some early aspects to my interest in planes:
1. Living near Luton Airport and able to kneel on a chair in the kitchen and watch the Monarch Britannias and pretty Courtline 111s & Tristars. My parents finally could afford a fridge when I was 4 and put it where the chair was….

2. Pulling up in my parents car outside the main Channel Airways Hangar at Southend, and seeing my Grandad, coveralls over his suit, working on a 111 engine on a trolley, then taking us into his office where he had a row of Comet seats as his visitor’s chairs!

3. After Channel Airways went bust, my Grandad was the last employee kept on by the administrators to dispose of the aircraft, I spent a memorable afternoon in a hangar in a 111, while they ran up the APU and did a system check, making both sets of stairs go up and down, a great playground for a 4 year old!

Jeremy Atkins

I saw something similar last week as I left the M25 at Jct23 (A1M) to the SE, I couldn’t take a detailed look (More pressing objects in front…) but it behaved like a weighted flag below a helicopter….except I couldn’t see a whirlybird above it?

Our Corporate Jet is a Hawker 800, every time I am lucky enough to use it, I scratch my head as to why we gave the design away…same with the Jetstream

I spoke to Tim Manna about his Seafire a couple of weeks ago, the main hold up is the supplied Aileron Cables were too long, but too short to chop and re-terminate. They have been waiting 16 weeks for replacements now, which has prevented the refitting of the wings, and hence missed it’s appointment with the Paint Shop in May…..
Apparently there were 3 different wing sizes fitted to Seafires (based on MK5 Spit), and it is very difficult to know which one you have until you get the parts and try to fit them…..

There are several more still flying, so the loss of one won’t matter that much will it ? And in any case it’s only an aero bus with four hair driers strapped to the wings, so hardly counts as hysteric 🙂

They’re not Hair dryers, they’re Abrahms Tank Engines, also used in the Chinook!
So next time you’re sat there in the cheap seats looking out at an engine nacelle (unless you’re in the row without a window!) wonder if it is 4 tanks or 2 chinooks flying in close formation!

I am buiding a 6′ span DC3 (Tony Nijhus plan), but still have a couple of foamies for flying away from the field, as well as a Hirobo XRB Helicopter for hovering around the lounge….

I take my kids to Duxford Twice a year (5 & 2) they can see where Grandad’s daddy worked before/during the war (Propulsions Tech on 19 Sqn with Bader), the Ex Channel Airways Viscount that Grandad’s Daddy fixed (he was Technical Director of Channel Airways) and that Grandad put Baggage on to pay for his PPL.
They can also see the kind of Helicopter that Daddy used to hang out of (Wessex) but it is normally overshadowed by Thomas the Tank Engine’s Friend Harold (Whirlwind) parked next to it.
They love the diversity of the place, they love being able to touch/go on the planes, and they love seeing people work on them.
They also enjoy the various aircraft movements, small & large that are going on whilst there.
I took them to Old Warden recently, but they are not old enough to appreciate it yet