Bev trivia
Ian B-B, re your 11427 had sometimes wondered how techies working on flying boats coped with the inevitable dropped tool problem – now, after so many years, enlightenment!
Warmtoast, many thanks for those evocative pictures. Despite its size the Beverley could actually be operated with a (very) minimum crew, the ultimate achieved by Timber Wood (Blackburn's chief test pilot during the 1950s) who one day took a Bev up all by himself, later saying he had felt 'rather lonely'! Once, called for an after-hours air test at short notice, the only available crew member I could find was a co-pilot so the two of us went off on our own – probably highly illegal, but we coped OK with DCO duly entered in the authorisation book and everybody was happy.