Page 4 - Nov2019

We were pleased to see Canada had a visible presence
De Havilland Canada Chipmunk DHC-1
G-AKDN — 2016 United Kingdom Tour Pt. 20
By Dave Gillespie
Somehow the Hurricane escaped my bullets and boldly taxied
in ahead of KDN
The Hurricane was a sitting duck as he lowered his
landing gear. I got as close as safely able and pointed my
airplane directly at it and just enjoyed the experience for
a moment. He started pulling away from me so I pressed
the button on my control column and said out loud ‘tac-
a-tac-a-tac- a-tac”. I was shooting imaginary bullets but
my words went out over the radio for all to hear. I was on
final approach to the famous Farnborough Airshow and
flying number two behind the famous Hawker Hurricane.
I couldn’t let the moment pass without taking a shot at
him. Everyone on the frequency heard my voice and no
one said a word. They all understood and probably would
have done the same thing given the opportunity. And
what an opportunity this was.
The Farnborough Airshow history dates back to the
1920’s and was one of the very first public events that
KDN was displayed at in 1947. Farnborough was the first
event to offer KDN an invitation to attend and was the
motivation for us to plan the UK tour. The event was
everything we expected. KDN was greeted as special and
put on display show center right beside the Airbus A380
that put on an impressive flying display.
with a large display building and every participant’s
credentials were branded with Canada. KDN fit right in
as the Canada Aviation and Space Museum
Ambassador.
This is a world-class event with aircraft and visitors
from every country. We met and visited with hundreds
of people who all took great interest in KDN’s history
and the Museum’s association with it. The people we
met were great. Lots of children with a keen interest in
aviation. They asked a lot of smart questions and were
thoroughly engaged with KDN. One lady commented
she had seen a news clip of Sonja Fillingham flying with
me in KDN. I was surprised when she told me she was
watching the news on her TV in Cape Town, South
Africa at the time!
James’s wife Carolyn and two son’s Charles and
William joined Karen and Me at the Royal International
Air Tattoo and here at Farnborough. It was bittersweet
having them here without James. He would have really
enjoyed this. Karen and I departed with KDN the
following Monday. It was sad to see the exhibits being
dismantled and aircraft departing for destinations
around the globe. It was a real accomplishment for us
to have flown KDN into Farnborough 69 years after it’s
first appearance. It closed a loop and for me it helped
reach some closure with the loss of my KDN partner
James. We can relax now for a bit and look forward to
participating in some much more grassroots flying
events. As it turns out in a week KDN would have
another once in a lifetime reunion.
To be continued...
What's Open or Closed?