Spitfire down

Seems Spitfire MJ627 that operates out of Biggin Hill had to make a precautionary landing in a field near Hythe this evening. Thankfully pilot and passenger are reported to have walked away ok and the aircraft dies not appear too badly damaged. A shame none the less. Here is the aircraft at Biggin Hill a few years ago.

A snap from online

Restoration underway

I caught this Piper Apache at the South Yorkshire Air Museum over three years ago. It is a former executive transport of United Steel and was built in 1958. It is being stripped down for restoration and once finished will be put back on display.

Fiat CR42 Falco

You wait for ages then two (models) come along at once. 1/72 Revell kit, straight from the box and pretty straightforward, just added a little cockpit detail.

If only the TFC real life aircraft was less like a kit and more like a complete aircraft!

Tupolev SB 2M

This was a high speed medium bomber of the late 1930s seen here in Spanish AF markings early in WW2. The aircraft is a 1/72 scale ICM offering, the first I have made from this manufacturer. There was some fairly good fine detail on some parts although also a bit fragile and the fit of parts, especially the transparencies, wasn't great but it didn't come out too badly in the end.

Duxford VE Day event

Hope to trundle up to this on 10th May. Not much listed as flying as yet but should be a chance to check out some of the aircraft movements that have been taking place in the super hangar.

RAF Weston super Mare

The airfield at Weston Super Mare started out as a municipal airport in the 1930s but was formally taken over by the RAF in May 1940. A factory was built nearby for the manufacture of the Bristol Beaufighter which flew out of the field on completion. This factory was converted post war by the company's helicopter division leading to the production of the Sycamore and Belvedere helicopters. The factory was taken over by Westland in 1960 and closed in 1987. The airfield remained in use until 1988 but is now largely a housing estate with an access road on the line of the former main runway.

The old control tower has been restored and the pilot's block house houses a history exhibition as part of the Helicopter Museum which is in a corner of the old airfield close to original hard standings.

Mission Impossible

If you catch any of the trailer of the next Mission Impossible film due out next month you might spot a couple of Stearman biplanes. Some of the action was done out of Duxford where I happened to catch Mr Cruise and film crew back in October 2021 heading off to do some filming.

Douglas Devastator

An Airfix kit that an Aunt gave me around 50 years ago and has sat around looking sorry for itself for many years with a couple of missing parts, notably the undercarriage. However some random parts came up on ebay recently which included the undercarriage so I have put ut back together. The wing corregations are a vit rough in places due to a previous paint job but its nice to see it whole again.

Helicopter Museum

The Helicopter Museum is situated on the former Weston Airfield just outside of Weston Super Mare. They have over 50 helicopters on display in their hangar, another 3 outside and some spares/reserve machines that can be spotted behind the hangar. The number of exhibits on display is set to increase later this year as a new display hangar has recently been built but is not yet open to the public. The old airfield control tower has been restored and now houses an interesting display on local aviation history.

If you have an interest in aviation it is certainly worth a visit and there is also a canteen area that serves reasonably priced food.

We visited yesterday and this is some of what we saw.

Bill Townsend

Bill Townsend, or more properly William, was a pilot with 617 squadron during WWII and took part in the famous Dambusters raid in 1943. He and his crew were tasked with a secondary target and bombed the Eneppe dam although it was not breached. His Lancaster, landing on three engines, was the last to successfully return to base after the raid. The plaque below is on his boyhood home in Chepstow.