In Memory

 George Munro slipped away peacefully in his sleep on approximately August 5/6th.

George was the first civilian member of the branch when it was established in 1991, being formed out of the existing RAF Brampton station model club, (George had also been involved in the semi linked similar club at RAF Wyton).

Over his time with the Branch George had twice been Chairman, as well as an essential part of the planning team for the Club’s annual show. On top of this he also ran the ‘Between The Wars 1919-39’ Special Interest Group.

He was a person with a warm and welcoming personality, always willing to stop and discuss the hobby with anyone. Many members had ‘First Contact’ with the club through George at shows and other modelling events. He was also very keen to enable more people to join in with the hobby, and so a significant part of the team that ran ‘Make and Paints’ at Shuttleworth Air Shows and other venues.

Whilst aviation and history were his passions, along with enjoying a fabulous garden, none were a career path for him. That came through the world of computing, in particular network systems. A particular point being part of the Hertfordshire Constabulary team as a civilian installing systems taken for granted these days.

George’s passion for history, aviation and modelling saw him travel all over the world, both on organised trips and just with his close friend Sam. At the same time he would happily travel all over the UK to attend model shows, both close to home and as far afield as Perth and Yeovilton, supporting, the club, his SIG and others such as Bomber Command.

George will be sorely missed by those who had the pleasure of knowing him.

After several months in hospital for heart and kidney treatment Sam sadly passed away.  Growing up in a small town in Northamptonshire he became a keen scale modeller. Unbeknown to his mother he would cycle several miles to the nearby Northampton thus saving the bus fare to spend on models available there. On leaving school he had a short spell in the RAF, then working for the local council only to re-join the RAF. Happily married he and his wife, Pat raised their family in Huntingdonshire and were active members of the community. 

After many years in the RAF, by 1991 he was Warrant Officer and photographic interpreter at RAF Brampton and was a founder member of the station scale model club. This soon became IPMS Brampton and in 1992 he was exhibiting models on the club display at Donnington. He soon became a familiar face on the show circuit with the club. In 1995 Sam alongside George Munro, ran the first Brampton model show in the St Ives Corn Exchange, a small slow start to bigger things. He became the club secretary in 1996 and was in the post until 2007, having seen the club grow and move to weekly meetings on the base. His retirement from the RAF saw him continue his line of business with the MOD in London through to his retirement.

Sam had a love for the North American T6 Texan / Harvard it came as no surprise when he formed the IPMS Harvard SIG helping to create the ‘Brampton Island’ at Telford, as well as displaying his SIG across the UK.

Following the sad loss of his wife in 1995 Sam started to visit various European cities with a group of friends. This led to many motoring holiday with George across Sweden and Finland in 1997 taking in a good number of the aviation museums, both large and small. These ventures were a great success and was the start of a very close friendship. Until ill health intervened in late 2018, Sam and George covered most of Western Europe and then expanded by going on organised tours to Russia, USA, Canada, New Zealand and finally South Africa.

Such a keen and active member such as Sam will be greatly missed by our club members. He was a real gentleman who was always ready to listen, as well as being a kind and generous friend to all. Following his death Sam’s family decided to donate Sam’s large model stash to the club. The funds from the ongoing sale of these kits will fund the running of this website. It now stands as a memorial to him. 

On the 10th August Dave lost his long fight with the evil disease that is cancer.
Dave was a member of IPMS Brampton Scale Model Club for almost 20 years, being involved with most of the facets of the club, from being involved with the club show, other displays both local and up and down the UK, Make and Paints, and even a spell as the Chairman.
He was very comfortable building from kits, and had been an active modeller for many decades before even joining the club. He was a very active model maker, who was very happy to produce items for themes and events even at short notice, but also had the extra skill and panache to create his own parts from scratch, and design and print his own markings (decals) via his home computer and printer.
To many Dave was known as ‘Dakota Dave’ due to his love of the Douglas C-47/DC-3 and it many variations and users, even to the point of running a Special Interest Group on the subject within the IPMS UK.
His modelling interest however were in no way restricted to the DC-3/C-47 family, he covered all kinds of subjects small and large. An avid builder in 1/144th scale, as well as making nearly as many Aero L-49 Albatross’s as Dakotas. He was known to dabble in both armour and boats as the mood took him.
Dave also had a very strong affinity with the English Electric Canberra. These he modelled in all scales but predominately in 1/48th scale, and also covered those he had a strong working connection to. This was due in part to Dave spending a large section of his working career within the Royal Radar Establishment at Pershore and Thurleigh. Many of the UK special test Canberra fleet had been overseen and tweaked by the eye and hand of Dave in the design offices of the RRE. This includes the now preserved WT333 now at Brunthingthorpe.
Being such an enthusiastic and active member of the club and wider modelling community, Dave will be sorely missed.