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/images/notams/notams21/neil0725/neil0725.jpgIntroductionAnother bite at the cherry. This time we’re exploring the area aroundBrotherswater before moving over to Grasmere a very popular area in the LakeDistrict, here in this guide you can experience Lakeland for yourself so ifand when you ever visit it’ll be like coming home and as the fells see. /images/notams/notams21/neil0725/westwood-walks-1.jpgA Flying Tour of the English Lake DistrictThere really is no other place in the British Isles like the English LakeDistrict and for anyone who uses MSFS 2020 and would like to visit the areaat sometime in the future thanks to the excellent Bing maps this is nowpossible and there is no better guide book available on the planet! I have visited the area many times since my father first took me in hisnew Ford Anglia and saw Lake Windermere from the small town of Bowness onWindermere a very busy town even then. Over the years we drove all over theLake District visiting all the towns and seeing all the sights. I carried on touring when I got my first motorbike, a BSA C15, when I was16, but it wasn’t until I was in my twenties I started walking the fells, butnowhere near as much as Alfred Wainwright. /images/notams/notams21/neil0725/westwood-walks-2.jpgWainwright spent his whole life walking and writing about these hills andmountains. It was he that gave me the inspiration to write these guides, butpersonally I find it much easier to actually fly them, definitely the bestway to view these mountains. I recommend the Nemeth Design 103 which is idealfor our type of slow visual flying. Even Wainwright said "I hope when I diethere is some kind of heaven, imagine flapping your wings around GreatGable". In Volume 2 I have created a couple more fictional fields (and they areliterally fields) for us to operate from and I am starting our journey on theEastern Fells at Patterdale where we left off in the Volume 1. A good days walk is anything from 3-12 hours hard graft and you have to befairly fit. We can cover the same area by air and see much more in 12-15minutes and that's not rushing so if you fancy viewing the Lake District asnever before try Westwood Walks Vol. 1. When all the volumes are complete youwill probably know as much about the hills as the great man himself. /images/notams/notams21/neil0725/westwood-walks-3.jpgPurchase Westwood's Walks Volume 2 - Eastern Fells for MSFS 2020 Purchase Volume 1 See other Neil's Tours add-ons for MSFS 2020

A Beginners View of Flight Simulator 2020By Neil Birch /images/op-eds/neilmsfs/t/bolt-head-1.jpgWelcome to a new era of flight simulation. I have been lucky enough to have flown FS2020 for some time now(was a beta tester), and I must admit that my view is still the sameas when I first experienced it, and that is WOW! I am certainly not an expert on all matters regarding FS2020, Ihave simply flown it, but I must say, it pretty much worked out of thebox for me. In saying that though, this is the first time in my 72years of existence that no manual was included, which I thought wasabsolutely ridiculous for such a complex beast. I have been around flight simulators since almost the beginning,way back to 1980 in fact, and still have in my little black book,Bruce Artwick's telephone number (the younger generation might notknow who he is). I started on the Sinclair Spectrum 48K, the start ofa long line of computers, and the simulator was called "Flight" andcame on a cassette. It consisted (if my memory serves me right) mainly of greensquiggly lines. Back then you had to have a good imagination, but Ican still remember how cutting edge it was, even back then. The successor to the 48K was the Sinclair Spectrum 128K, but Iskipped that and went straight to the Commodore 64, which had slightlybetter graphics. It also enabled me to use subLogic's FlightSimulator II and all the scenery discs which came with it (I purchaseda second floppy disc drive especially for it). /images/op-eds/neilmsfs/t/brighton_pier.jpgAs many of you will be aware, I love microlights and small aircraft(especially farm strip flying), and so when I moved to FS98, Idesigned most of the British Isles for it, and was the first personto design a mesh terrain for the UK. I then started designing my own scenery named "Farm Strips", beinginspired by my late dear friend Bryan Lockyear's, guide book "FarmStrips and Private Airfields Flight Guide". Believe it or not, theUK has no fewer that over 300 grass strips dotted