Thanks to Andy Leonard for his permission to use this terrific image of Nesty landing after the display at the Old Buckenham Airshow. That’s Steve “Shutty” Shutt in the hot seat.

Thanks too to Geoff Spinks who took this great display shot:

Geoff’s shot is great to make the comparison between the Christen Eagle II and the Pitts S2A - you can certainly see the family resemblance although you can’t see the difference in comfort levels in the cockpits!  Sitting in either seat in the Pitts S2A (all Pitts really) is akin to sitting in a street manhole (I’ve also heard it described as “prairie dogs peeking out of their burrow”) whereas the Christen Eagle II has plenty of room and greater vision (you usually only see the head of a Pitts pilot whereas you’ll see the pilots’ shoulders in an Eagle).  Geoff said he’s got some other shots of the display so hopefully I’ll post them here over the coming days.

Thanks to all enthusiasts who make their photographs available to aircraft owners and operators!

Now…..what’s going on with the weather!?

Paul

The weather held off at the weekend for the Old Buckenham Airshow while the rest of the country was wet ‘n’ windy.  We had reports of over 4000 spectators on Sunday.  There’s a news article here which includes a photo of Nesty in formation with Al Coutt’s Pitts during a low pass over the Old Bucks display line.

I’ll have some photos and hopefully some video of the display soon and I’ll publish them here.  Now all we need is a couple more months of Summer - of course the English Summer is usually measured in days or weeks rather than months!

Paul

Well, my previous report of G-NEST sailing through her Permit to Fly renewal was a little premature - the paperwork has only just come through!  Although you hear people say they’ve just had a new Permit to Fly, that’s not strictly true…..  When a homebuilt aircraft is first put on the register in the UK it receives a “Permit to Fly“.  The Permit is accompanied by a “Certificate of Validity” which is the actual document renewed each year.  Anyway, the important thing is that all the docs have been issued for the coming year - just in time to wing Nesty over to Norwich where Steve “Shutty” Shutt will be borrowing her for a week while his Christen Eagle (“G-EGUL“) is rebuilt by Steve and Al Coutts.  If you’re in the East of England and fancy seeing Nesty display, why not pop along to the Old Buckenham Airshow on 29th June.

Paul

Christen Eagle II G-EGIL, recently sold to a group in Shropshire, is keeping good company in her new home.

She’s now based at RAF Cosford and was last seen snuggling up to a Spitfire Mk1A in her hangar (see photo here)!  G-EGIL certainly won’t be short of maintenance as her new base is home to the “DCAE Cosford” (Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering).  Of course Cosford is also home to the RAF Museum - I can feel a visit coming on!!

News is that 3 of the 5 new owners have already converted to flying the Eagle - no doubt aided by some splendid tarmac at Cosford.  A little different to the bumpy grass of Compton - most take-offs and landings are like being in a washing machine - and no, that’s NOT due to my flying skills or lack of them

No other Eagle related news at present except to say that, if you’re in Europe, there’s no better time than now to import a good example from the USA - that $ price is VERY tempting.

Just seen the weather forecast for tomorrow which is good AND the Harley is fuelled up (at nearly $10 per gallon!!) so I can get to Compton!

Paul