Posted on 03/04/2016 7:58:41 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Thinkstock
Eighty years ago the first Spitfire prototype flew from Eastleigh aerodrome in Hampshire. One man reveals the impact piloting this aircraft had on his life.
It was always an exclusive club, and now there are only a handful of people left who can claim membership.
To fly a Spitfire, especially in combat, is as close to holding a place in mythology as modern times allow.
But Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Wellum DFC, still passionate and engaging at 94, cautions against hyperbole.
"I didn't think of myself as glamorous but certainly I was aware it was a privilege," he says. "Everybody wanted to fly Spitfires and so few, even in the RAF, got to do so."
Geoffrey Wellum in 2016 and in his early days in the RAF - fresh out of school
Born and schooled in Essex, as a teenager Geoffrey Wellum wandered into this club with an ease and speed which almost defies belief.
"I just wanted to fly. I wrote to the Air Ministry to say so and they let me."
Straight from school he took to the air in old biplanes and clumsy training aircraft but in 1940, with World War II already under way, he was posted to 92 Squadron, which had just been converted to fly Spitfires.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
They have Lucas refrigerators.
What is the Lucas factory motto?
A good day's work, and home before dark.
Pada bum bum, tsssh
That thread started out great and ended in disappointment. Oh well.
Did this occur just recently? Last year Precious Metal suffered an engine fire while taxiing oit to head for Reno.
I don’t know. I found the image online but links to the page about it are dead. I read somewhere else that PM was damaged in a fire at a refueling stop and apparently now has been written off.
The deadstick landing at reno did no damage, but made an interesting video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2A5ywM8TNk
Thanks.
I still have high hopes to make it to Oshkosh and/or Reno once in my life.
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