Visits - Reports

 

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On the 3rd May 2007 RHAG along with several Members from WAG (Wolverhampton Aviation Group) were fortunate to have a visit to RAF Leeming. The visit to this rather far north airfield (well for us living in the south east it is far north) was a complete success with access being granted to just about every hangar.  100 Squadron was our first stop where we were familiarised with the Hawk T.1 by Flt. Lt "Shekkers" a Navigator instructor with the Squadron.

Our visit included a visit to the XXV Squadron HAS area and we were fortunate here to see a number of F.3 Tornado aircraft depart for operational sorties. Our visit to the station ended with a visit to the EOD area where we were given an insight to the work of an EOD Officer.

There are no immediate plans for a re-visit to this base.

 

June 18th saw four Members of RHAG make the trip to the Paris Air show; here we met up with other Members who had independently made their own way there. The show was excellent and we were all satisfied with the amount of aircraft that we saw. Some were especially pleased with the number of aircraft seen and logged at Paris Charles de Gaulle both on arrival and departure.

  

September 14th 2006

A very successful visit to 9th Regt. AAC at Dishforth although getting there was a bit of a problem due to the weather. Due to high levels of maintenance and deployments overseas there were only six aircraft for us to see. They were two Lynx AH.7's one Gazelle which is destined to be the Gate Guard and three Apache AH.1's.

A week later on Wednesday 20th September we were fortunate to visit the IAC at their Headquarters Casement/Baldonnel. Nine of us from RHAG enjoyed the hospitality of the IAC with only the FS AIU hangar off-limits. Their two EC135T2's were on the ground but did fly during the course of our visit and all but one of the PC-9M's were in the FTS hangar due to the very adverse weather conditions. We understand that the delivery of their AB.319's begins in November of this year with the first two scheduled for then.

For the civil element of those going on this visit they were treated to a fest of visitors at Dublin airport this being due to the Ryder Cup Golf tournament just down the road from the airport at the K Club.

SA316B Alouette III No. 213

EC.135T-2 No. 270

EC-135T-2 No. 271 - SAR Winch fitted above port door

EC135T-1 of Garda No. 256

September 28th.

Two RHAG Members and six other non-Members made an over night trip to Florennes AB in Belgium to witness part of TLP 2006-5. An excellent visit to Florennes and we were rewarded with numerous aircraft including four HAF F-16C's which had to be the stars of the TLP.  

Duxford September 1st

Duxford Visit for the Spitfire 70th Anniversary

 

0930 on Friday morning Mick Boulangar, Mark Ray and I (Addo Addison) met in the car park of the Imperial War Museum at Duxford; our timing for the visit couldn't have been better as this was the day before the 70th Anniversary show weekend for the Spitfire. By 9.45 the queue was already stretching deep into the car park and a number of Dutch Spotters were evident amongst the now thronging crowd. Having paid our £13-00p entrance fee which we all considered a little on the "steep" side we made straight for the Air Space hangar which was formerly the Super hangar. Stunning is one adjective that I'd use to describe this hangar; opened only for the weekend to coincide with the Spitfire anniversary we soon realised why the £13-00p was well worth it! A Harrier GR.3, Canberra and CF-100 all suspended from the ceiling over an array of former Military and Civilian aircraft. Mark took time to photograph every aircraft in the building these will be published at some future juncture on both the WAG and RHAG web-sites.

 

Trying not to look too conspicuous with the drool still hanging from our mouths we moved outside to the area of The Aircraft Restoration & Historic Flying Ltd; again we were not disappointed as this company had pushed out desert camouflaged Spitfire JG891 (Addo's first take of the day). During our stay in this area several visitors arrived for the show, Three Tucano T.1's and two 100 Squadron Hawk T.1's. We moved on as we had a prior appointment at The Fighter Collection; Greg was our host and went to great lengths to show us stuff that had henceforth been concealed from the public eye. I have to add here that not a lot escapes the Eagle eyes of Mick or Mark as was evidenced by a drone XT871 which was stored amongst a pile of aircraft parts at the back of one of the conjoined hangar. We bade Greg farewell; he'd given up his lunch break to conduct the visit and thus we were all very grateful to him.

 

In-between the TFC hangar and the next are some low buildings which I can only describe as a Restoration area; contained within these low former office type buildings were the following, a Lysander and Bolingbroke in one part, the nose of a Sea Vampire in another and finally a former RCAF Bolingbroke in the third and final part.

 

We moved to the next hangar and again none of us were disappointed with the contents; I have to add that a full list of what we saw in each hangar/building will be supplied by Mick. A little respite from spotting was taken in The Runway cafe on the site. Not one of the cheapest places to eat but none the less the bowl of chips and the French stick made excellent "chip butties". Refreshed we set off for the fourth and fifth hangars and yet again were not disappointed with the contents.

 

The American Air Museum was the final stop on the visit; the last time Mick came to Duxford there hand been no American Air Museum - yes it had been that long. It was incredibly warm inside the building so much so that they'd opened the emergency exits to try and get some fresher and cooler air into the building. It never ceases to amaze me at the size of a B-52D the first exhibit you see as you enter through the normal entrance. Getting so close to an SR-71A where once upon a time you'd have been incarcerated for just thinking of looking at it let alone photograph the underside - sadly as far as we know there are no more flying examples of the SR-71 .... But then what do we as "Spotters" know?

