I can understand the desire to talk the price down if you’re a potential purchaser, but assigning a value of £5000 is a bit silly.

The Swift is worth what someone is prepared to pay. It is an interesting historic aircraft. 50k is small beer to many in the game.

If the aim is to save it complete, which it should be, it might be better to talk both the aircraft and the price up so that a purchaser feels it worth spending time and money on it – which it most definitely is.

Interesting pastime, spotting.

In a long professional flying career I never took the slightest interest in registration numbers, other than the chore of keeping my own logbooks and other paperwork legal. Most of the people around me were the same.

Yet I still have my ancient Ian Allan Locospotters books duly underlined and continue to take an interest in those locos, by number, which are preserved.

Even more strangely an old friend who I knew as an avid aircraft spotter all his teenage years, stopped when he began flying for a living, then the day after he retired he started being a spotter again – albeit an elevated one.

It seems spotting could be about wanting to be involved but being excluded. Those who are involved usually don’t have the time or inclination.

I agree with the poster who says if only a way could be found to involve spotters more the world of preservation would be richer (literally) than it is now.

So I never knock spotters. When I was flying I always tried to engage with anyone who took an interest in aeroplanes – and met a lot of nice interesting people as a result, with only relatively few disappointments.

Hmmm. Let’s see –

One burns shedloads of fuel, needs servicing every day, is noisy, cramped and has no practical use nowadays,

and the other…..

burns shedloads of fuel, needs servicing every day, is noisy, cramped and has no……

Drives me nuts when people put up web pages for an event and you have to hunt high and low to find out where the hell the place is. Or they say it’s in Little-Tiddle-in-the-Marsh but provide no map to tell you if that’s near Southampton or in Northumberland…

Never understood the British obsession with destroying things.

The Americans put things in storage in case they or their parts are needed again. Everyone else uses their assets until they are worn out. The Brits make a short-sighted decision and then immediately trash useful assets (in case someone else comes along with a better idea?) : Nimrod, TSR2, Intrepid, Invincible….. add your own favourites.

One day this country will lose a major conflict because of this obsession with destroying useful defence hardware.

The excellent Scoval book by Frank McKim has a number of colour photos of the Britannia production line in the Brabazon Hangar at Filton. It also shows the new unpainted prototype G-ALBO there.

The only mention of Weston in the book, as far as I can see, is reference to fitting out the Aeronaves de Mexico aircraft there. It may be Weston’s involvement with the Britannia was mainly fitting out and modification. Production was certainly at Filton.

1132mph.

Probably the last time anyone British ever truly astounded the world in a positive way.

Many happy returns, Peter.