Originally Posted by
bovingdonboy
Hi Mellywell
I've just, belatedly, picked up your message posted in Jan. 2008 regarding pics. in Aircraft Illustrated.
I used to go flying from Bov. very often in the mid-50s whent I was in the 23f Bushey and Oxhey Sqdn of the ATC. There were a number of us kids, all aged about 14yrs, who used to cycle out from Watford at every opportunity.
I am particularly interested in the pic.of the SM102 which I remember very well. It had wicker seats in it with oxygen masks hanging above.
I remember also that we used to climb inside this aicraft to eat our packed lunches in the flight deck. It was only after some time that we learned that the airplane belonged to "the Italian Embassy".
I often think to myself if the crew ever wondered where all the egg shells were coming from!
I have a number of photographs that I took at the time. If you would like copies I could email them to you.
I too sat in this elegant aeroplane - she was in the service of The Italian Air Attache and was a bit of a 'Hangar Queen'. I think she lived at Bovvy for much of the nineteen-fifties.
Bovingdon 1956. I believe only 21 of these Sm102s were built for The Italian Air Force. Photocredit Arthur Pearcy.
Bovingdon 1961. Photocredit Air Photographic International.
December 1961. Thought to be the same SM102 MM61791 on Bovingdon Fire Dump. ('War Lover' B17 in distance). Photocredit Key AeroForum
Bucks Examiner October 20th 1961. Source BNA.