Lovely photos Viscount, thanks for posting. According to Air Britain Wellington W5441 only served with 104 Sqn. Engine cut, crashed in forced landing, Middleton-on-Wold, Yorks. Would make for a lovely then and now comparison. I would imagine the farmer got some useful compensation for flattened cabbages.

Great link Jeff, lovely detailed pics. In the background of the canon magazine loading shot there appear to be several sets of boxing gloves against a crate. Was this the last line of defence? BTW your labels had a trip to Dorking but you have just reminded me they are still in the car.

I would also welcome a big glossy book of stick grips, yokes and maybe even (for the particularly perverse) throttles. The Donald Nijboer books, Cockpit, Gunner and Cockpits of the Cold War are a constant delight, as is Air Ministry’s book of spade grips. The ergonomic design is fascinating and the finding has turned into something of an obsession. Fascinating to see other people’s collections to.

Hello Jack, Yes please. I chose the most basic (1958 B1) from the scans you sent me for size and economy. The top curve is pure guesswork so a tracing would be very useful!

Nice Strikemaster panel, Steve. That must have been a pleasant suprise. I got a (horribly truncated) Strikemaster stick a while back, firmly believing it was Canberra B1(8) and made to fit the yoke.
Work is progressing on the Vulcan panel. The pilot’s side fits exactly into the laser cutter bed, altough some of the detail falls outside the cutting area. Thanks to Jack, Terry and Pagen for the details. Pink plastic is for prototyping only, the final version will hopefully be laser cut ally. I would also love to light up a panel or two. I bought a UV lamp once to get the fluorescent dials shining but dropped and broke it before I could see the results. Your Victor panel looks quite spectacular Mike.

What a fine selection of sticks! The Russian types are very exotic, I’ve never summoned up the courage to spend serious money although there was a Hind column and grip on ebay recently, cheap but missing bits. Speyer sounded like a good day out Steve, something of a window shopping treat. Here’s an unmarked AC1400, just to illustrate more combinations. It has a brake lever from a different AC1400 which I had a good while ago, part number ACM 75209. I like the wartime American buttons which have ‘bombs’ written on them. No doubts there!
I’m quite a fan of helicopter grips, plastic or not. The enclosed was listed as AH64 prototype but probably isn’t. It’s more likely Kiowa or Cayuse but doesn’t have the wrist rest moulded into it. It was cheap in the States, but by the time customs and the post office had their share had nearly doubled. Any ideas?