Duxford

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Thanks Bruggen 130.

Nice shots Phil.

pics

Some great shots here. Love the Gnat at the end and the B17 could be an air-to-air. Well done, thanks for posting.

Tony

Thanks for the comments.

Some great shots here. Love the Gnat at the end and the B17 could be an air-to-air. Well done, thanks for posting.

Tony

Ha, well spotted! Indeed they did! 🙂

Thanks Growler.I hope the blue sky reminded you of your travels.:)

With those cloudless skies it’s hard to believe that’s the UK! Looking forward to seeing that stunner of a Meteor in the “flesh”. Great shots, thanks for sharing.

Thanks 92fis..:)JB

Very nice set.

Thank you Anna and as the politician said “Your’e vote counted”..cheers:)JB

Lovely shots.

Cheer’s Tarkey and a couple more..:)

really nice stuff there

Really like your avatar blacknight and think by the looks of it its an old photo by that really good photographer John Rigby.If you have any knowledge of the chap I would welcome it as his work is just brilliant especially his early shots when the Reds were the Reds with the gnats.I sympathise with your original views and can only say that when great characters disappear from the scene where we hold close and fond memory’s to its never the same but at least you had the privilege to meet them and see them at what they did best. 🙂

I last went to Duxford on the Friday before Legends. On that day and my previous visit last year the food in the cafe was acceptable but the drink prices are a complete rip off. In fact on Legends arrivals day I started to suffer from dehydration simply because it was incredibly hot and I hadn’t got enough money to buy any more drinks because I hadn’t realised just how expensive they would be.
I will get round the problem next time by taking more drinks with me and returning to the car during the day to collect them. I would prefer to buy them at Duxford and give the museum a bit of profit to plough back into the museum but when they are way over priced the options, particularly in the current economic climate, are going to be take my own or not go at all.
Incidentally the last time I went to Hendon I thought the service and food there was appaling. The staff were totally disinterested in their jobs and the food was served in cold plates which immediately made the food stone cold. OK I know they are not the greatest jobs in the world but in 25 plus years in retail I always managed a bit of courtesy and a smile and if you take the bosses money you should do the job properly.

You forgot £2 for a bottle of Pepsi and I take my own sandwiches now.

I was there today. Chatted to some engineers. Col spent his lunch break escorting me around, and very gratefully appreciated, the T9/Buchon/Hurricane parked on the grass outside ARCo (Piccies tomorrow or Sunday) after the Mk XVI/TD248 paid a visit to Duxford. T9 went flying in the afternoon and also the XVI again. Apart from the cold, a very enjoyable day out.

From tomorrow (Saturday) Summer times and entrance prices apply at Duxford and the Land Warfare and Hangar 3 should be open again.

Brian

You forgot to mention some smart alec calling out “Behind you!!” 😀

Still ‘off season’ I suspect regarding things being quiet – the food in “The Mess” is sometimes of quite good standard (I eat there most Fridays) but when they only get half a dozen people in all day (early part of the year) I expect a lot of food is wasted.
Wing Co Joe’s reopens 9th April I believe – rolling maintenance of hangars has closed some to the public.

🙂 Why not join the friends of Duxford or the IWM
http://london.iwm.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.1282
That way you can visit more often and pick and choose along with all the other museums and HMS Belfast.
As said above ,take a picnic 🙂

Food prices at any place is extortionate, be it a sporting stadium, amusement park or museum.

However I do know that Duxford has had to make savings and has been hit quite hard by the economic climate, things change and it may be you just caught the place on a bad day. Knowing the staff there, they are trying to to the best they can and being surrounded by aircraft isn’t the worst job in the world.

I visited yesterday for the 2nd time since Ray Hannas passing. I don’t think it’s somewhere I’ll be returning to in a hurry. 1st time I’ve ever eaten in the dump next to the entrance, how on earth is that place allowed to trade? £7.50 for a diabolical dry sausage roll, over fried oven chips & a spoonful of happy shopper baked beans, then a sandwich that had to be dunked in my pepsi to moisten it enough to eat took the bill to £17.80.
I found the museum to be dead, no atmosphere like there used to be. Always found many engineers & pilots wandering around the site that you could talk to & they’d talk to you enthusiastically, now the engineers that I saw were just staring into the work they were doing like it was a chore & they couldn’t be bothered. Yesterday was the 1st time ever I had not seen Dave Lees at work, is he still alive? I only ever used to go to Duxford just to see what was happening with OFMC & TFC, now OFMC aren’t there anymore TFC were what I was hoping to get to see but all I saw was tumbleweed!!!
Even the shop has changed, very child orientated & little for the true enthusiast to look at.

QUOTE=Black Knight;1720736]Considering I used to go up at least once a week from 1988-2000 I think it’s fair to say Duxford just ain’t what it used to be. Area 51 is the only part of Duxford that holds any interest but it’s not accessible to the likes of me. Nothings happening with OFMC & the 5 guys working at TFC looked like they’d just been handed their P45’s.[/QUOTE]

Black Knight,
Realise that things change. If you’ve only been to Duxford twice (!) since 2005, let me remind you that there is an economic downturn at the moment.If more people went, perhaps they could afford to lower the prices of food, or increase the quality (fair point you made there though), but I take my own food.

Dave Lees no longer works at TFC, and is well and truly alive at north Weald.

Please note the sign on the entrance to Hangar 2 saying that the engineers are working on airworthy aircraft and should not be disturbed unneccessarily. When you’re at work, are you all sunshine and laughter ALL the time? Warbird engineers are in it for the passion, not the money (because it really isn’t very well paid) and operating warbirds is a costly business that is generally low profit making. I base that fact on that all current warbird owners have made their fortunes in something other than OPERATING warbirds. So at a whim, the entire collection may be grounded or moved on. I know all the TFC Engineers and have to say there isn’t a bad guy amongst them, but they are in the serious business of working on old flying machines that demand concentration and respect. If I walked in the hangar and they were just larking about and not doing their work I’d be thinking I was wasting my money.

So next time you visit, just admire the fact that they are still there, doing what they enjoy, and we get to see some remarkable things taking place…oh and take your lunch with you.

Considering I used to go up at least once a week from 1988-2000 I think it’s fair to say Duxford just ain’t what it used to be. Area 51 is the only part of Duxford that holds any interest but it’s not accessible to the likes of me. Nothings happening with OFMC & the 5 guys working at TFC looked like they’d just been handed their P45’s.