Michael Payne

[Peter Cornwell]

Chris,

It's always sad when a member of our community passes but particularly so when they are of the ilk of Michael. His expertise & clinical eye will be sorely missed. He was a regular & valued correspondent over decades. We first made contact following a piece he wrote about Ernst Arnold's 109E back in 1970 - a typically thorough & diligent bit of research that resolved the significance of the Scherer Schwarm emblem & opened up a whole new tranche of enquiry. Something not widely appreciated was that both he & Jeannie were avid Francophiles, their frequent sojourns across the Channel to their favourite watering holes something he missed badly when she passed. He never got over her loss I think but, though frail, his wry sense of humour was still firmly in place when we met last Summer. As Michael would have said, "A l'eau, c'est l'heure !" See you Friday.