Following Robbo’s excellent report on the progress with the Lancaster being restored at Le Bourget, I thought I would share with you a shot I took at Le Bourget in June 1969 depicting WU-34. Ironic that in those days a Lancaster was seen as suitable fodder for the fire dump, when years later a very long distance recovery was needed to retrieve the example now on site. Funny how values (behavioural and monetary) change over time isn’t it?

Hi Tim

I saw the remains of a Lancaster at Le Bourget in June 1971 but have recently been told it was WU-17 (ex RAF TW665), this apparently having been read off the wreck in 1967. On the basis of your info I uploaded my picture to Air-Britain as WU-34 but now I’m not so sure! The link to the picture is http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1209416/. Is this the same airframe and if so, how sure are you that it was in fact WU-34? Thank you for any help with this.

Hi there, I came across this old thread regarding this Auster – do you still have the frame? I’m attaching a picture I took of it at Thruxton on 19th May 1984, looking much the worse for wear after being damaged in the gale.

Mea culpa!

I was the photographer of this Nord 1002 at the Trago Mills site at Stover, near Newton Abbot on 28 March 1970. How I wish I’d paid more attention – and taken more pictures! Interestingly, my log-book originally showed the c/n as being 283, which at some point I have over-written as 196. No recollection of that of course, but I was a number-collector back then, and I may have re-written history so that I could claim G-AVJS as a “cop”! I can only assume that I read the c/n off the airframe, but I regret that after all this time I can’t remember much about seeing it.

I wonder if the c/n of the Trago Mills Pingouin was really 283, and the G-AVJS connection was erroneous?