I like to get up close and personal

[Happy Days]

I’ve fallen in love with many ladies in my time. Most were too rich, famous or aloof to even notice me
.
However, on a recent holiday I managed to get very up close and personal with an icon of mine. Like me, she’s getting on in years :oops:  although at over 70 she looked,……just gorgeous. :wink:

  As I walked up to greet her I got shivers down my spine, goose bumps up my arms, and my throat became too tight to speak. She still sounded great to my ears, at least until the cross wind blew her voice away.

She wasn’t feeling very well at first, but after her nurses administered a little TLC she was back in fine form. :clap:

[youtube]http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=131710714[/youtube]

[Fred]

Very lucky man you are!  :clap:  :clap:

[Happy Days]

Thanks Fred,

It was a once in a life time experience

Keith

[Fred]

Is that the one that had an engine on fire last month or so?  :?:

[Happy Days]

Yes, that's the one Fred. She'd had a new engine fitted but an oil pipe had sprung a leak and that's what they repaired while I was there.

It raises an interesting question about just how 'original' these old planes really are. As the original spare parts run out new parts, made to the original design, have to replace them. None the less these are still 'new' parts made from new metals.

New or old the four 27litre V-12 engines with shaft driven double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder head sounded like a symphony of power.

It was stirring stuff. Just glad I was never on the receiving end of the items she was built to deliver.

Little Keith