One thing I did when I had time off, which when driving HGV's wasn't often, I used to spend a few weekends at Duxford
Got to know the very lovely Ted White. Those of you who have a love of WW2 aircraft will know him as the owner and founder of the B17, Sally B Preservation company who sadly passed away in 1982 whilst flying his T6 Texan in Malta. The yellow/black checkerboard cowl on one of Sally's engines is a permanent tribute to Ted and his friend and copilot Mark Campbell. Sally B is still the last flying B17 in Europe.
The official website of Sally B, the UK's last airworthy B-17 flying fortress
www.sallyb.org.uk
As a result of knowing Ted and his crew, I was very priviledged to fly aboard Sally B more than once and was able to assist in the restoration of B25 Big Bad Bonnie which was based at Cranfield. She was owned by Jeff Hawke at the time. She featured in the flying sequences of many films, her best was the 1978 film Hanover Street. I also flew with her as part of the crew, my job was the ground start (being tall, I was the only one who could reach reasonably easily). She was a very tempermental lady, often on start up she would cough oil and flames or flatly refuse to start...more than once I ended up covered in oil and gravel from her misfiring starts. Sadly due to financial difficulties and mechanical gremlins she was grounded in France after a short airshow career. She has made it back to the US, although unsure what her future is. I did manage to find her full history some years ago but it stops at 2014, she may have been broken up, not sure. She was a nice old girl, if more than a bit cantankerous at times
The North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell registry follows the history of all B-25s that survived military service.
warbirdregistry.org
www.oldmodelkits.com
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