I grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s, a catapult shot from an Eighth Air Force base in East Anglia which, a decade earlier, had resonated to the sound of B-17 and B-26 engines. The colourful ebb and flow of British civil airlines of the sixties and seventies provided further inspiration to collect photos, documents, artefacts and experiences. This site expands some of these short stories and tall tales – it’s more than rumour, less than history…….it’s miscellavia…..
Readers will notice a current bias towards DC-3/ C-47/ Dakotas! That’s not entirely surprising as my first flight was in a DC-3, I briefly worked for a DC-3 freight operation and my father flew in Dakotas during WW2. However, there will soon be more ‘Miscellaneous’ in Miscellavia with columns on the Stansted Fire School, Avro Ansons, the Civil Aviation Flying Unit and Handley Page Jetstreams to join the Biafran Veterans.
The D-Day Squadron has, however, recently taken over – I originally meant to add a couple of paragraphs to accompany photos of each of the ten C-47s which visited Prestwick in May 2019 en route to Normandy. However, the histories of these aircraft are so fascinating that it has taken far, far longer! Their stories encompass the major WW2 operations in Italy, France, Holland and Germany, flying the ‘Hump’ from China to India and post war operations with the USAAF/ USAF, French Air Force, Pakistan Air Force and Israeli Defence Force. Civilianised, the ten have worked for national airlines, regional airlines, charter outfits, freight hauliers, missionary operations, agriculture sprayers, parachute clubs, flight training schools, corporations and nostalgic cruisers.
Check-out the details in ‘D-Day Squadron June 2019’ !
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