Who on earth is ‘they’? Generalisation is a dangerous thing. No one is stopping you being patriotic. Maybe ‘they’ do stop and think for a moment. Im not quite sure what you mean by that. I would hate to think that you are suggesting that minorities don’t appreciate the freedom they have.

It seems our parents/grandparents etc fought valiantly for freedom and to free europe from the evil and intolerance of Hitler just to allow the current generation to have the freedom to be intolerant too. Whenever some people on this forum get upset about something it’s the same old….”if they were unemployed lesbian one-armed muslim single mother asylum seekers.” nonsense. Nobody ever learns do they, DW Griffith was right that intolerance has and probably will always exist.

On a positive note, it’s great to see the kids interest in the subject. Snapper, if you pm me some details, ill be happy to help with your plan.

I think you maybe reading me wrong here so i will try and explain but only briefly as not to ruin this lovely thread which is a positive one.
We have achieved a lot since end of World War2 and now live in a multi-cultural multi-race country in peace, With this has come new freedoms and new opitunities and i think its amazing. Yes our Parents and Grandparents fought for that,And we all should be proud, What they started we built on to give us the nation we have now.
I really hate the word minority and when people call themselves it i feel it has bad effect, To me its a excluding word we are multi-cultural multi-religious etc so to me there is no minority just citizens of the United Kingdom which is one nation many people ,Many very different people but all as one.
Patrotism seems to be frowned upon at times but mainly by pen pushers in local councils etc not by any so called minority.
I hope this clears up what i wrote .

The BBC reported the pilot having serious back injuries.They also, as trumper says, reported that G-YAMS was a WW2 a/c, not bad considering it was built in 1984!

Best wishes to the pilot, hope he makes a full recovery.

Its typical reporting really, They love to blame any crash on some old World war 2 aircraft that should not be flying in there view trouble is the uneducated reader will think it was really a ww2 aircraft.

Hope the pilot makes a good recovery i am glad he lives to tell the tale and wish him well.

This is a fantastic letter it would be great if we could send him a model, Its nice to see a child have such a view. Dare i say had he been Russian or American designer maybe there would be a town named after him.

As to offending the so called minorities maybe they should think for a moment, They would not have the freedoms they have got in the UK had Hitler won the war and our modern world would have been much worse, We live as one here now which is a great achievement in itself but we should still be allowed to be patriotic i think.

I am also glad that children like this one can still see such a alltime icon in the skies where they belong, I am guessing at sometime he has maybe seen one fly at a Airshow and fell in love with them, It happened to me in 1982 when i saw MH434 for the first time when i was 8 years old.

This letter really made me smile what a top lad i say.

A belated Happy Birthday to you hope you had a great one.

My highlights of 2004 are
1) Spitfire tailchase at Duxford Legends
2) Dragon Rapides at Legends
3) Dornier Do24 and Catalina together at Biggin
4) Ray Hanna’s display on the Friday and Sunday at Biggin

I also recomend next year you all get yourselves to Sandown on the Isle of wight for the Airshow, Its such a magical place to see a display for many reasons and i am glad after the success of the D_Day event they have chose to make it a regular event, Lets support it i say.

Well I agree that a detailed ‘History’ type book on the Hurricane would be very nice. So would a new updated editon of ‘From Bleriot To Spitfire’! 🙂

I wouldn’t mind Ray Hanna’s autobiography or Steven Grey’s for that matter!

Oh yes, A Spitfire book from Mr Arnold would be very nice too! 😀

Cheers

Paul

I would love to see Either Ray or Steve have a autobiography published,Both have had such intresting lives and Ray in particular must have so many stories of his days in the RAF and with the Red Arrows etc as well as more recent things to write on including the loss of Mark i think it would be a inspiring read, I hope somebody can pick up on the idea( If i had the time and money i would have a go).
I also hope the MH434 book can happen.

Well Aviation wise i hope to get some further improvements in my photographing of Aircraft i am not sure if i have reached the limit of my ability or the camera’s ability yet, So 2005 will maybe prove that, It will be my third season with the Fuji s602. I hope to get the chance to fly in something vintage and also to visit Old Warden which is somewhere i keep trying and failing to visit.
It would be a Honour if i was able to meet and talk with my long term hero Ray Hanna and instead of being shy like i have been in the past say something to him, I am sure he has noticed me a few times.

I think my personal life is going to change very much and feel big things are on the way, The other person he used to use this ID my ex girlfriend Ally will probably move to pastures new by summer time, We been sharing our flat since we split and are good friends but time moves on.
My trip to Poland this month taught me a lot on many things and also rebuilt a long term friendship into something more with Lena time will tell but she is very very special. Oh i also want to lose a bit of fat and get rid of my belly.
The picture atached was originally taken by Voy Tech who i met in Poland as is a nice man and i great guide i hope he does not mind me reposting it.

Read somewhere the VIII was the nicest handling but the urgent need for the improvised IX pushed it onto the back-burner

I believe this is true the VIII is how supermarine intended the next mark of Spitfire to be at that time but IX was faster to build etc so not so many VIII were built but from what i have heard and read many pilots like this mark.
I also seem to remember Mark Hanna saying MH434 handled even better after its rebuild i think he said she was lighter too maybe due to paint being stripped?, The only Spit he did not like to fly was the 2 seaters her said they handled badly due to change of centre of gravity.