The meeting on Thursday November 9 was well attended with speaker Ken Duffy presenting an exciting pictorial journey of Russia titled: Russian Aviation Adventures Vol 1.

This talk included Moscow Airshows such as MAKs at Zhukovsky air base and the once secret Soviet Airforce Museum at Monino, and closed with a section on Russian Ekranoplans.

The show concentrated on his extensive tours of mainly the Moscow area over the past 10 years, starting off with Ken and his colleagues flying in formation with the Russian Airforce training team in L39 jets in 1998 at Vyazma, something that would be hard to do today.

Moscow Monino and MAKS Airshows were covered in detail, especially in 2005 when the world political stage was different allowing USAF B1 Bombers to do a flying display, mixed with all types of Russian produced helicopters and aircraft from the manufacturers of Suhkoi Mig Antonov Mil and Kamov to name a few.

Ken and his colleagues also visited many other Russian Airforce training and Squadron bases that were at Ryazan, Engle’s, St Petersburg, Samara, including the MAI (Moscow Aviation Institute) were many sections of western aircraft from the cold war are still studied by students to this day!

The second half of Kens show finished with an in-depth look at Russian (wing in ground effect craft) Ekranoplans, covering the KM – Caspian Sea Monster, A-90 Orlyonok, the ‘Great Lun’ and Bartini prototype that now rests in the Monino Russian Airforce Museum in Moscow.

This part of the show was accompanied by a look at Kens excellent scale models of these fascinating craft. At the end of the show Mr Kelsey did a vote of thanks to the speaker.

Wings and Wheels next meeting is at 8pm on Thursday, December 14, at Dursley Community Centre when Speaker Fred Winter Presents an illustrated show titled Fred’s Digital Rail Travels Vol: 1, taking us on a railway enthusiasts tour of the UK and Europe - featuring Bulgaria, Ireland and Britain.

With plenty of Steam and Diesel traction, a ‘Winter’ show not to be missed! All welcome, the entry fee to this show is £4.00, for more info contact Rich on 01453 544489, or visit www.wingsandwheelssociety.org.uk.