around the country. In 2007, like millions of others, I moved to FSX which was a hugeleap forward in terms of realism, enhanced further by the likes ofJust Flight and Playsim with their photographic sceneries of theUK. Again, the development of my own Farm Strips continued on thisplatform. After over 12 years on FSX I decided to move to X-Plane 11, myfirst true 64 bit simulator. Using Laminar Research's freely availablescenery designer called World Editor (WED) and FlyAgi's add-ons, plusJonathan Harris' excellent FS2XPLANE plugin (without which I wouldn'thave been able to alter my FSX files), I managed to convert some of myFSX farm strips to X-Plane. Note: If you're reading this Jonathan, many thanks...and pleaseconsider making a program called FSX2-2020. Anyway...I won't bore you with the rest, but at least now you havesome idea of where I am coming from. Which leaves us with FS2020. /images/op-eds/neilmsfs/t/fresh-1.jpgWhen I first opened MSFS 2020 I was slightly wary, as it had a similarinterface to FSW (Flight Sim World), Dovetail Games attempt atbreaking into the flight simulator genre; and we all know the outcometo that particular story. Now I must admit, I didn't bother with Courchevel or the flighttraining option in MSFS 2020, I just wanted to fly somewhere that Iknew. Looking at the world map, I was initially very disappointed bythe choice of airports in the UK (I bet I wasn't the only one).However, it wasn't until I noticed the airport search box did Irealise that I had over 37,000+ airports and airfields at my disposal! I typed in EGIL, St. Michael's (a microlight training field over onthe Fylde coast) and to my incredible surprise it was listed...WOW! Iselected it and a few minutes later, there I was, at EGIL. The grasswas unbelievable and for a default aircraft, the graphics were firstclass. So what about setting it up and flight dynamics? Well, this is where I did run into some issues, as MSFS 2020 has beendesigned to automatically detect certain popular makes of controls,but as my joystick is a specially made product from RC Simulations, itdidn't, with the result being that I had to set up virtuallyeverything from scratch (and with no manual). I did get it going, buta lot of it was guesswork, and I must admit I wasn't particularlyimpressed by their joystick interface. In this area, both FSX and X-Plane are far more intuitive and a lotsimpler to setup. I also dislike the `SENSITIVITIES' setup; again bothFSX and X-Plane are superior in this respect. /images/op-eds/neilmsfs/t/lundy-1.jpgAfter a while, I did eventually get everything working, but I stillwasn't happy with the result. Controlling the aircraft was difficult,and I felt the whole thing very unsatisfactory, so I went back toX-Plane. However, knowing that there was potentially a good sim under there,and also the fact that I have never been a quitter, I went back to itafter a while with a fresh mind...and this time, I managed to getthings working. Whether this was due to the sim being updated, or mystubborn perseverance, I'm not sure, but I am a lot happier with itnow. For myself personally, I am amazed that all my grass airfieldswhich I frequent so often, are actually included in the base simulator(albeit with default buildings). All I would like to do now, is toconvert my existing sceneries so that they are compatible with the newsim. Moving on to the flight dynamics of the GA aircraft, and I must saythey are greatly improved. With both the alpha and beta releases ofthe MSFS 2020, I wasn't overly impressed with them, but now they arereally enjoyable (especially flying with my brother in multiplayer). Due to the nature of the aircraft I prefer to fly, I have purchasedthe Premium Edition so have all the aircraft at my disposal (eventhough I have no interest in heavy metal). When it comes to the weather, unlike FSX and X-Plane where I hardlyever had wind turned on, MSFS 2020 is a whole different ballgame; it'sactually like real world flying! /images/op-eds/neilmsfs/t/ss.jpgStaying with real world flying for the moment, and as much as Ihate to admit it, but...finding my farm strips in MSFS S2020 is reallydifficult...because they don't stand out any more, they just blendnaturally into the scenery. Just like real life, they are difficultto spot, and it made me realize how lazy I had become as a virtualpilot. What I am trying to say here, is that MSFS 2020 really is thatdifferent to past flight simulators. It's such a massive leap overwhat has come before, that it will take some time to get to know. Ifyou can invest the time in it, then I truly believe that MSFS 2020 is theperfect sim, both for enjoyment and also for learning. For myself, as a 72 year old enthusiastic scenery designer...I'venever been happier! Neil Birch View Neil's Freeware Neil's Tours

