Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
User avatar
By nallen
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840543
M Fournier celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday (14 April) -- still going very strong. Plans for a Fournier fly-in and party were cancelled for the usual reason, but hopefully there will be a gathering next year.

Image
T6Harvard, G-BLEW, Adrian and 6 others liked this
By Hooligan
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840724
Bon anniversaire, M Fournier! Happy days remembering the Skyhawks in the aerial Stradivarius - wonderful.

I have a 1/48 LDM white metal kit in the loft of the RF-4 - I don't know whether to make it or sell it, a mate bought one for "rather a lot" compared to the £40 I paid on eBay about 15 years ago... I think only 500 kits were produced, considerably more than the real thing...
#1840788
skydriller wrote:ISTR the T67 Firefly is based on an RF6?
..


Indeed. At one point our syndicate had a RF6 (which had replaced a RF4!). I had got permission (from a Cadet-friendly OC Ops :thumright: ) to take it to RAF Valley for our Air Cadet Camp week, at about the time that G- reg T67s were just coming in to UK military service. Our host kindly recorded its movements there and at Mona as a 'Firefly', although with correct G- reg, thus saving him (and VAS, SHQ) the hassle (and me the money) of raising landing/parking charges :wink:

A while later, Tiger Airways at Staverton had a RF6 and a T67. It occurred to me that the RF6 on 108hp O320 had been able to do everything I'd wanted, and the extra capabilities (and expense) of the T67 were far more than I'd ever needed :)

I had first flown one in France much earlier, when I popped in to a local FC when on a family camping holiday in Brittany. The elderly Instructor had been Aeronavale, and had flown Seafires! Of further interest to me, he was of a transitional generation whose parents spoke little French and whose children spoke no Breton, which at that stage got no governmental encouragement. Soon after my return I sent him a photo of bilingual signage at RAF St Athan, showing how UK government including military treated minority but official languages with rather more respect; my covering letter was in French, but included a bit of Breton. He sent me a charming letter back :) .