Airspeed Ambassador G-AMAH Liverpool-Amsterdam March 23 1967. Was it really 40 years ago? A school exchange visit – also the first time I rode a motorbike (of sorts), pottering round the polders on a broemfitse at the age of 15.

William

I always thought a sprightly old chap who drinks in my local was one of that select band who went in on D-Day day one.

I mentioned this to him a couple of years back. ‘You were in on day one, weren’t you, Frank.’

‘No.’

‘I’m sorry, I always thought you were…’

‘I was in the day before, minus one…’

He was one of that even more select band parachuted into Normandy the day (or night) before. Now that’s a put-down I’m almost proud to have been on the receiving end of.

I’ll buy him a drink on Saturday night. He deserves it.

William

I’ve been using an Epson 2480 with a slide adapter, which produces results easily good enough for posting on the net. Cost me £60-ish about two years ago: I don’t know it it’s still a current model.
Canon, I notice, no longer make a dedicated film scanner, and claim that the gap can be filled by their their top of the range 9950F (£250 or so). It’s certainly had good reviews, but I’ve never used one myself.
The attached scans were done by the Epson. The Swordfish is from a slide (Biggin Hill, 1968) and the A310 from a negative (Toulouse 1980).

William

A poster on PPrune says that this particular Spitfire ended up as a gate guardian, probably at RAF Honiley, near Kenilworth, in about 1955.
Again, a look at Google maps

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oi=eu_map&q=Honiley&hl=en

suggests that Honiley has plenty of trees fairly close in (in modern times anyway). Maybe this is where the picture was taken – I’ve driven past Honiley dozens of time without really being aware there was an airfield there, but that part of Warwickshire certainly undulates and could give the relief that appears to be on the skyline. It’s also well inland, which suits Resmoroh’s analysis.
Again from the PPrune poster, TE400 became 7240M (actually marked as M7240). Perhaps the picture dates from its arrival at Honiley, although it was declared non-effective stock in December 1954 and the picture is obviously a summer one, judging by the trees.
There are other pictures on PPrune, one of which was probably taken at the same time as Mark 12’s and does look like Woodvale at first (but at a second look doesn’t quite hang together with the theory that the Spitfire is pointing north, the trees being strung out along Woodvale’s western edge). The second is of her as M7240. The RAF buildings behind her could well be the same ones visible below the prop in Mark 12’s picture, although given the uniformity of wartime military architcture I wouldn’t attach too much significance to that!

William

William

Just though I’d lob this one into the pot. One of these is G-ALYW, the other F-BGNX, but I’m not sure which is which. Martin Painter, who wrote the Air Britain Comet book, did tell me but I’ve forgotten. If I remember rightly, the chunk of fuselage at right is from the prototype – can anyone confirm?
Picture taken by my teenage self at Farnborouigh 1968.
I might have posted this previously – I can’t remember now, but apologies if anyone has a sense of deja vu.

William

Extracted from the local weekly paper from a while ago:

AN EVENT to mark the 50th anniversary commemoration of the disbandment of 611R (Aux) AF Squadron and THUM Flight 2007 will take place at RAF Woodvale.

The 611 (Woodvale) Squadron of the Air Training Corps is organising the event on May 18 and 19.

611R (Aux) AF Squadron was a wartime fighter squadron particularly associated with the area. Its pilots and other personnel were mainly recruited from Lancashire and Merseyside and it was also regularly based at RAF Woodvale.

Meanwhile THUM Flight 2007 was permanently based at Woodvale on meteorological duties, from where it flew the last operational Spitfires to serve with the Royal Air Force.

Three of these actual Spitfires will be making a nostalgic return to Woodvale as part of the commemoration proceedings, courtesy of the RAF Memorial Flight and Rolls Royce Heritage.

Veterans from these units who still live in the Merseyside and Lancashire areas are contacting as many former personnel as possible. If you have not been contacted, please get in touch with FO Peter Tipping at [email]billveloman@AOL.com[/email] or [email]611@Merseysidewing.org[/email], alternatively Fl/Lt L. Wilson, 23 St Anne’s Road, Formby L37 7AS, phone 01704 872962.

Please note that the commemoration event is not open to the public.

You live and learn….unless I’m barking up completely the wrong tree this is the same Peter Tipping who works with his father Bill running Mersey Motorcycles in Bootle. Didn’t know he was a planes person…tho’ planes and bikes often go hand in hand, in my experience.

William

Also a 4-engined turoprop Breguet (Sp?) was evaluated for close-in STOL operations by the late Eastern Airlines in the USA…where like London City, a number of large cities have small close-in fields (generally left over from the 30s “Lindbergh boom” and airline DC-3 days).
McDonnell Douglas took out a license for USA production.
Sadly, like helicopter airlines, the economics (plus safety and environmental/noise concerns) were never quite right for huge expansion.

This is the Breguet 941…more from here

http://aerostories2.free.fr/acrobat/appareils/france/Br940-941eng.pdf

William