John Romain was on the Chris Evans breakfast show this morning basically saying the same thing but it should be on catch up on the BBC website if you want to hear it – around 8:15-8:20

I drive through Martlesham Heath on a daily basis on my way to work at what was once RAF Bentwaters. On my route up the A-12 I pass the old parade square and surrounding office buildings, all now used for offices. On the left where the main runway ran is houses, lots and lots of them. It’s been said above, this is progress. The amount of space an old airfield takes up is vast and can accommodate many thousands of houses.

Here at Bentwaters I work on the industrial park in what was once the old technical area. We need two small workshop buildings and an office for 45 staff and manufacture products for the oil and gas industry. Our manufacturing process involves sourcing sub assemblies and castings (from UK foundries) and building into a finished product at Bentwaters. We ship all over the world at healthy profit. UK manufacturing isn’t big factories any more it’s small niche product at the top end of the technical scale. British products are sought after by our foreign cousins the world over.

Alright it’s not an aircraft factory and it’s not very exciting but that is no longer our style. I’m willing to bet there are designers in offices similar to mine working on parts and designs all over the UK for aircraft being built the world over, even if the parts aren’t even made here the technical knowledge is still being applied.

I’m aware I’m a little off topic but it saddens me to read on forums such as this and in the general press a bemoaning of ‘the end of British industry’. Unless I win the lottery (and then I’ll buy my DHC Chipmunk and join all the doctors mentioned above) I’m going to be working in it for the next 30 years until retirement and I believe my job is safe because small niche companies such as the one I work for exist all over the country and offer flexible opportunities for a varied career.

Unfortunately we don’t need aircraft factories or the space they take up. It’s sad to see Woodford being demolished like that but I think it’s important the people who will live there in future will have a reminder of it’s former glory. The museum is a wonderful start and I’d love to live in Lancaster Street, or Vulcan Avenue (but then I’m a plane enthusiast). I hope they will name the streets appropriately, they have at Martlesham.

They will have already reviewed and considered the post from Propstrike then – two people to a seat!

There are other options to consider, on the odd time they come up….I was able (just) to negotiate £500 out of our account to board the BofB veterans Airbus flight. Affordable (for my budget), and unforgetable.

To be honest, I’d happily start with their Chipmunk. I was 14 when I last got a ride in one just as the Air cadets were phasing them out. It was Bulldogs after that.

I’m not a historian, just an enthusiast and if there is a new Spitfire I don’t know about I’d like to know where it came from and it’s history.

I don’t care that they have done this for an advert – it worked I looked up their prices last week. The question was asked if it’s photoshop and I added my view on that.

Still tempted to have a conversation at home – so, I’d like to spend nearly £3,000 darling…..

The picture on the front gives a better indication of what colour to paint it!

ISO containers only take a maximum height of 2m (or something like that). On it’s undercarriage the Hellcat looks considerably taller (and probably longer than an ISO unit) than that so it will have to go on top of the ISO units in an open container on the ship.

The Guy Martin Program mentioned the use of an MG mirror on N3200.

Standard fitment to the MG sports cars of the time (and many other British sports cars) would have been the Lucas type 160 mirror as replicated here and sold by many other MG spares companies. This mirror was still in use post war as it is on my fathers 1954 MGTF

http://www.vintagemgparts.com/mirror_arms.html

I don’t know how this differs from the Desmo mirror already mentioned – Desmo were also in common use by car manufacturers of the time – except to say the Lucas has a single fixing centrally mounted on the back and the Desmo mentions a two lug fixing but I can’t find any pictures of it.

Presumably the surround mounting was then made locally in the workshop at the squadron. It is similar in design to some Brooklands era race cars I’ve seen but there wouldn’t have been many of those to steal so would have been copied from pictures I guess.