I recently ordered "The Tiger Club - The exuberent years" from Ian Allen Publising.
Click the image for details
The Tiger Club was co-founded and run by Norman Jones. The idea was to form an organization to allow the ordinary "not-so-well-heeled" pilot to fly Tiger Moths when they were plentiful in the UK.
It grew to be a world-wide sports aviation club with branches in Australia, the USA, South Africa, and even the Middle East. Members were required to have at least 100 hours PIC, and to pass a flying test in a Tiger.
The 1960s and 70s were the heyday of the club. it had grown to more than 700 members, and operated Tiger Moths, (one on floats) "Super Tigers", a (9) Turbulent formation team (still going today), Stampes, a Fournier RF4, and a fleet of about 10 formula one racers.
There are lots of references to Buckers in this delightfully English book (you may need a cup of strong tea and a bowler hat to read it), including the antics of Neil Williams and Frank Price. I particularly enjoyed this piece about a show the club put on at the annual PFA rally at Sywell:
Someone had discovered a fleet of Bucker Jungmanns going for a virtual song in Spain. The Spanish Air Force were putting them out to grass and avid enthusiasts over here were clamoring to get them. The tales and adventures of their journeying to this country - several were wrecked en-route, will one day be told, but one in particular was hand-picked, bought and ferried home by Neil Williams, at that time the country's top aerobatic pilot.
He turned up with his new toy at Sywell, and I didn't have to lean too hard on him to get him to agree to fly an aerobatic slot in the afternoon's display. I can still see his final approach after a showing that was, in Neil's inimitable fashion, low, smooth, and all within a tight envelope; believe me, no eyes left his performance. I thought him a tad fast, and a shade high as he levelled out to land, when suddenly he threw in a final 360 degree flick (snap), his wingtips brushing the grass as he tumbled about, and then with complete assurance sank into a perfect three-pointer.
There was a stunned hush from his audience before a wave of spontaneous elation swept them all onto the airfield. I was unprepared for such a reaction. Sure, I'd read of like happenings, indeed the old newsreels of a black mass of humanity filling the airfield after Lindberg's landing in Paris are still in my mind, never to leave, but - in staid Northamptonshire?
Definitely a recommended read, though probably not to everyone's taste :)
Steve