Honington Open Day

have to disagree with you there roobarb, i remember when the lightning came in for battle damage use etc, and a friend of mine went down and got the top of the control column, he wanted to get the face screen handle off the seat as well, but we talked him out of it as nobody knew at the time if the seat had been dis-armed, and it would have been an expensive way of finding out!

Last time I was there (Mid 80’s) we were driving past a hangar when I mentioned seeing a couple of Lightnings in one of em. I was told “You didn’t see them, they aren’t here” LOL!

The only 3 occasions when I saw Lightnings there in my 9 year stint were for two Battle of Britain celebrations-an F3 out of the Binbrook store (low on fatigue and leaking as usual) on both of those (plus MH434, Kittyhawk, Phantom,F2 and F3 Tonkas) and when F6 XR754 arrived for the dump in May 1988 along with a Tub (T5) as ferry to return the pilot to Binbrook. The pilot of ‘754 disappeared into ASF and then returned with a hacksaw which he promptly used to claim the control column as his momento of its last flight! I have its throttle box sitting 3ft away from me as I type 🙂

Congratulations to the Red Sparrows who did a cracking display at the open day at my old base on Saturday. It was very tight and you kept it nice and near to the crowd, unlike the BBMF Lancaster who was obviously fearful of entering Suffolk airspace ! The four ship landing was a nice touch, though not quite as impressive as the three ship Tornado “Op-waves” we used to launch. It’s a shame that such an impressive base is now a shadow of its former self, seeing the grass 3ft high and new barrack blocks on the actual airfield is rather depressing I have to say. 🙁

Certainly is a shame to see Honington going to waste, Hard to think it was 11 years ago since it has seen any real activity and that was when Lakenheath was closed for runway work and the Eagles deployed there.

Hi Camlobe

Went to Honington to see a Court Martial in action, that was for someone who was using drugs.

My Court Martial was for fighting, I was a Corporal at Linton-on-Ouse and had borrowed a motorbike from a friend so I could go and referee a football match. I did`nt realise that I was on reserve fuel and when he took the bike out he ran out of fuel. We had a get together, he went to Medical Center and told them we had a fight. Next thing police knocking on my door in the barrack block, taking to the guard room. Charged with fighting then up in front of Station Commander who said Court Martial.

I ended up being the last tech at Linton as Airworks had taken over. Result of Court Martial was a £200 fine, paid back at something like £10 a month and a reprimand.

Good show from the Judge on my presentation.

No one could understand why it went so far.

As we had been posted because Airwork my posting to Finingley was cancelled because the other bloke was there so when I went to SHQ they rang PMC up and I had a choice of 6 stations to go to.

thanks

colin

Honington F+F day

I thought tho Lanc was fine. Couldnt quite work out which display routine the KC135 driver was working too though…

colhot. Slightly off thread, I know, but, want to share the story?

tis indeed a sad site nowadays, i spent 3 1/2 years there at the back end of the 80’s on TWCU, and now its full of tanks and rockapes!
i remember they hadn’t even done the finishing touches to the new (then 13sqn) HAS site before they moved them out to Marham, what a waste of money!

[QUOTE=merlin70]I spent a week at RAF Honington as an Air Cadet.

Ah yes, Air Cadets…….

Very useful for carrying our heavy tools, spare wheels, headsets, intake blanks, jet-pipe blanks, stowing in Houchins (just for being there!) and always handy to have around if you were short of a chock or two. They always told us that “They” were destined for greater things than us mere Engineers……
I wonder how many “made it”? 😀

Thats a very thoughtful thing to happen to one!

Paul

I spent a day at Honington

I spent a day at Honington to see how a Court Martial was carried out before I had mine.

thanks

I spent a week at RAF Honington as an Air Cadet. It was 1980 and there was a NATO TACEVAL being done on the base. One very wet and overcast day a number of ‘enemy’ aircraft from mainland Europe blew through to test the defences.

I seem to recall it rained the whole week which ordinarily would have made an ATC camp rather naff, but as we were billeted in 50’s style tents at Barnham training camp it made it bl**dy miserable.

The a/c of the day were Buccaneers. 237 OCU was one Sqn, I don’t recall the others.

Last time I was there (Mid 80’s) we were driving past a hangar when I mentioned seeing a couple of Lightnings in one of em. I was told “You didn’t see them, they aren’t here” LOL!

Remember going to a Families Day at Honington when my dad was with 9 Sqn. Masses of aircraft around with 2 operational squadrons plus TWCU (is that right?). Very busy.
Also had multiple Tornado takeoffs which was very impressive and very noisy. Happy days!