It was 2 years ago when I sat down, in deep thought, and wondered even pondered where Brug and myself were heading. Sure, we've had great times together, displaying, travelling and getting into mischief together, meeting a few Luscombe pilots here and there but I had this feeling that something was missing. At a point, 2 years ago, I had owned Brug for 14 years, flying over 100 hours a year ( "you're flying her too much! Cliff Lovell would say) but I felt I was bit of a loner, out of touch, only flying in company with Martin Waters, Simon Hornsby and Roger n'Betty, all of us based at Compton Abbas at one point. I used to love the Luscombe fly-in at Popham, run by the ever-enthusiastic Ron Bartlett and after that I used to drift around the country 'bumping' into each other. "More had to be done", I thought…The Luscombe was around 60 years old and I felt they weren't receiving, along with the pilots the recognition they deserved. I phoned the PFA " How many Luscombes are there in the country?" I asked. "Around 72 of which 55 are flying" They replied. "Crickey!" I exclaimed. I pondered about this and logged onto the American websites and mulled things over. Apart from Ron Bartlett and Cyril Potter, little had been done to 'Pool' our resources together in the Uk and give this Classic aircraft the protection it deserved and it troubled me.

I phoned Sally,” Hun, can you come over ASAP? I need to talk to you, I think it's important." With a screech of tyres (bless her) she arrived outside and roared up the stairs. I then put the idea of forming a creditable, user friendly website to set up a Luscombe base in the UK with the goal of protecting and ensuring the longevity of the Luscombe and creating one or two events each year in which we can meet, divulge and share our interests in our Luscombes, actually establishing a medium in which we can expand with time and have FUN!

With my job as an airline driver, in a busy Charter market, this would be a big commitment and with my limited (very limited!) knowledge of computers Sally would play an important role in all this. So, having made the decision to set this up, I suggested a mail drop to all the Luscombe owners and to pester the aviation magazine editors about the forthcoming European Luscombe Rally and the creation of the new website. Sally thought all of this was a splendid idea and two years on a lot has been accomplished.

For those who may be interested how the website is doing, of the 82 registered members, 52 are luscombe owners, of which 36 are British. The site has averaged 30 visits a day by Luscombe owners over the last year. Top of the list for visits are the USA, Great Britain, Canada (only just behind), the European Union and The Netherlands (huge amount!). Other countries as far away as Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina have become members and keep a listening watch. The Americans and Canadians are certainly impressed with our efforts; 28 Luscombes on our first Rally, easily a British record, the first luscombe tour, 18 Luscombes (7 more if it hadn't been so windy) joining in as we flew the flag for this classic aircraft and 28 Luscombes in 2006, (nine more if hadn't been for the weather again!) equalling 2005. The website would now put many non-aviation websites to shame and I'm immensely proud and grateful for all your input and enthusiasm that has gone into the website, including the events we've run so far.

Looking to the future, the 2007 Rally will be held at Oaksey Park on the 4th & 5th of August and this will run on similar lines as the previous two rallies but improving in all directions, including the spot landing (starting earlier and to run over two days), the flour bombing (earlier and to run over 2 days also). A jazz band, organised by Steve Martin is promised for the evening and the curry, (never seen such a carnivorous lot!) was a resounding success and will run (Sorry about the pun) on the same lines again. I hope to break the 40 Luscombe figure and only your help (funny that) can help to achieve this. There are still around 1/3 of Luscombe owners that are very difficult to reach (no computer, apathy?) and I will be mail dropping you all again the hope I can get to these people. Word of mouth would help too.

The 2007 tour will be held over the weekend of 23/24th of June and the phones are already buzzing! The team that have volunteered to run it are Mike Cross, Steve Martin, Keith Old and Phil Laycock. I'll be on standby if needed, but judging by their internal emails I'm privy to, it looks to be a fascinating and fun filled event! This frees me up for a project, yet to be announced, as an additional event in 2007, my phones' red hot too!

Other events planned are:

A technical library link will be set up this Winter, which will attempt to cover all the service bulletins and ADs' since the Luscombe was constructed back in 1938/9 and will be available to anyone in the world (please remember to consult your engineer and the relevant homeland country). My heartfelt thanks go to Mike Cross, our technical moderator, for setting up this invaluable aid and Sally for smoothing out any wrinkles this may produce.

I will be encouraging more of you to contribute to our ‘Blog' facility, as we'd all like to hear what you've been up to! (Not those things!) This also includes your restoration projects too. (Mike!)

Morris Coulson a fully qualified Aircraft engineer and Luscombe specialist has offered (and he was sober!) to answer your questions by email or at work by phone. He also has many hours as a Luscombe pilot and is presently half way through a restoration of his own Luscombe (145hp) and is based in Wiltshire. A great addition to the team and I'll be publishing his details soon.

So, all in all, a good start so far but lots more to do!

Sally asked me were there any particularly memorable moments over the last two years and I reflected on how much we'd achieved. One incident comes to mind was of Keith Old (hope you don't mind Keith!) disappearing into the haze departing W.Waltham, as our ‘leg' leader on the Tour, to N.Weald, - we couldn't catch him! Later, having landed at N.Weald, he rushed over and asked us if we all enjoyed the formation flypast along Bookers' Runway, at their request and was met by confused and blank faces, at which point he then realised, to his horror, that he'd flown the whole thing on his Todd! I was in stitches! The second reflective moment (actually there's many others), was enjoying the magazine photos of the 24 luscombes, beautifully lined up on the grass at Oaksey - I felt immensely proud - and that was the first one too! The Luscombes were now on the map!

Finally, as we approach the end of 2006, I've been somewhat concerned about deep rumblings in the GA world and it worries me. We now have a respected and well run European Luscombe Organisation (ELO) and there have been many complimentary remarks made by the PFA and CAA behind the scenes and we're definitely now a respected organisation (the other reason for forming the ELO 2 years ago) and there have been moves behind the scenes to create a common body, bringing together Luscombe, Aeronca, Cessna, Dehavilland and other groups/clubs to voice our concerns over issues that threaten our aviation interests and enjoyment. By forming this body but still retaining our autonomy (The ELO), we can express ourselves as a more cohesive force (Mode ‘S,' and the closing down of airfields/brown field sites are just two examples) but we can also support the authorities, when required, too. With all of these groups working together we can speak with a much louder voice and I will fill you in as we make progress in creating this ‘pact' over the next few months.

Thanks once again to you all, I hope we can go from strength to strength; it's been fun! In the immortal words of Morecambe and wise: “ What d'you think of the show so far??”

Safe flying all.

Nige ‘Bertie' Barratt.

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