No. 488 Squadron had one or two Beauforts for training crews and as hacks whilst they were equipped with Beafighters. I believe they may have kept them a little while into their Mosquito period too bt not certain of that. Wg Comm Ron Watts told me about flying aerobatics in one, one day, and completely forgetting he had an ATC cadet in the tail end who was up for a joyride, till they landed and he saw the kid climbing out all green!

I have been to Thetford twice Chox, and seen many of the locations used in the town, including Mill Lane where the scene you describe ws filmed. And it was Philip madoc, by the way. Other locations in the town centre area are Nether Row which was in about four episodes, the Guildhall which appeared twice as the Town Hall (and is now a Dad’s Army museum), and the door to the Polish Club where Jones was accosted and made a POW. St Mary’s church also appeared in an early episode, as did nearby Newtown in several early ones.

Nice photos Gary, thanks for posting them.

Interestingly we have just been discussing the Dad’s Army film locations today on my forum devoted to the series, here:
http://walmington.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=314&page=1

It is a really nice little village. Apparently many films have been made there as it is within the bounds of Shepperton Studios. A friend lived there when he was young and saw loads of films being made there.

Many ex-WWII aircraft were transferred over to civilian flying in New Zealand after the war, especially the likes of Tiger Moths into topdressing and Aero Club flying, as well as many transport types into airline and freight usage, and even some Mosquitoes and Walrus made it into civil hands postwar. So the skills were not entirely lost when these aircraft left RNZAF service. But the first proper “warbird” to enter the display scene was P-51D Mustang ZK-CCG which was kept flying by two farmers simply for the sake of keeping it flying and having fun. There was also an unregistered Mustang that did sneaky flights from Omaka, I’m told, but CCG appeared at airshows and events for a few seasons in the 1960’s. Sadly costs meant it was sold in the 1970’s and is now with Kermit Weeks.

In 1978 the New Zealand Warbirds Association was formed to try to stop all the Harvards being sold offshore by the RNZAF as they retired them, and this lead to other aircraft also being saved, plus other groups such as the SVAS at Masterton were also born around this time. So the whole idea of preserving and flying warbirds and old aircraft in New Zealand has been around a long time and though it came from perhaps small and slow beginnings, the scene is now vibrant and world renowned.

So it was not just Sir Tim and Sir Peter who set the ball rolling, but they have certainly been major catalysts in putting the scene on the map, with Tim building up from 1988 the first major privately-owned fighter collection in NZ (there are now several others…) and Peter re-establishing the WWI aviation era firmly back in the public gaze. There are many world leaders here in New Zealand, both in the world of restoration and in display flying too, plus we have a very good CAA which encourages such activities rather than trying to shut it down. many of the CAA guys are actually involved in old aeroplanes themselves. New Zealanders are generally interested in and proud of our wartime accomplishments too, so the warbird airshows are usually well patronised by not just the specialist enthusiasts but also the wider general public.

As Dave rightly says, New Zealand as a nation has a massive background in all forms of aviation, the country was largely built on it, specifically in the rural sector. And a fair amount of innovative technology in aviation has actually been born in this country. I suggest you could learn a lot more about the heritage and the current scene here by joining the Wings Over New Zealand Forum at http://rnzaf.proboards.com