|
October
2009 |
Dave
Mason
It
is with great sadness that I have to report, Dave passed away in St
Clare’s Hospice on the 8th October, after a long battle
with Cancer. Our sympathy goes out to his wife Margaret & Mark, Dean,
Neil & Sara.
Dave
had several passionate interests in life, Model Aircraft, Motor
Racing, Sports Cars & latterly his family.
Aircraft with model aircraft predominating were his main interest.
Like a lot of aero modellers, of his generation, he was very aircraft
minded & discovered Fairlop Aerodrome, in the late 40’s That was the
Mecca for model flying in the London area, up to the mid 50’s. He was
a member of the Chingford Model Flying Club, his local club, for many
years & Anglia MFC, at the same time. Who can forget the Dinner &
Dances he organised for the Chingford Club at Chesney’s in Chingford,
into the early 90’s.
In his late teens he acquired an MG TD, which he later changed to his
pride & joy an MGB Roadster, red with wire wheels, that he was driving
when we first became friends.
All who flew at Wanstead Flats, or Chingford Plains in the 60’s,
remember him turning up on, in the MGB packed with models in the
dickey seat, wearing his peaked cap, to keep his hair immaculate after
a trip to the barber. Very suave & debonair, but a less likely
modellers mode of transport is hard to imagine.
He
worked in the model trade over some years, at Hobbies Store in London,
Aviacolour at Gants Hill, Saturn Models in Colchester then finally for
Crescent Models in Burnham on Crouch. He then drove buses for LT until
his retirement.
I never saw anything, get him down & he was a great person to count as
a friend. To this end we shared a set of radio control gear when it
was very expensive (approx 6 months wages) in the late 60’s, never
having a cross word over who would fly next, with it at any given
time.
His cheery demeanour, to all & sundry will be sadly missed by those
who knew him, especially his friends in the Essex Quiet Flight
Association & Chelmsford MFA plus his many acquaintances in the
modelling world.
Brian Austin |