{"id":2614,"date":"2016-10-15T18:02:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T15:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/?p=2614"},"modified":"2016-10-01T00:18:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:18:03","slug":"the-flying-f-r-o-g-or-flight-of-the-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2614","title":{"rendered":"The Flying F.R.O.G. or Flight of the Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was about 1<\/span>3<\/span>\u00a0years old I remember getting for Christmas what I considered the best present ever. This was a F.R.O.G. model aircraft kit<\/span>, a<\/span>\u00a0huge<\/span>\u00a0step up from the\u00a0<\/span>Airfix type<\/span>\u00a0kits made of plastic which had adorned my bedroom ceiling for years. The model Spitfires, Stukas, \u00a0Dorniers and Lancasters hung from cotton threads, and at night I would lie in bed with the aid of a small torch and my fevered imagination re-create air battles and bombing raids.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My new kit was a WW1 fighter biplane called an S.E.5a<\/span>, it was<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to be made out of Balsa wood<\/span>,<\/span>an amazingly lightweight wood that you could cut with a razor blade!<\/span><\/p>\n

Construction involved the accurate measuring and surgeon<\/span>–<\/span>\u00a0like cutting skills from myself,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>but\u00a0<\/span>above<\/span>\u00a0all patience<\/span>!<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0Parts had to be sanded smooth then glued and clamped\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0left to set<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0all these things were\u00a0<\/span>very trying\u00a0<\/span>but\u00a0<\/span>also<\/span>\u00a0necessary if I ever wanted<\/span>\u00a0to see\u00a0<\/span>this\u00a0<\/span>aircraft\u00a0<\/span>in flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

I started this task just after the New Year<\/span>, my preparations were mainly to commandeer\u00a0<\/span>one end of\u00a0<\/span>the kitchen table straight after tea, curious small brothers were alternately bribed or terrorized to stay well away!<\/span><\/p>\n

By the beginning of April my S.E.5a was ready<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>First off I made a carrying box out of cardboard, so that I could put all the parts away after use, and so avoid any damage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Building it was surprisingly easy, \u00a0<\/span>I even\u00a0<\/span>finished her off by\u00a0<\/span>paint<\/span>in<\/span>g<\/span>\u00a0her in\u00a0<\/span>the colours of WW1 pilot Ray Collishaw’s aircraft ‘Black Maria’, a hero of mine.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0I deliberately chose a clear still Spring day for the maiden flight, and carried the whole lot up to the\u00a0<\/span>‘<\/span>Mutton Tumps<\/span>‘<\/span>\u00a0overlooking<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Lawrence Park<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0this was in the days before the rugby pitch was built. Climbing up to the top, I took the plane out of the box and commenced the pre-flight checks, re-read the instructions and made sure all moving parts were free from obstruction? Carefully winding the elastic band ‘motor’ \u00a0the required 36 times, I launched her into the air. It flew, It flew<\/span>\u00a0like a dream,<\/span>\u00a0across the open space straight and true. I was so proud of myself, at that moment I could have exploded. Then<\/span>, it happened<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>there was a change in the flight pattern<\/span>. I<\/span>t dipped, well it dived actually, straight down like a lead weight\u00a0<\/span>and directly into a bonfire, one of the many bonfires upon what was then Pontycymmer’s \u00a0Council rubbish tip!\u00a0<\/span>H<\/span>orrified I raced down the\u00a0<\/span>hillside\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>across<\/span>\u00a0the tip, but it was too late, by the time I got there my beautiful aircraft had gone<\/span>. A<\/span>ll that remained were the wire undercarriage and melted propeller. I am not asha<\/span>m<\/span>ed to say that I cried<\/span>! A<\/span>ll that care and attention to detail and patience gone up in smoke. If ever there was a defining boy<\/span>–<\/span>to<\/span>–<\/span>young man moment, then this was it for me. I never made another aircraft<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and eventually gave away my other models to my brothers. Whenever I go for a walk up by those Tumps I always stop, and in my minds eye see that disastrous flight all over again. And \u00a0if it is a cold or windy day<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>sometimes<\/span>\u00a0I find<\/span>\u00a0my eyes\u00a0<\/span>watering<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Funny that.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was about 13\u00a0years old I remember getting for Christmas what I considered the best present ever. This was a F.R.O.G. model aircraft kit, a\u00a0huge\u00a0step up from the\u00a0Airfix type\u00a0kits made of plastic which had adorned my bedroom ceiling for years. The model Spitfires, Stukas, \u00a0Dorniers and Lancasters hung from cotton threads, and at night…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8890,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[202,201,203,200,88],"class_list":["post-2614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-stories","tag-aeroplane","tag-airplane","tag-pilot","tag-ray-collisahw","tag-ww1"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2615,"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions\/2615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.garwheritage.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}