Two Cyprus Airways Trident 1Es were trapped at Nicosia Airport following the invasion of the island by Turkey in 1974. They are still there as the airport has ever since been in the DMZ and is closed.

Very good to see a decent documentary of this nature on mainstream TV.

I would like the Irish to take some “ownership” of Mannock as he is totally forgotten over there.

Here in Farnborough we have a full size replica of his SE5A hanging from the ceiling of Princes Maed Shopping Centre. It’s a fitting tribute to the SE5A and Mannock although I do get a bit annoyed when the centre management dresses the “pilot” figure in the cockpit as Santa Claus at Christmas time.

I hope it’s more accurate than the episode on the Lotus 25/33 Formula 1 car.

That programme was, frankly, appaling. Poor research, deliberate hiding of relevant information which didn’t match the premise of the programme, appaling use of reconstruction, useage of inappropiate historical footage (i.e. shots showing the wrong cars, the wrong races, the wrong drivers) – I could go on (and on and on).

At least one F-22 has already flown at Farnborough – I saw it practising during the week.

The Lotus 25 programme was appalling in its inaccuracies and covenient deletion of important and relevant information that didn’t suit their premise that the monocoque Lotus 25 was the greatest revolution in F1 history (it certainly wasn’t).

It also used poor computer graphics, awful reconstructed footage and archive clips of the wrong cars in the wrong races.

I have to say it was one of the worst documentaries I have EVER seen.

I may watch the Harrier episode just to see how badly wrong they can get it.

The BBC were on the plane that day with Jimmy Edwards. He gave an interview from the pilot’s seat as they ran in on the drop zone.

Still building them – after 40 odd years.

I will tackle any kit that interests me – no matter how old it may be. I am currently working on the old FROG/Novo Martin Baltimore.
I have loads of kits (including many Airfix) stashed away in my loft.

It is true that some of their older offerings have been surpassed by more recent releases but they still have some fairly unique offerings. MPM, Trumpeter, Special Hobby and Valom do seem to be tackling some of the areas of British WW2 aircraft that were once the preserve of manufacturers like Airfix and FROG – but they are a LOT more expensive.

The Red/White/Blue scheme was really an Air UK scheme.

BIA itself was formed when British United Airways merged with Caledonian in 1970 to form British Caledonian. BUA’s subsidiary, British United Island Airways, was not included in the merger and became an independent airline with a new name and colour scheme – BIA.

The ironic thing about the merger between BIA and Air Anglia was that the new airline ended up with a fleet of both Fokker Friendships (Air Anglia) and Handley Page Heralds (BIA).

After a few years, the name BIA re-emerged from the AIr UK merger as an independent charter airline initially using BAC 1-11s and later DC-9s/MD-80s.