Grove Airfield, Wantage, Oxon

Sorry, only shot the Venom and some crop circles a few miles away…. oh and I happened upon a diamond synchrotron. We don’t get many Diamond Synchrotrons up north so I shot that too 😉

I had hoped to do the Meteor gate guardian near Gloucester but it was all cloudy when we got there … probably get that one next time.

regards,

Jonathan

Nice picture!

Any shots of the end of the runway, just to the West?

Venom

Hi all, I was tootling along in a cessna yesterday and had a nosey at the venom from above, thought you might like to see a pic-

Shot from 1500 feet at 90 knots ( about 100mph )

Unfortunately the original is too big to post here, which is a shame as I can see every rivet

Regards,

Jonathan Webb
webbaviation.co.uk

Venom

Lovely jet, and nicely posed too.

I still can’t get used to the ‘upside-down’ Swiss nose though. Anyone got a proper one they could put on it?

Anon.

spitfire over venom?

Thought you might like this url to watch the official flypast.

It was an amazing “secret” event to watch.

This youtube clip captures it much better than i did. I was far too busy watching to remember to look in my viewfinder!

Big thanks are due to Robs Lamplough for bringing these two fine aircraft together just round the corner from me.

And to whoever took this video!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wgBHltHqyXs

Hi folks,

Excuse me butting in on your forum, but I was one of the invited guests to the dedication ceremony, and I’m happy to give a little more info.

Yes indeed, Mr Robert Lamplough (who owns the Grove Technology Park industrial estate) supplied and organised the display, it’s intended to be a permanent memorial to remind us of where the airfield used to be, as it’s about to be built over with a large number of new houses.

The De Havilland Venom was a former Swiss army plane, and some of the cockpit controls were on display at the reception: they were labelled in German which caused a bit of confusion among some of the guests!

As has been said, possibly not the most appropriate craft, as they never flew from Grove, but it’s a lovely thing in itself, and I for one appreciate Mr Lamplough’s generosity in supplying it.

On Wednesday the 17th, we had a fantastic sunset flypast by a Spitfire, with a succession of loops and turns: the final “bombing run” was accompanied by pyrotechnics and a ground charge in the adjacent field, creating an enormous fireball, which was very impressive. Slightly less impressive was the arrival of the fire engines two minutes later, during the speeches, as a passer-by had apparently reported that the Spitfire had crashed…. still, the police and the firemen stayed and enjoyed the firework display afterwards.

Earlier in the day the Spitfire was doing runs around the area – I assumed it was the professional pilot practising for the evening, but it turned out to be Mr Lamplough himself having a quick zoom around.

UKsceneryman is correct, the Venom is painted in false RAF colours as a tribute to 415 squadron who were based at Grove. It has also been subject to five months of preparation and weather-proofing, some of which was carried out by our local ATC.

The pylon supporting the plane was specially designed to prevent vandalism (haven’t yet seen a pair of bloomers hanging off it’s nose, but give it time) and yes, they did get planning permission to put it there! It is rapidly becoming a local landmark, and as far as I know, no-one has yet crashed their car from being distracted by it.

The placing of the pylon and the angle of the plane were very carefully set so that whichever road you come in on, you get a different view of it. It looked particularly wonderful early the other morning, rising out of the mist!

There hasn’t been anything in the local papers about it yet, which is a bit disappointing, but I’ll keep my eye out and will post a link when it does appear. The whole ceremony was certainly kept very hush-hush beforehand, as the organisers didn’t want an uncontrollable number of people turning up to see it: it’s not a very big area, as you can see from Aeronut’s photo, and the roads remained open throughout it. Personally I would have thought the local papers would have had their article prepared beforehand, but apparently that’s not the case.

I hope this helps, and I do hope that as many of you as possible can take a drive out to Wantage to see it: there’s nothing to stop you parking on the road leading to the Tech centre, it’s wide and empty: and there are no barriers to prevent you walking right up to the pylon.

Lucy

Picture

Hi – I came across this forum by chance when I was trying to find out what the aircraft that appeared was all about. I’ve not seen anything at all about it in the local rags or website. I’ve attached a photo taken on a bright day, so it should be a little bit easier to make out the detail. Somebody’s buzzing about over my head right now in a WWII aircraft (no idea what it is) – so I guess he’s getting ready for tonight’s flypast. Rgds

Thanks Colin I may just do that (oag meeting).

