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Good to hear it's running I look forward to seeing it at the weekend. I really hope the weather plays fair as it will hopefully be a really special day.

Steve

We were at the back with the two halftracks, there were certainly less big vehicles taking part but it was a fair turnout and we did get a very close view of the sherman, stuart and hellcat playing in the arena

Sad to see this when I got back from holiday, the engine was pretty sick from the point the smoke started and he did well getting it down, I just wish he'd killed the switches when he dropped the gear, it would have saved at least two more blades, but after the first leg folded he was right to bring the other one up they have a habit of tipping and even with the roll over post the two seaters have it doesn't end well for the pilots. Not a good year for the navy historic flight

Last year at WPR we took the halftrack in on every occasion we could even putting magnetic red crosses on the sides for the ambulance slot and escorted it with the WC54, this year we dug out the plywood armour for the jeep and took it in the arena for the wheeled armour once. I didn't like the fact that the public had to look past the vehicles driving through the arena to see us and the traffic stuck behind the zoo bus (which really needed pull in spaces) meant it all took too long.

We've always tried to get to the arena each year but this year we sadly didn't seem to have the intrest after the big stuff had turned it over. We took part in the convoy on Friday night but the numbers were down I guess as people had a better idea of the impending weather but we were largely abandoned to mix with civilian vehicles which broke the run up even more.

Ground very soft with standing water in lots of places but the toilet block near the living history field has no water supply since last night, heavy drizzle at the moment and very grey, apparently a few traders lost tents during the night and the main spectators car park is very slippy with modern cars getting stuck, will be an interesting day.

Steve

Hell of a storm came through after the road run and the winds tore through the campsite turning a lot of tents inside out and wiping a good number of gazebos out and giving us a fantastic electric storm, now a constant gentle rain with the odd flash of lightning.

See what state everything is like in the morning

Steve

Stopped now but grey and claggy bit of a breeze so hopefully will dry more as the day goes on it's soft and it doesn't want any more wet really

Steve

Blazing sunshine at the moment ground wet in places due to some idiots letting one of the 10,000 litre bunds drain last night but they're recovering it well at the moment and the ground is soft but not too bad I guess tomorrow is the real test as the grass at booking in is cut up and the hard road has a mud crust now. Fingers crossed it'll keep improving.

Steve

Hoping for better weather tomorrow as well for the 6 o'clock roll down the motorway see you all there.

Steve

There's also an original two seat trainer in the group for sale

Sorry I never take anything to W & P as I cant run my stall and play. Also this year we wont be at cosby as I am prepairingmy Sherman to go On the 30corps trip in september.

 

Jim.

Ok cheers Jim I'll keep an eye out for it at some point around then.

Steve

Connie Edwards toys, they're a real time capsule from the late 60's/ early 70's his spitfire is up for grabs as well which has a confirmed history from build date in 43 straight through until fettled to fly during the Battle of Britain film and bought by him and taken to the states, having been overhauled a couple of times but never rebuilt.

Steve

Some great pictures there Steve, again, the self propelled gun gun at the end of the first post 00 FE 17, what is it out of interest?

Steve

Thanks for that Jim, all sounds straight forward and quite a good way around warming up a large displacement diesel engine, don't suppose you are taking it to war and peace or Cosby are you?

Cheers

Steve

Hi Olaf, the dozer is pretty easy to drive but completly different to the Sherman which does catch me out still.

 

Basicaly the Sherman has two levers to steer it, one to turn left and the other to turn right. By pulling a lever back it applies a brake to slow that track, in turn (because of the central differential) it trys to speed up the other track therefor the tank turns left or right depending on which lever is pulled. If you pull back on both levers at the same time the tank is brought to a stop. The clutch, accelerator and gearbox are just like a normal vehicle.

 

The dozer has three clutches, the main clutch is used to select the gear you require and is an over center type, which means its either in or out.

 

The other two clutches are steering clutches and they are used in conjunction with two foot brakes. So after selecting the gear you need and pulling the main clutch back the dozer starts to move. To turn left you pull the left cluctch lever back (this breaks the drive to that track) then you apply pressure to the left brake peddle and depending how hard you push will affect how sharp you turn. To turn right you use the right clutch and brake.

 

There are other issues which affect the steering control , such as whether you are pushing dirt, pulling a load or the load pushing you down hill but if I explain that it will confuse you.

 

Hope all that makes sence

 

Jim.

Cheers Jim, sounds like a friend's Allis M and Cat R2 I got to drive and believed I could make a gentle turn on his wife's immaculate lawn before his crop but with out the pedal it barely turns at all and so had to make a sharp turn and incur her wrath not his for the wheat I'd have flattened, is it started by donkey engine or just by hand/motor?

Cheers

Steve

Just had a quick google and turned up this http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fleetairarm.com%2FUploads%2FFiles%2Fen-GB%2Fgloster_sea_gladiator%2520low%2520res.pdf&rct=j&q=faa%20museum%20gloster%20gladiator&ei=eKq7U7DsF8SN7AbiyIHoCQ&usg=AFQjCNGMyYRdriUs-Mu7BwAdnpb_1Tn_8Q

it implies they have a large number of parts of gladiator possibly a mix of sea glad and raf glad and quite rightly are rebuilding as the airframe they believe it is until someone tells them it's not. Good luck to them it'll be nice to see when completed.

Steve

Didn't know they had a glad under rebuild wonder if it's a true sea gladiator?

Steve

Nice combination there, makes a nice difference to see an earth mover like that about.

Steve

Very nice Steve, I'd forgotten the firefly had gone there from Duxford, haven't been there for about 10 years so due a return. Do they still have the bits of Shorts 184 on display?

Steve

Welcome in, in the collection we have a series 3 with the same pump hanging out the front but with a standard open body was it common to fit them with these pumps do you know?

Steve

Welcome to the forum, when you say HALO how high were they chucked out and at what altitude was the parachute supposed to open?

Here are the few pictures I was able to grab during the day

Was great to get both Crossleys together cheers for stopping in Charawacky.

That was the opinion of a traffic policeman interested in our hobby I was speaking to at the weekend he said roughly the same about not being steered by the tracks so his opinion was whatever speed you like as long as it's not in a dangerous manner, oh also he said that as long as we are faster than 25 on motorways no reasonable motorway officer should be interested.

Steve

I have to ask how did you manage a flight in a BE2e ?

You lucky chap, I would give a crisp £5 note to do that..........

I was very lucky to be asked as both aircraft were going up for a photo shoot and needed someone to fill the front cockpits, my brother went in the other aircraft, we are both volunteers at the collection and sometimes perks like these turn up but in 18 years of volunteering I think I've only been gifted flights like this on about 7 occasions. But I enjoy working there so it's worth it for me. They really are beautiful aircraft, very stable and lovely serenely floating around in sight of the cardington airship sheds at 1500 ft and lower was amazing. If we had been at 12,000ft and over enemy territory I think it would have been a different story. It was a very nice end to a long difficult day where I didn't really stop so I slept very well last night.

The triplane was unfortunate but thankfully the pilot was fine just shaken, sadly the formations we were looking forward to didn't happen due to cross winds at Duxford, but we did get a visiting crossley tender and displayed it with one of the be2e plus I got to have a flight in one of the be2e after the show, great turnout from the public though, brilliant pictures by the way.

Steve