My very first flight was with my Dad , a pleasure flight around Blackpool Tower in the UK in a Jodel , G-ARDZ , however , that's another story .... Getting back to the Dragon Rapide theme , and again many years ago as a 10 yr old , I used to cycle to my local airfield , Halfpenny Green in the UK Midlands and look mesmerised at times at the old Dragon Rapide G-AGJG hauling skywards the parachutists one mission after the other . One day an unfortunate skydiver was. involved in an unusual incident . There was to be a formation drop involving two groups , one launching from a Cessna and the other group launching from the Dragon Rapide flying slighly lower but in close formation . The unfortunate individual mistimed his launch from the Cessna and immedialtely crashed through the upper fuselage of the Dragon Rapide . He is probably one of the very few to take off in one aircraft but land in another ! ... He was luckily only slightly injured . Now back to the Dragon Rapide in question . It fell into disrepair , languished at the airfield for many years before " disappearing " to a location unknown .. Imagine my surprise when I spotted it just a couple of years ago at Duxford in the UK , looking better than ever . What a great job has been done in its restoration . It really was quite an emotional time seeing the old bird again and in such good nick too . It had been about 40 years since I'd seen this lovely airplane and hopefully she will still grace the skies in another 40 .. Here she is in all her glory at Duxford ..