Tiger moth finds new home at WW2 airfield museum
A Tiger Moth has found a new home at an airfield where dozens of the aeroplanes were used to train pilots during World War Two.
The biplane has been donated to the Bottisham Airfield Museum, near Cambridge, by the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.
Jason Webb, chair of the airfield's trustees, said he was delighted about the donation, adding Tiger Moths were "top of our wanted list of exhibits".
This type of aircraft was "the first to land at Bottisham in 1940 and the last to take off in 1946", he said. It will go on display at the museum for the first time on Sunday.
Mr Webb said: "We became aware about six months ago that the Imperial War Museum was disposing of it as part of its reorganisation and put a bid in for it - alongside other museums - and they kindly selected ourselves out of all the others."
The grass airfield at Bottisham was built in 1940 as a satellite for RAF Waterbeach and was initially used by Cambridge-based Tiger Moths from Marshalls (airfield) as a relief landing ground.
The aircraft remained a regular sight in the skies over RAF Bottisham until 1946, serving with the RAF, the USAAF and the RAF Belgian section.
Mr Webb said: "De Havilland Tiger Moths were elementary training aircraft, used to teach tens of thousands of pilots to fly, before they went on to fly Lancaster [bombers] or Spitfire [fighter aeroplanes].
"We want to put it on display to tell the story of pilots who flew them."
In particular, he said he wanted to focus on the Tiger Moth's little-known role in Operation Banquet Lights, where the aircrafts were fitted with bombs just in case the Germans invaded England in 1940.
"Luckily, this was not needed as it would have been a one-way trip for the pilots against modern German fighters," he added.
Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Anniversary flight for 99-year-old RAF veteran
Memorials planned for disused WW2 airfields
The untold story of the battle that helped end WW2 in Europe
WW2 plane's engine restored to honour RAF crew
World War Two veteran celebrates 105th birthday
Bottisham Airfield Museum
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Lime bikes dumped in rivers 'posing pollution risk'
Hundreds of Lime e-bikes have been dumped in rivers and canals since hire schemes were introduced across England - raising concerns about pollution and flooding. The Canal and River Trust said it was a national problem and was having to spend thousands of pounds retrieving the bikes from waterways. The charity said Nottingham was a particular hotspot, with eight or nine Lime bikes pulled from the canal each week. Lime, the US company that runs the hire scheme in Nottingham and other cities, told the BBC it is working with various authorities to tackle the problem. According to the Environment Agency, electric bikes pose a pollution risk because the batteries contain substances that can enter a watercourse if they remain submerged in water. The Canal and River Trust said the number of Lime bikes being dumped nationally "could be into the thousands". "Whilst the quantities are a concern, and this is a drain on our resources, it's worth remembering one bike alone can easily cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to a boat, tens of thousands of pounds of damage to canal infrastructure, and an incalculable value of damage to wildlife," said Dick Vincent, the charity's national towpath advisor. The charity has asked Lime to cover the cost of retrieving the bikes, but an agreement has not been reached. "If I'm being honest, I would like them to answer their emails and get back to us," said Mr Vincent. "They seem to be ignoring this as a problem, and that's a real shame." Toni Robinson, founder of the Little Litter Pickers of Nottingham, said her group had retrieved 23 Lime bikes from just a short stretch of the River Leen, in the Bulwell area of the city. She said she had written to Lime but the company had not responded to her. "I would like them to stop them ending up in the river," said Ms Robinson. "We're trying to keep the river clean from pollution and then we've got these bikes that are polluting the river more than probably any rubbish we've ever found was." Ms Robinson is particularly concerned because e-bikes are powered by lithium-ion batteries, and she is worried about substances entering the water. She believes Lime should have docking bays to keep the bikes locked up unless people pay to ride them. "I think young people get bored and think 'I'll throw it in the river'," said Ms Robinson. "It's just been ongoing. We pick one out and there's another one in there." Ethan Radford, deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, is so concerned he has been putting on waders and entering the River Leen himself to retrieve the Lime bikes. He said it started happening after the Lime scheme was introduced two years ago, in spring 2023. "On one particular occasion I think we pulled out about five bikes in one day," said Radford, who has been helping Ms Robinson's group. "There's obviously the environmental concerns. These things don't belong