Mr Revhead wrote:Tim Wallis.
He crashed because he was used to his early Spitfire that was Merlin powered. The one he crashed was powered by a Griffin (?) which rotates the other way. So on take off you need to correct the rotational torque of the engine and he automatically did it for the Merlin. With the result of ending up parked on his head. He suffered brain damage from that crash and I'm pretty sure that was the end of his flying.
He pretty much is single handedly responsible for the amount of warbrids in NZ. With out him Warbird over Wanaka would not exist.
He was also the patron of my ATC squadron and helped pay for us to go flying!
So IMO he is a legend.
He was a legend in my books to.... until he decided to split his collection and sell overseas I was so hoping that they would all stay in NZ...
Merlin engine = The best motor ever!!!! Love the noise, smoke everything about them. Seen a WW2 tank with a Merlin motor in it... what a noise!