Lovely stuff, I thoroughly enjoyed that. Thanks!

What gets me is, I have a pair of RR-Merlin engine plates from a Mosquito along with the correct provinence that I am thinking of disposing of – I dont know if I should now having seen all this cr*p!

Graham, would it ease your uncertainty and conscience if you gave them to me? It’s a burden I could bear!!!!:D

I think that Cutlass is a one-man effort in the US, but last time I read about it, it was coming on at a rate of knots! So yep, it’s certainly a very viable candidate. An amazing looking aeroplane, too.

An absolutely incredible family. Beautiful sculptors and designers. To be able to transfer the ideas formed from a lifetime of working in a traditional medium to the new-fangled art of motor mechanics and automobile design, and then having the skill to make them work together without compromising their beauty……just stunning.

hasn’t that been sold to the States?

Solent Sky sold it to a new owner (March 2009) whose plans were to fly it in the UK, but I’m not at all sure he was from the US or UK. What a sight it would be, though!!

Sopwith Camel…..

Just as an aside, I wonder if this mirrors the search for, and recovery of, Donald Campbell? Was there the same debate? Can we compare the two and maybe draw some precedents from them?

The books and screenplay were written by Barry Thomas and published by the BBC. They are beautifully written, and easily stir the imagination. This is especially so in the scenes set in the small villiage of Becket’s Hill. The Sgt. pilot was a blacksmith, as was his father who had a ‘bent’ for flying machines and was burnt to death in a prewar accident in a homebuilt aircraft. This in no way dampens the enthusiasm of young Sgt. Alan Farmer, who joins the RFC in its earliest days.

The pre-WW1 days of England fascinate me, and I find myself reading these books time and again. Stunning stuff!

As an aside, I think the Tiger Moth that was converted to resemble a BE2c for a Biggles film and is now being restored was used in the ‘Wings” series.