Flying Proms pics

[DamienB]

A most civilised evening. I shall endeavour to bring more beer next year and try and make it less civilised.

Good to meet you Airbedane, Stampe & Co. and thanks for the hospitality.

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[Onan the Clumsy]

More excellent photos. Was that ladder a permanent fixture on the...Lysander (?)

[Stampe]

Great pix again Damien ,can tell it was getting dark towards the end.What a superb venue aren,t we so lucky to have Old Warden and the Shuttleworth Collection.Truly the place for those in the know!!.Great to meet you and Mrs DB at long last.Oh and special thanks to Hairyplane for giving me the odious chore of flying his passengers in the afternoon in the lovely Magister and then letting me finish his most excellent Biddenden cider in the evening(replacement case on the way Pete)Life doesn,t get much better!!.Onan the steps were I believe fitted to the lysanders used for clandestine operations flying secret agents into and out of France hence the ladder for hasty ingress and egress.The Shuttleworth aircraft is in a configuration to represent an aircraft used for that role!!.No doubt I will be corrected by some of the more knowledgeable contributors if wrong and lucky Airbedane gets to fly this very rare and lovely aeroplane.If your interested there are several excellent books written by the brave pilots who flew those daring and dangerous missions deep into occupied France,fascinating reading.I think one of these is by Hugh Verity?? very good reads!!.:ok:

[Man-on-the-fence]

Top stuff as ever Mr B :ok:

[BEagle]

Thanks as always, Damien - and congrats on your forthcoming nuptials.

Had hoped to attend to say Hi to chum Airbedane - but had to instruct at the Club instead as the regular Saturday chap is away sorting out bits of Airbus A380 (Yes, A380). But sent 2 happy bunnies solo, so there was some reward to my day!

When's the book being launched?

[pigboat]

Georgeous pictures Mr. B, thank you. :ok:
Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials.

Is the big bi-plane a Hawker Nimrod or a Hind?

[DamienB]

Cheers guys. pigboat - it's a Hind, and it was a cracking display too - best of a great bunch.

[Hairyplane]

Hi OTC - The rungs of the ladder were actually painted in luminous paint - you know - the same radioactive stuff that the female WW2 instrument painters killed themselves with because they habitually licked the brush to get a nice point on it..

You can just magine the torchlight flarepath - Agents scurrying off into the trees - downed airmen 'brought down the line' to be repatriated and climbing those luminous rungs...

Pure nostalgia. They were brave people indeed.

Hi Stampe - sorry to impose upon you at the last minute to do 3 sorties in the Maggie for me - somebody had to do it...!

I hope you don't mind if it happens again....

Pleased to introduce a 'bloke from Kent' to his native nectar. I have a good supply of it up here in the Midlands.

Bottled head injury or what??!!

Pity you missed the Moth Rally - excellent tucker, nice band, great banter and (OK - they were DH..) some nice planes.

A very challenging strip, crosswind all day (sometimes with a slight tail component) and still rough unfortunately, though a lot better than last year.

Some of DB's pictures appear to show some scruffy landings. Not a bit of it - great piloting skills (OK, one got a bit bent..) in difficult conditions. Definately not for beginners (I cheated with my brakes and flaps!)

I would need to pluck up courage to take the Miles Falcon in there.

A privilege to be invited, especially in a 'rival' Miles machine.

HP

[Airbedane]

Thanks DB, I can't think how I missed this lot first time round.

It was good to meet you and Missus too, shame there wasn't more time to chat - but then, most times I loked in your direction you had a camera to your eye :)

Best wishes, and again, all the best for next weekend,
A

Forgot to add that all the above on the Lysander is correct.

In addition: the Shuttleworth machine started life as a training aircraft, built and operated in Canada; it was never operational.

It was heavily restored in the 70's (I think), and is now the only flying Lysander in the World.

A