What Aircraft stuff?

Come to Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum and you will see an Air Traffic Control Tower crammed full of all manner of ‘Aircraft Stuff’. Please bring some money with you. we are still under threat. I think I have mentioned it on another thread. Our ground rent has gone up, from £700 to £5,000 plu vat and a service charge of £1,000 plus vat. The new landowners have offered, yes only offered, the present land plus “A little land for future extensions for £400,000. Har har!

Ken

Out of the Couds

Another showing BOAC Boeing Stratocruisers had James Robertson Justice in it as a Captain. Seen recently on the box, but can’t remember the film’s name.

Bri

The film was “OUt of the Clouds” and one of the comedy pieces was an old lady, I think it was Esme Cannon, going on her first air trip. As soon as she is strapped in to her seat, she falls asleep. Mean while, James Robertson Justice, does’nt like the sound of one of the engines and refuses to take it. After arguing for some time, the passenger are taken of. Esme Cannon, who was afraid of flying anyway, wakes up and say’s what a lovely flight it was and she’s looking forward to the next one!!

Ken

Hastings

I’d be interested in seeing the C130, my main interest is the Hastings era (1959 – 1967)

In 1955, I was an air electrician on 617 squadron and we were detached to RAF Butterworth in Malaya for six months to relieve 101 squadron. We flew out in the Hastings, a grand old bird. Binbrook – Idris (Libya) – Habanya (Iraq) -Mauripur (W Pakistan) we managed a look round Karachi. Ugh! last was a beauty, Ceylon. Two of the Canberra’s were faulty and we had to wait for spares to come from blighty as the items needed weren’t in the spares cache! One full week in a tropical paradise.Whoopee!

Ken

Army co op and target towing.

Its a long shot, but if you find out from Royal Artillery records where all the gear went when 46(m) HAA was disbanded. 117 Battery had a drogue in the stores, it was given when we splattered it with 3.7 shot. I did NS with them. I think they disbanded in late fifties or sixties. I joined the RAF six months after demob from the RA.

Ken

Jetstream rebuild.

Hi Scott.
Youve got a job on! If you go into last years section of Historic Aviation and go to page 20, go to Aircraft cockpit sections and/or projects, page 12. Scan down and you will find an old codger in a Jetsream that he/I rebuilt. You’ve got a job on, I was lucky, although there were no floor or inner skinning, there were two seats thrown in and all the support framework for the panels was in place. The trouble is, you will have to find in excess of 60 instruments, plus numerous comms panels. I made all mine out of styrene sheet and transparencies. If you feel up to it I can take the drawings I used out of the aircrew manual and post them to you and if you decide to go ahead I can give measurements of the idividual instruments. It took me six months! You will have to make drawings of the instruments in black on white and then reverse them on the computer.

Ken

The guy is artist Barry Wallond, who also has a Canberra cockpit (WD954) and other items at his residence just outside St.Mawgen.

More HERE

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Any idea of the history of WD954. We had some of the WD95 series on 617 Squadron at RAF Binbrook in the early fifties, I may have worked on it

Ken

Binbrook

Does anyone have a map or plan of RAF Binbrook or any pointers of what to see, my son and I plan to visit there shortly, with permission as usual and don’t really want to miss anything.

Thanks in advance.

Hi.
If you do get in, have a good look at the centre hangar. If you look at it with the airfield at your back, in the fifties, the left hand end was 101 Sqdn and the right hand was 617 Sqdn (mine) we had Lincolns and then the Canberra. I would love to live my time again in the RAF. I am still with aviation, even at 77 years young I manage to put time in at the local aviation museum at Dumfries. Have fun.

Ken