Actually built as a Sea Gladiator but converted during restoration into a straight Gladiator, she still wears her genuine serial.

Operated by TFC and Duxford based, she is seen during maintenance in Hangar 2 (South) at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK.

23rd July 2016.

The following info is taken from the ‘Fighter Collection’ website:-

“Our Gladiator, N5903, was the last of 25 Mk.II aircraft built under Contract 773235/38 and delivered in 1939. It is believed that she briefly served with 141 Sqn in October 1939 at Grangemouth, west of Edinburgh, and was then allocated to the Air Ministry Development Pool as a flight trials platform in December 1939. Following this it is understood that N5903 was placed in long-term storage with 27 Maintenance Unit at Shawbury in May 1940, until she moved on to 8 MU at Little Rissington in October 1943 and then subsequently to 61 Operational Training Unit at Rednal in November 1943.

N5903, along with her Shuttleworth sibling Mk.I L8032, was earmarked for meteorological survey work and returned to Gloster at Hucclecote for conversion in January 1944. This conversion did not happen as more modern types took on these duties and the two Gladiators were left forlorn at Hucclecote, which was probably what saved them from being scrapped.

The next few years saw them remain with Gloster, somewhat forgotten whilst the main focus was on the war effort. After the war in February 1946 it is known that famous wartime Ace and future test pilot, R P ‘Bee’ Beaumont, flew our Gladiator, N5903, on four occasions.

In 1950 the Gladiators were handed over to Air Service Training for ground instructional use with N5903 going to Ansty, near Leicester, and L8032 going to Hamble. When the Ansty School closed N5903 saw the pair on a visit to Hamble, and as an ex. Fleet Air Arm Sea Gladiator pilot during the war he had an affinity with the type. Following a successful bid of £1 each he became the proud owner of a pair of somewhat forlorn Gladiators.

Viv Bellamy moved the pair of biplanes to the nearby Eastleigh base of his air charter company, Flightway. It was here that that the task of getting one of the Gladiators back into airworthy condition, unfortunately N5903 was chosen as the donor aircraft in favour of L8032, even giving up her Bristol Mercury VIII engine that had just eight hours logged since being installed.

Following being ‘cherry picked’ to support the successful rebuild of L8032 that culminated in her flight in 1952, N5903 languished in the back of the hangar until both aircraft were sold to Gloster for a token sum of £50. L8032 attended displays across the country for the next few years in the hands of Gloster. Little however, is known about the movements of N5903 in this intervening period. It is assumed she accompanied L8032 when she was presented to the Shuttleworth Trust in 1960. In 1971 N5903 was loaned by the Shuttleworth Trust to the Fleet Air Arm at Yeovilton. She was in a sad state when she arrived at Yeovilton, with no engine, propeller, or spinner.

Following refurbishment work our Gladiator was placed on static display in 1978 at Yeovilton in a spurious Fleet Air Arm colour scheme as Sea Gladiator N2276, complete with a dummy arrestor hook under the rear fuselage, wooden flaps and a glass-fibre spinner.

Following purchase from the Shuttleworth Collection the Gladiator joined The Fighter Collection fleet in 1994, arriving by road at Duxford from Yeovilton on December 1. Due to other priorities within the collection our Gladiator had to take her place in ‘the queue’ and progress with the rebuild was initially slow. By 2004 she started to show signs of real progress following the results of concerted efforts by the TFC Engineering Team and the contracting out of the fuselage woodwork to Skysport Engineering. In 2006 the rebuilt wings were trial-fitted to the fuselage which had her looking much more Gladiator-like once again. 2007 saw the fabric work completed by Vintage Fabrics, who also applied the wonderful 72 Sqn scheme she wears today. As an aside 72 Sqn was the first frontline RAF squadron to be equipped with Gladiators at Hornchurch, Essex in March 1937. The Squadron colour scheme consisted of red and blue bars along the fuselage sides and on the upper surface of the top wing, all of which are faithfully replicated on N5903. In addition to these markings our Gladiator also wears the blue fin and forward tailplanes denoting the personal aircraft of the ‘B’ Flight commander. By late 2007 the re-covered and painted wings were refitted, this time permanently, to the fuselage and N5903 became the main topic of question from the public, mainly “when will she fly?” to which the answer was always a cautious “when she is ready”.

