Well – I wish I could bring you some exciting flying tales, or at least, some sort of charming anecdote about a lovely early spring flight in the first of the light evenings of the season, but, unfortunately, I can’t.
JT, that infuriating concoction of fabric, steel tube and Spruce, still sits forlornly in the hangar while repeated attempts to track down, pin down and subjugate our master of evasion engineer, continue to prove fruitless.
All we are waiting for, is for the alternator mod to be carried out and approved, but there has been, since January, nil advance on that front and my enthusiasm for the old string bag and its rare delights are starting to get the better of my usual optimism. Likewise, my sympathy for aircraft engineers and their demand outstripping supply situation is starting to wain. What will be will be, they say and I’m sure at some point before next winter I’ll have an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the slow, rumbling delights of the afore-mentioned source of so much current frustration.
As an aside, it’s my 40th birthday today. Yep – the big 4 – Zero, and it occurred to me, earlier, that JT is just 27 years older than me. That’s not that much older and the thing is truly ancient. It has a certain sobering sort of effect on one’s view of one’s place in life.
Round about now, the reliability and convenience of a nice, modern aircraft, is starting to gain ground over the romantic charm of some old taildragger flown out of a mostly waterlogged strip. Mind you, I am a sucker for romance, and you can guarantee that the next time I bother to wend my way down to that tucked away little haven where the Auster lies waiting to be rescued, the old heart-strings will be tugged once more and I’ll be a love struck idiot as before. They’re funny things, old aeroplanes – like the old adages, particularly the one that goes – you can’t live with em’ and you can’t live without em’.
On other news, I’m working on an e-book about flight and flying at the moment, everything from first solos to flying gliders, doing aerobatics, our wonderful community and shared history, as well as , of course, old taildraggers. It is in the editors ‘final cut’ stage, to use movie speak. It should be out by the summer, or at least by the end of the summer and all proceeds for this ( all two sales of it – thanks Mum) will be going to help raise funds for the aviation charity, Take Off. If you’ve not yet checked them out, please do, and, if you feel compelled to donate, your contribution will be much appreciated. More details as and when it nears true completion.
That’s all for now – we’ll be flying for June – that’s my latest optimistic estimate. We’ll see.
Union Jack on the fuselage side. By the time Granddad got to fly 1264, they had been painted over with white, and roundels painted over the top, so that’s how it will look shortly. But we’ll know the Union Jack is underneath, and I must admit to some regret the it won’t be visible. 
The Auster Diaries 