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.

Commonwealth CA13 Boomerang

An Airfix 1/72 offering of the Boomerang which was a WWII fighter that originated in Australia. Apart from some minir cockpit detail this was built out of the box.