movements section was very small being geared to VIP/ODV flights and small civilian exec movements. Customs and Immigration, and buses! , were brought over from Heathrow. The 707 had to be pretty much stripped internally to get the weight down and absolute minimum fuel. The 707 when ready was pushed to the end of the runway so the mainwheels were just on the concrete. As soon as Heathrow were ready the 707 took off, did a quick ‘U’ turn and landed at Heathrow.
I was told all this with gusto by the guys on Northolt’s VAS who were involved.

While I was there we had a Tiger Moth land out of the fog as the pilot was lost…