Neil's Great Scottish Tour For X-Plane 11 Volume 3: Castle Kennedy to Arran-Fictional "Brave Lady" By Neil Birch Flying To Arran With Ailsa Craig Just Visible Our next flight is up to a fictional airfield I have created on the beautiful Isle of Arran which I have named Kingscross after the nearby town. Carry out your checks, load the Castle Kennedy-Arran flight plan and check the route below. Set your clock to 14.00hrs then taxi down to runway 26. Power up and when airborne turn onto heading 345°. Navigation is very simple on this flight, as when you have gained suitable altitude you can easily see the large dome of Ailsa Craig, so aim for it and simply relax. Cruise altitude is approximately 3000 feet while over the sea. After turning onto your main heading, on your right you may just catch sight of Lochinch Castle on the shores of Black Loch (only a representation). Lochinch Castle Lochinch Castle in the foreground with Ailsa Craig away in the background. Lochinch Castle was built in the 1860's in a "Franco-Scottish style" and is owned by the Earl of Stair, and although the house isn't open to the public, the excellent gardens are. On our left is the town of Stranraer, which used to be the main embarkation point for the ferries to Northern Ireland (Cairnryan). Leaving the town behind, and as you approach the old ferry terminal ahead (which used to be a military port), if you look over to the far shore, you may just catch sight of an old seaplane base, RAF Wig Bay or Loch Ryan. All that remains of the station today are the old hard standings. The rest has sadly disappeared into the history books. Just as we leave the shore, the town on our right is Ballantrae, and a young lady called Elsie Mackay once lived here. Elsie Mackay Elsie Mackay was born in India in 1893 to James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape, a British Colonial administrator in India, and Jean Paterson Shanks. In 1917 she was married to an actor called Denis Wyndham. Elsie also became an actress in her early years where she was known as Poppy Windham. The marriage was annulled in 1922, whereupon she moved here to Ballantrae, becoming an interior designer for her father's shipping line. In 1923 she took up flying, probably only the second woman since WWI to do so. She had long expressed a desire to fly the Atlantic and so purchased a single engined Stinson Detroiter. Stinson Detroiter She chose as her flying partner a Captain Hinchcliffe, and in March 1928 they took off from RAF Cranwell. They were spotted a couple of times along the way (apparently on course) but later disappeared into the deep cold unforgiving waters of the Atlantic Ocean never to be seen again! As we approach Ailsa Craig, descend down to 800 to 1000 feet so that we take a closer look around this mysterious island. High up on the southeast side you will see a small tower; this is the 39 foot (12 meters) high ruins of a three-storey castle which was built in the late 1500s by the Hamilton family to protect the island from King Philip II of Spain. Because of the remoteness of the island it was used as a prison during the 18th and 19th century. The castle has two vaulted storeys, and an oven is located in the cellar with evidence of a spiral stairway that once ran to the top of the tower. Ailsa Castle Remains Of The Spiral Staircase Three cinquefoils (Collins Dictionary: an ornamental carving in the form of five arcs arranged in a circle and separated by cusps arranged in a 'V' shape) are carved on the tower and indicate that the Hamiltons were linked with the structure. There are indications of an adjoining building that ran to the north. Because the rock was probably a danger to navigation, petitions were sent to the relevant people to have a lighthouse built on this location (built by Thomas Stevenson in 1893). You can clearly see that there isn't much living space to be had, and what is there is taken up mainly by the lighthouse station. Originally powered by oil, then electric, it is now solar powered. There were originally two large foghorns but these have been disbanded. Strangely enough, the island also had two small chapels one of which was located on the summit. Ailsa was famous for a number of years for the curling