1988 was the 50th anniversary of the record seaplane flight to South Africa by the top half of the Mayo composite pair. A small group of model enthusiasts gathered to consider making flying model models of Mercury and Maia. It was to be the magnum opus of modelling and would cost a small fortune. Plan was to fly from the original take-off point on the Tay Estuary at Dundee' date=' the Mercury would then fly up river to Perth. Controlled from a power-boat, it would alight near a waitng Post Office van which would transfer specially franked letters carried in Mercury to be taken to the regular mail-plane to London. South African Airways would take these and another(or the same) Mercury to be given to South African modellers to alight on the Orange River where the original full-size finished it`s flight. Sponsorship was sought from the obvious sources ,British Airways (no , "Concorde and the future..."), Castrol, Champion Plugs, Virgin , BBC. ITV , all no interest except SAA and GPO. Dundee City Council spent £10,000 on a stone cairn with plaque instead. The pilot of Mercury was Air Vice Marshall Don Bennet ,later to become leader of the "Pathfinders" in WW11. He was interested in the project and came and had a look at various large model flying-boats of Jeremy Shaw`s stable. It all came to nought. Today , as far as I know, the record still stands. The mega model world has changed in years since that meeting. The LMA have changed modelling and large model exhibition flying is normal at shows. TV has dabbled a bit(Supermodels) but still havent got it right. How about trying again with surely an amazing piece of British aviation history? Geoff Reichlet has Short`s C-class mouldings that could be converted. Oh by the way, the group of modellers who thought about all it those years ago were Richard Crapp, Len and Richard Rawle, Jeremy Shaw,David Boddington, Neil Tidey(Laser Engines), Roy Tassel (founder BWA) and a wee Scotsman that got jostled by the anti-apartied protesters when he went into South Africa House to meet the Air Attache and Sports Minister....guess who !:dontknow:[/quote']*** What a great story Duncan ! I must admit that I was not aware of such a worthwhile project all of those years ago,thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Going back even further does anyone remember a stalwart called Fred 'Taxi' Borders ? Fred was working alongside the Electronics Development company ( ED engies and radio gear ) to fly a model across the English channel,he built a Douglas Dakota with asymetric engine control to attempt to steer the model across the channel,Fred carried the model atop his FX4 taxi and was a well known sight around the London area,nothing became of the project but by chance a friend acquired that very Dakota many years later,I wanted him to rebuild her to flying condition but alsa the inferior balsa cement cused in its construction deemed the model had to be scrapped,we dont realise how lucky we are today with these modern adhesives ?
Anyway just another snippet of our modelling past to savour.
PS-Fred was a mathamatician and once appeared on the TV programme 'Opportunity Knocks' hosted by Hughie Green,how amazing that such a talented person should be diving a taxi around London ? but that is life some people prefer mundane tasks in their everyday life,the tragedy of his untimely death was a terrible shock to everyone who knew him.