The first post restoration flight for our Gladiator was a low-key affair occurring in the week running up to Flying Legends 2008, on Thursday 10th July, with TFC Chief Pilot Pete Kynsey (PK) the man in the hot seat. Only a few days later N5903 looked resplendent sitting in the sunshine on the flightline garnering a great deal of attention from the visitors to our world famous airshow. It was on the Sunday of the airshow with the flightline walk just about to close, when PK could be found once again strapping himself in and to the delight of the gathered crowds N5903 taxied out and took off for a test flight. Unfortunately due to a number of factors these were the only flights N5903 undertook and she was returned to the hangar. Over the next few years she underwent some minor work which culminated in a test flight on Wednesday 1st May, 2013, with PK at the controls once again. Since then it has been a popular performer, even undertaking the ‘Joker’ routine at Legends on more than one occasion!”

The showdown between the USS Monitor and the Merrimac took place on the James River at the Battle of Hampton Roads March 1862. It was arguably a turning point for naval warfare, ending the era of wooden military vessels.

"925 Cheltenham" thunders through Ropley as the driver and signalman perform a token exchange.

I'm not someone that can take pictures of flowers too often, so this'll have to count as my token flower for the summer :)

OakRidge-033118-a

Phoenix Iron Works - Sheffield - Penny Token - 1813

My accidental collection of Japanese game tokens. Din't really set out to collect 'em, but here we are. Mouse over for notes. All from antique shows, flea markets, whatever. All the same size and finish - plated brass, I think. About the size of a US quarter. All smooth edges (not reeded). One says "Pachinko" right on it. One has a maneki neko.

I've been hoping to get a shot of this behavior - male Great Egret presenting nesting material to female.

The driver of 2C40 - Northern’s 0842 Carlisle to Barrow - swaps tokens with the St Bees signaller on 23 May 2016. The hoop (in the signaller’s right hand) on the St Bees to Sellafield token made it easy for the driver to collect it on the move but nowadays the train must stop and the signaller walk the length of the platform. Of course, prior to 1997 there was only a token to collect as there was no key from Bransty to deposit (seen in the signaller’s left hand).

Managed to sneakily get a few of these out of the Faile/Bast arcade.

They're arcade tokens designed by them for use on their comuter games.

The only place you can get them is at that arcade and as soon as the arcade closes in a few weeks they'll probably be worth a few quid, seeing as faile pieces normally sell for a lot of money

Anyways I got a couple to trade for something really cool if anyones interested

Trainee driver Tom swapping the token at Cei Llydan with Nigel the driver of Dolbadarn.

One of the earliest California store cards.

New York City Subway Tokens circa 1985.

I had a few of these and dropped them in my macro soft light box.

Strobist: Hand held, extention tube, 1/500th at f19, sb800 at about 1/64th power outside the box to upper left to give angled lighting and almost even with coins for height for low angle.

There's always a next time right? Next time, I'm going to illuminate the bottom also.

Image _DSC0539

The crew of 'Dorothea' take the token for the return to Launceston. Newmills, Launceston Steam Railway, 12th October 2018.

The single line token is returned at Freeman's Crossing as 3Q99 heads away from Cambois with 69002 leading 69005 on 9th May 2023 on the annual weedkiller train.

We've used these glass tokens in various games over the years: Pente, Mancala, Magic The Gathering, etc. They remind me of the mysterious crystals from Land of the Lost.

The wife suggested I light it from underneath, because she's awesome.

Photo shot for the Flickr group 7 Days of Shooting.

