A week ago we took 1264 to her most glamorous venue yet – the Guildhall in London. This was in support of a charity dinner to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Fleet Air Arm.
The sponsor of the event was the Guild of Coachmakers, which may seem a little surprising, but they have become closely associated with automotive and aviation manufacture, and the charity that asked us to take part was Navy Wings which keeps the historic Naval aircraft (Swordfish, Sea Fury, Seafire etc.) flying. We are an associate member of Navy Wings, and having ruled out the possibility of getting Swordfish into the hall, they thought of us.
We headed to Old Warden on the Thursday to put 1264 in the trailer, and to try to give her a deep clean before her big day. Number one priority was to avoid getting oil on the Guildhall banqueting chamber carpet! We stayed there overnight and headed off to London, aiming to arrive at 1230. This we did, although one of the car brakes had started squealing very loudly.
Our main concern was getting her through the main doors, which are exactly 8ft high. The centre section is just under that, but a couple of bolts stuck up and we weren’t quite sure if they would go or not. Plan A was to roll the fuselage in conventionally. Plan B was to lift the tail high as those bolts reached the door so that they would drop a little bit. Plan C was to take the air out of the tyres. Plan D was to take the wheels off and use a trolley.
Thankfully, plan B worked, and we got her through the door, up the four or five steps and into the hall, thanks to the copious assistance from Navy Wings volunteers.
Getting her assembled was a familiar routine and not a drop of oil was spilled on the carpet. By the time the lighting crew and caterers had done their stuff, 1264 stole the show.
That done and the trailer closed up, we drove to the Honourable Artillery Company round the corner where we got to park up overnight.
Then a 20 min walk to the hotel, followed by a VERY quick shower, and walk back to the car to pick up our tickets(!) and back to the Guildhall where we took our changed in the crypt and got a chance for a quick chat with actor Robert Lindsay who was the guest of honour. His grandfather was sunk – twice – at Gallipoli, and he was fascinated with 1264 and had to be restrained from climbing into the cockpit…
Before the dinner we attended a reception before trooping back into the banqueting hall, where we were sat next to 1264.
The catering was amazing. There were 270+ guests and we were all served a perfectly cooked medium rare steak at the same time! Chill ate in the hotel and had a well-deserved sleep.
Theo and I got back to our hotel, absolutely exhausted, at midnight and were up again at 0645 to collect the car and trailer and were back at the Guildhall yard by 0745.
With lots of willing helpers derigging was accomplished with Naval efficiency and speed (RN motto; ‘The difficult takes no time at all. The impossible takes a little longer.’) and we were back on the road by 0930, and almost made it to Shuttleworth in time for breakfast in the cafe. They finished serving at 1100 so we were a quarter of an hour late and had to make do with a sandwich.
By now we were pretty practised, and reassembly took a couple of hours, and we left her safely tucked up in No. 1 Hangar, awaiting the next adventure…
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How your Grandpa and my father would have loved this. a great tribute to all who served with 2 Wing!
Certainly was!