Long shot paid off

As the fuselage progress started to slow down I thought it would be interesting to find out if the original guys involved with the aircraft were still around.  I duly sent off letters to both of them and waited.  One was returned fairly quickly with "unknown" marked on it. No sign of the other so was this a case for optimism or pessimism?  Optimism won!  The gentleman concerned is now 87+ and legally blind which is why he had to relinquish his 'baby' (OK it was meant to be a 7/8th 17 rather than a full scale 11/16, but what the heck....).  He was very pleased to hear that it has travelled further than he ever imagined and is in good hands (we like to think so, anyway!).  He also answered some unasked questions about certain parts of the fuselage and its workings.  Had he not told us I would have been asking him anyway!  From his letter it sounded as though it was the journey he was enjoying rather than actually reaching the destination -which probably accounts for some of the things that were puzzling us.  But a destination will be reached which will see it flying after all these years (I haven't asked him yet but the earliest record we have dates back to 1974.....).  Maybe this is the impetus we need to get things moving on the wing front so that we can provide him with a record before it's too late. (We're still waiting for a certain grade of metal to be delivered for the compression tubes.)