Peter Elliott

Splendid lunch at @Lussmans #StAlbans for Gill's belated birthday. We are well fed up and agreeably drunk, having been looked after very well by Emily. Now watching cricket in the park from a shady bench, trying not to fall asleep!

@JaneFranklin99 I think thos two may have been part of the nine that flew over Hatfield yesterday. #AhdeHavilland

Two flying over Alrewas in Staffordshire yesterday.

@scottyeders The Varsity was still being used for initial navigator training in the mid-1970s, with the Dominie being used for advanced training.

In 1965, 20 specially equipped HS.125 Series 2s entered service as the Dominie T1 – the first jet-powered navigation trainer designed for the RAF. Named after the Latin for “teacher.” It replaced piston types like the Varsity. Students sat facing rearward in a classroom-style cabin with radar & nav gear. The Dominie trained navigators for Vulcans, Victors, and later fast jets. It was upgraded in 1996 with new radar for modern avionics training. Served over 45 years until retirement in 2011.

The Hawker Siddeley HS.125 (later BAe 125) was a sleek British twinjet business jet that became a trainer, VIP transport, and more. Here’s its RAF story. 🛫🇬🇧 Designed by de Havilland as the DH.125 “Jet Dragon” in the early 1960s. First flight 1962. Became HS.125 after mergers. One of the earliest successful mid-size business jets with over 1,000 built, hugely popular in North

@LydiaJane13 So you’re going to Manchester, my wife is going tomorrow, and our German friend will also be there. Am I missing out on something?

To Manchester! Last time I was there I almost got run over by a tram and was then offered drugs, all in the space of 5 minutes.

@DM_Vincenzo @benmoores2 We were there today. Indeed a remarkable collection, but the aircraft collection seemed in a very poor state: dusty, many with flat tyres and some sections (especially the early aircraft) closed off.

@benmoores2 The Royal Military Museum in Brussels: a bit old fashioned but that collection is just mind-boggling (one of the most impressive collections of armours out there)

A thread on the seven worst military museums and seven best military museums around the world. Buckle in for a dark to entertaining ride. Starting with the worst....

@odavies9 Shocked to hear this. Best wishes to you, Katrina and all your colleagues who will be affected.

So, my university is wiping out all Humanities teaching.

@oaksandlions The film seems to be from the 1920s - the climbers are wearing steel helmets, probably war surplus. The cliffs at Bempton are now a sanctuary run by the RSPB.

In the Victorian era, Englishmen would risk their lives climbing down sheer cliffs to collect seabird eggs by hand. They were known as "Climbers", or “eggers”, and were mostly found along the sea cliffs of Yorkshire. It was brutally dangerous work. Using little more than ropes and crude harnesses, they lowered themselves hundreds of feet above crashing waves onto narrow ledges crowded with nesting birds. Falls were not uncommon. Guillemot eggs were especially prized. Their unusual pointed shape helps stop them rolling off cliff edges, and each egg also has its own unique pattern and colouring. At the height of the trade, thousands of eggs were taken every season. On the Yorkshire coast alone, collectors were taking an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 seabird eggs every year during the 19th century For many coastal communities, this was not seen as adventure or sport. It was simply hard, hazardous work tied to life by the sea. Today the practice is illegal, but the old climbing routes and stories still remain along parts of England’s coastline. Could you have done a job like this? Follow @oaksandlions for more interesting posts like this. #England #EnglishHistory #VictorianEngland

Scarborough Harbour. Not the best of photos, but Regal Lady was one of the #Dunkirk Little Ships. I wonder whether my Uncle Ron (2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards) was one of the 1200 she brought home. More details at nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/180/r…

In #Scarbados, helping the daughter move into her first flat. This is the view from her living room.

The turtle moves!

@Bishop_Beesley @clark_aviation Agree that FIC at 1918 is a Second Class fix. Perhaps a typo?

Question marks shows those I'm unsure of. PL/A703 - don't know where this is but it's the assigned patrol area. ASC N/F - Aircraft Serviceability, No Faults (?) DER Short for Derange (well known A/S operation), Flown in this case by an Operational Training Unit, numeral 1, probably refers to a specific unit. GARE AR, Probably a navigation marker, AR standing for arrival S/C, Submarine Contact (?) FIC, Radio Location Fix (?)

I've been asked to try translate the highlighted abbreviations on this Coastal Command form for somebody and I'm not really getting very far. Has anyone who's spent time in RAF World War Two archives any suggestions please? I've obviously got OTU.

@clark_aviation S/C - Set Course.

The second Battle of St Albans (17 February 1461) was fought in part on Bernards Heath. Sandridge Road, which runs across the heath, is lined with cherry trees whose red and white blossom represents the Lancastrian and Yorkist forces.

@models_by_Russ Flamborough. But if the sun is close to the old lighthouse, wouldn't that be sunset, rather than sunrise?

Morning you lovely lot… It’s Saturday, it’s Easter weekend, and for once the calendar has thrown us a bone. Four-day weekend for some… for the rest of us, it’s just “Saturday with extra resentment.” Shops are chaos, roads are carnage, and someone, somewhere, has already burnt the first batch of hot cross buns. Tradition. If you’re off—enjoy it properly. If you’re working—keep it steady, get it done, and remember: double pay makes everything taste better. And if you’re queuing for petrol, B&Q, or a garden centre like it’s Glastonbury… Have a word with yourself. Go on—make it a good one

@OfficerofEngin1 Hawker Tempest II?

My great uncle George served on Wellington bombers out of N.Africa in WW2. He took this photo of a fighter sqdn on the same airfield. Is anyone able to ID them?

@almurray Forgive my nerdery, but it was the Telecommunications Research Establishment, then based at Worth Matravers on the south coast. After Bruneval it was realised that the Germans could mount a similar raid, and TRE moved to Malvern in Worcestershire.

Flt Sgt Charles Cox MM on his way back from Bruneval. He is quizzed on the MGB by a member of the Technical Research Establishment. "Now Flt Sgt I want a description of everything you saw before memory becomes clouded." "Permission to be sick, sir" I countered never having been to sea before. "At the moment greater issues than your physical comfort are at stake."

@harwich1418 And finally... He started at 10 Cadet Wing, St Leonards, in September 1917 (for officer training) then went to Schools of Military Aeronautics at Reading and Oxford before going to [a] School of Instruction at Hendon. Commissioned as a 2Lt on probation 1/1/18, confirmed 30/9/16.

@harwich1418 Not as far as I can see. It does mention that he had flown Grahame-Whites (therefore the Middlesex Hendon) and Avros, and that he was a civilian clerk with the Army Service Corps in Harwich from 30 August 1914 to 30 March 1917.

Whenever I visit Harwich museum this story always makes me laugh.

@clark_aviation Here's the aircraft being recovered. My paper on Alcock and Brown's competitors (most of whom had only one engine) is at: aerosociety.com/media/14054/pa…

The Short 538 'Shamrock' was a specially converted aircraft, intended to fly the Atlantic via the (harder) East to West direction, in April 1919. Unfortunately (despite its 'lucky' name) the aircraft's engine failed, and it ditched, whilst flying to Ireland to start its attempt!

@harwich1418 To add to the confusion, there's another Frank Leslie Smith, who was reported missing on 29 September 1917 and became a POW.

@harwich1418 His service record (AIR/76/470) shows him at various training squadrons from August 1918, culminating at No. 2 Fighting School in October - just in time for the Armistice. He was admitted to hospital in January 1919 and transferred to the Unemployed List in April 1919.