| The eighth annual CockpitFest was
held over the weekend of the 16th and 17th June at Newark Air Museum. The event continues
to go from strength to strength and featured almost 30 cockpits, cockpit 'rigs' and
instrument panel displays over the course of the two days. CockpitFest 2007 was again sponsored by FlyPast magazine who generously awarded prizes in several categories - these are indicated alongside the photos below. In addition further prizes were awarded by Bruce Gordon of Great British Aircraft Spares. On behalf of all attending cockpiters, sincere thanks are due particularly to Bill O'Sullivan of Newark Air Museum, and also to Ken Ellis and Key Publishing for organising yet another superb event. |
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Best Cockpit Award & Ross McNeill's impressive Canberra PR.9 was awarded the Best Cockpit Award by the judges and was voted the winner of the Reader's Cockpit Award by visitors to the event.
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Pilot's cockpit of Ross'
Canberra PR.9. |
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Navigator's station. |
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One of Neil Airey's impressive collection of Lightnings (F.6 XS922) made a return visit to CockpitFest 2007 |
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Max and Ritch Blood's Beagle Pup cockpit and... |
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...beautifully restored instrument panel display. |
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Jet Provost T.5A of David Ballicki making a welcome return visit to CockpitFest. |
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Interior view of David Ballicki's Jet Provost. |
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Another welcome return visitor was Bill Fern's immaculate Jet Provost T.3 XN511. |
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XN511's superb interior. |
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Support for CockpitFest from Aeroventure via Bill Fern and Naylan Moore never wavers. This year they transported no less than 3 cockpits from the museum - in this case a recently aquired Jaguar... |
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Aeroventure's third exhibit was Hunter GA.11 WT741. |
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Ron Fulton of the Boscombe Down Museum again walked away with a well-deserved prize for Harrier GR.3 XV784. |
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John Hoole's very impressive and imposing Buccaneer cockpit section... |
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...and it's immaculate interior. |
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Richar Parr of Retro Aviation returned with his Aero L29 Delfin. |
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The interior of Richard Parr's Delfin. |
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Richard Parr also displayed this Short 360 - a most unusual visitor to CockpitFest but a welcome representative of this often forgotten type. |
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The as yet unrestored flight deck of Richard's Short 360. |
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The rare cockpit section and instrument panel from Balliol T.2 WN534 was a welcome return visitor and was displayed by Alec Brew of the Staffordshire Aircraft Restoration Team (StART). |
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This Folland Gnat simulator was a big hit with visitors while raising money for worthy causes. |
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Tony Collins' lovely Vampire T.11 XK627. |
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Interior view of T.11 XK627. |
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In recognition of his unfailing support for CockpitFest, Simon Pulford, and his mighty Tornado F.2 cockpit, received a share of the Spirit of CockpitFest Award. |
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The interior of Simon Pulford's Tornado ZD938. |
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Hunter FGA.9 XE584 owned by Graham Sparkes displayed alongside it's restored and kitted out Mk.2H ejection seat |
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Interior of Hunter XE584. |
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Jet Provost T.3 XN549 has had a hard life with seemingly random chunks having been chopped off it and inexplicable saw cuts in bizarre locations. It's in the care of Andy Blair now so will certainly receive the TLC it deserves. |
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Unrestored interior of Jet Provost XN549. |
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Karl Edmundson's Auster TJ398 was a rare and unusual visitor to CockpitFest this year. |
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Karl Edmundson's Vampire T.11 XD607 making a welcome return visit to CockpitFest 2007. |
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Ian Brooks displayed his Aero L29 Delfin simulator throughout the weekend, attracting many visitors looking for a 'flight'. |
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John Drury's Spitfire 'rig'/simulator - equipped with impressivly loud Merlin sound system! |
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 Cockpiter's Cockpit David Collins' de Havilland Hornet cockpit reproduction was by far the favourite amongst the other cockpiters, and deservedly so. It's a very impressive achievement and shows off the wooden de Havilland construction techniques perfectly. |
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The interior of David Collins' Hornet
cockpit. See The Hornet Project website for more details. |
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Mark Gauntlett's de Havilland Mosquito bomber cockpit 'rig'. This will eventually grow into a more complete cockpit section and may, eventually, include the pilot's seat and bomb aimer's compartment. |
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David Collins' Vampire FB.5 VZ193 instrument panel. The damage sustained by the fuselage over the years (which included a section being eaten by a horse!) makes it a perfect candidate for restoration using the same techniques as David's Hornet project. |
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Over recent years visitors to CockpitFest have seen Stuart Gowans' amazing Spitfire build grow impressively. Stuart scaled down his display this year and showed off the flying controls and other components. |
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Barry Laine's immaculate Spitfire instrument panel displays. |
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Tony Dyer's Seafire project was briefly
seen at CockpitFest 2006, except then it was little more than a section of
battered fuselage from LA546 and a handful of bits. Just look at it now! See The Air Defence Collection for more details. |
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Gary Dean's P-51 Mustang 'rig' and flight simulator attracted a lot of interest and made some very impressive noises! |
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No Short Stirling (the RAF's first four-engined heavy bomber) currently survives. The Stirling Project aims to rectify this situation by rebuilding one. Project member John Lathwell has done a superb job building the instrument panel and displayed the (almost) completed panel, along with the enormous throttle box, flight engineer's panels etc. at CockpitFest. See the Project's website for further details. |
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'Spirit of CockpitFest' (joint winner with Simon Pulford) Frank Millar has been a staunch supporter of CockpitFest with his Canberra PR.9 from the very start. In recognition of that effort and enthusiasm the judges presented Frank, jointly with Simon Pulford, the Spirit of Cockpitfest Award. |