If I head into work a bit early on Weds I should be able catch the unveiling.

Cheers Colin

Very interesting. Sounds like you may get some good info from the presentation. Is the gentleman concerned Mr R Lamplough? I think he’s into historic race cars also. Will the presentation be a private affair then?

Jason

Jason

yes,I believe it is Mr Lamplough….rumour has it there’s an official unveiling next Wednesday with a fly-by from one of his other toyappx 1800hrs.

OAG meetings welcome visitors as well as members…
all meetings are on the 2nd Monday of every month at the Marlborough Club in Didcot,why not pop along one meeting

Colin

Rather nicely done piece of mounting, isn’t it?

Adrian

First up,welcome aboard matey

apparantly there is a link(albeit quite tenuous)between RAF Grove and the DH Venom.
I’ve been told by a local historian that post-WW2 RAF Grove was used as a holding point for spare parts for aircraft of 2 TAF RAF Germany(types including the Venom).

At some point in 2008(probably March,but could be April) the gentleman concerned will be visiting my Oxfordshire Aviation Group in Didcot to give a presentation on RAF Grove…so here’s hoping more could be revealed then

cheers
Colin

Cheers Colin

Very interesting. Sounds like you may get some good info from the presentation. Is the gentleman concerned Mr R Lamplough? I think he’s into historic race cars also. Will the presentation be a private affair then?

Jason

Thanks Ollie

No markings as you can see. The light was a bit poor as I took these early in the morning on my way home from work. Just the roundels and a couple of flags flanking the ones on the booms.

Hi all, I’m new on here.

I work in grove and being interested in most areas of aviation, started searching for info on the Venom the day it arrived.

I came across this thread on a google search. Just wondered if anyone knows more about the aircraft and it’s history. I have found a couple of links with pictures of her at North Weald but thats about it. I am asuming there is no direct link between the aeroplane and the airfield it’s self as she is swiss and the airfield was not active in those days. Grove is an interesting site, just a shame it’s nearly all gone now.

I have some pictures. Do I need to host them on web before putting them on here? Another forum I’m on has an upload centre.

First up,welcome aboard matey

apparantly there is a link(albeit quite tenuous)between RAF Grove and the DH Venom.
I’ve been told by a local historian that post-WW2 RAF Grove was used as a holding point for spare parts for aircraft of 2 TAF RAF Germany(types including the Venom).

At some point in 2008(probably March,but could be April) the gentleman concerned will be visiting my Oxfordshire Aviation Group in Didcot to give a presentation on RAF Grove…so here’s hoping more could be revealed then

cheers
Colin

I took this today.

At a quick glance that looks like the Venom is doing a really good low-level beat up 😀

Moggy

I have some pictures. Do I need to host them on web before putting them on here? Another forum I’m on has an upload centre.

First of all welcome to this forum. You can use a free image hosting service like www.imageshack.us or you can attach them to the post. To attach them when you click the reply button scroll down a bit and there is an option called manage atachements, it should be pretty straight forwards from there. If you have any problems drop either me or one of the moderators a PM and we will be happy to help.

Hello

Hi all, I’m new on here.

I work in grove and being interested in most areas of aviation, started searching for info on the Venom the day it arrived.

I came across this thread on a google search. Just wondered if anyone knows more about the aircraft and it’s history. I have found a couple of links with pictures of her at North Weald but thats about it. I am asuming there is no direct link between the aeroplane and the airfield it’s self as she is swiss and the airfield was not active in those days. Grove is an interesting site, just a shame it’s nearly all gone now.

I have some pictures. Do I need to host them on web before putting them on here? Another forum I’m on has an upload centre.

[ATTACH]157712[/ATTACH]

I took this today. Not the best light for photos it was taken from 1300 ft on a pocket camera and I’ve also had to clip the image.

It’s ex Swiss AF FB.54 G-BLSD/J-1758. Now painted in false RAF markings but not sure if it also carries a serial.

My gosh – my parents live in Grove – it’s where I grew up – news to me about the Venom. Guess I should visit them!

That would fit as I have been told the industrial estate is owned by a Mr Lamplough