John Charles Ralph, Dec'd
Posted: 11 Jan 2021, 10:22
Just got news that John Ralph, one of Galloping Ghost's early pioneers, died on Christmas Day in a hospice at Hayle, in Cornwall. I was aware he'd been suffering from a form of cancer for quite some time, but on the last occasion I spoke to him he seemed quite chipper and was enjoying such freedoms as were available at that time. Latterly, he'd been unable to build his own models but had been very happy flying "foamies".
His early model designs such as the Wagtail and the lesser-known Galloper, were amongst the first to employ the innovative GG system and paved the way for many of us who were budding young fliers in the 1960s.
He was a modest, very intelligent man (his career as a scientist had been largely at AERE Harwell) and a thoroughly decent bloke. His ability to chat, endlessly, was legendary - you didn't have brief conversations with John! He was well aware of this and often sent himself up for it.
Along with Peter Iliffe on the 4th of December, we've lost another of our hobby's great characters.
RIP John and Peter
His early model designs such as the Wagtail and the lesser-known Galloper, were amongst the first to employ the innovative GG system and paved the way for many of us who were budding young fliers in the 1960s.
He was a modest, very intelligent man (his career as a scientist had been largely at AERE Harwell) and a thoroughly decent bloke. His ability to chat, endlessly, was legendary - you didn't have brief conversations with John! He was well aware of this and often sent himself up for it.
Along with Peter Iliffe on the 4th of December, we've lost another of our hobby's great characters.
RIP John and Peter