And just the thing for my front room wall, hence the question! Thanks for all the replies everyone. Back to the decorating…

Thanks for the advice Scotavia, i wasn’t planning to sell it but a copy is a copy. The credit in the book (Crash, by Andrew Brookes) is to Syndication International but I’ll try your link first.

Interesting link, Steve. Amazing how much information is out there, and how many prints! I’ll see how much of the story I can get out of Jim Meads, he must have taken an ‘after’ shot. Thanks to all.

Had a fascinating chat today with Jim Meads. He lived in Hatfield, having been an apprentice photographer with deHavilland just after the war. He knew George Aird but didn’t realise he was flying XG332 on the 13th. Jim was out for a walk with his children, unusually taking his camera along. He related how the nose came up as the elevators locked, George ejected as the aircraft stood on it’s tail and he had just time to line up one ‘good’ shot as the Lightning tipped down nose first. He changed plates and got a second shot of a mushroom cloud rising above the glasshouses after the plane exploded. Jim got £1000 for the photo rights which, as he put it, set him up for the rest of his life. A grand went along way in 1962! Nearing 80 he is still a very active photographer and has a photograph collection that sounds exciting, with some having been published in Flypast etc. As well as XG332 he also witnessed the collision of Jaguar and light plane over mid Wales, Pieces of them falling on his house. Thanks to David and Scotavia for the links!

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve known the photo for quite a while, it’s not one you would forget easily. There seem to be a couple of different stories surrounding it, I’d heard the ‘Farmer’s Weekly’ accidental shot. Thanks to the knowledge and advice of the forum the real story, straight from a participant has been recorded, admittedly so far only in the ether. I’m hoping to visit Jim shortly and will post the ‘after’ picture as soon as it arrives. Going back to my original post, the picture will look damn good on my wall. I’m not sure of the copyright issues, but if Jim sold the rights he wouldn’t benefit from the pic being turned into a poster or print now. If anyone is up for a scan…

I received quite a fat envelope from Jim on Friday. He had a copy of ‘the picture’ in his files and has signed it for me. Unfortunately it’s a digital copy and heavily cropped, cutting off the tractor just below the (plainly visible) DH Goblin badge. He also included a newspaper account of a near death experience he had aboard a US airliner and a photo of him in T6 in the states. Quite a game guy and considerable thanks to him. No ‘after’ shot of Aird’s Lightning, he’s still looking for that, and there was a mention of copyright so no chance of posters unless the Mirror decide it. Well done Tropic Thunder for finding the link, I’ll be buying the biggest enlargement and putting the little signed version beside it. This forum is a wonderful thing.