Come Fly With Me

Don't you think it's amazing when you find things that you thought you'd lost forever?  Recently I picked out my concise guide to British aircraft of World War II from the bookshelf, only for the following postcards to fall out from in between the pages.  They were issued by the Royal Mail in 1997, when I was 12 years old and right in the middle of a fascination with the aircraft of the Second World War.  The postcards once graced the page of an aviation scrap book I used to have, one that disappeared at some point in my teenage years.  Until now, I assumed these postcards had gone with it.

Last weekend I was prompted to delve into the storage space under my bed and pick out my Corgi Second World War aeroplane models that I started collecting when I was about 15.  They've been patiently waiting, boxed to avoid gathering too much dust, until I have the space to display them in a nice cabinet.  It's probably the first time I have got them all out together, and what a brilliant little collection I think they are!  The models range from good old British warbirds to their powerful American cousins, with a few Axis models thrown in for good measure.  Between them they represent air conflict in many theatres of the war - the Battle of Britain, the war in the Pacific, North Africa and D-Day.

So what is it about these aeroplanes that make them so fascinating compared to their modern counterparts?  It's a matter of opinion, of course, but to me this generation of fighters and bombers captures the intensity, danger, horror and beauty of man's venture into the sky.  In an age before computers dominated every move, these machines were doing their stuff in the clouds - determining mankind's future in the process.

This has got to be one of my most treasured collections, and I can't wait to get them out of their boxes for good.  Even now, so many years after I started my collection, I can see one or two gaps that I'd like to fill, a few notable absences that will make this warbirds collection complete.  In the meantime, how many of the planes can you name?