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.

Gloster E28/39

The Gloster E28/39, often referred to as the Gloster Whittle, was the first British turbo jet powered aircraft to fly back in 1941. Its first short flights took place at Brockworth in Gloucestershire using a development engine before being moved to Cranwell for a full first flight test. A stone commemorating the initial short flights can be found at the Brockworth site (complete with nature garden), which is now Gloucester Business Park.

Charles Rolls

Charles Rolls was born in 1877. He was to become a motoring an aviation pioneer who effectively became a household name following his meeting with Henry Royce and the subsequent formation of Rolls-Royce Limited in 1906.His interests then turned more to aviation and he is credited as being the second Briton to go up in an aeroplane when he flew with Wilbur Wright in 1908. He then purchased 6 Wright Flyer aircraft licence built by Short Brothers and after gaining flight experience in March 1910 became the first person to fly across the channel and back without landing. However, in July of that year he became the first Briton to die in a flying accident involving a powered aircraft when the tail of his Wright flyer broke off and he crashed fatally during a flying display near Bournemouth.

Although born in London Rolls had maintained strong links with the family ancestral home near Monmouth and consequently a memorial to him was erected there in 1911 where it has remained ever since. We checked it out yesterday and were surprised to find it was literally yards away from a pub where we had lunch on our honeymoon back in 1985 and I never noticed it. Guess I had other things on my mind!

1985:

Morgan Owners outing

A tenuous link to this blog due to the markings on the car! Anyway, we headed to Norchard for a trip on a steam train (see here) and as we entered we came across this Morgan Owner's outing. They looked quite smart in the spring sunshine so here they are:

Patrouille de France

Seems that practice for the 2025 season has resulted in a coming together of two Alpha Jets of the French national display team. Both planes crashed but pleased to hear that the pilots and a passenger safely ejected before impact.

It's a few years since I last saw them display but here are a couple of shots from then.

Bristol Whitchurch Airport

Whitchurch served as Bristol Airport for 27 years from 1930 until it closed in 1957 and air traffic moved to a new site at Lulsgate. The airfield was one of very few that was open to commercial traffic in WWII and the Air Transport Auxiliary formed No2 Ferry Pilots Pool at Whitchurch in 1940 a year after the airfield was requisitioned by the Air Ministry. The single tarmac East-West Runway and and taxiways were added around this time. The ATA remained active there until 1945.

Post war the airport did not attract many scheduled services and the close proximity of housing estates restricted runway extensions, hence the closure. Today part of the main runway and taxiways still exist as does a large hangar but this is seemingly not being used and the area around it is being redeveloped. The site of the former airport buildings is now a leisure area featuring fast food outlets and an aircraft hardstanding area is covered in trees. Plans have previously been approved to turn most of what is left in to a large housing estate although this is currently uncertain but I would be surprised if the airfield survives as it is in the long term.

Anyway, I was there today and this is what I saw.

Dove down

The DH Dove that has been suspended from the super hangar rafters at Duxford for many years is now on the ground. There were some issues in lowering the under carriage which have largely been dealt with and rhe aircraft is now due yo be moved permanently outside. Here are a couple of recent shots.

Last of 'The Few'

Sad to hear of the passing of Group Captain John Hemingway, the last surviving pilot from The Battle of Britain. As great as it is to see Spitfires and Hurricanes flying today it is easy to overlook the role they and pilots like John Hemingway undertook back in 1940 in defending our shores. They did us proud and most did not have the long life of John Hemingway who reached 105. Respect to them all.

Destined for the outdoors

There are a number of changes coming at Duxford over the coming months/years with a lot of aircraft movements expected in the Air Space hangar. One of these moves will apparently be to place the Avro York on permanent display outside. Whilst it might be possible to get some better pictures as a result it doesn't sound like a great idea to me. Perhaps if it was in military markings instead of the Dan Air get up it would be viewed differently. The Comet and Dove will join it outside.

Fifty years in the making!

Back when we were young I somehow talked my sister in to sharing in my hobby of making model aircraft and she made around a dozen. Some years later when we each left home most of her kits ended up in my spares box. One of the models was a RA5C Vigilante but it was partially painted and unfinished. I also had one of these which got damaged and at one point I started to rebuild it knicking a few bits from my sister's kit but I painted it badly, broke it again and chucked all the bits in a box where they sat for many years. Recently I dug it out to see if it could be resurrected. Basically my kit was pretty awful but my sister's was kind of OK so I rebuilt that and sacrificed mine where bits were missing. Not perfect, especially the transparencies but not too bad. So, around 50 years down the line my sister's Vigilante is complete at last!

Tea Room added!

I visited Hornchurch museum in September 2023 and a nice museum it was too (see here) and they have now opened a little tea room on site to improve things further 😀

Back on line

Two seat Spitfire PV202 has undergone major maintenance over the winter with the engine coming out and sent away for servicing and a thorough airframe inspection carried out. Arco announced that the aircraft is now complete again and undergoing engine tests prior to flight. I caught it here last July

Returning to the skies

We saw this Me262 back in 2016, albeit from a bit of a distance as it did not land on at the Virginia Beach air show we were attending. It is one of a handful of very authentic modern replicas built to airworthy standards. This one is owned by the Military Aviation Museum and tends to operate from a relatively short runway and has suffered brake over heating issues resulting in it being grounded. However, news is that a solution has been found and it should be in the air again this year.

Here are a couple of shots from when we saw it.

LTV A-7 Corsair II

An old Airfix 1/72 scale kit of this light attack aircraft, built straight out of the box.

End of the line

There has been a Douglas C-54 at North Weald for several years which was the subject of an ambitious plan for a return to flight and I attended a special fund raising day a few years ago. However, to fly once more new spars and wings were going to be required and fund raising could not cover these costs. Sadly the airframe has been dismantled/cut up since the beginning of this year and in the last few days removed from site. Part of the fuselage will apparently become a glamping pod.

It's a shame that the aircraft has basically been lost but big aeroplanes cost big money. Here are a couple of snaps from a few years back.