Granted, there are a lot less airplanes displayed than at the old museum, and as an enthusiast I am less than happy about that. On the plus side a lot more of the larger airframes will be under cover (some in storage), and the location is a lot more appropriate than the old one (it being the oldest military airfield in the country).

So what has happened to the aircraft that they don’t have room for, but were on display at the old site?

I’ll believe it when I see it! There has been talk of this for the last ten years since Concorde landed for the last time at Filton.

On a positive note, with Key taking over Aeroplane Monthly, the two magazines will not now publish the same material. There is room for both magazines, providing they agree on a publishing strategy. Flypast is mainly devoted to WW2 military and war stories. If Aeroplane concentrated on civil aviation and aircraft development, with the odd military feature, it could work, especially as Ben Dunnell has taken over as editor. He did a fantastic job with Aircraft Illustrated when it was rebranded as Classic Aircraft. A few years ago the paper quality of Aeroplane was reduced to that of toilet paper, in a cost-cutting measure. In my opinion, this killed off a lot of readers, as the photo reproduction wasn’t so good and the quality feel of the magazine was lost. If Key can upgrade the paper quality, Aeroplane could rise again. Yes, there is much to be said about everything being ‘on line’ now, but nothing can replaced having a good quality mag in your hands to read.

I just can’t see the new owners letting an iconic title like ‘Aeroplane’ fade into oblivion

You mean like ‘Air Pictorial’ and ‘Aircraft Illustrated/Classic Aircraft’? Hmmm, watch this space!

Shame…..he was a great guy…and a great photographer. I guess he could only have been in his fifties…early sixties??

Time marches on! He was in his late ’60s I believe, possibly would have been 70 next year.
A dear friend and a gentleman for almost 50 years

And it’s a FM-2–isn’t it? So not really applicable to pre-war schemes. It approximates to a Wildcat Mk.VI in FAA service.

Exactly, and I’m pretty sure I read that Shuttleworth plan to restore it as a FAA Martlet to fly with the Sea Hurricane, so would expect to eventually see it inthe same scheme.

The first one is Heathrow, but the other three look like Northolt, which is where BEA operated from before they moved into Heathrow.

Apologies for resurrecting this tread but can anyone provide details of when XS177 flew with the team, does anyone have any pictures showing her in the team colours and finally does anyone have any film of a macaws display? Many thanks!

XS177 was with CATCS at Shawbury in 1971,so must have joined CAW after that. All my pics of the 1972 team do not include XS177, so it must have been with them for their last season – 1973.