Well after several trips to Robs and all the photos and waffle about how beautiful Stamford is, Mrs Neiwil decided it was time to see for herself. Rob kindly threw open his doors and put us up for a couple of nights and another trip ensued. We piled into the car and headed for Old Warden, home of The Shuttleworth Collection....Karen to her credit stayed with Rob and I through the first 2 of 7 hangers and then went looking for the exit. Karen came to see some 'different wings' and was very happy by the end of our visit. Everything is pre 1945 and most things are WWI vintage, the vast majority being original.This would cause many collectors to lock things away, safe but The Shuttleworth Collection doesn't do 'static', EVERYTHING runs....planes, cars and motorcycles. Sadly we didn't visit on a 'flying day' but we were treated to the sight of this wonderful De Havilland DH89a Dragon Rapide, Rob caught it taking off and I got it landing. After successful internal British flight operations with the four passenger, Gipsy Major engined Fox Moth biplane, Hillman Airways of Romford, Essex, encouraged de Havilland to provide a twin engined, longer range version able to operate flights across the Channel. By November 1932 this had resulted in the six passenger Dragon which was sold to various airlines as well as to several foreign air forces. Then, in 1933, DH designed and built their first four engined machine, the ten seater DH 86, to an Australian government specification for an airliner to operate safely across the long stretches of sea at their end of the England-Australia air route. The 86 was adopted by airlines in Australia and elsewhere and 62 were built in all by 1937. With the success of the Dragon and the introduction of the six cylinder Gipsy Six engine, designed by de Havillands Major Frank Halford for the DH 86 it seemed a logical step to build a faster, more capacious and refined Dragon. Thus was born the Dragon Rapide, in effect a scaled down version of the 86 with a similar hollow plywood box fuselage, for maximum unobstructed internal space, external sound proofing and spruce stiffeners, and similar tapered wings and engine nacelles above trousered fairings for the fixed undercarriage. The prototype Rapide, as the machine was to become universally known, first flew in April 1934 and the aircraft was soon adopted by many airlines. In 1936 the 89a version evolved by fitting small flaps under the lower mainplanes, many earlier machines being converted to that standard during overhauls. By the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 205 had been built, many of which were impressed into the British armed forces as Dominies and used for personnel transport and radio navigation training. Also, despite the relative lack of success of earlier attempts to market a military version, more than 500 specifically military Dominies were built, powered by an improved version of the engine, designated the Gipsy Queen, bringing total production to 731. This aircraft was built in 1945 as a Dominie by Brush Coachworks Ltd at Loughborough, GSH was civilianised as a D.H.89a and first registered to Channel Islands Airways Ltd of Jersey in July 1945. It then went to the Minister of Civil Aviation from November 1946 to January 1947 before spending nine years with BEA who operated a large fleet of Rapides which they grouped into the Islander class in 1950. GSH was then given the name James Kier Hardie. Subsequently it has passed through the hands of many owners, including more than half a dozen small airlines (and BEA again in the early 60s!), a short spell in Ireland as EI-AJO, and the RAF Sport Parachute Association at Abingdon before coming to Old Warden in 2009 with its present owner, Philip Meeson. THANKS ROB!