R.I.P. Wal Gandy

[Airbus A346]

I have just learnt that Wal passed away recently age 80. Those who remember him will know he was quite a character. I went on one of his pioneering trips to Short Brothers & Harland in Belfast to see the SD330/360 production lines. It was quite a feat bearing in mind the situation and security process during the early '80s.
R.I.P.

[davecalveley]

Wal brought a new meaning to road trips ....its just down here ...or..theres an airfield just 5 minutes away ,,,will ring true with lots of us.....RIP Wal ....

[Beemer]

I knew Wal Gandy very well many years ago. I went to his house and was amazed at the mountain of slide boxes stacked in the corner of his living room.
He used to come to my house and give slide shows, of visits to exotic places, to all the local spotters. With his clipboard under his arm he would
walk past the guards outside some military airfield, saluting as he passed, write everything down and walk out, with out being challenged. My first
wife and I visited him in hospital when he had the operation on his head. Sadly though he passed away nearly twelve months ago and it is only now
that it has been mentioned. RIP Wal. Don't forget the clip board when you go thru' the pearly gates. Beemer.

[bulldog]

Another sad loss joining the many at the airfield in the sky. RIP

[marpleman]

Just read the sad news about Wal.

I have so many happy (albeit unbelievable!) memories of mini-bus trips organised by Wal in the 80's, where you'd basically get a 'phone call of an evening asking if you were "in" on a trip the following day, to a military base to catch some exotic deployment from overseas, to then be dragged all over the immediate area, and some, to track down everything and anything with a registration or construction number on it! A 50 mile "detour" to catch something he hadn't seen was not to be unexpected.

He talked us into Middle Wallop on one occasion, only to be politely shown the exit when a more senior ranking officer found out, but only after we'd seen what we wanted to see!

My fondest memory was of him pulling up outside a red 'phone box in the middle of nowhere with a scrap of paper with a number scribbled on it. After several minutes of "negotiation", he returned to drive to a row of terraced houses, jumped out and knocked on a door. There was the frame of a Tiger Moth in a workshop in the garden of one of the houses.
The look on the faces of the resident family, eating their evening meal in the rear kitchen, as a dozen "spotters" paraded through their home to see said frame, will live with me to my dying day!!

RIP Wal. My chosen hobby was made a lot more enjoyable with you having been a part of it! Have a tin of rice pudding on me pal!