..or LAS Aerospace, just up the road at Okehampton……;-
http://www.lasaero.com/

or Dunlop Aircraft Tyres;-
http://www.dunlopaircrafttyres.com/

‘Aviatrix’ – Yes Please.

It’s a slightly arcane term in our rather illiterate times, but I like it, partly because it recognises that it was always incrementally more difficult for women to succeed in aviation. Then again, I’m an onry critter and dislike any form of dumbing-down…:diablo: :p

Nosecone.

My understanding is that the earlier Proctors fairings were ali’, as on the Gulls. At some point they went over to the composite ones as a war-saving move. I’m guessing after the MkIII. I don’t think it was papier-mache as we used when kids. I think the ‘paper’ was impregnated with resin of some sort, but I don’t think it was a phenolic. If we are talking about an a/c built in the 1930’s, my best guess is ali’ too.

Simply The Best.

Jean Batten CBE takes the biscuit for me. She was capable, glamorous and liked Percivals.
Interestingly, Beryl Markham’s wonderful West With The Night has often been attributed to her wartime husband. I have no opinion on the authorship, but it’s a wonderful book other than the fact that only the last few pages relate to her one record-breaking flight. Much more interesting, are all the links to other aviation personalities and characters out in Africa during that fascinating period, the Prince, Hatton, Tom Black et al. She was far more intersted in horses than aeroplanes and was forever broke. I spoke to a pre-war aviation notable about her. Upon mention of her name his face wrinkled-up and he said ‘That woman’…… She liked her men.
Jean Batten of course, passed-away in complete obscurity as a result of a dog-bite, and was buried in a paupers grave. A sad end, but in her time, she was dubbed ‘The Garbo of the skies’. However, amazingly her Gull has survived, and, having been generously refurbished and donated to The Shuttleworth Collection, was sold to New Zealand where it still survives, hung-up in the airport terminal.

Members of the ‘Not So Few’……

My mother had a boyfriend during the war who was killed during a night raid on Germany. My father recently passed away and my Mother went into care. Going through my mothers effects, I found some mementos. Folks today often lose sight of just how young everyone was.
Such things were common. War is such a waste of life – for all sides.

A Good Read.

Just spent £2.65 on a copy from eBay…..interesting cover design don’t you think? 😉

…lol…that was about what I paid from an Oxfam bookshop. Was there ever a re-issued paperback without a gash cover..? OK, well, a few. You’ll certainly get your £2.65p – worth of entertainment reading it. I did. I’m a natural sceptic, and the book makes it clear that, by the very nature of the activities it describes, absolute proof isn’t going to be found in your local library. I wasn’t in a particularly open frame of mind when I started to read the book either.
Incidentally, with regard to the recovery of looted funds. The purpose from the outset was to return them to their owners, not to slip them into the pockets of the Allies, which is exactly what the Russians would have done if they’d got to them first. Churchill wanted to get Europe’s economies running again.
There are some very interesting and convoluted politics behind most of the issues the book covers.
I was aware of Ireland interning airmen from both sides, but not the issue of U-boats in Ireland. There certainly weren’t proper facilities such as ‘pens’. – Yet, there were persistent rumours during the war that a hardcore of anti-British activists were helping to supply U-Boats. Especially earlier in the war. Fanciful? Maybe. However, Churchill was highly animated by this issue. He threatened to seize Irish bases or invade Ireland to deny the Germans access. That would have gone down like a lead balloon with the US….so it never happened. One may then easily imagine Churchill subsequently taking less overt actions. Neither of the three parties would be motivated to advertise any of this, – even if such actions occurred.
The truth or a ripping yarn? You’ll just have to make up your own mind. Part way through, I was still highly sceptical. One really needs to read the whole book.
From tea poisoned with isotopes, poisoned-needle umbrellas, unlikely suicides to people impossibly locked inside holdalls, there are still plenty of reminders that not everything flows along the river of democracy to get to the ocean, especially when the survival of the nation hangs in the balance. 😉

As Sensitive As It Gets.

The crew of the submarine wasn’t reqired to ‘know’. They were simply unfortunate witnesses to the fact that the Allies were aware of the sighting at that time and place. Both Churchill and Roosevelt desperately wanted the US in the war. Intelligence had shown that the Japanese might attack at any moment (The US had broken the Japanese cyphers.) Had the US forces on Hawaii been alerted, the Japanese fleet would almost certainly have withdrawn. US Isolationists (Prominent amongst whom was Charles Lindberg of course…) may well then have kept the US out of the war for years, with disasterous consequences for the UK, Europe, (the Jews) & the world in general.
As it was the Japanese were spooked when they didn’t find and bomb the US carriers, and cancelled their second attack. This bears out the Churchill and Roosevelts fears.
Instances like this are not things that can be played-out in public. The Japanese hadn’t, technically declared war – (…they didn’t until after the attack anyway, owing to delays in Washington.) and the US forces had lost track of the location of Japanese fleet, even though they were well aware that a conflict might be imminent. If the Allies had have aknowledged the sighting officially, and the Japanese attack was consequently called-off, the US administration would have been politically unable to enter the war. To admit they allowed it to happen would have been absolutely unthinkable.
Incidentally, I started to read this book with utter and complete skepticism, but in fact, there is much evidence contained within, and, on a subject shrouded in the utmost secrecy, it has that ring of truth about it. Even if only half of it is true, it’s a remarkable book. 🙂