plainmilitary

Cheers Dave, the plan is to see Roy at the Bustard and ask if we could rent his ally for the weekend. I know when it is not in use he sticks out the back of the function room. Should be a bit of fun, Skittles under the stars... Anyone got a spare 12x12 just in case the good old British weather should turn on us????

Ashley you are welcome what ever time you get here mate. Chris, it's you the cakes need protecting from hehe. I know what you are like when a bit of fruit cake is in the area......We are going to construct a skittle ally on site just so ChrisG can retain his title as Plains Skittle champion. Tony

Not sure Loggy, all I know at the moment is there is a high plate on the bridge stating 13.5. Not seen any other signs on Sarcens lane apart from the Weyhill hawk Conservancy and Pipers farm. Artics are in and out of the farm collecting grain on a weekly basis, I will double check this and let you know sometime over the weekend. Tony

Rich your cakes will be guarded 24hrs a day mate, I have given myself that job

Great to have you back with us Rich and gang. Raptors Claw weekend 2010 Just to refresh the thread, This event is for you guys and not a public event. Some of the ideas we have planned so far; now we have the other 10 acre field next to the camp site we are going to have a Military style time trials course, it has been mentioned that drivers will have to be blind folded with the co-pilot shouting out the directions, Rich you are a bad boy. You can use your own vehicle or a vehicle of our choice can be supplied. The course will basically be an out the vehicle start, a slalom around cones, reversing into bays, 3 point turns, shooting, an off road bit where a bucket of water will be placed on your bonnet, and all this done against the clock. You will need two people in your vehicle, driver/co-pilot. The day for the times trial will probably be Saturday afternoon running into saturday evening. Saturday morning if everyone is happy with it we can go over to the Weyhill Hawk conservancy and veiw the many birds of prey they have on show and watch the displays, this is a great place for the kiddies to visit so please if you have kids, bring them along. Saturday night can either be a walk to the local boozer or if everything goes to plan we will have a camp site bar available. If the weather is good a BBQ will also be fired up for the afternoon and night, this will take a bit of pressure off Dave. We have been given the green light to have a fire, nothing too big guys.... Sunday will be our road run, we will be going to Salisbury Plain. One idea we have come up with is to drive to Warminster by road and come in on the ranges at Harmann lines. This route will allow you all to have a gander at the wrecks on the West impact area. Just a mile or so from the wrecks you will then move into Imber village, at the moment we are planning a stopping point/tea break and stretch the old legs here, but this will only come about if we can find a parking area big enough to hold all the vehicles. We will then move out and head towards Gore cross, again this is tarmac and straight forward driving. Gore cross will be our first road crossing point so a team will need to be sorted prior to the drive. The next part of the run will then go onto stone tracks. The Northen Transit Route (NTR) is mostly hardcore scalpins, there will be some potholes but nothing we can't handle. We will drive the NTR to Lavington and then turn right and head towards West down, this again will be stone tracks with the odd pothole. Once we hit Waltons wood and West down we will jump onto the Southern trasit route (STR). WE will then drive East, if we can, we will visit the Bombard area again. This will be another tea break and STOLs time. From there we will head out across the ranges to Bravo 1 crossing, another road crossing point so road crosser will need to be there first. There are no plans to stop at the river, all that tea and then running water, not a good mix. Road crossing three will be just up from the river, boy you road crossing teams are going to be busy. At this point we are now on the East of the ranges and the first part of the East side run drive. If we can, a visit to Beeches barn will be our first stop. Some of you that came on the first run will remember Beeches barn, it's the place we went and did the group shot and Chris and Hongkong Dave tried their best to get their vehicles airbourne.... We then move back to Zulu where we meet-up with the RTV back in 2008. At this point we will be heading to the valley run, this will not be for the faint hearted. Anyone not fancying this will be escorted to a VCP at the top of Dunch wood where Dave will have a brew on the go. Hopefully everyone will meet up at this VCP, a quick check of the vehicles, a cuppa and STOLs and then we move of for the last and shortest part of the range run. We will move out from the Dunch wood area and head around Sidbury hill and then down to Pennings. We cross at the bottom of Tidworth hill and head up the Engineers track, this part is stone and then tarmac. Once we hit tarmac that all folks, a VCP will be set up at the bottom of the road, we will need to check the vehicles, remove mud if there is any from lights and VRNs. We then get back onto public roads. The first village we come to will be Ludgershall, there will be shops for provisions if you need them. We will sort this before we move out. Anyone stopping at the shops will have to drive through the village and meet up with the rest of us at the top in the layby. Just down from the layby is a garage, so anyone wanting fuel, this would be the best time. We then move out and head towards Andover via Weyhill. When we reach 100 acre round about we cross the 303 and slip back onto it heading West. about three miles down the 303 you will see the turning for the Hawk conservancy and base camp. On a serious note Salisbury Plain is open to the public and we will come across them at some stage of the drive. So with that in mind....All of the drive will be conducted in a responsible manner, at NO stage will anyone leave the tarmac or stone track unless they have a really good reason to do so. While on the ranges, all the bylaws will be followed by the book. All vehicles must be Taxed, MOTed, and insured, all drivers must have a full driving licence. If we are told to move from an area from any range staff, we will do so at a moments notice. This route will be driven by myself and Yogi closer to the time, if we feel there is parts of this route that may cause damage to you, your vehicle or the ranges we will then look for alternative routes. Sadly, if tracked vehicles are allowed onto the camp site, they will not be on the SPTA drive. Sorry thems the rules. All the driving will be carried out at the speed limit laid down by West down, this is 30mph. The ranges are patrolled not just by range staff but by the local Police. Anyone found to be speeding or breaking the range laws will be past onto them and dealt with accordingly. This is out of our hands, we don't make the rules, we just follow them. The whole drive will be a team drive and not a free for all. If anyone breaks down we try to help them on the spot, if nothing can be done then we need to tow them the rest of the way. Any guys out there with towing vehicles fancy coming along please join us... All vehicles will need to carry, spare fuel, towing gear if posible, tools and a first aid kit. You will not need winches, stropps or anything to recover vehicles from deep water or holes, there are non on the route. If we get a fair few vehicles on the run we might have to break into groups. Each group will need a leader and a tail-end charlie. Flags will need to be sorted, if anyone has such things can we borrow then please??? I think thats about it for Sunday. After driving that lot you won't want to party all night, but this can be sorted at short notice. Monday will be a sort out of the camping area, making sure you have everything and then head home at your own leisure. Being bank holiday Monday I recommend you don't leave it too late. There will be more activities added as and when so watch this space. Like I said at the top of the page, this is a weekend for vehicle owners, not the public. I'm sure we will see some over the weekend but they will be informed that they enter at their own risk and under no circumstances will any of you guys be held responsible for any injuries sustained while on site. Disclaimers will be posted around the camp site and entry points. A £10 fee will be asked for. This is camping fees and toilets. Water will be on site and situated in easy reach areas. I think we can get some electricity on site but this is still to be sorted. I am going to need your vehicle type so we can work out the best places for any big trucks and possably tracks to park. If we do get the green light on tracked vehicle, we will get something sorted for you guys to play. One idea is, if the 100 acre field next to the camp site is cut and baled you can go out there and drive to your hearts content. This should give all the photogs a chance to get some stunning photos of you and your kit. Just a quick warning to all vehicles that will be arriving via low loaders, there is a bridge just down the road from the camp site. This has a 13.5 height restriction so please be careful when driving down. There are no turning areas along this road, but they are wide enough for articulated trucks. I will be posting a site contact number on here nearer the time. If anyone should get lost or needs directions, we are just a call away. Hope this has answered any questions you might have about this weekend. I would like to think what we have here is something a bit different for you guys. This is a brand new camp site with some new ideas thrown in to boot. All I ask is you come along, give it a go and see if it's for you. I know this isn't for everyone, but for you guys that want to drive your vehicles on Europes largest training ground then this is right up your street. All the best and hope to hear from you soon. Tony. Plain Military