in the river. It's a natural habitat." The Environment Agency said it was in the process of setting up a meeting with Lime following "repeated attempts" to do so. "The disposal of electric bikes or other waste into rivers can cause environmental damage, affect water quality, and harm aquatic life," a spokesperson said. "Whilst we have pollution concerns, we primarily remove the Lime bikes from the River Leen in Nottinghamshire and other watercourses in the area such as Nethergate Brook and Ouse Dyke, to prevent blockages and reduce flood risk to local communities." The consensus is Lime bikes are being dumped in water by people who steal them, rather than paying customers. Lime bikes do not need to be physically locked in place at parking locations, which makes it easier to steal them. The bikes do have a pedal-locking mechanism, but this can be "hacked" so that people can ride them without paying. Ms Robinson said she had witnessed this herself. "I know people can ride round with them with the alarm going off, so they can still use the bike without inputting any details," she said. "There are often kids going past me on the street and it's going 'beep beep', and they're riding past as normal." In a statement, the city council's transport team said: "Evidence shows that it is exclusively non-customers who are causing issues, including abandoning bikes or dumping bikes in rivers and canals." Radford agreed. "It's not the people who are using the scheme that are causing the problem," he said. "It's people who come along after that, see a row of bikes, take advantage and do something stupid." Radford believes the problem could be resolved if Lime required customers to lock the bikes in bays, as some hire bike operators do. "There's nothing stopping you from pushing it around, putting it on the floor, putting it in the road, taking it over to the river, for example, if it's not locked into place," he said. Ms Robinson added: "It would stop them being stolen and polluting our rivers." The BBC put this suggestion to Lime, and asked why it does not require customers to lock bikes up. A spokesperson said: "Lime has operated a mandatory parking scheme in Nottingham since the launch of our e-bike service here two years ago. "This is enforced by accurate on-vehicle GPS technology and our new mandatory end trip photo process. Users that leave bikes outside of designated parking locations are warned and fined, with repeat offenders banned." The Canal and River Trust, which manages waterways in England and Wales, said it was a problem wherever Lime had hire bikes. Most of the Lime bikes are concentrated around London, but there are also schemes in Greater Manchester, Nottingham and Milton Keynes. Lime previously ran a hire bike scheme in Derby, but pulled out due to what it described as "persistent issues with vandalism and antisocial behaviour". This included bikes being thrown into the River Derwent. The Environment Agency, which is responsible for managing large rivers in England, said it "regularly" pulled bikes out and took them to designated drop-off points. Lime says it is "the largest provider of shared electric vehicles in the world", and it claims to provide a "sustainable" mode of transport by replacing car journeys. On working with the agency and Canal and River Trust, Lime said: "We have engaged in ongoing conversations with the Environment Agency and Canal and River Trust and are eager to finalise a collaborative plan to address these issues." Lime says anyone who sees a submerged bike can report the location, and it will "recover it as soon as possible". "We always aim to promptly collect obstructive or misparked bikes reported to us via the 'report bad parking' function in our app within a matter of hours," a Lime spokesperson said. "To improve our response time, we have significantly increased our on-street team by more than double in Nottingham." On pollution and environmental concerns, Lime said the deliberate dumping of bikes was "totally unacceptable". "It harms the environment and undermines our mission to create sustainable urban transport," the spokesperson added. "We are committed to working with the local community, Environment Agency, and the Canal and River Trust to stop this behaviour." Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@ or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210. London e-bikes being hacked and used for free Fines rise for e-bike users who block pavements London council to ban leaving e-bikes on pavements
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
NetJets, Flexjet, VistaJet Executives See Plenty Of Room For Growth
