Hi Glen 🙂 I don’t think it is Duxford, sorry…if this was Duxford, whoever took this photograph would have been facing north west to do so, and the skyline to the north west (behind the hangars) is lower and flatter than that.

But I could be wrong 😀

Steve will fly with me at Reno next month, as I’m having his name put up on the starboard side of the Sea Fury for the air races this year. Steve would probably have been too proud for that, so it will be for me, to remember a friend. For Steve I promise that I will fly a veteran in the T-6, and tell them of my friend in England, who enjoyed history and who enjoyed keeping the memory of our war veterans alive.

Goodnight Steve, sleep well and thanks for all that you have done for us…

Patty

What a lovely thought Steve 🙂

I found it most heartening to see all the forum faces present yesterday, some of you I know well, some of you I had not met before. Apologies if I did not speak to you all, it was not my intention to ignore anyone.

I have to say, the hardest part for me was walking back out of the chapel…for it felt like we were leaving Steve behind…but later on I realised that we didn’t really, as he will live on in the hearts of everyone who cared for him.

And thank you Melv for holding my hand when I needed it most (sorry about the soggy tissue though ;))

Clicker clique thread restored with some pruning: http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=45375

Ok, I have restored and cleaned up this thread so that Steve’s contributions to it can be viewed again. Those who took issue with the thread before, would you please respect my decision to do this. It has not been done to point score, it has been done so that the words of a friend to many here can still be seen.

Thank you
Becka

Think this is the post you mean…there are pictures too, but to repost those I need to save them one by one and then repost them (will do it in the morning, bit tired now!)

As posted by Steve:

Legends weekend – the Young family view

——————————————————————————–

Driving home tonight, I had all good intentions of starting a new thread about my family’s Legends weekend, and asking Ian to post the airfield photos on it afterwards. It seemed like a good plan.

However, as I was once taught at Sandhurst – No plan survives contact with the enemy.

So instead, I’ll just tag our weekend on to this thread, and hope that the right people read it and take it for what it is.

For some months now, I’ve had a plan in my head that I was going to take some veterans flying. The reason for this was that last year at Legends, when two old boys – former 609 Squadron Typhoon pilot Jimmy Stewart, and Snapper’s neighbour former Armourer George Ford – made such an impression on me, that I felt compelled to give something back. But what? All I do is manage projects (booooring) and sometimes fly (nowt special, but less boring than project management, I’m sure you’ll agree). So the germ of an idea was born – I’d offer to take George and some of the 609 boys up for a fly around their old stamping ground, for old times sake.

Unfortunately, as the months rolled on, it became clear that none of the 609 boys were coming to Legends this year. But George still was… So Snapper and I hatched a plan that we would get George over to Cambridge airfield on the Saturday morning and fly him, as our way of saying thankyou to a man who gave six years of his life to fighting for the freedom we all enjoy today.

So of course, in the true spirit of British aviation, Saturday dawned grey and ‘orrible. George, Snapper, EN830, Snappers dad, Snappers mate James, my missis, and Haydn, all sat at Cambridge. And waited. Cloudbase at 450 feet, visibility 4000 metres… it wasn’t VFR, and we couldn’t go. So reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, we had to call it off and head off to Duxford. And wouldn’t you know it? Within an hour, the skies were blue and the sun was shining…

So we wandered, photographed aeroplanes, sat, wandered again, bought things, watched aeroplanes, shouted out silly comments to distract our distinguished lensmen… generally had a fabulous day. And at the end of it, we met up with friends new and old for a meal and a pint at the Red Lion.

When the flight had been binned on Saturday morning, I took the liberty of booking the first slot on the Sunday, hoping that we could try again. Sadly, it turned out that George could not make Sunday as he had travelled home on the Saturday night, but EN830, Snapper, and Haydn were all available, and up for it. So off we went. I’ve already given some of the details, so won’t regurgitate the route. Suffice to say we’d pre-warned Julie that we’d be overhead at a certain time, circled overhead and watched her wave enthusiastically, before we set off northwards, waggling our wings as we departed for Conington.

Ian kindly bought the coffees at Conington while G-JASE was being fuelled, and the three grown-ups took the opportunity to wind Haydn up a bit.

“You’re flying it back Haydn” said Snapper.

“No I’m not – Dad is!”

“No, your Dad’s staying here – you’ve got to fly us back” says EN830.

“Okay then. It’s not THAT hard…” says Haydn.

That’ll be a joke backfiring then.

Anyway, time came to depart, as the guys had day two of Legends to get back for, and so off we went. A particularly slick bit of queue jumping while doing power checks (caused by three other aeroplanes – a student, a solo and a Frenchman – all getting in each others way) saw us smartly off and heading back to Cambridge, where I managed to deliver everyone back to earth safe and sound. All three of them are still talking to me, so it can’t have been TOO bad…

Quote of the day was from Ian. Straight after landing and climbing out of the aeroplane. “Anyone seen where I put my sunglasses?” Hmmm

Photos:
1 – Lancaster at legends
2 – Ground stuff and Lancaster
I then let Haydn have my camera (oh god)
3 – Grumman cats
4 – Mustangs
5 – Ansons
6 – Mitchell and Dragon Rapide
7 – a self portrait
He’s very arty, you see…
And then from the Sunday…
8 – EN830 and me up front, Snapper pointing his long thing at my son
9 – EN830 wondering where the hell he’s put his shades
10 – The boys and the aeroplane.

Right, final comment from me about Legends weekend is the thankyous.
* Thankyou to the guys at Mid Anglia School of Flying, who happily accommodated a) a large group of us sitting around and drinking their coffee on Saturday morning while we waited in vain for the cloud to lift, and b) me, in that they made an aeroplane available for me on the Sunday morning too. Thanks guys.
* Thankyou to Snapper for getting his Dad to drive Julie and Haydn in to Duxford on his car pass, thereby saving us a bit of the entrance fee.
* Thankyou to George for being such good company yet again, although I’m very sorry I couldn’t fly you this time. We’ll organise it again, I promise.
* Thankyou to Kev for the B17 model that you brought with you for Haydn, it now occupies pride of place on his bedroom shelf. (and I’m sorry that me and Snapper stitched you up with the phone call… but my god it was funny…)
* Thankyou to the guys manning the BBMF stall who gave Haydn a couple of Spitfire posters – they now grace his bedroom wall
* Likewise, thankyou to the SAAB B17 guys, who also donated a couple of pictures, which also grace said bedroom wall
* Thankyou to Mrs dhfan and Mummy dhfan, for putting up with Haydn. Sorry…
* Thankyou to TFC for organising the whole day, and enabling us to have such a great weekend. and finally…
* Thankyou to Snapper and EN830, for making Sunday’s flight hugely enjoyable. It was a pleasure to fly you.

Right. That’s enough of the Oscar winning crap. It’s now ten to two in the morning, I’ve got work tomorrow, I’m knackered, and I’m going to bed. G’night all.

G’night Steve, g’night you lot.

Hang on dhfan…

Well I for one would also like to know which of the mods deleted it, as it wasn’t me. If it was expressly at the wishes of Steve’s loved ones then ok, but if not…

~Coughs in Deano’s direction~ I think you meant she dear :diablo: