OK, the question that arrives every year, what do you buy your partner, friend, some guy called Dave who fixed your car? We try to help! We also know that John Lewis try to outdo us in the Video stakes – we’re covered. After you have watched the TFC 2016 Christmas Video have a click on our current offer and maybe come back as we have other offers over the next few days.
Harry was sent to record TFC at LaFerte this year. His report is short on the written word due to a strange encounter with French hospitality, this is what he remembers:
TFC’s deployment to La Ferte Alais this year consisted of the MkVB Spitfire and the Hawk 75, arriving in the safe hands of Nick Grey and Patrice Marchasson respectively, with the Spitfire following the Hawk by a couple of days.
Fridays practice had to be scrubbed thanks to being caught out by heavy rain shower (with a bit of hail thrown in for good measure – they could have stayedin England if they wanted that sort of weather!) this all rolled in whilst waiting for an impressive practice by the Aeronavale Rafales to finish.
After a few minutes hoping for it to pass (with Nick and Patrice strapped in, and everyone else sheltering under the wings) the decision was made to get the aircraft back into the hangar ASAP, which is easier said than done when there is no tow bar for the Spitfire (Roy, take note)! I think we must have nearly set a record for the fastest a Spitfire has ever been pushed away, with no less than 17 people pushing, and Nick Grey leading the way!
Nick getting ready for his practice
Taking Shelter under the Hawk 75
Pushing the Spitfire in (thanks toNigel Hitchman)
The Spitfire safely returned to the hangar
On both the show days Nick Grey displayed the Spitfire alongside George Perez in the French Mustang, and Patrice flew a spirited display in the Hawk.
Stephen just checking all is OK, like Fathers do!
The arty pics
Patrice in the Hawk
Nick in EP120
Our photographer sent these through last night, as he is a photographer he doesn’t do writing so we will have to guess what was going on.
First off, Bob and Chris M. take a well earned rest having just enjoyed the best of French cuisine.
Next up Roy (you can never be too careful) Smith finishes re-arming EP120, “just in case”.
Ah,the Flying bit, Nick in the Mk Vb….
…and Patrice in the Hawk 75
Finally Nick with possibly the best seat at the display.
We may have more tonight!
Wishing all our Friends and followers seasons greetings. Click on any image below to view the gallery
Our Spitfire Mk Vb EP120 has had a busy year in 2015 as has pilot Al Wade, caught here in contemplative mood before transit to Holland.
A few pictures to help tell our story for the last week.
While our Mk XIV was displaying over Duxford at last weeks airshow (photo credit Pete Collins) …..
….Our hardworking sales team in the tent were taking a few minutes of shut eye…
……And finally, our MK Vb and P-40F safely in the hangar after displaying at Church Fenton yesterday.
First the July calendar and thank you to everyone who reminded us we were late! Then a couple of snaps from Saturday at Duxford. Who would have guessed this months aeroplane? How about the P-36 as a desktop?
[wpdm_package id=’12233′] [wpdm_package id=’12232′]
We promised a little extra so how about some photos of Saturdays action!?
This would usually be part of the Online Fighter Log update available to Friends of TFC- it answers a lot of “which aircraft was where and when this week end” type questions so here you go:
A busy weekend in May…. The Hawk75 and Gladiator made our first European outing of the 2015 season with Stephen and Patrice at the controls for the trip to La Ferte Alais. The transit necessitated a brief stop-over at Abbeville for fuel before flying on to LFA were TFC engineers Roy and Paul were waiting for their arrival having departed Duxford at 5am Thursday morning via Folkestone. With some quite complicated logistics Nick who was due to fly the Gladiator in the show made the transit to LFA from Geneva on Thursday evening. Operating away from base is always a challenge particularly when your tools and spares provision needs to fit into a modern family saloon!
The VE Anniversary show at Duxford was combined with the departure of three TFC aircraft Spitfire V, P-51D, Corsair) to the Oostwold Airshow , Groningen, Holland. EP120 was able to make the dash across the channel on Friday (beating the weather) at the hands of Alan Wade as it was not required for the Duxford show; regrettably the MkXIV wasn’t able to depart for the show due to an as yet undiagnosed over-fuelling issue with the carburettor. With the weather closing in on us the P-51D and Corsair weren’t able to make their planned slot to leave Duxford on the afternoon of the Sunday show and finally left at 08:20 local time Monday morning (another lay-in missed !).
All aircraft made the recovery back to Duxford on Monday, with the Hawk75 and Gladiator first to arrive in the late afternoon and our Dutch contingent finally returning 18:45 local time. All in all a very successful weekend both here at Duxford and across our European commitments. Many thanks to those of you who visited us in the Friends area and had a close up look at the Bearcat.
And finally…. ‘A little knowledge is dangerous’…..on occasion we have to respond to inaccurate information placed on public forums and disseminated as factual. We were recently made aware of a thread running on one such forum suggesting the Sea Fury FB11 needs a new centre section! You might imagine that as Chief Engineer these are things I would normally know a little about, particularly if one were actually needed (which it isn’t).
To be absolutely clear; the Sea Fury hasn’t fallen off jacks; it isn’t on jacks simply because it doesn’t need to be on jacks. However, there is a small area of damage to the lower spar boom port side were a bolt was incorrectly orientated in the landing gear retraction mechanism and which on retraction test (some years ago) caught the underside of the boom flange. The damage is repairable and a scheme has already been identified in accordance with the aircraft repair manual and our resident design organisation, therefore no one need worry that the aircraft is not being currently progressed for the absence of a replacement centre section. Our priorities are set by the Principals and Chief Engineer dependent upon our developing workloads, Inspection Programs and ultimate goals; suffice to say we have not forgotten about G-BUCM and its time will come….shortly…..
