Ted Girdler

Ted Girdler was the founder of TG Aviation, a successful flight school that operated out of Manston and I used to regularly see their red Steerman over the back of my garden. The business was forced to move when Anne Gloag came along and closed Manston in 2014 and it relocated to Lydd before closing permanently in 2021.

Ted Girdler was a former Red Arrows pilot and used to display an L29 Delfin at air shows and, tragically, lost his life doing so in a crash at Eastbourne in 2000.

The memorial garden at Manston has a plaque in his owner along with a suitably painted memorial bench.

'Elizabeth'

Overflying the garden this afternoon was Aero Legends Spitfire TrIX 'Elizabeth'.

Coastguard again

Approaching Manston this afternoon

Manston Spitfire museum

Had lunch in the museum cafe today which was a good excuse to pop into the adjoining museum. Not much had changed since I last looked in. The Spitfire and Hurricane looked excellent as usual but an addition was the modified nose section of a B25 used in filming of The Battle of Britain film.

P40 down

The Fighter Collection have reported that their P40C suffered an engine issue last Friday whilst on a maintenance flight out of Duxford resulting in a wheels up landing in a rural area away from the airfield. Pleased to hear that the pilot was fine and it seems the aircraft has been dismantled and returned to the TFC hangar. Hopefully damage isn't too bad.

These pictures from a couple of years or so back.

Fw 200

The Focke Wulf Fw200 was originally intended to be an airliner but with the advent of war it was developed as a reconnaissance and maritime patrol aircraft initially being successful in the Battle of the Atlantic. However, mounting combat losses resulted in it largely being used in a transport role.

There is only one surviving aircraft which was rebuilt from a plane recovered from a Norwegian fjord.

This is a 1/72 Revell kit built from the box. Decals weren't great but the kit is probably a few years old. Swastikas for the tail came from the spares box 

CWH Bolingbroke

I was pleased to see recently that the Canadian Warplane Heritage Bolingbroke now has its wings attached. This is a composite airframe made of several aircraft and the original hope was that it could be restored to flight. However, this plan was abandoned not so long after I saw the project back in 2012 and now, once finished, it will be put on permanent display in the museum in Hamilton.

Project Lynx XZ179

I was fortunate enough to catch this airworthy Lynx calling in at Duxford in early July. It was restored to flight status a little over 4 years ago. This AH7 previously served with the Army air corps.

Morayvia revisited

Although I had a look over the fence a couple of years ago it is 9 years since I last visited Morayvia properly, see here, and the museum has been gradually expanding in the interim. The museum's main focus remains Air Sea Rescue and exhibits generally have maritime links and many, particularly the helicopters, are open to enable visitors to look inside. Most large exhibits are outsidse but there are also numerous display boards and features under cover as well as engines, fuselage sections and some restoration work which currently includes the build of a replica Spitfire. Certainly worthy of a visit.                                                                  

Chinooks

A couple of RAF Chinooks in formation caught behind my garden this afternoon.

RAF Kingstown

Kingstown airfield opened in the 1920s and was turned into Carlisle Municipal Airport in the 1930s, being located a little outside of teh city. However, it was underused and was sold to the Air Ministry in 1936 becoming RAF Kingstown and became home to Fairey Battle bombers. The runways though were short and could not be extended and the airfield switched to training use through WWII. The base was initially closed in 1945 but was reactivated in the 1950s as RAF Carlisle serving as a maintenance unit but finally closed to flying in 1957 but remained as an administrative base until 1994 with final closure two years later. Today the area is an industrial estate although there is a memorial commemorating the area's prvious use. The final gate guard that used to be on site is the Phantom that I saw at Solway last year.

Turbulent Display Team crash

Very sorry to hear that one of the Tubulent Display Team aircraft crashed at Stow Maries air show today. Spectators have praised the speed of response of the emergency teams on hand but the pilot was recovered to hospital with serious injuries. I have seen the team a number of times over the years and they always provide a bit of fun. I certainly hope the pilot makes a full recovery.

DH88 Comet incident

Sad to hear that the Shuttleworth Trust Comet 'Grosvenor House' has crashed on landing at Old Warden. Thankfully the pulot is reported to be OK but the aircraft ended up upside down and there looks to be serious damage to the fuselage at the very least. Time (and money) will tell if it can be restored. Here is the Comet performing at the end of June.

RAF Grangemouth

I was in Grangemouth a few days ago and there is an impressive memorial area on the edge of the former airfield. I'll let the picture boards tell the story.