stones fashioned from its rock which were formed millions of years ago when this area was a massive volcanic mass (early global warming!) of which the craig is a remaining volcanic plug. It was here that the curling stones used by the Scottish women's curling team during the Winter 2002 Olympic were made. The team eventually became gold medal winners. I believe the Northern Lighthouse Board sold off some of the redundant buildings, but the rock is mainly home now to the thousands of nesting Gannets. Ailsa Gannets The rock face present is formed of large basalt granite, very similar to the ones located at the "Giant's Causeway" in Northern Ireland and at "Fingal's Cave" on the Scottish Isle of Staffa, and is obviously a continuous line of rock. Ailsa Craig My thanks to Colin Moody for his photos of the island. We carry on now towards Arran, aiming for Holy Island. As you approach the islands, I have marked the airfield for you which is very easy to make out. Arran And Holy Island Holy Island The island is 2 miles long, 1/2 a mile wide, and a little over 1000 feet high and has always been regarded as a holy site since way back in the 6th century when a monk called St. Molaise was supposed to have discovered evidence of a Holy Well! In 1992 a lady called Kay Morris who owned the island at the time, had a dream and gave it to a group of Tibetan Monks (wish someone would have a dream about me and give me an island!) and the island is now devoted to world peace (good luck with that one!). There are 31 recorded residents. When you depart the ferry your route is decorated by Tibetan flags. Kingscross-Base A good representation of the Holy Island lighthouse. The field comprises of dirt and is just over 1000 feet long and nearly 300 feet wide. Be careful of the trees, I suggest coming in at a slight angle to avoid the higher trees. Kings-Cross Angled Approach I trust you landed safely and I hope you enjoyed your flight, learning a little along the way about Scotland. You can set your tent up now and settle down for the rest of the day. Neil Birch

Neil's Great Scottish Tour For X-Plane 11 Volume 2: Kirkcudbright to Castle Kennedy By Neil Birch Okay for chapter 2, we'll carry on to the small airfield of Castle Kennedy. Below is a map of the airfield layout. Only 08/26 is available at present, so we'll land on 26 which is just over 1900 feet long which should be more than adequate. I was told they are having a fly-in today and I believe someone is displaying a flight simulator in one of the tents. You'll have to have a look around see if you can find it. Okay, carry out your checks, set your clock to 12:00 am, re-fuel if necessary, taxi to the northern end of the field, turn around, 1/2 flap and power up. After take-off turn onto 280° approximately and follow the GPS for 31 nm. If you are flying the correct heading you will pass over St. Mary's Isle followed by the Seaward Caravan Park on your right. Stay on heading, relax and enjoy the views for a while. Our next waypoint is Fleet Bay and Murray's Isle, which was donated to the National Trust for Scotland in 1991 and is an important breeding site for seagulls. After passing Fleet Bay we stay at sea, crossing Wigtown Bay, while down below we have more caravan parks. Further inland we have the exciting Laggan Outdoor Centre which offers one of the longest zip-wires in the country, plus archery and clay pigeon shooting. You can even ride on a Segway but be careful, the owner of the company Jimi Heselden died after falling off a cliff while riding one! You will have to be quick though if you would like to visit, as they are closing down on the 1st November 2020! If you are on the correct heading as you reach the far shoreline of the bay, you should see ahead of you, the remains of RAF Wigtown. Opened in 1941, it was primarily used for training as well as a relief landing ground for West Freugh. The station stayed operational until after the war, closing down in 1948. However, the station remained open for GA aircraft but I think it is now permanently closed looking at the state of the runways (a shame as it's in an ideal location). To the north of the airfield is the town the airfield was named after--Wigtown. The layout is still clearly visible below. Many interesting aircraft flew from this field including the formidable Hawker Typhoon below... Okay, now you can just enjoy yourself for a while as you pass over the delightful Dumfriesshire scenery. The river making its way to the sea is the River Bladnoch