Neville Duke at the controls of WB188, September 1951 (two months after first flight and with a different paint scheme)
Posted on 12/08/2005 3:29:23 PM PST by atomic conspiracy
Neville Duke at the controls of WB188, September 1951 (two months after first flight and with a different paint scheme)
Once more a hero.
Of course she could survive it, my mother-in-law had one when she was even older and shortly afterward was tootling around with no problem.
In Britain these days, what's theirs is theirs, and what's yours is theirs - all without any interference from "the authorities".
Of course, if you laid a hand on them "in the commission", "the authorities" would make damn sure YOU ended up in the pokey...
Given the security issue -- theives operating with impunity -- I think he is far better off to have the money in the bank and the medals in the hands of a private collector who will clearly take very good care of them. Some day they should go on display in a national museum or a military facility. Possibly the private collector would loan them to such a facility.
It is a sad comentary that a war hero has to live in a crime-ridden location in his final years.
Neville Duke! There's a name to conjure with. The pin-up boy's hero of my generation. For a time he was the most famous man in England, occupying the sort of niche now held by the likes of Beckham. And I actually saw him in the famous red Hunter at the Farnborough air show of 1953, when he famously executed victory rolls directly over the heads of the crowd, in contemptuous defiance of the organisers who had banned the manoeuvre after an accident. Alas, my own attempts to build a balsa-wood Hunter (one of the most beautiful aircraft of all time, incidentally) were pretty pathetic.
As for socialized medicine, a different and darker sentiment applies.
Yes I agree with that entirely.
Respect to Mr Duke and heartfelt thanks for his service. That he should have to do this in the twilight of his life disgusts me and is an insult to the memory of all those who fought the Nazi menace. This is a great shame for Britain.
Stop calling me Shirley.
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