21/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Another day at Earls Colne today… but my last for a few or so. Weather wasn’t the best for May - but I did manage to get a flight in… I’ll soon have more hours than Nigel (Oh yeah - says Nigel!) Bill and Hazel wanted to take me on holiday to Spain with them on Wednesday, but I’m too busy - I’m off the SAR (Search and Rescue) Wattisham tomorrow and then I’m going out to Canada with Howard Cook at the weekend… wow! This is where I’m hoping to get my other Lancaster flight to complete my set of three!! We had a busy night today - all the photo’s we had printed needed putting in albums… there were loads Still need to see if there are some BBMF ones of me… Nigel’s got to speak to Di to find out. Also had to write my thank yous for all my recent flights and to enclose some photos. Still can’t believe how lucky I was yesterday… a real big thank you to Tracy Woods and the airfield manager for allowing us to do what we did… Thanks so much guys - and hope to do it all again soon!!

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20/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Exciting day – Duxford Spring Show & Nigel has managed to get me a pass for the pilot’s tent – excellent!! Caught up with Brad R (he hasn’t read my comments yet on the wedding!) & also meet Big Nose (& his wing-walking girlies), & Richard Grace again (oh yes his mum has a Spitfire :-)). Tracey the PR lady loved me & wanted to take me home … well I loved the trousers Tracey … buy my tickets & you might win me!  Well it was great to mingle with real display pilots & I managed to secure a flight with Barry Jones in the Blue Eagles … in the Lynx! We barrel rolled, looped the loop & done some ½ Cubans to turn around … & it was in a helicopter!! Then I went with D Traill in the Chinnock – that thing may look big & heavy on the ground – but it’s great in the air! And I got to be the VIP person who waved from the back … so glad it was the glove that he dropped & not me!! Finally I got to fly on Sally B – in the nose turret – fantastic. To top off a brilliant, brilliant day I need to go & watch BBC Look East to see if I made it onto TV!!

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19/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Opened the curtains today … lovely sunshine – but rather windy … don’t worry says Nigel – we’ll be flying! Took off in the Yak … ooh it was windy … Deb had a go at flying but she was useless – the wind buffeted her everywhere. I was so glad when she handed control back to Nigel … until he said let’s practice a stall … oh no – Debs take control back! Well it was windy, JB has a new prop (which still needs fine-tuning on the balancing of it) & Nigel kept the stall going & going (in his role as teacher of course!) … oooh I was ‘shaking all over’ !! I was so relieved when Debs didn’t have a go Got to Norwich but found it was too windy for Debs to have a lesson (ooh good – no more stalling today then!) so we stayed at Happy Landings with Dale & Andrea coz Emily & Elliott were so pleased to see me again  Had a less windy flight home … ooh goodie – with Debs practicing her flying skills … well they were better than this morning!

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18/05/2007 by Pudsey.

I was all ready to be lucky mascot for Mr Sims … & then he didn’t go for his test – some error with the paperwork But I did get some flights in today with Roger – goodie! We went to Andrewsfield again & also a local flight. I really must get Nigel & Debs to pop into Andrewsfield it’s a nice little place … & of course they all know what a Superstar I am there When I wasn’t flying I spent some time with Carolyn the cash & Victoria the firewoman … they were kept busy on the radio so didn’t get much of a chance for a girlie gossip today!! Ooh busy night today coz Nigel was playing teacher for Debs groundschool … ooooh he’s a hard task master – Debs was kept hard at it for hours They were looking at her lesson for tomorrow … stalling. Oh no I’ve already done that at Earls Colne … not sure my nerves are ready for Debs to practice the recovery! Early night I think for tomorrow’s lesson … better make sure I say my prayers tonight

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17/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Day at Earls Colne today with Carolyn – keeper of my draw cash & Victoria the firewoman … bit of a ladies day today – well they do all fall for my charms - & who wouldn’t!! Got to do some flying today – inspite of the mediocre weather. I went with Roger & also Mr Sims for some last minute practice for his test tomorrow … well I did offer my services as a lucky mascot – it seems to work at Anglia Flight – but I think he’s too nervous to even consider that! Well good luck for tomorrow. We had a meeting tonight about the Elmsett Open Day on 07-07-07 … looking good so far It’s based on transport through the ages & has all kinds of things from vintage cars to modified cars to horses to motorbikes & of course planes – lots of them!! Nigel & I are going to be displaying so it’s worth a visit just to see that Denny Dobson (oi! – watch the smoke), Maurice & Janie, the Dakota & various others are dropping in too – might even get an Apache – wow! Old Dave Fixit is planning a nice treat too …