emanating from Loch Maberry in the parish of Kirkcowan to the north. The river then passes through the Bladnoch Distillery which was established in 1817 and is still making fine single malt scotch whisky. Below is an old photo of the distillery from around the 1960's with my favorite classic car behind, a Morris 1000. Our next waypoints are a few small lochs. On our right you should be able to make out Barlockhart Moor Wind-farm, while ahead lies Luce Bay, and way off in the distance to our left is the Mull of Galloway. Our next waypoint is the small village of Glen Luce. I have placed a couple of tractors with flashing lights on our airfield to help you, but just be careful you don't mistake West Freugh for Castle Kennedy, as they are very close to each other and it's very easily done. If you are flying the Cri-Cri, I would recommend landing on 08 because to land on 26 you drop down over a hill and it's not very easy to slow down. The runway is only open between the two white lines shown on the image below... Safely down. Take a trip around the airfield to see if you can spot the flight simulator marquee showing X-Plane! X-Plane 11 Display: RAF Castle Kennedy There has actually been an airfield at this location since 1913 when five biplanes from the newly formed RFC landed here. During WWI the airfield was used intermittently for transferring mail to Ireland as this is the shortest route over. At the outbreak of WWII there was a desperate need for training facilities and so RAF Castle Kennedy was ideal, as it was far enough away from the action. The airfield was used mainly to train gunners into how to handle the turrets in the bombers, and after six months training were transferred to an active station. In 1942 the gunnery school moved to North Wales and were replaced by a torpedo training unit. It was then later passed back to a gunnery school and this carried on until the end of the war. The airfield was then taken over by 57 Maintenance Unit and was used as storage for scrap aircraft. The airfield closed in 1946 but opened up again briefly when British Airways Silver City offered a service flying vehicles over to Ireland using the Bristol Superfreighter. This has happy memories for me as I remember making the Airfix kit when I was young. Bristol Superfreighter: The airfield is very close to RAF West Freugh and must have been mistaken many a time. Neil Birch

Neil's Great Scottish Tour For X-Plane 11 Volume 1 By Neil Birch In Memory of my late friends Sadly Missed Bryan Lockyear Bob Sidwick This book is just for fun and is aimed primarily at the microlight/GA pilots who enjoy exploring the wilderness and like testing their skills. In this book we're going to explore the wild parts of Scotland and discover areas that not many people have really seen, plus there are a few challenging fictional strips (ramp starts available). I am going to write it like all my guides in bite-size chunks. The book is written so as to be used in conjunction with Orbx TrueEarth Great Britain North, but can also (possibly) be used with any photographic scenery. However, Orbx also supply most of the AGN, and as Orbx's scenery covers "ALL" of Scotland including all the islands, it is well worth purchasing it, plus they drive on the left. In between the flights I will also fly you around the islands telling you as much about them as possible (you can miss these chapters out if you like). I strongly recommend you buy or borrow some maps of Scotland so it will give some idea of where we will be going. We start our journey where my last guide book ended (Settle-Carlisle Railway Tour) at Carlisle Airport. Volume 1 will cover our journey up to the Isle of Skye. I have created a few fictional airports on the way up as well as dollied up a few real ones. There is no need to download any other libraries as they are all included in this package. I am cheating and have designed my scenery using FSX and Instant Scenery and simply converted it using Jonathan Harris's excellent FS2xplane tool, as well as WED for creating the airports. Again I would strongly recommend a good map! For all my flights I am going to be using the Columban Cri-Cri. As you can see from the image above, it looks tiny parked up at Carlisle Airport. Not sure about the pony tail! Chapter 1 Carlisle to Kirkcudbright "Following the Romans" As I have already mentioned, I am going to be using the Columban Cri-Cri. I have just discovered this little beauty. It's a single seater so we have great visibility, two engines for