Ambassador Photo's
I was for quite a few years engaged to the grand-daughter of Robin ' Bob ' Milne, Airspeed / D.H. Test Pilot, who amongst test flying such things as Mosquito's, personally test flew over 2,000 Oxfords !
He was also shot down in his Camel, waited for the guard to fall drunkenly asleep, then used his ski's to successfully escape ( that's the family version, I suspect weapons were involved) ; later on he climbed the summit of the Eiger, just before WWII - I would be surprised if he was not on a recce' mission.
I managed to get him a mention on the Tartan Terror's tribute site as his daughter Jenny ( my potential mother in law, strange I spent more time talking with her than with my then fiancee' ?! ) just before she died.
She knew Nevil Shute Norway well, he flew a lot with her dad; including finding a ' secret corridor ' for the Luftwaffe to get to Portsmouth between the barrage balloons, and as a little girl she grew up playing in the local Windmill Nevil often stayed in, ( along with another house nearby ) .
The windmill is now the symbol of our sailing club nearby ( though most sailors are clueless as to it's history, except that it was briefly owned by a James Bond film producer ).
Not too sure about the Ambassador / Oxford link, but if you read any of Nevil Shute ( Norway )'s books, a passion for simple, sound aviation is very clear; my personal favourites might be ' Requiem For A Wren ' and ' Round The Bend ' - which should be mandatory reading for anyone, ground or air crew, joining the aviation world !
In the book ' Test Pilots ' by Don Middleton - ISBN 0-00-218098-7 Bob Milne get's a brief mention; he started flying on Sopwith Camels against the Bolsheviks, ended on Comet airliner prototypes with John Cunningham.
I think it was his colleague & friend Ron Clear who worked on the testing & development of the ' Airspeed Fleet Shadower ' - enormous drag, ugly as sin but not as much fun, designed as a sort of propelled recce' balloon - after years of work, he found it's sole use was being used to fan the flames for fire crew training !
The point is, I was given a few truly great photo's of the Ambassador in flight, I'm too thick or lazy to post them here ( but will if pushed ) but I'll happily JPEG them to you.
All the best,
DZ
Last edited by Double Zero; 25th Sep 2009 at 10:52.