The last 'Flying Legends' show I attended was in 2003. I was there mainly to see the Royal Navy Historic Flight's Firefly - but it crashed, and I lost a good friend. Here he is:
The Chief and Junior Techs of the Royal Navy Historic Flight, Yeovilton Air Day, 2002.
The Junior Tech was Neil 'Seadog' Rix, an ex-FAA fitter and the youngest-ever member of the Flight. Earlier that year, he gave me a personal guided tour of the Flight's hangar and workshop, during which I got to climb into, out of and around some of my all-time favourite aeroplanes. I later returned the favour by telling him the tales of the aircraft housed in the Fleet Air Arm Museum, when we together toured the facility located on the other side of the airfield. On 13th July 2003, he died in the back seat of his favourite aeroplane, the Flight's Fairey Firefly, when the pilot attempted a roll at too low an airspeed at the Duxford Flying Legends show and failed to pull out in time from the resulting stall. Fleet Air Arm officers and men past and present of all ranks attended his funeral, as did I. A sad loss.
all those who fly to entertain us.
