Woah, I had skim-read that as 50m!!! It would be damn impressive marksmanship even at that range. Even a rifle shot would be near-impossible at 500m whilst airborne. And as you say, there’s no way a 9mm round would penetrate at that range, even fired from a sub-machine gun.

Agreed, would have to be the drum-mag. Quite a feat (and rather lucky IMO) any way you look at it.

[edit] 9mm Luger is of course another term for 9mm Parabellum, so for all we know he let rip at it with a Sten!

I’d say the you lose control of a plane when it is no longer doing what you intended for it to do and you have to wait for the altitude/airspeed exchange to get you out of the hole you’ve dug. All the while, hoping that you have the altitude and space around you to save yourself.. I think it’s pretty obvious that that was the case in the video.

Exactly. Hope shouldn’t be a factor in safe flying, display or otherwise. There should be significant margin for error, and failing this I’d have thought rather more altitude than that would be the desirable ‘safety net’.

And the out-house?

Interestingly, the engines on the static replica aeroplanes and dotted around on stands are made of plastic. Amazing what you can do with an airbrush.

Wild stab in the dark…PL965? But M12, you say you *have* the RAF serial?

[edit] Or not. Just spotted the cannon barrels.

Please feel free to copy and paste as required!

Dear Tom Wise,

I am writting to request your support in a major issue that is about to affect the UK preservation of flying vintage aircraft. Under new European insurance legislation (see link), there is a significant increase in the amount it will cost to operate vintage aircraft such as the UK’s last flying example of the B-17 bomber, as they are being classified alongside commercial airliners. Having used these historic aircraft to free our so called European friends, they now seem intent on grounding them. This weekend see’s the celebration of VE day at Duxford airshow in Cambridgeshire, and the B-17 has been withdrawn from flying at this event as a direct result of the increased costs. Surely this should not be the case?

I would welcome your support on this issue, as would the many thousands of individuals who attend airshows around the UK. Airshows are not as popular in Europe, as here in the UK, so how can they understand the needs of the UK? An excemption to this European law is required, before its to late.

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2004/l_138/l_13820040430en00010006.pdf

No offence intended here, but you might want to run that through a spell/grammar-checker. Personally, I think independently written emails and letters are the way to go. Copy and pasted efforts are just going to be ignored.

Nice shots!
The Teddy on the B17 was Ted White’s personal logo. It was kept as a tribute to the great man after his untimely death, like the yellow/black checker board on Sally B’s engine cowl.

Me 109 1190 has a Mercedes Benz badge which is not original, but does the job, It is based on a modern day Merc lorry/van badge.

The other way around, surely? IWM has the original in store, as an anti-theft measure.