After two years of small declines following record demand spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, which peaked in 2022, top executives from the world's largest sellers of private jet flights – NetJets, Flexjet, and VistaJet - are providing a bullish outlook for the future. According to Aviation Week, the trio are already flying high. Over the three months from March to May, Flexjet saw an increase of 146% in "aggregate hourly utilization" compared to 2019. VistaJet was up 115%, while NetJets, already the biggest by a factor of nearly three, saw a 56% gain. Eric Martel, president and chief executive officer of Bombardier Inc., left, and Patrick Gallagher, ... More president at NetJets Aviation Inc., during a delivery ceremony for NetJets' first Bombardier Global 7500 private jet at the Bombardier Laurent Beaudoin Completion Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Earlier this week Gallagher told CNBC that the market for private jet flyers remains largely untapped and demand continues to be strong. Photographer: Graham Hughes/Bloomberg Yesterday, NetJets Aviation President Patrick Gallagher, speaking to CNBC's Robert Frank, estimated that despite the industry's growth over the past five years, the addressable market for private aviation is largely untapped. "The pandemic unlocked a portion, but if the private aviation market expanded by 40%, you still have only 14% of the addressable market (flying privately)," he told the cable business channel. Gallagher cited a 2020 McKinsey study that showed before the pandemic, only about 10% of households with the financial means to be regular private aviation users were flying privately at the time. The unit of Berkshire Hathaway is expected to take delivery of around 90 new private jets this year. It currently holds options to purchase over 1,700 private jets from Textron Aviation, Embraer and Bombardier. While Gallagher declined to provide specifics, he said, "In terms of what we see in future demand, there have really been no signs of slowdown even in this period of market volatility, uncertainty, and tariff concerns," adding, "We watch all the leading indicators very closely. How much are our existing customers flying? Are they giving us less notice? Are they still booking with normal travel patterns? Are they going to different places? Is travel to Europe down compared to last year? So far, we have not seen any indicators of our business at NetJets slowing down." Flexjet, Inc. Chairman at the opening of the company's new world headquarters outside Cleveland, ... More Ohio, in September 2023. He says nearly all of the HNWs who joined the company's fractional and jet card programs during COVID have stayed flying privately hand have not returned to the airlines. Data from Wing X shows that U.S. private jet flights, which had been tracking at a 3.4% year-over-year growth rate before the tariff announcements, have accelerated with 4.1% year-over-year gains since then. Domestic private jet segments were up 16% year-over-year over the recent Memorial Day weekend. In a separate interview published this week, Thomas Flohr, chairman of Vista, the most global of the big players, told Spears Magazine about the prospect of engaging more wealthy individuals in private skies. "The addressable market is gigantic and growing usually at about double GDP." Earlier this year, Flexjet, Inc. announced a firm order for new private jets from Embraer valued at $7 billion. Co-CEO Mike Silvestro stated that the company anticipates doubling the size of its fleet to over 600 jets by 2031. NetJets, including its aircraft management arm, operates around 1,100 aircraft, which would rank it alongside American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines in terms of fleet size. So, what's driving the growth? Gallagher says it's a combination of factors. For executives constantly on the road, flying privately increases family time. In other cases, customers with mobility issues find navigating big and crowded airports increasingly difficult. For others, it's about visiting the grandkids. At the same time, being able to bring pets along can be a reason to choose private flights. Last year, NetJets flew 25,000 pets, mostly dogs and cats, but also parrots and pot-bellied pigs. Another reason for the optimism is the demographics of the flyers. Silvestro says customers are entering the private aviation market earlier, meaning a longer runway of usage. New customers are now in their late 30s and early 40s compared to a market that was previously driven by users who were 55+. The next generation of customers also want to visit more far-flung destinations, creating a need for bigger jets. He coined the trend, "younger, larger, longer." Vista Chairman Thomas Flohr recently told Spears Magazine, "The addressable market is gigantic and ... More growing usually at about double GDP." His VistaJet unit has grown 115% since 2019, according to recent Aviation Week data. