35AY89 ?

[Hair Bear]

This features in the attached link at 15:13, anyone know what it is?

It looks eastern bloc to me, and plausible considering the planes in the same area but UK reg on a yellow plate?

 

 

[radiomike7]

ZSU-23-4 Shilka

[Hair Bear]

Soviet cold war era then?

[radiomike7]

Supposedly 6500 built between 1964-1982, many still in use. Named after the Shilka river in Russia.

Edited August 8, 2021 by radiomike7

[Hair Bear]

Thanks, a curious collection there.

[fv1609]

Actually it is 35 AY 86, not that it helps as it doesn't appear on MERLIN.

There is a box that they spot before they get to the aircraft, although the NSN is partially obscured the NSC 1410 is for a guided missile.

[Hair Bear]

Ah, sorry about that. Now then, many years ago I was told, rightly or wrongly, that flag poles on an RAF base had to have been issued with a building number otherwise they couldn't account for the upkeep/painting of said pole. Would this be the reason for the machine being issued a number so it would appear correctly in records?

[fv1609]

It's easily done, I am dyslexic & my 9s & 6s get interchanged easily, so I had to think hard about this one.

I think giving the item an ERM (Equipment Registration Mark) is a way of tracking & keeping tabs on an RAF "Asset"

I think it had been an Army Asset it would have had something in the **BT** series that contains all sorts of interesting things.

[Hair Bear]

My excuse is just having had an op on one eye it's like looking though 5 sheets of tracing paper at a water filled kaleidascope, so both eyes together is a little 'trippy'!

I dimly recall all RAF forklifts were AY. Looking at the state of the plate I did wonder if it had been peeled off something else - the Bedford maybe.

[ruxy]

SPADEADAM

[Noel7]

The character fonts and colour of the plate look a bit unusual for a UK military ERM, and both A and Y are characters in Cyrillic alphabets, so perhaps it isn't UK related?

[ruxy]

It's all fake - the 'runway' is supposed to look like such from the air.  They invested lots of $£ to make it look like real eastern block / USSR.   The aircraft paint is not standing up to the weather - it's the land that time forgot.   Still proper business going on there but uncertain exactly what.

[Hair Bear]

Thanks, I did wonder but I wasn't aware that Spadeadam was disused. Went there a couple of times in the early 90's but the only thing that stands out in my memory is after driving what seemed many miles into the wilderness and suddenly finding a signpost to Moscow, then later overnighting in New York. Not a bad trick in a diesel Transit!

[ruxy]

My name is Manuel...I'm from Barcelona and I know nauthing

[radiomike7]

If I remember correctly Siddle Cook were involved with the transport of giant gas deflectors for a rocket project many years ago at Spadeadam.

[ruxy]

5 minutes ago, radiomike7 said:

If I remember correctly Siddle Cook were involved with the transport of giant gas deflectors for a rocket project many years ago at Spadeadam.

Yes,  Siddle C. Cook  of Consett probably would be involved ,  Elddis Caravans was his other business  (Siddle  - backwards).

That helicopter probably was the one stored for a short while in the Tyne valley (nearer Brampton) and it would be flown in on final flight approx.  6/7 years ago.

[ruxy]

Forum member  Robin  'heliduster'  would have flown it in  !