Now I had no idea that the Woolwich Ferry would fall through our letter box today.
I say the Ferry but it was one of those cut away diagrams which featured in the Eagle Comic.
All of which made it a nice double whammy because as everyone knows I have a “thing” for the Ferry, but also because The Eagle was and still is my comic.
It was launched in 1950 and around 1959 I discovered it in the classroom of 3B in Edmund Waller School on one of those wet playtimes, and I was hooked and I spent a chunk of the ‘90s buying up copies, eventually splashing out on whole volumes.
But Vol 13 No. 32 which came out on August 11 1962 wasn’t one of them although it will have been one I read.
And now it has joined the collection which is all due to Tricia who knowing my fascination for the Ferry found it on eBay and the rest was a click of the mouse and a trip to the post office.
It arrived today and I am a very happy chap.
The cutaway diagram was one of the most popular features of the comic and week in week out we would be treated to the workings of the Routemaster Bus, the Spitfire, endless submarines, railway locomotives and even a series on atomic powered vehicles, including an aircraft and rocket.
It fitted the optimistic 1950s when all things seemed possible, including the fact that the top test pilot for Space Fleet would Dan Dare who had been born in Manchester and the head of the organization would not be an American or a Russian but Sir Hubert Guest.
That said Space Fleet was under the direction of the United Nations.
By the time the Woolwich Ferry appeared Dan Dare had been bundled away to the inside and LT. Hornblower, RN carried the front page while the cutaway now sat at the back.
None of this has diminished my pleasure at re-reading an old friend after fifty-six years.
And yes I have poured over the cutaway and even fancy I have located my favourite seat.
So here for all is the cutaway with special thanks to Tricia and links to stories about the Eagle Comic*, Comics of the 1950s**, and Eagle Times***, which is the journal of the Eagle Society
Location; Woolwich, 1962
Picture; The New Woolwich Ferry and the front cover of the Eagle, Vol 13 No.32 August 11 1962
*The Eagle; https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Eagle
**Comics of the 1950s, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Comics%20of%20the%201950s
*** Eagle Times, Annual subscription UK £29, overseas £40, and as a start you can visit the site https://eagle-times.blogspot.co.uk/
All of which made it a nice double whammy because as everyone knows I have a “thing” for the Ferry, but also because The Eagle was and still is my comic.
It was launched in 1950 and around 1959 I discovered it in the classroom of 3B in Edmund Waller School on one of those wet playtimes, and I was hooked and I spent a chunk of the ‘90s buying up copies, eventually splashing out on whole volumes.
But Vol 13 No. 32 which came out on August 11 1962 wasn’t one of them although it will have been one I read.
It arrived today and I am a very happy chap.
The cutaway diagram was one of the most popular features of the comic and week in week out we would be treated to the workings of the Routemaster Bus, the Spitfire, endless submarines, railway locomotives and even a series on atomic powered vehicles, including an aircraft and rocket.
It fitted the optimistic 1950s when all things seemed possible, including the fact that the top test pilot for Space Fleet would Dan Dare who had been born in Manchester and the head of the organization would not be an American or a Russian but Sir Hubert Guest.
That said Space Fleet was under the direction of the United Nations.
None of this has diminished my pleasure at re-reading an old friend after fifty-six years.
And yes I have poured over the cutaway and even fancy I have located my favourite seat.
So here for all is the cutaway with special thanks to Tricia and links to stories about the Eagle Comic*, Comics of the 1950s**, and Eagle Times***, which is the journal of the Eagle Society
Location; Woolwich, 1962
Picture; The New Woolwich Ferry and the front cover of the Eagle, Vol 13 No.32 August 11 1962
*The Eagle; https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Eagle
**Comics of the 1950s, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Comics%20of%20the%201950s
*** Eagle Times, Annual subscription UK £29, overseas £40, and as a start you can visit the site https://eagle-times.blogspot.co.uk/
I remember buying the first copy. I was staying with my Auntie in Fulham. Donald, the boy who lived opposite, came and showed me this comic. I got the money off Auntie and went to the shop and bought my copy. I read The Eagle for years after.
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