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images) For fractional and charter operators such as NetJets, Flexjet, and Vista's VistaJet, anonymity is also an increasing factor, the executives say. "We have clients who own their aircraft and use NetJets when they want to fly incognito," Gallagher told CNBC, noting, 'All anybody is ever going to see is that familiar NetJets stripe on the aircraft. They have no idea, no way to track who's onboard.' Both Gallagher, and Flexjet Chairman Kenn Ricci, speaking on a recent industry podcast, say the programmatic offerings they sell - fractional ownership and jet cards - are proving sticky for newcomers, meaning a broader base of core users, and few have stepped back to the airlines. Ricci told listeners, 'We are not seeing much attrition of that frugal wealthy group that showed up (during COVID).' A recent Forbes survey of billionaires found private jets as the top answer when they were asked to name the one luxury they could not live without. What's going to get 86% of the addressable market, which is still on the sidelines, to fly privately? Gallagher noted that $80 trillion is expected to be inherited over the next two decades. He says the next generation is more open to shared economy solutions, such as jet cards and fractional ownership than their parents. Similarly, the new rich are those who are making their money from tech-driven businesses. Gallagher says NetJets' highest market share is in Silicon Valley. He told CNBC, "The tech money is investing in the shared economy." A survey of Private Jet Card Comparisons subscribers who don't currently fly privately but are considering it found that 63% cited door-to-door time savings compared to airlines, 46% said private aviation would give them access to more convenient airports, and 31% cited the ability to fly nonstop instead of making a connection. Nearly 30% cited traveling with pets. Thirty-eight percent said flying privately would replace long trips by car, something that is driving more private flight providers to offer last-mile solutions. Enticing those who can afford to fly privately and drawing them in has always been challenging. Terrorist attacks and Covid drove new customers who wanted to avoid crowded spaces. Airline meltdowns, where passengers can't be rebooked for several days, cause a brief spike in demand. Product breakthroughs, such as fractional jet ownership, invented by NetJets, and jet cards, which date back to 2019 and created by Sentient Jet, now part of Flexjet, Inc., have made flying easier and more accessible, Cheap access often gets plenty of press but rarely meets expectations, and the business models usually prove unsustainable. Kenny Dichter, who founded both Marquis Jet Partners, which was sold to NetJets in 2010, and Wheels Up, which he exited in 2023, announced his return to the space last month with RealJet, an offshoot of a sports and entertainment platform he launched last year. Dichter is widely credited with helping expand the market via MarquisJet, which enabled its customers to buy jet card flights on NetJets in 25-hour increments instead of making a five-year, 50-hour-per-year ownership commitment. He also promoted a membership program using cost-effective King Air turboprops through Wheels Up. This time he is hoping the ability to offer private flights as a stylish and hassle-free way to travel with friends and business associates to his lineup of VIP events will help bring first-time flyers. Real SLX has already inked partnerships with BetMGM and FanDuel. In launching his charter brokerage, Dichter said, 'We think Real SLX's reach to over 22 million U.S. millionaires, of whom maybe 150,000 are regular private aviation users, creates a white space where we can help bring lots of new consumers into the market.'
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Pilot Killed in Plane Crash Had Lifted Wheel to Dodge a Turtle, N.T.S.B. Says
The pilot of a small plane who was killed in a crash this month in North Carolina had lifted a wheel after landing to spare a turtle on the runway, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released on Friday. The pilot and one passenger were killed when the plane crashed just before noon on June 3 near Sugar Valley Airport in Mocksville, N.C., about 60 miles north of Charlotte, the report said. Another passenger was severely injured. The N.T.S.B. said in its report that a communications officer pointed out the turtle to the pilot as the plane returned to the airport and turned to prepare to land on a runway. The pilot landed but then lifted the Universal Stinson 108 plane's right wheel to avoid the turtle. The communications operator reported that she heard the pilot advance the throttle after lifting the wheel. She said that she lost sight of the plane after that. A man cutting the grass at the end of the runway said that he saw the pilot lift the wheel to spare the turtle, the report said. He then saw the plane's wings begin to rock back and forth before it took off again. The man lost sight of the plane after it passed behind a hangar, but said he heard a loud crash and saw smoke, according to the report. The plane crashed in a heavily forested area about 250 feet past the runway and caught fire. It was wedged between several trees and remained intact aside from a few pieces of fabric, the report said. It was unclear whether the pilot's decision to lift the tire to avoid the turtle caused the crash. The N.T.S.B., which said it does not identify the victims in its reports, did not list a probable cause. A final N.T.S.B. report on the crash could take one to two years to complete, the board said. The registered owner of the plane listed on a Federal Aviation Administration website did not immediately respond to a phone message on Friday seeking comment.