 

Both age and time were against us so we decided to take the train/people-mover back to the entrance however we had to stop off as yet another Spitfire was about to land; we were getting close to 12 of them by now! As we wandered back toward the entrance/exit area an RAF Chinook HC.2 ZA714 arrived and I have to say in some style. Getting back to the M.11 end of the runway at Duxford the engines of this mighty machine were re-started we thought probably about to depart. Oh how wrong we were; a magnificent display followed I was dreaming of being in the Load Masters seat next to the open door. Some of the manoeuvres did not seem "right" for this mighty helicopter and I feel certain that if I had been aboard my lunch would be in a disposable bag by now!

 

The day at Duxford for us ended with the arrival of a Sea Fire SX336 which upon arrival over the airfield gave an impromptu display - what a lovely sound those Merlin/Griffon engine's make? Our day ended with the three of us going to an Indian Restaurant not too distant from RHAG HQ's. I would like to thank Mick and Mark for their company and let's hope that it is not another fifteen years before either of you come back this way.

 

By way of a foot note, Greg at TFC has extended an invitation to anyone "if you're passing" to call in and see him; one would suggest that this is probably best left to the autumn/winter months when things are somewhat leaner on the aviation front. If you do decide to go let me know and I will make the initial contact for you, who knows if I'm invited I may even come along with you.

Narrative by Addo list of planes by Mick Photos to follow by Mark.

Outside

 

 

 

BM597

Spitfire

VB

JH-C, G-MKVB

FE992

Harvard

IIB

G-BDAM, 42-12479

HG691

DH.89 Dominie

I

G-AIYR

MJ271

Spitfire

LFIXC

H-53

R4922

Tiger Moth

II

G-APAO

RW386

Spitfire

FXVII

G-BXVI

WJ945

Varsity

T1

G-BEDV, 21

XF708

Shackleton

MR3/3

C

XH648

Victor

B(K)1A

 

XX612

Bulldog

T1

A, 03, G-BZXC (Far side of field)

82

Curtiss Hawk

H75-A1

X8-81, G-CCVH, ex AdlA

11005

Catalina

PBV-1A

G-PBYA, '433915', ex RCAF

42-85068

Texan

T-6D

LN-AMY, '8084', ex USAF

43-25147

Mustang

P-51C

HO-W, 325417, G-PSIC, ex USAF

44-85784

Flying Fortress B-17

G

DF-A, '124485', G-BEDF, ex USAF

48-0178

Sabre

F-86A

FU-178, 8178, G-SABR, ex USAF

51-7545

Trojan

T-28A

51-7545, N14113, ex USAF & AdlA

 

 

 

 

Visitors

 

 

 

PT462

Spitfire

T9

SW-A, G-CTIX, Privately owned, Bryngwyn Bach, Wales

SX336

Seafire

XVII

VL-105, G-KASX, Privately owned, North Weald

WK520

Chipmunk

T10

Wears '1377', G-BARS, Privately owned, Wombleton

XX200

Hawk

T1A

CG/100 Sqn, Leeming

XX284

Hawk

T1A

CA/100 Sqn, Leeming

ZA714

Chinook

HC2

18 Sqn, Odiham

ZF243

Tucano

T1

243/1 FTS, Linton-on-Ouse

ZF287

Tucano

T1

287/1 FTS, Linton-on-Ouse, 'City of Leeds'

ZF448

Tucano

T1

448/1 FTS, Linton-on-Ouse

 

 

 

 

Aircraft Restoration Company Area

 

 

161

Spitfire

T9

G-CCCA ex PV202

99+26

Bronco OV-10

B

26, G-BZGL, ex GAF

21261

Shooting Star

T-33AN

261, 21261, G-TBRD, ex RCAF

53-4619

Texan

T-6J

1747, G-BGPB, ex USAF, GAF, FAP

JG891

Spitfire

LFVC

G-LFVC

RN201

Spitfire

FXIV

G-BSKP

WP929

Chipmunk

T10

F, G-BXCV

WZ879

Chipmunk

T10

X, G-BWUT

2 X Replica Spitfires (Unpainted)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Air & Space Hangar

 

 

F3556

RAF RE.8

 

 

N4877

Anson

I

G-AMDA

V3388

Oxford

I

G-AHTW

V9300

Lysander

IIIA

MA-J, G-LIZY, 'V9673'

BB661

Magister

 

A, G-AFBS

KB889

Lancaster

BX

NA-I, G-LANC

NF370

Swordfish

III

NH-L

TA719

Mosquito

TT35

56

ML796

Sunderland

MR5

 

MW232

York

C1

G-ANTK

VN485

Spitfire

F24

7326M

WH725

Canberra

B2

 

WM969

Sea Hawk

FB3

Z-10

XG797

Gannet

ECM6

277

XJ824

Vulcan

B2

 

XK936

Whirlwind

HAS7

62

XM135

Lightning

F1

B

XR222

BAC TSR-2

 

 

XS576

Sea Vixen

FAW2

E-125

XS863

Wessex

HAS1

304

XV474

Phantom

FGR2

T

XV865

Buccaneer

S2B

9226M

XX108

Jaguar

GR1mod

 

XZ133

Harrier

GR3

10

ZA465

Tornado

GR1

FF

1133

Strikemaster

Mk.80A

ex RSAF

18393

Canuck CF-100

4B

393, 18393, ex RCAF

Unknown

Typhoon

Mk1

(Cockpit)

 

 

 

 

The Fighter Collection Hangars

 

 

183

Nord N.1002

 

G-ASTG, ex AdlA

99+32

Bronco OV-10

B

99+32, G-BZGK, ex GAF

A-125