The latest addition to the Tangmere 39 flying display line up is a Dragon Rapide – a type known as the Dominie to the RAF. This aircraft, G-AIDL, was originally built by Brush Coachworks of Loughborough for the RAF in 1946, when it was allocated the serial TX310. It next passed into the hands of Allied Airways where it carried the name The Wanderer, but financial problems for that business meant that it was seized by the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1950 who put it up for auction. Following a brief period with Goodhew Aviation it passed to Fox’s Glacier Mints with whom it served until 1959.
Passing through other hands on the way DL next emerged on parachute dropping duties with the Army Parachute Association at Halfpenny Green in 1967, which demanding work it continued for the next 10 years. More recently it was acquired by Air Atlantique in 1995. In 2008 DL was painted again in RAF colours and this year has been sold to Plane Heritage who will operate it from nearby Goodwood airfield offering pleasure flights.
