Thats the one, out practicing for the season together with Big Beautiful Doll

I too buy both mags and one thing I will say is that Flypast is light years ahead of where it was 10 years ago, however some of the inaccuracies really wind me up, first we had the rehashed Warbirds survey, now in the June edition a piece on Lightnings tells me that Ormond Haydon-Baillie bought the ex Saudi Lightnings, come on boys you should know that this could not possibly have happened as sadly he was killed in 1977, and it was indeed his brother Wensley who bought them. I don’t notice the same errors in Aeroplane Monthly however.

Now I’ve said that Flypast will redeem itself tremendously in my eyes in either the next edition or the one following. I can hardly wait 😀 😀 😀

Flying A Services………

Now there’s an interesting one, Flying A is a direct descendant from Warbids of Great Britain. Warbirds of Great Britain ended in November 1992 following the death of Doug Arnold who had performed wonders with the aircraft preservation movement for almost 25 years by this point, although most of this was behind closed doors and largely unseen by the general public. During November 1992 the collection, other than the Naval Aircraft were dismantled and containerised and simply vanished, the Naval machines flew away.

A few years later (1996) David Arnold started Flying A Services, with plans to open a museum with interactive displays, Warbirds, Military Vehicles etc. At this point the Bearcat moved on to be operated by TFC before derating to America. A small team were dispatched on an overnight ferry on 2nd July 1996 from Harwich to Holland to prepare the F4U5 Corsair and Wildcat for the ferry flight to Earls Colne where they were overhauled by Hawker Restorations. The Wildcat making it to the UK on 4th July and the Corsair a few days later. By this time the Seafire had already arrived for completion of its restoration, however the original restorers work left an awful lot to be desired which has now resulted in the entire aircraft being stripped down to nothing again.
The Fw190 had been quietly being rebuilt throughout the 90’s in southern England, this later moved to Norfolk where it remains today although now under new ownership.
1996 was an exciting time with some rare aircraft being bought including the P47G and F82 Twin Mustang, although two other Mustangs and a P63 were sold at this time.
1997 saw the Corsair and Wildcat move to North Weald for storage where they were joined by the Hellcat which had remained hidden in the US since 92, in addition the P51D, P40N, Spitfire IX, XI, XVI and XVIII returned from their hiding place in containers and the Catalina was made to fly to North Weald (the orange one). Various sites were looked at for the museum which was to be on its own airfield close to the London area but none found as yet. 1997 also saw the Biggin Hill and Bournmouth hangers emptied of spares and the buildings sold.

The last five years have seen the Corsair and Hellcat sold to American owners, the Spit XI to a British operator and lost in a flying accident in France and the Catalina sold as well. The Wildcat has regularly been run, but has not flown since it arrived at North Weald and a few other aircraft have come and gone.
Today sees the Wildcat and Mustang for sale, with the Mustang being overhauled at North Weald, everthing else sits in the same container that has been its home for over 10 years. The museum may one day come, but……………………

One interesting piece of news is that I hear that another Mustang has been registered to the same registered owner of the Wildcat, so maybe we will see another container. I wouldn’t hold my breath to see any of the collection fly under their present ownership, David wasn’t keen on flying them even in 96 when the project was in full swing.

As for AJD Henschel, its in a bit of a state, not sure if they still have it even.

To be honest I hadn’t noticed that Flypast were no longer sponsoring Sally B, however I would imagine that there is a limit within the Key business, as with any other for Sponsorship / Advertising. You would imagine that a budget was set for this which has now been reached. Maybe it is now time to re invest back into the publications.
I appreciate that Sally B s a worthy cause, however sponsorship cannot last forever and I don’t feel that we have a ‘right’ to know where the money is going as this must be a commercial decission and not an emotional one.
We are after all only customers of Key (hopefully valued ones) and not shareholders.

Sounds as though it’s a good idea. The alternative could be for a group to perhaps volunteer to preserve it for its current owner on site. I know this would then help its current owner realise a higher value for the aircraft, but then hopefully would mean it ultimately ends up in the hands of a preservation group rather than the local scrappy.
Certainly can’t hurt to ask the questions anyway.

At the moment the only show that I’ll be at this year is 1st June at Shuttleworth as it also happens to be The British Sportscar day, where I shall be showing my car.

I would like to do Lowestoft, Little Gransden and Woodchurch, but time will tell if I get the chance.