34081 Naming Ceremony

Last Saturday I attended the naming ceremony of 34081 "92 Squadron" at Wansford. The event was presided over by the illustrious chairman of the BBLS, the one and only, Mr Ian Bowskill. Also in attendance were the current Wing Commander and a man of the cloth and representatives from the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne who received one of the original crests for display at their site which really is worth a visit if you find yourself in the Folkestone area.
My photos from the ceremony may be seen here https://paulgildersleve.smugmug.com/Nene-Valley-Railway-Saturday-6th-May-2017/

Regards,

Paul

 

I wondered where you'd been hiding yourself Paul, now I know.
We have both original nameplates and badges but they are too valuable - and the original badges a bit too fragile - to be affixed to a working loco. Had 92 been a flying unit still, one set would have gone back on the crew room wall where it belongs. Sadly they fly computers these days out of relatively small offices so don't have the wall space to take such large trophies. With this in mind we decided a set should go on public display in a suitable location and Capel-le-Ferne is about as suitable as it gets. They won't go on display immediately as wall mountings will have to be made but it won't be long before they can be seen by the public. Back in 1998 the replicas we had made were screen printed on steel plate but they weren't ideal and we made the mistake of having Squadron badges with a Queen's crown when they should have featured a King's crown. This time we made no mistake and managed to track down the direct successor to the company that made the originals nearly 70 years ago. So this time they are the proper vitreous enamel, correct in every detail and in effect made by the same company as made the originals.