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16/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Great another no-flying rainy day today - you can have enough of a good thing you know!! Found out that my boot is at Norwich - it was delivered with the wedding presents and wasn’t found until Saturday (when we were in Glasgow!). We will collect it on Saturday when we go up for another lesson for Debs… ooh no - better find my nerves of steel then!! We also have a present for the new baby - Debs found a newborn baby flying suit on eBay - it’s great, but it’s too small for me - wow! Hope Dale and Andrea like it Definate photo night tonight… we’ll get the printing sorted and get the web site up to date - well Nigel will when I get my whip out! We’ve also been planning the Elmsett Open Day today and Nigel has managed to secure a fly-by by Maurice Hammond in his Mustang Janie - ooh Debs will be pleased… but she’ll be even more pleased coz Nigel has managed to get Janie for her birthday party too in October… oooh at last - Nigel has come up trumps… I can hear Debs screams of delight from here!!

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15/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Another quiet, rainy day today - I went and logged onto the forum today - Dale has posted some pics of his wedding on there… including the lovely Andrea with the Spitfire… aah what a great picture! There’s quite a few comments regarding the wedding too… most memorable is Brad R’s report - loved the apology at the end and it’s OK Brad, Megan says apology accepted!! And also Brad, Nigel says it’s OK he managed to cope with your dodgy formation flying… well he’s had plenty of practice from flying with Dale All I want to know is how did I manage to miss out on a drink of single malt with Dougal and Brad?? Also found out that Dale and Andrea had a private Spitfire flyby at Dunston Hall on Saturday - well done Major… makes up for missing out coz of the bad weather on Friday Love this forum - you can have great fun on here… almost as much fun as writing this diary!! Right what comments shall I post now - sure I can think of something to write about Dale…

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14/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Quiet restful relaxing day today - hurray! I stayed in bed until about 11 o’clock - wonderful and it didn’t matter coz it was raining on and off today - hardly the weather to go flying in. I spent some time going through the photo’s from the weekend and the wedding - aah Andrea looks lovely… I could marry her myself!! Ooops I can feel “the look” from Dale from here!! Really love the wedding pics that were taken by the Spit Another good one is me and Kevin Keegan - it’s great to be rubbing shoulders with other superstars… after all we superstars must stick together! Need to get Deb onto the case of sorting these photos out for printing for my album… guess it must be full now! Also need to get Nigel to put them up on the website… ooh he’s sooo slow you have to keep nagging him to do stuff! Tonight we went to Ipswich Radio Controlled Model Club where Nigel presented the “yak Chat”, and this time it wasn’t a disaster as the projector actually worked!! I also went along to promote my Children In Need raffle and these lovely people bought £119 worth of tickets - wow!! Thanks guys you really are great!

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13/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Another flight - back to Stansted from Prestwick with RyanAir again. Was hoping that it would be Uncle Richard flying but alas no - it was the Prestwich crew - but they were still nice! Another quick flight with me in the cockpit again… bit of a turbulent flight home - but I coped magnificently according to the captain… but of course - what do you expect!! I really do like flying on the big jets - I get to turn the seat belt signs on and off - hee hee that’s great fun if you do it at the wrong time!! I’m also getting good at reading their maps as they’re different to the General Aviation ones - they just use Flight Levels to fly. The only complaint I have though is that the captains are too chicken to do any aeros… you can easily barrell roll a jet and no-one on board would ever know - but I just can’t get them to do it!! Next time I’m on board I’ll just have to take over flying and do one - just to show them how it’s done!! Thanks again RyanAir guys you’ve been great and I love flying with ya!!

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12/05/2007 by Pudsey.

Another busy day today - we had to be up early to catch a RyanAir flight from Stansted to
Prestwick at 08:40 :-)As usual I managed to secure my place on the flight deck - much to Debs disgust - she’s longing to fly on the jump seat It was a good quick flight there and then we had to drive to Greenock to watch Ben and the 21st Ipswich Boys Brigade in the national 5-a-side competition. It was a good day and the boys played well finishing 5th overall. They had their trophies presented by Kevin Keegan - wow! I go to meet him afterwards and he wanted to have his picture taken with me (well superstars together :-)) He also signed an autograph for me which will go to the winner of our raffle - ahh lovely man! After all that excitement, Mattie, Nigel, Debs and me of course headed off to Glasgow for a meal - lovely We had to try to get an early night to head back to Stansted tomorrow, but that went out of the window when we were watching the Eurovision song contest - poor UK finished 2nd from bottom… I liked the song - “Flying the Flag (for you)” - very aviation !!

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