We all know "Aviation families", but I would suggest there are few as dedicated to the pursuit as Ron Smith and his twin Brother Jim. Ron and Jim started their careers working at the SportAvia plant in Germany, building Fournier motor-gliders during their summer vacation from university, and each went on to most distinguished carrers in aviation.Ron (Dr RV Smith, CEng, MInstP, FRAeS) at Westland Helicopters and BAE (Combat Systems), and Jim currently Chief of Division of DSTO in Australia.
Ron has written a number of books and articles, including British Built Aircraft and Cessna 172: A Pocket History. He has also been photographing and documenting aircraft since the 1960s.
I recently met Ron through the Club Fournier message board, and when he learned of my interest in Buckers, he very kindly spent a lot of time searching his collection and digitizing Bucker photographs.
These pictures are so interesting, and of such good quality that I have made a new album in the "Gallery" section of this website to house them. More pictures will be added as they arrive.
My thanks to Ron for sharing the results of his work, and granting permission to share them here.
Please visit The Ron Smith Collection to see the photographs, just one of which is shown here.
I believe G-BEDA has an orange sub-burst (aka Fiesler pattern) on the upper wing.