Pause until I stop laughing. How dare you cast nasturtiums?
AA, you’re not suggesting there are fake jam jar lids on Ebay … are you?
Andy: sadly a lot of aeroplanes end up as jam jar lids.
I too quite like “dusty old” museums. What’s wrong with the word? I just looked at the list of the 20 “most visited” museums on Wikipedia and it seems to me that the use of the M word does not stop places having quite good attendance figures. Places like the National Air and Space Museum and the Science Museum (relating directly to aviation, although the RAFM doesn’t figure in that list), but also the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Vatican Museums, Victoria and Albert, Orsay, Louvre and I could go on. No, there’s nothing wrong with Museums, as such. It’s how they are run that is important. They don’t NEED to be theme parks, or even interactive.
Sorry to hear that. His book, like his life, was inspiring.
OK Sabre, NOW I understand !!
You mean the 6 pages I mentioned in the PM I just sent you? Fine!
Thanks Sabre. Can I get back to you about his records, as they are not really mine, just “loaned”? I’ll PM you.
F/O Gardner was with “12 J.D.S.” in 1918. Anyone know what that was? Thanks.
Sabrejet kindly posted 2 newspaper reports on this crash yesterday. I note that the site was Gull Farm, Hasketon. I wondered if it stills exists, and it indeed does, visible on Google Earth. I wonder if the farmer kept any bits.
Thanks Paul. The one I am looking for is the top right one. It says PTO, in green ink, so I presume the reverse side is the third one down on the right, talking about the spin. Very useful.
I agree Sabre.
Is my picture of the Mk IIIA with the engines set directly on the lower wing, as opposed to between the wings? If so, maybe that is why it was being tested at AAEE. Would these have been Liberty engines, or Eagles? I’m trying to speculate (if I may) as to why it crashed. Is anything known about the reliability of the DH10 or its engines?
I just stumbled on a photo of the actual F8423 at Martlesham. Must have been just before the crash.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175063&page=2
Sabre
Thanks for the newspaper cuttings. I had seen the second one, but not the first.
Yes that’s the man. I got copies of 6 pages of his service records and the data match. But what you say definitely links the army and RAF. His record mentions “Can 272242”, so he is in fact your second man. I am in touch with a cousin who has just sent me photos of his grave. I did find the Flight reference to his engagement: it seems as if that was just a week before he died!
I’m still looking for details of what happened to the DH10. The crash was very close to Martlesham so was he coming or going, I wonder? I know Martlesham quite well as in 1952 my grandparents lived in the road next to the airfield and I used to sneak through the fence and watch the aeroplanes, until some RAF Police in a Landrover told me firmly to get out quick. Mosquitos, Martinets, an early Canberra and Meteor NF11. Drool.