Hi again Dave

Yep there was an earlier Helldiver although not that long before. Again i am sure some knowledgeable soul will post before I get to my books tonight but from memory it was a metal fuselage Biplane and fairly advanced in design

Kindest regards
John

Sarah

I often come a long way to visit your collection from here in Australia. I met Mark twice and he didn’t have to talk to me but he took the time and we had a great chat about aircraft and the military etc On our last meeting even recognised me from the first time. He was an intelligent and articulate person and I will always remember him with affection and respect.

On the unplesant subject of the report I fail to see why any magazine has to comment on such matters. Reports of this type are in any case subjective and open to interpretation. Investigators draw opinions from evidence but these are mostly not facts, they are based on the interpretation of someone who was not there so are often more or less historical irrevalencies. Where some evidence of a substantive nature such as a structural failure etc is discovered this is where such a report would be relavent and worthy of circulation (although not through the pages of a magazine) so that parties operating such types could prevent similar incidents. The discussion and notification is done through official channels and is best left there for the good of all parties, idle speculation or reporting for the purposes of circulation is not a justification in my view for selective publication of the contents of such a report. Mention that the report is available at a certain official location is probably the furtherest I would ever imagine is warranted ( even then I would have notified your organisation first).

Sarah the world is a troubled place and sensationalism and intrusion on the lives of vulnerable people is the norm. I am very sorry that you had to suffer in this way and I hope that the publishers will learn the lesson of this issue and I hope that you and the rest of the family can forgive the invasion and continue in your good works.

In closing let me say that I went to Wanaka and saw the last presentation of the Bretling Fighters and as they past on the last roll I was thinking of what was and what might have been. I am proud to say that this was for me a very emotional experiance and that in itself is a great legacy for Mark

Thankyou for having the courage to post as you did

Kindest regards
John Parker

Hi Texantomcat

I had heard that some of the material retrieved from PNG for the two Boston restorations that occurred was later aquired by a group in the UK. A lot of material was retrieved over the years and I am quite sure 3-4 more machines could be produced. one magazine article has suggested that Boston surplus parts were/are available on the market from the RAAFM Point Cook.

One restored Boston is in the RAAFM and the other is at RAAF Amberly awaiting a home for it in PNG.

Kindest regards
John Parker

Beautiful Pics

Thanks for sharing them
What sort of camera did you use

Kindest regards
John parker

Hi Brian

I live in Australia and went to both last year on a 50th Birthday trip.

I love Duxford and have been many times but given your schedule and the fact that they have just renovated / rebuilt Hendon I would go there, but at a future time here are my to 10 picks of the UK in order.

1)Duxford
2)Shuttleworth
3)Hendon
4) Fleet Air arm Museum Yeovalton (Spelling is wrong but you get the drift)
5) IWM Lambeth (London)
6) Yorkshire Aircraft Museum
7) East Fortune
8) Newark Aircraft Museum
9) Mosquito Aircraft Museum (sort of near Duxford)
10) Cosford RAF Museum (Would have been 3 but I forgot!!!!)

There are lots of others I would also go to and you will have a great time at.

As an aside whilst I would not try to tell you how to run your life why don’t you have a chat to your wife about another visit later- I got a whole group of friends together and we had a real hoot for two weeks beating up every museum in sight as well as some airshows – I can steer you to some people who run such tours and they are both cheap and fantastic fun.

Kindest regards
John Parker