Yes mate you know the one, hell never seen water come into a vehicle like that before Tony

That is a big shame Ash cos I think you will like this new campsite mate. according to Mark the landowner there is a horse in the paddock next door that needs tameing Can't think of anyone better for the job, or is it Jack that has the dobbins? Dave, don't listen to that man, you carry on mate, plug all them holes up and make the old girl water tight. A chilled one will be waiting for you when you get here I have now been given the green light to use the paddock next door to the campsite. So after god knows how many cups of tea, Mark, Graham, Yogi and myself have come up with some idea's for this very large area. One will be a Military time trials course, this will be set up with help from Pete at the Austin Champ club so exspect it to be challenging. Again this will be down to you if you wish to do it. There will be two groups, Light wheeled and heavy wheeled. sadly, at this moment in time we will not allow tracked vehicles on site but if this changes, trust me you will know ASAP. I will start the list for the vehicles very soon, so watch this space. ATB. Tony

No problem Andy,nothing wrong about worrying about your vehicles. You shouldn't have any problems with hedges mate,there are non. Plenty of tree's but they are OOB for us unless they are on a PRoW which I don't think they are. No application forms mate, just stick your name down if you want to come and I will add it to the list when I get around to starting it. All the best. Tony

Hello Loggy, The road run will consist of normal roads for the first part, then onto tracks for the rest mate. The tracks are pretty much pothole free but in some places there might be the odd one or two. We regularly drive the whole of Salisbury Plain in cars for our phptography. Apart from the valley run which is a bit more damanding everything else is pretty much straight forward. The valley run will only be done if we are happy with the conditions, and will only be done by people that want to give it a shot. Anyone that doesn't want to run the valley will be escorted to a VCP furthur up the route. Hope this settles any concerns, and hope you come along with your mate. All the best. Tony.

Sounds just the ticket mate, more than welcome to bring any heavy trucks Younggun. Going to be working with Mark tomorow, will see what he says about having tracked vehicles on site.

