Rlangham

A few from today

Hard to tell to be honest mate - could be this one though

http://www.itv.com/ITVPlayer/Video/default.html?ViewType=5&Filter=46748

I was watching 'UFO' on ITV4 the other day, and in one scene the main character is chasing a bad guy around the large film set where the base is (disguised as a film set) in small go karts. At one stage they drive past a mocked up large building with sandbags and an FWD outside - I believe it was filmed in England, so any idea which FWD it was?

Should be there on the Sunday - attended every year as either public or re-enactor

Seeing the WW2 British in the woods was superb, hope it's done again next year, very atmospheric (especially walking into the woods at about midnight on Sunday)

The Gentleman in the turret of the Morris Light Recce Car is Bert, a veteran of 43rd Recce

Didn't get the chance for a proper look around but the village display was very good

The lighting in the woods was very photogenic

Universal Carrier Recovery Services

Sorry, slip of the keyboard - I meant tourer

Fantastic, thanks for that - I did some documentary work for a documentary on the Royal Flying Corps a few weeks ago and the Crossley Tender at the Shuttleworth Collection was used for about a quarter of the filming

I believe that both wheels would have been spoked wheels, streamlined by the addition of fabric covers. What has probably happened is that the fabric cover has been torn off the far wheel by a flailing punctured tyre. Possibly during the original forced landing or possibly by some un-sympathetic towing.

Hi Bystander, yes that's correct - as can be seen if you put a knife through a WW1 aircraft's wheels in a museum - not that I reccomend it!

Charawhacky, is your staff car the lime green one that was for sale? A friend of mine was interested but didn't realise how much the seller wanted for it - shame, i'd have looked great in the back in my RFC gear!

Adrian, are you a member of the Auster Club yet? Had a great few previous events and have a number more for the rest of the year. A friend of mine is restoring a Mk V to authentic as possible condition and had a Lycoming shipped in from the States. Be great to see yours out and about

Enigma, I was in five in total - I flew in all three Mk III's, had a taxi ride in my mates civilian post-war J1N and flew home in a post-war civilian J5.

Lord Burley, there's a couple of post-war civilian ones up for sale now for 14k which is about the normal cost for one, it would probably go up for a WW2 variant but not by much - one of the Mk III's pictured underwent a long restoration, and the owner would sell it including the rest of the restoration to fly for 25k and that was deemed to be expensive. For maintenance, all depends on the state of it really, American engines such as the Lycoming in the Mk IV and V are much cheaper to maintain and cleaner too.

Running costs for a British de Havilland engine which most are fitted with is about £45 an hour, but depending on the wind you can cover a lot of ground, they cruise at 90mph but could go further or not as far depending on which way the wind is blowing. Landing fees vary widely from place to place, generally you find most airfield owners are sympathetic to historic aircraft so offer reduced or free landing fees, I think on average they tend to be about £10-15

Tim, isn't there a Thornycroft J type at milestones but civilianised?

Here's the photographs of the WW2 Austers at the mass Auster fly-in at Middle Wallop this weekend to coincide with the annual 656 Squadron reunion. I managed to achieve my ambition in flying all of the UK's Auster III's - all three of them! Great claim to fame and what better way to spend my 21st Birthday weekend

Descending to land at Middle Wallop on the Saturday in an Auster III that landed in Normandy two days after D day

Back view of the same Auster showing the large glazed area which made them so well suited to air observation

Here it is on the left with two post-war military Austers

Auster V, showing the snub-nosed look of Austers fitted with the Lycoming O-290

My favourite - Auster III MT438, which served in Burma during WW2 with 656 Squadron

Auster IV MT197, which also landed in Normandy two days after D day, serving with 662 Squadron after joining them in March 1944. In 1945 it suffered major battle damage, but has been restored and is still airworthy

Auster V

Auster III MT438 and a Westland Scout of the Army Air Corps Historic Flight

Austers - faaaaasands of 'em!

My favourite photo of the weekend - me and Ted Maslen-Jones, who flew with 656 Squadron in Burma during the Second World War, and today was the first time he'd been in an Auster since the end of the war. Of course, we got him in the Burma Auster, and was a great pleasure to meet him, a very entertaining and interesting gentleman.

The third Auster III, a recently completed restoration

Coming in to land in the above Auster

Civilianised Auster V, built in 1944 with the military serial number RT475, but now with a de Havilland engine (would have originally had the snub nosed Lycoming) and shorter civilian rear glazing

Another Auster IV or V hiding away

There's one later this year. As posted elsewhere, I saw the inadvertent flight

Sounds good, but i'll be up at Waddington that weekend. The Beech 18 in the group I volunteer with is marked up as a Dunkeswell example

http://www.beechrestorations.com

On 21st June there will be a mass fly-in of Austers to Middle Wallop - to date, there are 73 Auster's booked in, and there is unlimited space for more if any other Austerers out there are interested. Last I heard, the largest fly-in of Austers before totalled 46 of the type so even if there are a number of non shows, then this should be the largest gathering of Auster fly-ins ever. The reason for the fly-in is to coincide with a 656 Squadron reunion and we're hoping to get as many veterans airborne as possible.

According to the Museum of Army Flying website, there will also be military vehicles on display. I'm very much looking forward to this weekend as part of Auster Force, and it looks like we'll have a very good turn out from the public to celebrate that wonderful aircraft, the Auster, which of course served in most theatres in WW2, and there will be at least several WW2 Auster's at the fly-in. I believe there will be some re-enactors and military vehicles booked in for the event, anyone know who?

Yes, I saw it happen. As for what's being restored? Try these two

http://www.beechrestorations.com

As I help restore WW2 era aircraft and also get the chance to fly them, i'm in agreement with everyone else. Yes, the price is high, but that's just to help cover costs. If you guys think the price of fuel is bad for your military vehicles, try filling up a full tank for a Beech 18 - £1200, and that was the last time we checked

Steve is correct, it's Instrument Meteorological Conditions

Nice photos, those new Atlantic 85's are superb boats. The County's were/are used by the armed forces too

Interesting to see the one at Wroughton Tim, i've wanted to go there for years because of the interesting items there (early inflatable Lifeboat, the fantastic looking Sno-cat from the 1958 trans-antarctic expedition, prototype Hovercraft etc). It looks like they allow groups round - maybe time for an HMVF group trip?

"Grand ceremony for the handing over of the first Tank for the Bantam Battalion's Heavy Machine Gun Section"

He's also got a Fiat, can't remember which type but it's fairly small, 15 ter I think. The truck is a Stewart

As well as a superb collection of original and replica WW1 aircraft, Peter Jackson also has several vehicles, as seen here (he also has an 18 pounder and a German 77mm gun)

Replica Mk IV Male Tank

B type Bus (I love the fact you can see the civilian colours showing through)

Truck, I don't know what type, looks American though

The worst bit was, my lovely Hoylake Lifeboat Appeal t shirt got a rope burn too Hopefully they'll have some spare

Well, i'm back home - injured both hands (one I must have smacked against the wall as it was swollen and bloody, the other was completely black on one side and slightly blistered from the rope!), but well worth it. Raised over £300 in total (i'll work it out in a bit), can't decide what was the worst bit - climbing over the handrail and leaning backwards over a 200 foot drop, or the largest part of the descent which involved me basically dangling myself down because there wasn't anything to kick off! Photos to come soon, thanks for everyone's support