Four from Shoreham

[SoundmanJohn]

Just to show that there was some sunshine this summer!













Another BSA M20: I should never have sold mine for £25 all those years ago...

John

[rrmerlin]

Hi John, I can appreciate your regret of letting the BSA go for a song.  I had a 1934 Austin 10 (with 16" wheels) convertible top and dickey seat.  This was 1957/1958 and we had lots of admiring glances when the top was down.  Had to let it go because my family was getting too big.  Traded it for a Standard flying 12 like the one on Foyle's War.  The Austin would have been a great hit had I shipped it back to America. Regrets!!!  Beautiful day at Shoreham and lovely pictures I am envious. Cheers.
David

[paul b]

 

          Very nice photos John.   

           Lovely looking M20, but would all the sound recording gear fit in those Panniers ??
         
     
                                     Paul 

[SoundmanJohn]

I don't think I'd entrust my current kit to the gentle ministrations of the solid rear end of the bike, no.

I drove my M20 (plus sidecar and two passengers) from Bristol to Innsbruck and back when I was much younger. You haven't experienced real pain until you've had the front linkage on the sprung seat of an M20 collapse whilst traversing a particularly bumpy stretch of road in the Ardennes, trapping your tenderest parts between the end of the seat and the petrol tank. The mere memory still brings tears to the eyes!  Rather a lot of other bits broke or fell off (the bike, that is) during the journey, although nothing really significant, unless you count the sidecar mudguard, lost somewhere in France.

I recently passed the (now derelict) petrol station just before the Hog's Back near Guildford the other day which brought back more memories of when we stopped to fill up on the way back home: the petrol pump attendant (no automated pumps in them thar days) sneered at the bike and asked how far we had to go and then opined that we'd never make it. Then he asked where we'd come from and shut up rather quickly when I said Austria. Actually, we got sneered at quite a bit, especially in Germany where I guess it was a bit of a mistake to take an ex-WW2 motorcycle, but no-one ever disputed the fact that my twenty five year old £30 army surplus bike was still going strong and giving three eighteen year-olds a great holiday into the bargain. I was working with Orlando Bloom last year and discovered that he'd bought an M20 for something like £10,000:  more money than sense, some people. Me, I'm saving up for a DBD34, even if I only ever get to ride it to collect my pension from what ever's left of the Post Office system by the time I retire.

Regards,

John

[paul b]

 

           Hello John,

                            Oh lovely, DBD34, BSA Goldstar i seem to remember.
                            As for that seat...  OUCH..     
                             Before we bought a proper sidecar motocross outfit and started racing (way back in 1977,  ) we used to blast around the farm we lived on,
                             on an old road outfit  we bought off a game keeper in Windsor Great Park for £6.
                             It had a Triumph Tiger 100 frame, 500cc speedtwin engine and the remains of a Watsonian sidecar. After a while we bought a homemade
                             motocross rolling chassis based on a BSA A7 frame,( I think) that we grafted the speedtwin engine into.
                             We started racing with a 750 Norton wasp RT2. 
                           
                               Regards Paul 

                           
      PS,  Sorry James, gone off photo topic a tad...

[Unit 53]

Not quite in the same league as some of you guy's but here goes with a couple more shots from Shoreham this year. I went on the Saturday and how kind was the weather!! After a year of wet and grey displays it was a really good to get some sun on the old dish...

Hope you enjoy...

[cirrus]

       Hi Unit 53!

       I like your picture specially the two first one! They ar as I will say,

       wery much "living"

       Regards,
       Krister.

         

[paul b]

         Nice selection of pictures Unit 53, what a cracking day.
         I've seen the guy with the birds ( cranes i think) at Music in the Air a couple of times, he had geese
         as well . It's an interesting story.   

                     Paul   

[hazel]

 wow are they real birds, i know that sounds stupid but whats the story about the birds, that must be amazing flying so close to them, i had a pheasant flying in

   front of the car the other day and my dog was going mental, wish i was a bird sometimes, well i am but not the fatherd kind, ha ha , brilliant photos, nice to see

         the sun shine,                      crazy-haze xxx   

[InfoMan]

wow are they real birds, i know that sounds stupid but whats the story about the birds, that must be amazing flying so close to them, i had a pheasant flying in

  front of the car the other day and my dog was going mental, wish i was a bird sometimes, well i am but not the fatherd kind, ha ha , brilliant photos, nice to see

         the sun shine,                      crazy-haze xxx   

Hi Hazel, yes they are real birds.

The gentleman in question, came to Duxford for the September Show in 2003 ... with some Geese.

The story, IIRC, is that he works/runs a wild fowl sanctuary in France. He hand rears the birds from birth, so they see him as 'mum'. When it is time to learn to fly, he shows them, using his microlight (just don't ask), so they learn to fly with him and like in real life in close formation. He does have an appropriate 'quacker' (or whatever it is for geese or cranes) to make 'calls' to them to kinda give instructions - if you could ever give instructions to a flock of Geese or Cranes ! IIRC, I believe, that purpose of this is not for amusement / amazement of the general public at air shows (although this does help generate some funds). But is to help thus teach the birds their migratory routes or even new routes (avoiding hazards like shot guns).

However, WRT the display that he puts on, the bit that amused me was that the majority of the time the birds formate around the FRONT of his microlight. Now as CG will confirm, leading a formation is best done from the FRONT with FULL radio communications ... Not from the REAR with a vague set of quacks However, he manages to keep them in control, even on the ground and it is quite spectacular.

I do have a photo from his Duxford visit, where all the geese were in a (very near) perfect 'V' formation in font of his Microlight ... I'll see if I can find it  and post it here.

HTH-IM