Private flying immediately before and in the years following WWII
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Thanks Guys!
Hi Guys,
I should like to express my thanks for the wealth of information that has been provided on my thread - and most of it within just 24 hours!
Some of you must have spent a good deal of time looking things up for me and then reproducing whole magazines and articles for me. Many thanks.
My apologies to dubbleyew eight who was quite right that I had missed the fact that my query could almost as easily have applied either to Aussie, Canada or NZ.
I am grateful also for being reminded that in addition to the three types I had mentioned, Messengers, Geminis and even some Proctors also entered civilian club use after the war.
Once again, many thanks to one and all.
BP.
I should like to express my thanks for the wealth of information that has been provided on my thread - and most of it within just 24 hours!
Some of you must have spent a good deal of time looking things up for me and then reproducing whole magazines and articles for me. Many thanks.
My apologies to dubbleyew eight who was quite right that I had missed the fact that my query could almost as easily have applied either to Aussie, Canada or NZ.
I am grateful also for being reminded that in addition to the three types I had mentioned, Messengers, Geminis and even some Proctors also entered civilian club use after the war.
Once again, many thanks to one and all.
BP.
Almost civilian flying, the RAF Gliding and Soaring Association was formed in 1948 using primarily German captured gliders. The aircraft had been used in Germany from 1945 to provide recreational flying.
I bought a £5 share in a Taylorcraft Plus D G-AIRE while training on Vampires at Swinderby in 1956/7. The main shareholder was a local plumber who lived in a village near the disused airfield at Bardney. The aircraft was kept in a dilapidated hangar, shared with a Miles Hawk Speed Six belonging to the Holden Rushworth Sports Clup. Sadly, I never saw the Hawk Speed Six fly as the only qualified pilot in the club had been retired for some time. Together with another student on the Vampire course, I used to fly the Plus D once or twice a month after collecting a can of dope and a brush from the plumber to stick down any fabric that had come unstuck during the previous week.
We also provided our own petrol (3 or 4 jerry cans) and paid 30 shillings per hour towards running costs. Operating off the crumbling runway was tricky as it was also used as a parking lot for farm machinery and the rest of the airfield had been ploughed up for crops.
We also provided our own petrol (3 or 4 jerry cans) and paid 30 shillings per hour towards running costs. Operating off the crumbling runway was tricky as it was also used as a parking lot for farm machinery and the rest of the airfield had been ploughed up for crops.
Last edited by brakedwell; 30th Jun 2014 at 11:53. Reason: Add reg number.
I was stationed at RAF Thornhill (5 FTS) S. Rhodesia in 1951 - 53.
When the Rhodesian Air Training Group closed in October 1953 flying clubs in South Africa and Australia realised that the many surplus RAF Chipmunks now on offer were an economic alternative to the purchase of new aircraft.
Eleven used ex RATG Chipmunks were imported into Australia via South Africa. They proved so popular that when the RAF released further aircraft in 1956, W.S. Shackleton Ltd were appointed to purchase Chipmunks on behalf of the Federation of Australian Aero Clubs. In total some 80 ex-RAF Chipmunks were exported to Australia.
I don't know whether any of the 1956 surplus Chipmunks reached the UK register, but I know that many of the RATG Tiger Moths surplus to requirements when they were replaced by Chipmunks in 1951 were offered for sale locally at £5 each, but the take-up was poor and most were broken up for scrap.
When the Rhodesian Air Training Group closed in October 1953 flying clubs in South Africa and Australia realised that the many surplus RAF Chipmunks now on offer were an economic alternative to the purchase of new aircraft.
Eleven used ex RATG Chipmunks were imported into Australia via South Africa. They proved so popular that when the RAF released further aircraft in 1956, W.S. Shackleton Ltd were appointed to purchase Chipmunks on behalf of the Federation of Australian Aero Clubs. In total some 80 ex-RAF Chipmunks were exported to Australia.
I don't know whether any of the 1956 surplus Chipmunks reached the UK register, but I know that many of the RATG Tiger Moths surplus to requirements when they were replaced by Chipmunks in 1951 were offered for sale locally at £5 each, but the take-up was poor and most were broken up for scrap.
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Ann Davison:
*In her first book, Last Voyage, she describes her life in the early 1930s as an aviator, delivering mail around the UK, and her marriage to Frank Davison, another aviator, with whom she bought and ran a small commercial airfield at Hooton on the Wirral (now a car factory) which had to be closed at the start of the Second World War.*
A tenacious lady. Her books are a good read.
*In her first book, Last Voyage, she describes her life in the early 1930s as an aviator, delivering mail around the UK, and her marriage to Frank Davison, another aviator, with whom she bought and ran a small commercial airfield at Hooton on the Wirral (now a car factory) which had to be closed at the start of the Second World War.*
A tenacious lady. Her books are a good read.
When learning to fly Tiger Moths with the Surrey club in 1954 at Croydon airport there were Tiger airframes in the Rollasons hangar stacked up against a wall like cards and I believe the cost then was £540 each. For comparison flying a Tiger solo then was £4.00 per hour and dual was £4.50.
As a young spotter at Squires Gate, now Blackpool International Spaceport, in the early 1950s, I well remember a local motorbike racer buying 3 surplus Tiger Moths very cheaply for the relatively high octane fuel in the tanks. Motorists were still running on Pool petrol of a much lower octane. Apparently he did very well in local sprints and was kind enough to donate them to us for the bonfire on November 5th when the fuel ran out. Hindsight etc.
