Pzkpfw-e Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Dug out a lot of slides from aged mother's abode & put them onto CDs. Here's a few. RAF Finningley, either late 60's or very early 70s (Judging on when some items crashed or were scrapped!) Memories of the "Vulcan Scramble" Four taking off in trail (Must have a picture of that somewhere) The Reds with their Gnats. Phantom on reheat. Major fingers in ears time. Lightning, this one ended up in the sea off Mablethorpe in October '74. Blackburn's might Beverley. Short's equally might Belfast. Hawker Siddeley's Andover. And to finish the transport section, the Hercky-bird. XV214? BBMF's MkXIX PM631. And their Hurricane LF363. The much-missed Mosquito RR299. They flew them low in them there days! Noord 1002 Pingouin, masquerading as a Bf108. This one was bent in a landing accident, some years back. Still unrestored? Shackleton, WR975?. If it is that one, then this photo is prior to 1971, because it was scrapped then. Nimrod, this one was junked in 2010. Vulcan XM612, now preserved at Norwich. Varsities, Dominies and Jet Provosts, out of Cranwell? Starfighter, this one survived to be sold to Turkey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
private mw Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 great pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 very nice piccys, thanks for sharing Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 The Starfighter was one of ours. When a train was hijacked they overflew the train to scare/confuse the hostage takers to liberate the hostages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike65 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Some interesting pictures there Red Arrows went to Hawks at end of 1979. The low flying Spitfire was the Rolls Royce MkXIV that was considerably lower than that in 1992 and sadly the pilot did not survive. They did fly low in those days. Remember being at Biggin Hill (about 1981 when the commentary went something like "Next we have Ray Hanna in Spitfire MH434 coming in from somewhere" as he entered over the crowd between the marquees. Mind you that was the days when an elf was a fictional creature yet to be discovered in a hi-vis jacket. The Nord looks to be taken early 70s going by the vars in the back ground. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 That Noord also made several cameo appreances in various war films of the era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Lightning, this one ended up in the sea off Mablethorpe in October '74. I wonder if I am one handshake away from the pilot. 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars Unit Paymaster introduced me to Offshore Yacht Racing (and my wife). Whilst cruising the Baltic (some time about 1978-80) he told me about being in hospital after a helicopter crash (he had transferred from the RA) where the man in the next bed was a Lightning pilot. The Lightning pilot was in traction with an even worse back than the Paymaster. He'd ejected from a Lightning. Twice. He'd been doing a simulated scramble somewhere (forget, this was decades ago), rotated too sharply and left his bottom engine on the runway. Punched out far too low. Claimed that the Martin Baker was so violent that it compressed his spine. Off light duties and back in the cockpit, he was tasked with flying a Lightning from East Anglia * to RAF(G). Over the North Sea he encountered a sudden violent thunderstorm, double engine blow-out and another encounter with the silk canopy. So soon after his last ejection, he had been in the hospital bed in traction for some time. _____ * Thinks: "RAF Swanton Morley was a Lightning (and TSR2 however briefly, even if not in service) base. It's now Robertson Bks, home of the Light Dragoons, children of the marriage of 15/19H and 13/18H under Options for Change, born 1992. Wonder if there is a link there?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry.ice Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Great photos of scenes never to be repeated. I have been trying to date the airshow though this throws up some questions.... Looking at the line up I would think it would be `67 or `68 as I don`t think the Beverly lasted much after that, though the Nimrod and Phantom would both suggest `69 onwards. Seeing the selection of training aircraft in formation could tally with No 6 Flying Training School operating from this base from May 1970. The other item of interest is in the background of the Shackleton photo is what looks like a Supermarine Swift.........which raises even more quandries........ Once again great photos, do you have any more...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Fantastic pictures !!! really do remind me of RAF Little Rissington 'Open Air Days' back in the late 1960s/early 1970s....... PS:..around the mid 1980s I worked on RAF Halton airfield for a few months and .now I'm not that sure but.......I think there were 2 Blackburn Beverleys parked up on the side of the grass field there??? .their flying days were by then long gone but they were complete..........they weren't being 'used' by the apprentices and were waist deep in long grass.wonder if they survive or have they been broken up long ago ?...any ideas?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike65 Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 (edited) Fantastic pictures !!! really do remind me of RAF Little Rissington 'Open Air Days' back in the late 1960s/early 1970s....... PS:..around the mid 1980s I worked on RAF Halton airfield for a few months and .now I'm not that sure but.......I think there were 2 Blackburn Beverleys parked up on the side of the grass field there??? .their flying days were by then long gone but they were complete..........they weren't being 'used' by the apprentices and were waist deep in long grass.wonder if they survive or have they been broken up long ago ?...any ideas?? You mean these ones. This would have been about 1982 when I was learning to fly a glider there with the ATC They are actually Argosey's if my memory serves right They have been gone for quite a while now. Used to quite a few aircraft there, I believe most have now gone. The Hunter is still up by the main road as a gate guardian and there was a Jet Provost fuselage by one of the hedges back in September. Mike Edited February 28, 2013 by mike65 aircraft ID Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 They are Argoseys, I've stuck about 140 photos onto discs, copied from slides. I'll upload some more, but my internet link's pretty crapy - dongle only, too far from civilisation (ie 10 miles!) to get it down a wire) Looking at the slides, I think there's two seperate shows here, the weather's sunny in one, cloudy in another. Two Belfasts - "Ajax" & "Spartacus". The Beverley appears to be XL148, scrapped 25/3/70 at Shrewesbury. It might be , which is preserved at Aeroventure (Doncaster?) Other planes include Hawker Hunters, from 27 Squadron; one's XG191. BBMF's Lanc, without