Shining stars
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email: [email protected]
106 FLYPAST November 2018
I really enjoyed your article
about the Old Flying Machine
Company Spitfire in the August
issue, and its dedication to Ray
and Mark Hanna. I knew Ray
very well and we flew together
several times. He really was a
likeable personality. He only had
friends – he would never have
had an enemy. I met Mark once
when Ray introduced me to him
in a shop in Hong Kong when
holidaying over there. Mark was
still a schoolboy then – he was as
pleasant as his father and very
well mannered.
Ray wasn’t the sort to waste
his downtime in the usual ex-pat
pursuits. He spent some time in
the Northern Philippines where
he used to rent a Beech T-34
Mentor. That would probably
have been where Mark got his
first taste of a powerful piston
[Ray taught Mark to fly on T-34s;
Mark went solo for the first time
aged 17 – ED]. Meanwhile Ray wasalmost salivating about a late mark
Spitfire which used to be parked up
against the Kai Tak Airport fence
next to Sung Wong Toi Road. He
was dying to get his hands on
that ex-28 Squadron aircraft.
Sadly, he was up against too
much bureaucracy and one day
it just disappeared.
However, he then heard about
a Mustang in the Philippines and
made efforts to acquire it. He had it
shipped to the Hong Kong Aircraft
Engineering Company for repair
and complete rebuild, and arranged
financing with several colleagues.
The main personalities were Capt
David Baker, chief flying instructor
at HK Aero club, and flight engineer
Mal ‘Bugsy’ Rose who did an
exceptional job of cataloguing and
packaging the supplied spares.
The end result was the
outstanding G-HAEC, which was
subsequently shipped to Duxford
[it flew for many years as P-51D Big
Beautiful Doll – ED].The terrible accident that cost
Mark Hanna his life in 1999 evoked
tremendous sadness everywhere
and, knowing how close Ray was
to his son, it was typical of him to
carry on flying in his memory. The
last time I laid eyes on Ray was in
a lounge at Auckland Airport – I
saw him hurrying along with arrivalpassengers just prior to
a wonderful Warbirds Over
Wanaka event.
I thank you very much for
the article, as it brought back
precious memories of a brilliant,
shining star.
CROMBIE GILBRAITH
VIA E-MAILRay (in cockpit) and Mark Hanna.
KEY-DUNCAN CUBITTRemembering a
Great War hero
I enjoyed reading the For Valour
feature on Air Commodore ‘Freddie’
West in the September issue.
Having won his Victoria Cross flying
with 8 Squadron, when his unit
returned to the UK from the Middle
East in 1972 he maintained regular
contact and visited Lossiemouth.
Members of the squadron
also visited Freddie at his home
on occasions such as his 80th
birthday. When he passed away,
the unit provided a guard of
honour for the coffin at his funeral
service at Sunningdale, and I
was privileged to be part of that
group. Wg Cdr Dave Hencken,
our CO, carried the decorationsinto church behind the coffin and
afterwards in the churchyard a
piper of the Irish Guards played a
lament – Freddie had once been
a member of the Royal Munster
Fusiliers. Also at the funeral was
the chairman of the Royal Flying
Corps Association – at the wake
we were held in thrall with
his stories!When 8 Squadron moved to
Waddington in 1991 the West family
lent the Victoria Cross and medal
group for display at the unit’s
headquarters. There they remained
for several years. Eventually they
were sold and can now be viewed at
the Imperial War Museum, London.
ANDREW THOMAS
VIA EMAILFreddie West’s Victoria Cross and
medals. VIA ANDREW THOMAS