AeroModeller – June 2018

Nostalgia

JAGUAR

MEMORIES

DAVE BISHOP REVISITS ONE OF HIS ALL-TIME FAVOURITE DESIGNS...

A

l ittle while ago I was in

a group conversation

with some chaps,

including one of those

who seemingly knows

everything that there is to know. He is

considered to be quite a guy and is one

of those fellers that when he speaks in

his commanding voice, he is not usually

interrupted by anyone, because he is

a very successful and wealthy person.

It was when he was in “full fl ow” that I

heard him spout something that didn’t

ring true at all with me - “nobody

ever bothers to buy books

anymore; it’s all on

the Internet!”

Now,

here in my nightmare of an offi ce, I have

well over 2,000 aeroplane books (some

of them signed originals) and magazines,

including AeroModeller magazines dated

pre, during and after the Second

World War.

Nightime Reading...

I often browse through them to fi nd some

interesting bedtime reading and recently

I took three copies of the AeroModeller

from 1948. I was born in 1931 and I can

remember my youth (and the war) as

though it was yesterday; that particular

night’s bedtime reading reminded me of

my teenage years and the many models

that I had built and fl own.

The fi rst AeroModeller I browsed

through that night was the January

1948 issue and it had on its front cover

a beautifully painted picture by Rupert

Moore of the seven feet wingspan Eros.

This “biggee” FF model was designed

by AeroModeller staff member, John

W Coasby – my own model Eros had

a 4.5cc Majesco spark ignition engine

fi tted, made at my home town of

Littlehampton in Sussex. It cost me

£7 12s 0d (£7.60). At that time I was a

member of the West Sussex MAS, and

we had the use of Ford Aerodrome,

some 2 miles away (now an open prison).

Eros was the perfect model aeroplane for

that huge open space. Another section

of that January AeroModeller was written

by a superb model aeroplane designer

Eros depicted by Rupert Moore, a wonderful 7 feet wingspan free

fl ight cabin monoplane I built in 1948. Later on I converted it to a

home-built-radio controlled rudder job.

58 AeroModeller - June 2018

JAGUAR.indd 58 26/04/2018 15:34