our overseas flying and almost enough instrumentation (could do with a timeclock though). A great turn of speed with a stall speed of around 50 kt. Well worth the measly asking price of $15. The Cri-Cri is the smallest twin engine aircraft in the world and comes in both 2 stroke and jet powered guises. Personally I am waiting for an electric version). Oh...did I mention it's also very aerobatic (in the right hands). Starting our Adventures at Carlisle Airport Below is a map of the route. The first leg to Kirkcudbright is 43 nm @ 265°. The second leg to Castle Kennedy is just 31 nm. Use whatever aircraft you wish, just bear in mind many of the strips are grass and short. Our first leg will take us to the first of my fictional grass strips I have created near to the town of Kirkcudbright, but you can if you wish fly straight onto Castle Kennedy airfield in one hit, depending on time. First we head over to Carlisle Airport and choose a GA parking spot. We'll start our tour on June 8th @ 11.00 hrs. Load my Carlisle to Castle Kennedy flight plan, contact tower on 123.6 (not compulsory) carry out your checks, and set your weather as you like. For myself, I set visibility to 25 nm which is about right for the UK most of the time. Next we taxi around to 19. Half flaps, final check, power up and let's begin. Turn onto track when you reach 200 feet AGL and almost immediately on our left is the massive 18 hole Eden Golf Club. Opened in 1992 it has become a premier golf course and hosted the British Seniors Championship. Cruise altitude 2500 feet. Next we cross the river the golf club is named after, the River Eden, snaking its way towards the Solway Firth. Our next waypoint is the M6 Motorway which starts at Birmingham and changes to the A74M just north of Carlisle, then connecting up with the M8 motorway just south of Glasgow. Ahead lies the great city of Carlisle which obviously has its own castle. After passing over the northern part of the city with the lake district away on our left we pass over the main railway line where the Settle to Carlisle railway terminates (another one of my flights and guide books). Just before the Eden meets the Solway Firth, there is a monument to King Edward 1st. King Edward 1st Monument By Rosser1954 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50342041 He apparently died of dysentery on this spot in February 1307 while on his way to yet another of his many battles. Edward's body was brought south, lying in state at Waltham Abbey, before being buried in Westminster Abbey on 27 October 1307. The Society of Antiquaries opened the tomb in 1774, finding that the body had been well preserved over the preceding 467 years, and took the opportunity to determine the King's original height of 6' 2" which was tall for the era. A little know fact is that Edward 1st in the 13th Century expelled all the Jews from this country so Hitler wasn't the first. King Edward 1st Opened Coffin in 1747 The money this guy spent on wars and senseless killing was absolutely ridiculous and just like today the peasants paid! Anyway...back to our flight. If you are on the same heading as me (and I hope you are), if you look out front you can make out a long straight road. At the side of this road are the remains of Hadrian's Wall. Would you believe this wall is nearly 2000 years old, with work starting in AD 122 a little further eastwards at Bowness on Solway, and taking a little over 6 years to build. The wall is 68 miles long ending at Wallsend over on the east coast of England. It was a massive undertaking and word has it that the SNP are thinking of re-building it (just joking)! You can clearly see the remains of the wall as we fly past. There are a myriad of old airfields in this part of the country, if you look carefully to your left while travelling along, you will see the RAF station at Great Orton. Opened in 1943 it wasn't really active for very long, but legend has it you may see the ghost of a Wellington or the odd Hurricane taking off. Just before we reach the coast, on our left are the remains of RAF Kirkbride, while ahead are the remains of RAF Anthorn. Construction began at Kirkbride in 1937, with the runways being completed in 1941. Being so far north, Kirkbride was never an active airfield as such and was manned mainly by civilian staff. After the war the airfield became a massive scrap yard for many of the redundant aircraft; at one point there were over 1200 aircraft stored there. What a gold mine it would be today! The RAF left