SLOPING OFF...

...the Newsletter of Christchurch and District Model Flying Club for...June 2025

Sunderland 5 G-BJHS by David Bicker

This is the converted Sunderland when it was in Ryanair colours. Note the traction engine holding back the plane with three engines running!

This is the Sunderland that ended up being bought by Kermit Weeks, who flew it to America where it is on display now at Fantasy of Flight facility in Polk City, Florida. It hasn’t flown in years, but it is planned to get it in the air again. It had been converted for civilian use, but the conversion wasn’t by the original manufacturer, it couldn’t be cleared for taking civilian paying passengers. Kermit is working on this.

I photographed it in 1987 just after the great storm of ’87 that ripped up trees across the country. The plane had just had new engines fitted before the storm tipped it onto a wing tip, damaging the wing tip and an engine nacelle. It was in Chatham docks on the River Medway for repairs when I came upon it. Prior to that, it was being stored on the hard standing at Calshot.

Whilst it was being repaired they erected scaffolding around the plane and put up a billboard display for the public. I was allowed to climb the scaffolding to photograph the topside. I’m sure that H&S wouldn’t allow that nowadays while repairs were ongoing!

In 1987 I was the southern region service engineer & equipment demonstrator for DeVilbiss, the spray equipment manufacturers based in West Howe, Bournemouth. I always used to carry a “point-and-click” camera with a roll of film in it on my trips around the country. The pictures that follow have been scanned from my photo album and are not in any particular order.

David Bicker

And here’s Marting Hardy’s version of the Ivan Pettigrew Solent, up at County MFC