On Freedom's Wings

On Freedom's Wings is a life size sculpture of a Lancaster bomber off the A46 near Newark just over the Notts border in Lincolnshire. It was erected by the Bomber County Gateway Trust as "a beacon of remembrance, a symbol of sacrifice, and a celebration of heritage". It was effectively unveiled last September but the official opening ceremony is next month. I was passing yesterday so grabbed a couple of shoots from the viewing point in Folly Lane.

Duxford visit

Called in at Duxford today for an hour or so to see what has been happening since my last visit in September 2025.There is still a lot of change underway which will ultimately lead to a new mainly Cold War related display in the main hangar come next year and the promise of a WWII display in hangar 3 come 2028. Since my last visit a Phantom has moved to the main hangar and the front of the main hangar was open again and the Lancaster was still here along with the Javelin. One of the Tornados was in this space as well along with a number of trucks which will be moved in time.

I do actually feel sorry for anyone visiting for the first time as some of the display areas are not currently great. A couple of former resident aircraft moved last year and a couple of new residents such as P-51 Tall in the Saddle were elsewhere today and the Mosquito was tucked away so that it could barely be seen as were the Swordfish and Lysander.

The new Locker Room and Briefing Room displays were open, the latter including a regular film show which is worth a look and since my last visit the American Air Museum now has a 'shield' over the whole of the glass frontage meaning that you can no longer see in from the outside although it was lighter inside than I expected. This new innovation is designed to keep harsh light off the exhibits and also cool the museum on hotter days.

Elsewhere, work continues on the Shackleton and the Heinkel Salamander fuselage has received some initial paint. I'm wondering if the wing is going to be left displaying the RAF roundels which came to light as part of the restoration process.

Out on loan

Seen here on display at Cosford is former THUM flight Spitfire XIX which is going on a 5 year loan to the Hooton Park Hangars Museum where it should be on display towards the end of this month. The THUM flight originally formed at Hooton Park although Woodvale was to become its home soon after. Hooton Park has a growing collection of aircraft and transport related displays based in original WWI era Belfast Truss hangars. Somewhere thta I should add to my 'to do' list.

Oops

Seems that this P40 had a runway excursion at Scone, Australia at the weekend on landing at the end of a show.The pilot recovered the situation well and, although the aircraft tipped on to its port wingtip, the damage fortunately appears minimal.

Lightning stuff

Although not a Lightning the Short SB.5 which was used in the Lightning test program became another Cosford departure at the end of last year when it moved to the Ulster Aviation Society in N. Ireland. Seen below at Cosford.

Meanwhile the Lightning prototype P1.B, which was almost scrapped a few years ago, has arrived at Manston for restoration. The plan is to be able to exhibit at Goodwood in September.

Another Mig!

You wait for ages for a Mig to come along and then there are 2! Following closely from the 29 below here is a Hasegawa 1/72 Mig 27 'Flogger', a swing wing ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1975. Someone that I mistakenly thought of as a friend once painted a real one of these at Newark air museum. It has since been painted again but remains the only one in the UK and the only one I have seen.

Perfect

When your office gives you the perfect retirement card🙂

Will it fly?

Interesting to see this. There are an awful lot if ney sayers out there but there seems to be a genuine attempt to fly Nimrod XV232 from Coventry to Manston. Personally I hope they pull it off.

Mig 29

An Airfix 1/72 scale kit of the Soviet fighter that first flew in 1977 and entered service 6 years later and is still in service today. This was built straight out of the box using kit decals and all went together quite well.

70 years ago tomorrow, or is it?

The Gloster Javelin entered RAF service on 29th February 1956 so a small conundrum as to when the 70th anniversary actually is! It was retired come 1968 so I have never seen one fly but have always had a bit of a soft spot for it mainly as there used to be one on gate guard duties at Manston that I would see regularly. Sadly that aircraft was scrapped some years ago and I believe there are now 8 surviving. one is in Italy and the rest in England. I have yet to catch up with the two held by the Jet Age Museum but here are the others:

Newark

Duxford

Elvington Since moved to South Wales Air Museum

Midland air Museum

Cosford

1/48 Corsair

l don't build many kits in this scale mainly because they take up more space. This Monogram kit was cheap as it came with another 1/72 kit that was missing a part that I had a spare of so I made the most of the opportunity. It was a fairly straight forward build although the perspex wasn't a great fit but, apart from a bit of tidying up, it was straight out of the box.

F-BLOZ moves on

This well known Dakota has been resident at Las Ferte Alais for over 40 years. The 1944 built aircraft saw active service in WWII before joining Air France in the late 1940s. Later the Dakota was with the National Center for Telecommunications Studies from which it became a flying museum exhibit in 1980. However, this only last until 1986 after which the Dakota became a static exhibit at La Ferte Alias where I saw it below in June last year. It has now been sold to a new owner in Bellgium and will soon be dismantled for transportation to its new home.

Operation Fuller

The anniversary of Operation Fuller or The Channel Dash, was three days ago and there was once again a commemorative ceremony and wreaths were laid as I saw yesterday.

Westwood Cross

The shopping centre at Westwood Cross is built on the site of a former hospital that has a military history. As part of the remembrance commemorations last year 4 silhouettes were put in place as a tribute to the military services, including this airman.

Hornet Moth

I last saw Hornet Moth G-AESE at the Woburn Moth Rally nearly 10 years ago. It now has new owners and is with Aero Antiques for a little work after which it will return to the air.