WIN! 1 of 5 Thomas Castle Tiger Moth Print

Paul Couper painting ‘Tom’s Tigers

“In the early noughties, Ian Castle was the engineering director for Delta Aviation, which operated Tiger Moths nationwide. I had been the safety adviser to James Black’s Avia Special and, shortly after the two companies combined, I took up the same role with Delta Aviation. It was during this period that I first encountered Thomas, an inquisitive young lad just about to embark on his teenage years. Delta also operated Tiger Moth G-ADGT at this time; little was I to know the influence both Thomas and the aeroplane would have on my life in later years.

Some years later, G-ADGT suffered a landing accident while owned by the Tiger Club at Headcorn. I purchased the remains of the aeroplane with a view to its restoration at some point in the future. Meanwhile, I formed Finest Hour Experiences at Bicester and Ian became responsible for both scheduled and ‘line’ maintenance’ of our aircraft. I recall the satisfied smile on Thomas’ face as he sat outside the Bicester Watch Office enjoying the Tigers fly overhead once his engineering work was complete and before travelling home. Thomas last visited Bicester to work on the Tigers just a few days before he lost his life.

Following the awful news of Thomas’ accident, my thoughts turned quickly to how I could help Ian through a situation none of us should have to face; I came to the idea of handing to Ian the restoration of G-ADGT, an aeroplane to which Thomas, Ian and I all had strong links, to help give him something positive to focus on rather than the inevitable consequences of the accident. The aeroplane remains in Ian’s workshop, where his matchless craftmanship is visible for all to see.

Once the Thomas Castle Aviation Heritage Scholarship was launched, Ian and I discussed how Finest Hour could best support it. To that end, we have deployed Tiger Moths to Sywell to provide Ian’s team with extra capacity at the larger events and we’ll be completing the Tiger Moth flying training for two of this year’s Scholarship winners using our G-AOIS at Bicester; Tiger Moth G-ANTE has also deployed to Bicester in support of our photoshoot events. Finest Hour’s support to the Scholarship is a long-term commitment; we will continue for as long as Ian wants us to.

In memory of Thomas, I commissioned aviation artist Paul Couper to paint ‘Tom’s Tigers’, a representation of G-ADGT and G-ANTE flying in formation over Thomas’ beloved Sywell. Prints are available for sale in support of the scholarship from Ian or via the Finest Hour website, with one of the prints having pride of place in the Finest Hour lounge at Bicester.”