What is most amazing is that according to wikipedia he was born in 1916 and is almost 94!!! Probably one of the oldest pilots still flying in the world today…

…great pictures Richard!!!

I agree, they need to pay the bills some how. Pity they also couldn’t build a small station stop, as not all trains that pass the museum are express trains to the north.

Any news regarding the control tower – some say it’s been moved, while others that it’s been demolished?

According to Stephen E Ambrose, and therefore according to the men of Easy Company who knew him:

“Sobel…was fairly tall, slim in build, with a full head of black hair. His eyes were slits, his nose large and hooked. His face was long and his chin receded. He had been a clothing salesman and knew nothing of the out-of-doors. He was ungainly, uncoordinated, in no way athletic. His mannerisms were ‘funny’, he ‘talked different’. He exuded arrogance.

Running up Currahee, Sobel was at the head of the company, head bobbing, arms flapping…..with his big flat feet he ran like a duck in distress.

Sobel was a petty tyrant put into a position in which he had absolute power. There was a cruelty to the man. Sobel was the classic chickensh!t. He generated the maximum anxiety over matters of minimum significance.”

The producers of ‘Band of Brothers’ went to enormous trouble to accurately depict the men of Easy Company, including selecting actors who bore a strong physical resemblance to the men they were playing, and with so many of the veterans involved in the series it is difficult to believe that the producers would have been allowed to stray too far from the truth.

It is easy to dismiss the unsympathetic way Sobel is portrayed as a clumsy pantomime bad-guy (as is often done) but in this case it was probably as accurate as it is possible to be.

Sounds like Spike Milligan’s CO, Major Jumbo Jenkins. Now that’s something I would like to see made into a TV series: Milligan’s war diaries.

I have a napkin ring made from durilium or aluminium – made by my granddad from Short Sunderland off-cuts. He made a lot of things at work when not helping the war effort,including simple games and puzzles :rolleyes:

I didn’t know this, but when the family moved out of Driffield in 1988, the enlarger my dad made was mostly made from Short Sunderland scrap. It went in a skip!!! 😮

I think thats quite the best idea i’ve heard in ages, not only could there be half a lightning but half of a lot of other things Phantom, Tornado, Jaguar etc, etc, in fact a whole new museum could created just on that one idea…or two?:)

Not just aircraft, but steam engines and…

answers on a postcard…

Can’t remember if I posted the following, but okay she is past saving (maybe), but what I would have done is completely gut her – remove everything from inside her – including the engines.

I would then treat her wounds – some panels would need to be replaced, while others could be patched up. Access panels, canopy, ejector seat, radome and control surfaces would be secured from various sources. Then paint her up and stick her on a pole for Hendon or Duxford or…

Problem isn’t the corrosion, but her severed wings and fin. I also understand that her belly is badly infected. Restoring her to a complete state would be an impossible task, but if you could reduce the burden of restoration then maybe you could have saved her.

Then again, would be talking this was if she was a WW2 vintage. Maybe it’s best for her to go live on a farm.

What I do think would be interesting if someone secure another Lightning airframe and cut her in half – length ways – showing her two engines, cockpit, avionics and weapons. Just a suggestion…

81-Year-Old Builds Replica World War II Fighter, Flies Cross-Country!

Does his parents know? 😀

Sorry…

At least it gives me hope. Well done Jim – pure inspirational!