Some British Vintage Birds

[rossjools]

Now it's the Brits' turn. First is the Tiger Moth that I went for a ride in on the Saturday afternoon at Watts Bridge.

The Percival Gull VI. I've already included this one in the Photo Gallery section but it is a favourite of mine so I'll also include it here.


The de Havilland dH.60 Gypsy Moth.

A moody shot of it in the late afternoon light on Saturday.

An Auster J5F with a Gypsy Major engine. This one is an aerobatic aircraft.

An Auster J5G with a 180 hp Lycoming engine. I read somewhere last night on the web that Auster is Latin for 'South Wind'. This one would equate to what we eastern Aussies would call the 'Southerly Buster' or summertime southerly wind that brings cooling relief from the heat and humidity of the summer's day and sometimes a lot of damage as well. There were 2 of these at the fly-in.

Now for another dH classic, a pristine dH.84 Dragon named Riama.

And Riama's history.

That's all for now folks, more later.

Regards,
Ross.

[wacoykc]

Thanks for sharing! The Percival Gull is one of my favorites. Looks like its going 200mph just sitting there. Beautiful airplane!

[rossjools]

Hi wacoykc,
You're welcome mate. I have to agree, the Gull is a racy looking bird. Next year I'll try and get a look at the Proctor when I go up there, just to check on progress. I'didn't realize how busy I'd be shutterbugging until I started. Give me a camera when there's aeroplanes around and it's like you just sold me into an addiction of some kind. Well, at least it's not an expensive or life threatening addiction. I forgot to mention that there is a concors d'elegance each year and this year it was judged by Graham Orphan, chief editor of Classic Wings Downunder. The Mustang was grand champion this year.

Regards,
Ross.

[Elroy13]

Nice pics there! I would to see more!

[wacoykc]

There are also a couple Wacos downunder as well. Both owners, Mike Hayes and Mal Shipton are members of the National Waco Club that I run. Keep an eye out for those airplanes as well!!!

Met Graham Orphan several years ago at OSHKOSH. Probably 3 years running I won yearly subscriptions to the magazine by guessing the MYSTERY airplane. We joked about that and had a few laughs together. Nice guy!

[rossjools]

Hi wacoykc,
Mal Shipton also owns the Cessna 195 that I posted elsewhere. The Queensland Vintage Aeroplane Group that runs Festival of Flight has started to feature various aeroplanes in short articles on their website (google QVAG or Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield) and the C195 VH-BVD is the first in the series. Incidentally, the Gypsy Moth VH-ULP is also owned by Mal Shipton.

I had a bit of a chat with Ken Holdsworth who owns the Gull and he said in their day they were a very high performance aeroplane. In Australia for a light plane to be considered high performance it now has to have a constant speed prop and/or retractable u/c. The Gull VI had neither but can still go faster than some 200 hp aeroplanes with those refinements.

Regards,
Ross.