--

Purchase this image and learn more about it at the source.

Source: photos.jdhancock.com/photo/2009-06-05-003212-token-art-ph...

The driver of an incoming service from Parkend hands over the single line token to the signalman at Lydney Junction,on the Dean Forest Railway.The train is formed by a preserved Class108 DMU,consisting of vehicles 56492 and 51914. Taken 22.3.14.

The driver of 66096 collects the token at Pantyfynnon signal box for its journey to Gwaen -Cae - Gurwen open cast coal mine on the 6B15 service, having originated at Swansea Burrows. The train will return loaded with coal for the wash processing plant facility at Onllwyn. Once processed, the coal will be shipped by rail to Aberthaw power station via Neath and Brecon Junction - www.flickr.com/photos/99220921@N03/12677445814/

I was really pleased to capture this rare working, which runs about two times a week, if that. By the time it appears on RTT, there is not enough time for me to make the journey to Pantyfynnon. To turn up on the chance that the working might run would be pretty risky. Today, however, the train went via Margam and was flagged up on RTT early on, which allowed me sufficient time to make the journey.

Pantyffynnon was the junction for the Brynamman branch along the Amman Valley, which was closed to passengers in 1958, well before the Beaching Act. Considerable coal traffic used the line (to the left) until the demise of coal mining in the valley. However, in 2009, the line was reopened for trains to Gwaun Cae Gurwen open cast coal mine, operated by Celtic Energy.

More from the token collection.

FlickrChallengeWinner for an"Anything Gold, Silver or Bronze" challenge.

The Challenge Factory winner for a "Groups of Things" challenge.

All rights reserved. Written permission required for usage.

Please do not use this photo on any websites or for personal use.

Thank you.

©Fantommst

The driver of Northern Class 150 'Sprinter' No, 150269 has just exchanged the Kirkby - Rainham Junction single line token with the signalman at Rainham Junction signal box on 15th May 2017, prior to continuing with 2J64 1344 Kirkby - Blackburn. From here to Kirkby is essentially a long sidings as through services between Wigan and Liverpool ceased in 1977, and when Merseyrail electrified the line from Liverpool to Kirkby the station became an interchange point as the line was severed. Also, there is no junction at Rainford now, as once a triangular formation joined this line with one running from St. Helens to Ormskirk which would have crossed the present formation around the point of the background foot crossing. Services to St. Helens from Rainford Junction were withdrawn in 1951, while those to Ormsirk survived through to 1964. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

Token instrument at Ashton (Parsons Street End)

These were from the Namco Arcade in the Lehigh Valley Mall. I think that arcade is still open, actually...

The electronic 'Token' has just been received for 1Z25 to proceed through the section from Helensburgh to Garelochhead.

19-4-25

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Today’s erection at Thuxton. A driver delivers the token pouch onto this catcher before picking up the one for the section ahead.

CREAM

CONFECTIONERY

S. & Z. PROPS.

ELK RIVER,

IDAHO.

GOOD FOR

25¢

IN TRADE

Date: Circa 1910s

Source Type: Token

Publisher, Printer, Photographer: Unknown

Postmark: Not Applicable

Collection: Steven R. Shook

Remark: This token appears in tokencatalog.com, the premier source for token information.

Copyright 2015. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook.

Taken at Chuck E Cheese

This newspaper started life on 10 February 1844, priced 4½d, as the Preston Guardian and was founded by Joseph Livesey, the "father" of the total abstinence movement in Britain to support the campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws. He was assisted by his sons: William, as sub-editor and manager of the business department (until forced to retire by ill health); John, who came in as editor at the age of 21; and younger sons Franklin and Howard. Livesey Snr was, however, the overall superintendent and wrote the leaders for local news items. The paper lasted for 15 years under the Livesey's management, until 1859. By then it had become a valuable commodity and was sold to local businessman and fellow teetotaller, George Toulmin (1857–1923), who owned the paper until 1883.