Great stuff guys, have been told that Imber village will be open over the bank holiday. Any of you that has never been to Imber have a read, http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/imber/imber.htm Just West of the village you will see old Cheiftain tanks being used as range targets. Some of these are so close to the road you are bound to get some very nice photos of them. On the way back over to the East we will be popping into the usual places, Greenlands, Charlie crossing, Beachs barn and last but not least, THE VALLEY RUN. This part of the drive will only be for people that want to do it, you will not be pushed into anything you don't want to do. Because of the SPTA run out, we are going to have to say wheeled vehicles only at the moment. If the harvest is in and the field has been baled, it has been mentioned that we could have tracked out on Pipershill ie 100 achres of stubble. I have a very good feeling about this new site, The land owner is a very nice guy and is as excited about this weekend as we are. Thank you again to all that have put there names down so far. Tony.

Good man Piet, would be great to see you here with us....

Hello Rich, this is one of our main worries mate, I have been told that so far there seems to be very little going on on this weekend. I'm sure things will change as the months roll by. At the moment it's just a case of taking the bull by the horns and running with what ever we can get. Good man Dave, great to have you on board mate. Tony

After the last Salisbury Plain cancellation, we have now decided to find an alternative camp site. Let me begin, basicly what we have got is a 10 achre grass paddock for camping, right next to the paddock is a 100 achre field and a small farm. we have been told that we can use the workshop if we should need it. At the bottom of the 100 achre field is a pub and a beer garden. The camp site will have a very small camping fee, nothing like what the MoD used to charge. We will be about 10 miles from Salisbury Plain maybe a bit more. The dates Due to the amount of excersises on Salisbury Plain we have had to move our dates to later in the year. The best we have found is the last bank holiday in August 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th. Sorry for this but it's the only way we can get out on the ranges without any interference form west down. The plan. We have added the Friday for those of you that would like to come down early. Saturday morning is open for the rest of you to come. If everyone is in by midday then we could do our first visit to either Middle Wallop http://www.flying-museum.org.uk/ or pop across the road to the Hawk concervancy http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/Your_visit/TimesPrices.asp One other thing we are planning is, if the 100 achre field is cut and baled by then we could possibly set up a driving corse military style. We have spoken to Mark and he seems very much up for this. This will only happen weather permitting. Saturday evening will be up to you, stay on site and have a beer or two or walk down to the local pub. Sunday we thought we would go for a drive over to Salisbury Plain. I have spoken to Judy and there is nothing wrong with this as long as we stay on the PRoW. Imber should still be open on these dates so the plan is to drive to Warminster via road and jump on the ranges at Harman lines. We then track back to the East via Imber, West Down, Larkhill, Tidworth. If everyone is happy with this then we will get to work, if you just want to do a short run then we will just go to the East and play in the valley, it's up to you. This is just a very brief outline and more will be posted as and when we get it. So if you fancy a get together with no public involvment then give it a go. Like we have said before, this is a weekend for you the vehilce owners. A place to relax with like minded freinds and talk shop. Kids are more than welcome to come and get involved, there is enough room for them to run wild. All the best and hope to see some of you soon. Tony. Plain Military.

Many thanks Steve. I have posted them here if you wish to have a look. http://plain-military.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=chit&thread=2638 Thanks again. Tony

Shame, mind you allowing the public to sit in the hot seat and paying for the oppitunity is a great idea. The aircraft is almost paying for its own restoration. Wounder how many people would like to sit in my Lightwieght so I could finally get it finished... Ps Would it be ok to use the pictures on the Plain Military forum??? Tony

I quite like the way it sit at the moment, can they not prop it up and leave it like that. All it needs is the bombdoors open and a stonking great bomb inside and jackpot, one stunning gateguard. If not, can you not get hold of ten fat blokes to sit on it and then get of one at a time. HEHEHE Ps, last man of may need a Parachute...... Tony

Not sure of the weight of a BV but the DROPs can carry one. This vehicle was part of a Kush Dragon Ex back last year. Does seem to be hanging over the rear end a bit.

May I just take this moment to wish everyone on HMVF a very merry and safe Christmas and new year. Sorry about the card but we don't seem to have any snow yet so no snowman card. Merry Christmas everyone. From all the boys at Plain Military. Tony

No what you mean Ash, we could always wait till chipperfield sales one of his bigtops mate.

Top pics Steve, love the spooks. I have alway wanted to do a night shoot but my ASBO kicks in at five Tony

Here you go, a few more.

Mike, defo Firefly. picture was taken by my Dad while serving on HMS Illustrious in the early 50s..

Mike, the plane with the Nimrod is a Canberra. From what I have been told, the doofer thing sticking out the back is something to do with producing simulated rain and at high altitude, ice.

Vulcan testbed. Experimental testbed A Vulcan was used as a testbed for the afterburning Olympus 320 for the TSR-2, the planned Concorde engine, the Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 and the Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan. While testing the Bristol Olympus for the TSR-2, the engine disintegrated, setting the Vulcan on fire and also the fire tender in attendance. The crew escaped unhurt. Tony