Blue Skies Richard Grace

Very sorry to hear this evening of the death of Richard Grace of Air Leasing, the Grace Spitfire, the man behind Sywell air show this year, the Tempest restoration and countless other achievements. Gone much too young. My sincere condolences to all those affected by his loss.

Shackleton progress

I last saw Avro Shackleton WR963 in April last year, as reported here when it undertook one of its final engine runs. The aircraft has now been dismantled in readiness for the planned move to Elvington which should be completed over the coming weeks. This will hopefully be agood move for the Shack which will be reassmbled to ground running condition once more in a more secure location than previously. Hopefully she will be looking her old self sometime next year.

Coming to Europe

The superb Avro Anson MkI that I saw at Wanaka over Easter has just been sold and I hear it is joining a Czech collection here

More from Duxford

A little belatedly here is some more of the action from the Duxford Battle of Britain show last month.

Fairey Barracuda

An old Frog kit that I picked up cheap. More or less from the box although I changed the exhaust stacks from the spares box as the originals looked too small. Also added some interior detail and I already had a Falcon canopy so used that. Original decals were shot so dived in to the spares box again.

A sad day

This large scale Lancaster model that I finished a little over 3 years ago survived to completion despite the attentions of our beloved rescue cat Frosty part way through the build. Later he stepped in to frame as I was trying to do a 'bombers moon' type shot in the garden but on that occasion he only gave it a quick look over and the aircraft survives in a display cabinet. Sadly Frosty does not survive any longer as we had to say goodbye today after an all too quick 5 years albeit he was over 14. Sweet dreams Frosty.

WWI contingent

Last weekend's Duxford show included a WWI section including my first sight of the DH9 in the air. Last time I saw it on the flightline was in 2019 and it went tech on the day.

Hurricanes at Duxford

 There were four Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain show at Duxford last weekend, and here they are:

Kelowna

Some pictures from a museum visit by my good friend Marcus in Canada. Thanks for these🙂

 "Kelowna. KF Aerospace has been restoring a Hawker Tempest MKII for some time and later bought a Mossie from Victoria Air Maintenance. They have built a first class museum right at Kelowna, BC airport and placed both in it along with some really great aircraft. Pictures attached."