In the news bit of the latest FlyPast, under news about a restored FSM Spitfire, it says that the airfield at Llanbedr is soon to close. Llanbedr is, as far as I know, the home of the last single seat Meteor in the country. Given the sad news about the base i guess the Meteor (an F8 converted to train jindivik pilots, I think this training involves a check pilot sitting in the cockpit while the controllers pilot it from the ground 😮 ) will soon be redundant.
If this is the case, does anybody in the know reckon it would be a candidate for flying privately as a jet warbird? Would its non standard status rule it out (although this has not stopped the similarly fitted Vixen ). Are any operators showing any interest. It would be great to see it continue to fly, as it seems to be this country’s forgotten Meteor. The jet directory in FP lists the Martin Baker and Air Atlantique ones but not this one.
I think it is currently airworthy, or it was last august when I saw it doing circuits quite by chance 😀 . It looks fantastic, red and yellow much like the Vixen before its Red Bull makeover :rolleyes:
By: kodak - 11th May 2004 at 09:06
Kodak, Sea Vixen XS587 certainly DID make it to Llanbedr. It was on the fleet there for quite a few years, and I got it to Valley for the Open Day there in 1983.
Thanks for that – Could have sworn it stayed at Hurn during its service.
great to see it went to a show as well! – Pity more of the fleet couldnt have been tempted away over the years!
By: Steve Bond - 11th May 2004 at 08:02
Kodak, Sea Vixen XS587 certainly DID make it to Llanbedr. It was on the fleet there for quite a few years, and I got it to Valley for the Open Day there in 1983.
By: Will J - 10th May 2004 at 18:47
Very nice indeed! Taking your camera out to sea in a canoe, that what I call above and beyond the call of forum duty 😀
Cheers for the photos, I will post pics of the model Jindivik if it ever happens!
By: kodak - 10th May 2004 at 17:07
Ooops bit of a mess!!
this should have been there
By: kodak - 10th May 2004 at 17:03
Following ones are dodgy – shot from some distance, indeed a couple were shot from a canoe!!!!
both Canberras, 1990
[
Flight line October 88
IMG]http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/v147/AEROMEDIA/Scan130.jpg[/IMG]
Hawk & Jinidivik – 1991 (Hawk is XX154 – the first one!)
By: kodak - 10th May 2004 at 16:58
WK128, IAT 94
Displaying at Aberporth
IAT 95
This one never made it to Llanbedr!!
By: kodak - 10th May 2004 at 16:55
have dug out some more images:
WK800 , Valley94
Another view of XS577 – nose preserved at Bruntingthorpe IIRC, Llanbedr ’91
Hawk XX160 practicing for the Aberporth/Blaenarch air show (Also the others)
By: David Burke - 9th May 2004 at 21:22
JDK- there was a lot more to the sale of ‘Winston’ than just she wasn’t wanted in the U.K. The big problem with most Meteor’s is the amount of airframe life remaining.
As for the Llanbedr machine I am very sure that a formal request was made from Australia for her return on cease of flying operations for museum display.
As for her usefulness – I can assure you that she is well maintained and would be suitable for civil use pending certification.
By: stringbag - 8th May 2004 at 22:22
Kodak,
Excellent pix 🙂
By: Will J - 8th May 2004 at 17:15
Yes please, I’m thinking of making a small ducted fan flying model, I think a jindivik would be perfect as..
..It would confuse people at the local flying site 😀
..you can make a nice scale model without needing to vacuum form a canopy or bother about painting a pilot :rolleyes:
..and the idea of making a radio controlled version of a radio controlled aircraft appeals to me for some reason, (my bizarre interest in drones and target tugs, or any aircraft with stripes of any kind has no real explanation)
By: kodak - 8th May 2004 at 14:23
[QUOTE=Will J]
More from the good ole days
Any more photos like those above? I will try to dig out any of mine worth showing….
Just this for the mo, Ive got more Canberras and Hawks with jindiviks if you want but will need to dig ’em out.
By: Will J - 8th May 2004 at 12:00
[QUOTE=kodak]More from the good ole days
Very nice. I spent a week at shell island in the summer, I thought the meteors had either been pensioned off or shot out of the sky years ago but no, I spent much of the week watching one doing circuits (im afraid any photos I took were of the vague metor shaped speck in the distance kind :rolleyes: ). I will never forget sitting on the harbour wall on at the end of the runway with the meteor seeming to get lower on each approach! Also watching a jindivik launck from one of those little trolleys looks a lot like a Me163 taking off (must have been the suprisingly sunny weather doing stange things to my imagination 😀 ). Risking delving into modern territory, the unnoficial displays by the little Alpha Jets while they wait to sheperd the drones are worth a look, especially the tight turn low to the sand dunes onto the runway to pick up the Jindivik.
Any more photos like those above? I will try to dig out any of mine worth showing….
By: JDK - 8th May 2004 at 09:32
Thanks for that Kodak,
Not sure if I can see a Hawk as part of the ‘good ol days’
If she’s an original RAAF machine why not swap her for Winston?
Er, haw do you see that working exactly? The Aussies bought Winston because of lack of interest here. Why would they want to swap a cherished airworthy flying Meatbox for one that is neither in condition to be flown for display, nor is in its RAAF configuration- for the ‘history’ of its RAAF origins? Oh, and the Aussies get the great oportunity of handing Winston back to the Poms (who clearly didn’t want it… ) Not likely.
Just giving another point of view.
Cheers,
By: Paulish - 8th May 2004 at 09:30
Llanbedr Closure
Anyone know of the exact closure date and if any events are planned to mark this? I remember seeing some of the best unofficial display flying ever whilst camping at nearby Shell Island. The pilots of the shepherding aircraft often used to do this whilst waiting for the runway to be cleared after a jindivik mission. A great shame it is to see it close.
By: kodak - 7th May 2004 at 17:37
More from the good ole days
By: kodak - 7th May 2004 at 17:36
Heres another D16
Talking of Llanbedr…..
By: kodak - 7th May 2004 at 16:12
If i remember rightly i think lack of interest in Winston was the high display fee. I was told that Air Atlantique paid £3000 to have her for the weekend at their classics airshow a couple of years ago.
Worth every penny!!!!!!!!
By: Will J - 7th May 2004 at 15:43
There is another modified F8 on the airfield, without wings but these appear to be part of a pile of bits near the main buildings, im sure I read that this static one was destined for a museum. Also if Llanbedr closing means the end of Jindivik flying there, surely some of them could make nice small exhibits for small (or large) museums.
There was a story of an ex Tornado pilot taking up a senior position at Llanbedr, and having to keep quiet about the couple of Jindiviks that he had inadvertantly shot into the sea, as it became apparent to him that the ground crews were quite attatched to various drones and he may just have shot down somebody’s ‘pet’ 😀
By: Black Knight - 7th May 2004 at 15:05
If i remember rightly i think lack of interest in Winston was the high display fee. I was told that Air Atlantique paid £3000 to have her for the weekend at their classics airshow a couple of years ago.
By: Steve Bond - 7th May 2004 at 14:41
Indees, lack of appreciation of the Meteor’s place in history is very sad. Certainly one problem among many with WK800, assuming it is offered as a potential flyer, is its standard of avionics.
When I organised the celebrations of the Meteor’s 50th birthday at Staverton in 1993, the main reason that WK800 could not attend, was the fact that it had (very) minimal flight aids fitted and would have required a better-equipped aircraft to shepherd it. The other reason was the short runway at Staverton and the rapidly dwindling stock of brakes held by Llanbedr.
Wouldn’t it look great at airshows in its drone colour scheme though?
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May 6, 2004 at 7:46 pm
