Beagle Celebration @ Shoreham 11/6/05

[Rallye Driver]

On Saturday there was a Beagle Celebration held at Shoreham in recognition of the technical achievements of the company and its precursors - Auster and Miles. It took the form of a reunion of former employees from the Shoreham and Rearsby factories and a fly-in of Beagle and associated aircraft. The amazing Ken Wallis was also present with one of his autogyros.

The weather was kind, so there was an excellent turn out of visiting aircraft. I was lucky enough to be involved with a six-ship flypast of Bulldogs and Pups, which was organised for the day. A Basset also did a flypast.

I have posted some pics of the day on the Flypast Forum. Here is the link for those who are interested:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=44061

Also in attendance were the guys from DH Support, who have done so much to help keep the Beagle aircraft flying now that they have taken over the design authority. They arrived in style in the magnificently restored Rapide from Duxford.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard organising this unique event, and also to Shoreham Tower for their efforts on this very busy day.

RD