Fiat G91Y

Fiat/Aeritalia G91Y. This is the old Matchbox kit from the early 80s picked up cheap with another kit both of which had lost their canopies. The other one I have a spare for but this needed a little work and eventually I trimmed a spare Sea Vixen after market canopy into a passable replacement. All the rest, including decals, are out of the box save some minor cockpit details.

AgustaWestland AW169

Air Ambulance over Hornchurch a couple of days ago in the shape of an AgustaWestland AW169

Hornchurch

Hornchurch Airfield is probably a familiar name to anyone with an interest in the Battle of Briatin but it has its origins in WWI when it was known as Suttons Farm - from the land that it was built on. It was from Suttons Farm that that a Be2c took off and became the first aircraft to down a Zeppelin back in 1916. The airfield was closed after the war but the land was subsequently requisitioned by the RAF and the airfield opened again in 1928 initially as RAF Suttons Farm but this was soon changed to RAF Hornchurch. During WWII Hornchurch was part of 11 Group, defending London and South East England and played an important role in the Battle of Britain. After the war Hornchurch had a limited role including Aircrew Selection Center and Paraachute training before closing in July 1962. Part of the airfield, including hangars and the technical site are now under a housing estate but much of the rest has become a country park where there are still a few small signs of the past including pill boxes and gun emplacements although as the runways were grass it is hard to discern exactly where they were. Just up the road from the park is Hornchurch Heritage Centre which opened in 2019 in two houses used by RAF Hornchurch form 1939 to 1946. The centre recounts the history of Hornchurch through a number of different diplay rooms and includes stories from the time, such as a Home Front exhibition and other general RAF displays. All worth a look and I finished up by visiting the concrete barges at Rainhaim.

Cut and shut Defiant

I probably originally made this Airfix Defiant around 40 years ago and it was looking a bit sad with a few bits missing. However,ebay came to the rescue with a spares kit up for grabs. It had clearly been too near to a heat source as most of the major parts were warped but it had the bits I was missing - undercarriage, undercarriage doors, aerials, port tailplane. I also cut out the wing leading edges as they had undamaged undercarriage mountings and the port side tailplane attachment section. I opted to change the scheme from night fighter to Battle of Britain period and the decals came from the spares box.

'Coming home'

This P51 Mustang that I saw at HARS and then at the Temora Warbirds Down Under show back in 2018 has just been sold and has reportedly found a new owner based in the UK so hopefully I'll get to see it again sometime.

Proms Pyrotechnics

Flying Proms ended with some pyrotechnic flying which looked quite spectacular in the fading light.

Polar Helicopters

Polar Helicopters are based at Manston and offer flight training and pleasure flights amongst other services. They had an open day on Sunday and we popped along for a little look see. Could have bought a helicopter but didn't quite have the funds! The red helicopter G-SUEY we have flown in as it was used for our fly with a Spitfire experience some years ago.

Phantom ZE360

I was able to get a bit closer to Phantom ZE360 at the weekend. It is the last complete F4-J and is being worked on at Manston by the British Phantom Aviation Group in readiness for a move to their base at Cotswold Airport.