Newark Air Museum runway

Explosion at 0445?????, John Smiths pattented night nurse meant that I didn’t hear a peep until 0630!!!!.

Regards,

John.

😮 Even the church group camping on the Showground heard it!

Explosion at 0445?????, John Smiths pattented night nurse meant that I didn’t hear a peep until 0630!!!!.

Regards,

John.

The Sunday morning ambiance with the skylarks soaring [until the rooks arrived] was just as nice. Sadly the quad bikes on the ‘temporary’ [planning permission not required, as it’s deemed a temporary structure :eek:] grass track circuit spoilt that, as did their earlier exploits.

Not sure about the explosion [petrol tank?] but we now have a Police Incident Number. Also, I spent much of yesterday in email communication with the local planning and environmental health departments [again] trying to get such activities investigated and hopefully stopped!

Not much we can do about the odours I’m afraid – we work very closely with the farmer over the noise issues, as they also have an input over any Planning Applications that the museum puts in, or activities we undertake on our site.

We are currently evaluating a new Visitor Centre scheme on the land we own [Aeroboot location] so we need to keep them happy to ensure our proposed development goes ahead with minimal opposition. 😉

The odour from the pig farm can be a bit over powering too….

There is a lovely atmosphere on the airfield, especially on a beautiful summer’s evening such as we had at the weekend.

Pity that noise from the A17 is so intrusive. Plus, of course, the dirt bikers(?) and quad drivers whose early morning antics woke some of us up on sunday morning.

What was that bang at 4.45 a.m?

To be honest the condition of the concrete is so poor it’s not been a real option for many years. The grass at the side, where most of the gliding took place might have been an option but the fencing has stopped that! :rolleyes:

As for the Shackleton – 7 x 40 foot lorries worth [largest aircraft Newark’s ever moved by road] partly covered in two books – see here!

Viggen is the most complex dismantling project undertaken by Newark – one of the few times a complete undercarriage has been removed!

Thanks Twinotter.. yes it was nice to meet you too.!

Shame about the runway, having such a good length of available concrete but not being able to use it must be quite frustrating. Don’t know why but i always thought the Shack flew in ala Dx’s example… bet that must have taken up a few lorry loads.!

Hi Wyvernfan,

It was good to speak on Saturday.

Sadly the runways at Winthorpe are no longer useable and since the gliders left they are merely car parking spaces; albeit full of potholes, some worse than those on the roadway down to the museum! 😮 [An issue that the museum landlord has promised to correct!]

Runway[s] ownership – Newark & Notts Agricultural Society.

The last aircraft to land at Winthorpe for the museum was the briefly displayed AN2-Colt in early 2002. Another factor is that the runway in now fenced at various points :rolleyes: and at least one aircraft has landed and the occupants have had to phone to be ‘let out!’

The runways were evaluated for both the Draken and Viggen deliveries [1994 and 2006 respectively] but declined due to the poor condition. These aircraft were subsequently flown to Scampton and Cranwell respectively and then moved by road.

Of those you mentioned the Vulcan [1983] and Hastings [1977] flew in, but the Shackleton was dismantled and moved by road – 😮 hence my poor A-Level results [too much time at Finningley].

The Vulcan is the largest aircraft ever to land at Winthorpe and at the time of the early 1980s disposals XM594 was the only Vulcan to be delivered to a non licensed airfield – Winthorpe having no facilities other than a marginal length of concrete.

Any future airframes would almost certainly come in by road!