As this thread seems to have wandered towards Airfix.
Airfix decided to produce a model of the SA330 Puma in the early 70s. They came to Odiham and did all the photos, drawing and measurements using CL, XW 214. I happened to be the general dogsbody who was showing them around.
A few months later they phoned me up to tell me that the first productions models were complete. They asked whether we would we come down to Airfix to have a look and if possible fly them in the actual aircraft. We would get one kit each, they would be certified and possibly be collectors items.
There was a long silence as I was wondering if I could tell them that somebody had bounced 214 in NI a few weeks previously.
The guy sensed it. “Oh No! It hasn’t crashed like the others, has it?” Apparently their Harrier had speared in whilst they were making the moulds.
“It hasn’t crashed,” I lied. “It’s gone to Weston-Super-Mare on detachment.”
Fortunately in those days if you crunched an aeroplane you could nip down to the MU at Wroughton and pull a brand new one out of the hangar. Ours IIRC was XW 235, now labeled CL.
Eventually we flew 235 down to Battesea, looked around the factory and had an excellent lunch in a pub. We then went back to Battesea whilst they did the publicity shots carefully keeping the XW 235 bit out of frame because the model was still XW 214.
Their only amendment was that the certificate said that the kit had been flown in a 33 Sqn Puma ‘CL’.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 8th Dec 2007 at 15:15.