its dorsal turret, part-visible are Hawker Tomtit K1786 and a Hart/Hind K205x, Beagle XS782, Vulcans XL367 (?), XM603 (Preserved at Woodford), XM574(Scrapped), a Victor (no serial visible), Anson "FV-X", Buccaneer, Concorde (the one now at Duxford?), a Meteor with a very pointy nose, Percival Proctor IV G-ANXR, Good shout about the Swift, it does look like one to me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 A few more. Anson from the Skyfame collection. N9742. BBMF's Lanc, before its dorsal turret was refitted. Buccaneer. Concord, now preserved at Duxford. Hunter, was there any better confirmation of "If it looks right, it is right"! Proctor , another one of Skyfame's? The Reds heading my way. A sight that Ramstein put a stop to. Your humble scribe, off for his first flight! RR's Spit, sadly destroyed in a fatal crash at Woodford in 1992. Hart & Tomtit behind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Great pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 (edited) Memories of my starry eyed youth there! The Bucanner was a beautiful aircraft to watch fly. Jersey had a free air display over the front at St Aubin's bay every year, the bonus was my bedroom window looked out towards the airport. Another memory is the Argosy, BEA flew them and we brought some horses back from Castle Donnington (Now East Midlands) airport on one. Must have been 1970, 71. Edited March 2, 2013 by Tony B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 The Lancaster without her dorsal turret 'KM-B' was a regular at Little Rissington in those days ..... ...Fantastic days & now long gone........:cry: My folks would allow me to wander off on my own around that airfield for the day and I'd literally be in a world of my own......... standing for hours at a time looking at all the aircraft and dreaming of being an pilot...I recall they had the nose off (I think it was anyways ) a Shackleton? , which was as close to a Lancaster as I was probably ever going to get:-) .......I'd queue up for my turn to go up the steps into her...then you'd get no more than a minute sat in each seat , flicking switches and pulling levers and pretending you were Guy Gibson's wingman and the dams were just up over the hill....then it'd be back out again only to join the queue straight away at the back to do it all again ..... Lovely photos thanks for sharing them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 The 'Hart' behind the spitfire looks like an Isaacs Fury to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 Thought it looked a touch on the small side! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 After a bit of Googling, the plane I made my first flight in, is a Bulldog, G-AYWO, first registered in 1971, so there's a hard date for the sunny photos! It's now registered with a Hungarian company as HA-TVB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) Memories of my starry eyed youth there! The Bucanner was a beautiful aircraft to watch fly. Jersey had a free air display over the front at St Aubin's bay every year, the bonus was my bedroom window looked out towards the airport. Another memory is the Argosy, BEA flew them and we brought some horses back from Castle Donnington (Now East Midlands) airport on one. Must have been 1970, 71. My enduring image of Bucanneer is from March 1967. Family returned up the Channel returning from South America where my father had died, got home, learned that we hadn't by much missed the Torrey Canyon going aground on the Seven Stones reef between Cornwall and the Scillies. News was full of pictures of Bucanneers trying to torch the crude oil slick with napalm. Huge black almost mushroom cloud hung over the wreck but the Cornish beaches got well lubricated. Read many years later that Bucanneer stayed in service well past its planned end of service date simply because it was such a rock solid platform from which to launch ground attacks that nothing could beat it in the NATO competitions. Edit: Wiki has some interesting comments including HMGs denial of holding napalm stocks. Have a gander. Edited March 5, 2013 by AlienFTM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Ahh but for a bonus point! Do you know what 'National Security Secret' was revealed by the Torrey Canyon disaster?:cool2: Oh, you do! Yes it was the revelation that the British Miltary had Napalm! The stuff had recived very bad press during the Vietnam War. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 A good old beast, the Buccaneer, I remember seeing one doing a display over RAF Newton, early 90s, so probably one of its last displays. I lived a few miles from Newton & was out on my bike, saw it lining up for a run-in. Lots of smoke & noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog8811 Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) I remember a TV news item, many years ago, about joint radar exercises in the USA where the Yanks were tracking Buccaneers of the fleet air arm...or should I say trying to track them over the desert. The radar operators gave up as the buc's were being flown so low and fast they could not lock on. Once they gave up trying, they went outside to watch the display instead. Went looking and found this... so RAF not FAA ...... By now the RAF had realised what a stroke of luck gaining the Buccaneer had been, after all their previous hostility towards the aircraft. The unrivalled low-level stability of the Buccaneer meant that RAF Buccaneer squadrons consistently outperformed other low-level strike aircraft and did particularly well at the annual 'Red Flag' exercises in Nevada in the US. Edited March 7, 2013 by rog8811 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I remember a TV news item, many years ago, about joint radar exercises in the USA where the Yanks were tracking Buccaneers of the fleet air arm...or should I say trying to track them over the desert. The radar operators gave up as the buc's were being flown so low and fast they could not lock on. Once they gave up trying, they went outside to watch the display instead. Went looking and found this... so RAF not FAA ...... I thought it was my imagination. The Bucc's were so low the dust could be seen forming contrails around the wingtips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Signals Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 I don't remember which year it was towards the end of its service career but I recall on one of my holidays in Scotland where we saw Buccs following the contours of the mountains flying along/inside the fire breaks in the forests!!!:wow: Totally mindboggling at the skill of the pilots, although no doubt it was against the rules. Photos/videos posted on the web of Buccs at the event that the RAF threw on the occasion of the planes leaving the squadron that show them at rapid knots at minimum level across the moors. http://www.avcollect.com/themight.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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