GLORY DAYS PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORIES
82 FLYPAST February 2018
WIND
IN THE
WIRESBuilt as NF886 at Loughborough, Leicestershire, Dominie NF886 initially fl ew with the
headquarters fl ight of the Air Transport Auxiliary from White Waltham, Berkshire. It was taken on
charge by 1 Parachute Training School at Ringway, Cheshire, in January 1946, moving with the unit
to Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, later that year. Demobbed in 1948 it became G-ALPK and by 1964
was based at Blackbushe, Hampshire (where it is illustrated in October 1965). It stopped fl ying in
1966 and was cannibalised for spares at Netheravon, Wiltshire, in 1968.
Dragon Rapide G-AGZO was ‘born’ in World War Two and ‘died’ in another confl ict 17 years later.
Built as NR848 in 1945, it saw no RAF service, joining Marshall of Cambridge as a civilian from
July 1948. It is illustrated at Sywell, Northants, in April 1962, and the following month it was sold
in France, taking up the registration F-BGZJ. By October it was placed on the Belgian register
as OO-IIT and it was ferried to the Congo. On December 29, 1962 it was strafed and destroyed
at Kolwezi, on the Angolan/Zambian border of Congo, by Swedish Air Force SAAB J29s from F22
Wing. The jets were part of the United Nations peace-keeping force deployed to the Congo during
the Katangan secession struggles, October 1961 to April 1963.First fl own in 1934, the de Havilland Dragon Rapide was designed as an airliner and corporate transport. From 1939 production switched to the
needs of the RAF and the type served as the Dominie crew trainer. Manufacture was transferred from Hatfi eld, Herts, in 1943 to Brush Coachworks
at Loughborough, and continued until 1946. Built in late 1943, Dominie HG691 served with 2 Radio School at Yatesbury, Wiltshire. It was demobbed
in December 1946, becoming G-AIYR, and in January 1979 it was acquired by de Havilland devotee David Cyster who entered it in that year’s Famous
Grouse Rally from Hatfi eld (illustrated) to Scotland. David fl ew ‘Yankee-Romeo’ to Cape Town, South Africa, and returned the following year. The
Rapide was passed on to Clacton Aero Club in 1991 and today is part of the hard-working pleasure fl ying fl eet operated by Classic Wings at Duxford,
Cambs. ALL KEC