During a social run of an evening my attention was caught by something you'd not expect to be sat in a barn amongst straw and chickens, and arrangements had to be made to discover more. It is being restored by one aircraft engineer whose personal circs allow sufficient time ~ though not enough ~ for labours of love like this. The paintwork is brush-work in enamel, incidentally, just like a big Airfix kit.
The aircraft operated in the RAF between 1948 and 1984 as a transport for VIPs and will have borne any number of ministers besides members of the Royal family in its time... hence the stars on the trailing-edge nose-gear. Unusually too, braking was by pneumatics on the main-gear only and thus steering would be done in much the same way using the rudder-pedals.
Where it ends up once a pair of wings and Gypsy Major six-cylinder inverted engines are added is up for debate presently, but is likely to be the museum operated by the family most notable for the production of Cosworth racing engines. Meanwhile turns out that the self-same Boeing 737 that I have blogged about elsewhere in the posts was here too for five years unbeknown to me, or at least the portion between nose and leading edges.
That has gone to a glamping site in Blackpool that I hope to decamp to in order to report further and sit in that left-hand seat for one more time before I die, you with tears in your eyes like you had when they saved Private Ryan. The restorer we have met here, however, also has a Percival Pembroke that he intends to turn into a touring caravan; although he says the build quality is nowhere near that of the twin built back in the day by De Havilland.
Which is what you might expect of the people who put up the world's first jetliner.
Ed. This literally got the author out of bed today, so let's here it for people doing things to make that effort worthwhile...