the airfield in 1960 but the airfield is still open to GA aircraft. While RAF Anthorn was not finished until almost the end of the war in Europe (1944)...it did go onto greater things, becoming HMS Nuthatch. Whilst not a front-line station, it was used to receive fresh aircraft from the manufactures and modifying them for Royal Navy use. The base closed in 1958 becoming a VLF Radio Station (excellently reproduced by Orbx) and used primarily for communicating with submarines. I believe there are also three atomic clocks installed here. If you look off to your right as you approach Anthorn, you may just catch sight of a small pier jutting out to sea. This is all that remains of the 1954 foot long Solway Railway Viaduct. Originally opened in 1869 by the Solway Junction Railway Company, it created a brand new route into Scotland. Damaged by the expansion of frost inside some of the pillars in 1874 this led to costly repairs (same again in 1881). The First World War saw a rise in trade but fluctuated afterwards, and by 1921 the structure was deemed unsafe for trains. It was finally closed and demolished in 1934. Legend has it that after the bridge was closed, it was still used by trespassing pedestrians from Scotland crossing to drink in English pubs as the Scottish pubs didn't open on a Sunday! It is also said quite few didn't make the journey back across and disappeared into the Solway mud forever. All that remains of the bridge today. As we fly out into the Firth, if you look left as we leave the coast you can see the remains of yet another RAF airfield, "Silloth", and being so far from the action it was used to train pilots from around the world. It was also used by Coastal Command keeping the sea lanes open. It was opened in 1939 and transferred to "Bomber Command" in 1943, operating mainly Wellington bombers. Some of these brave young airmen's graves can be seen in the cemetery at St. Paul's Church, Causewayhead, just outside Silloth. After the war, civilian operations took place here, operated by Manx Airlines, flying a scheduled service to and from the Isle of Man in 1956. One sad story during the war is of a young Czech airman called Jan Vella who arrived here in 1941 and was so well liked by the civilian workers that when he was posted to another airfield the workers clubbed together and bought him a gold watch which was inscribed on the back. Three years later while flying down to London to receive the DFC for bravery, his aircraft crashed in the Scottish hills, all five men on board were killed. Remarkably in 1973 a young hill walker found the remains of the crashed aircraft, and while looking around found the back of the watch and although he tried to find information about the man he failed. He then placed the watch in a drawer where it lay for the next 32 years until he saw an an online article on Crashes in the Scottish Mountains and came across Jan Vella's name in an article written by a young lady called Lindsay Druce. He got in touch with her and in 2006 he and Lindsay, along with a small group of people, flew over to Jan's home town near Prague and presented the watch along with a replica DFC to his daughter, Blazena Husakova-Vellova. The two images below show Jan Vella's daughter receiving his DFC (replica) and the watch (top), and also Jan Vella himself (bottom). As we leave the coast, we have approximately 22 nm miles to fly to Kirkcudbright. We (should) reach land over Southerness Holiday Village, with another large golf course situated next to it. Our next waypoint is Hestan Island which lies at the mouth of the River Urr. Back in the 18th Century the island was very popular with smugglers who used the many caves to hide their booty, and it's possible to walk out to the island at low tide. Right, now time for our landing! Check your GPS, and as you approach the field, descend down to 800-1000 feet aiming for St. Mary's Island in the estuary. You should be able to make out the strip. 16/34, 1228 feet by 164 feet, elevation 8 feet, sloping up slightly to 34. Fly around the island ahead, whilst slowing down and descending. When making preparations to land, keep an eye on the field. If you are flying the Cri-Cri, remember your landing speed is 55/50 kt and full flaps. Well I hope you got down safely. Okay I'll have a brew and end this chapter here. We can carry on our journey in the next installment. See you soon! Materials Needed For This Tour Scenery and flight plans Columban Cri-Cri Orbx TrueEarth Great Britain North Neil Birch