Del Shannon did quiet a good album not long before he died with Jeff Lynne of ELO fame as the producer, He was tipped to replace the late great Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilbury’s but sadly took his life before this ever materialised. Jeff Lynne is a big fan and has done his versions of “Little town flirt” and “Runaway”.
I think in a lot of ways he is a under rated singer and had a vocal nearly as good as Roy Orbison.

Shift workers suffer insomnia too, but they don’t generally turn up dead beside a bottle of tablets… I suspect he was influenced by others to use this method, if we’re talking about an ‘accident’ and yes I’m beginning to suspect it probably was… One of those Hollywood accidents that should have stopped happening twenty years or so ago when River Phoenix puked his life away outside the Viper Rooms…

I am a shift worker and sadly i do suffer bouts of insomnia from time to time, But i make a point of avoiding any sleeping drugs as i feel once you start taking these things you get to rely on them, I am guessing in Heath’s case he got desperate for sleep and because his body and become dependant on the tablets already he needed more, Sadly he took too many and they took him.

It is a great pity because i think he would probably have had a huge career ahead of him, He was certainly a talented actor and had something special that many younger actors don’t have these days.

I think that a statue of Fred Dibnah is a splendid idea.

Me too.

Mine are,

1)Lose weight i have got way too chubby lately
2)Take a city and guilds course in photography that i keep promising myself
3)Look how to get off of shift work its no good for my health and i’ve seen several friends become seriously ill due to it. I hope once i have achieved the goals i have set for myself and had set for me i will find the way to move from current job.
4)Get a new flat maybe stop renting(difficult with market probably going freefall next year)
5)Take a flight in one of the Rapides at Duxford
6)start learning Russian again as i have been lazy on this so far and my wife is disapointed.
7)hopefully get the chance to study and gain a few more qualifications.

Bad day for democracy
Bad day for women
Bad day for Pakistan

Good for radicals. I wonder why Alqaeda hasn´t been rooten from this planet so far 😡

Unfortunately, I expected this to happen.

Can i add, Its a bad day for the world.
Sad that this has happened and sadder to think what could happen next.

I disagree, we would have far fewer warbirds around if they had not been rebuilt to fly. These machines were meant to fly, not sit around on the ground forever.
Nothing has ever been pranged just for some airshow, some have been pranged at an airshow but not for an airshow.

I could not agree more, For me its about living history, I am sure a lot of the Airframes that have been used in restorations to fly would simply be left where they were if there was not a demand to see warbirds in their natural enviroment the sky, I honestly do not think we are robbing future generations i think the opposite is probably true, Having these Airframes left rotting in the ground seems a waste to me and does not give me the confidence that future generations will get the oppitunity to see this history.

I think the very fact that we have aircraft such as Spitfires Mustangs and Hurricanes flying regularlly in the UK is a great tool to teach children the history of World War II where as a trip to a museum to see a aircraft gather dust does not have the same impact, and will never let the child feel or see what these aircraft are like.

Anybody who knows me will know that sadly i have witnessed 5 fatal accidents involving warbirds at airshows, But in the years i have gone to airshows i have seen hundreds of successful displays including seeing in 1982 Ray Hanna flying his Spitfire at Biggin Hill, I was 8 and had never seen a real Spitfire before from that day on i have had a intrest in warbirds and have spent a lot of my time researching and reading up on World War II, How many other people have had a similar introduction to history? I am guessing quiet a few.

He was a wife-beating drug addict; not exactly a great role model. …

Yes true he was not a great role model, But he was i feel he was quiet rightly a hero to people for what he did stunt wise and not for what he may have been in real life, Essentially Evel Knievel almost like the heroes we would read about in comics etc just in the real world, He knew well how to market himself and very much knew that people engaged with him as the maverick hero, Who would do the things most of us would be too scared to do.

So yes maybe he was not all sweetness and delight but concidering the fact we just have talentless reality show people these days for kids to look up to, We were probably better off with Evel in our day.