Left:
Heather's Standard Flying Ten and Brian Rive's Jeep at Old Warden Aero-
drome. Next to the Standard is a 1938 Hillman Minx once owned by
webmaster Peter Clarke and now part of the Shuttleworth Collection
After
an early meet at Thrapston and a slightly faster than the Standard
would have liked convoy over to The Shuttleworth Collection, we arrived
and with very little fuss considering the work Ian had done for us to be
allowed in and parked in the greens section. Being on the whole a
warm and sunny day, sunscreen was liberally applied (no burnt nose for a
change), jackets and hats arranged back into a semblance of order,
wheelchairs grabbed from the backs of vehicles (just mine) and all 21st
century gubbins hidden in boots/foot wells/under camo tarpaulins. We
set out to look at everyone else’s vehicles, mostly belonging to the
collection. There were a fair few WW1 vehicles in attendance including
two traction engines, troop transporter (I think – it was big and green)
and a nurse hitching a ride on an ammo wagon. Most of the day was
dedicated to flight displays and so a fun afternoon of trying to take
pictures of triplanes, biplanes, monoplanes, three different Spitfires, a
Messerschmitt and pretty much anything that could still get airborne. The vehicle parade at lunch time was a lovely break! Having
checked we had insurance to drive air-side, Brian and I picked up
guides and merrily pootled off into the parade trying to miss the
aeroplanes yet still be near enough the crowds to hear the cheers over
the engine noise! Departing at around five-ish to head back, we had a
nice run (all I can wish for in a car that drinks equal parts fuel to
water) and after the convoy of two split to head home during a quick
driver change we learnt an important lesson . . . if you’ve swapped your
reg plate to your display one (as pictured) ALWAYS CHANGE IT BACK
BEFORE YOU LEAVE! Thankfully we didn’t get stopped, despite several
police staring at the Jeep and Standard while we were rolling. I will
learn for next time, always put the road plate on the driver’s seat,
especially if you’ve done the convoy run on private land.