RAF Brize Norton Aviation Enthusiasts Day 22-9-13

Hi,

This was a truly excellent day out – here are some of my photos:-

TriStar ZE705 dominated the parking area:-

ZE705 by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr

Only a few days before her final flight it was VC-10 ZA147 that was the star for most people:-

ZA147 by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr

We were allowed very good access to all the aircraft – the elevated aspect of this photo of XV303 was a result of photographing it from one of the TriStar’s windows:-

XV303 by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr

I hope the photos are of interest – more are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiaecho/

Neil

Any news on the future of the one currently in the Falklands. Will it be returning to the UK?

It returned and is one of these last two about to retire

Psst

To celebrate almost 47 years of continuous service with the Royal Air Force, 47 Sqn are hosting a C130K Out of Service (OSD) party on Friday 8th November.

The party will take place at the 47 Sqn HQ (Bldg 60) at RAF Brize Norton from 1900 until late.

Entertainment will take the form of 4 live bands, including the 47 Sqn band AK47, plus a DJ all playing music from across the decades.

Numerous catering outlets will be present with a host of refreshments being offered – drinks tickets will be available at the cost of £2 per drink.

Profits will go to RAFBF and St Nicholas School, Chippenham.

Entry to the function is free.

This is an open invite to all serving and ex serving personnel who have been associated with the venerable C130K – come and help us send her off in style.

Non Service personnel who wish to attend will need to forward their details to Control of Entry at RAF Brize Norton no later than 10 days prior to the event – 47 Sqn Ops on 01993 896833 will be able to assist. Alternatively please PM me through this site and I will endeavour to answer any questions.

There is limited car parking available on Stn but a taxi rank will be in use towards the end of the function.

No accommodation is available at RAF Brize Norton but Carterton has several pleasant B+Bs with hotels available in Witney and Oxford.

“Sans Peur”

The Tristar which was open for inspection was ex Pan AM. Interesting the Tristar pilot was ex BA! Must have been part of the package deal!
Talking about the price of the aircraft, the VC10 crew were telling me the price of the VC10 yokes and their respective centre caps are worth large sums of money probably more than the aircraft itself! Looks like these may have been already auctioned off for charity within the squadron. As previously stated a good day out! The VC10 will be sorely missed from our skies, only the BAE146 left as the true remaining British aircraft/airliner at a guess??

This also brought back a few memories yesterday!

On one of the TriStars?

It will never be the same around here without them. I’ll miss the sound of their Conway engines. I have fond memories of flying to and from Cyprus in them when I was in the army.

Excellently organised day out, I and Busterette had a fabulous time. The smell of hydraulic fluid, oil and Jet A1 took me back to my youth!

This also brought back a few memories yesterday!

Any news on the future of the one currently in the Falklands. Will it be returning to the UK?

I thoroughly enjoyed it too. A Flt Engineer commented that the value of SLRs there was higher than the three aircraft. There were about £12k worth of cameras and lenses in the garden area while I had lunch!

Despite the fact that full-timers and ATC Cadets were giving up a day, they were so helpful and cheerful.

I wondered if I had talked to any of you Key people?

Really good day today at Brize Norton. The event was very well organised and all three aircraft VC10 Tristar and C130K
were open for inspection (incl cockpits) together with air crew on hand to answer questions. There was unrestricted access to the 3 machines with good photo opportunities to all.
A big thankyou to the organisers. News from the airfield is that ZA147 will fly out 10am Tues to Dunsfold where it will remain for sometime. Last VC10 leaves for Bruntingthorpe on weds at 9.45am expected at Brunty at 11am (all departure times obviously subject to change!)

Some less than perfect shots taken from my phone to give a general idea but I am sure others more experienced with a camera will provide a better visual portrayal of the event.

Thanks to all the folk who organised and ran this excellent event. Although it was stated on the shuttle-bus out to the pan that ZA147 would be the Dunsfold bound example, some crew members with the VC-10 reckoned (as indicated previously on other Forums) that it would be ZA150 leaving on Tues and ZA147 would be going to Bruntingthorpe on Weds.- So I guess it’s watch this space?

Tim

Firstly thanks to all the guys that made this possible. ZA147 was the last aircraft I flew in whilst in the RAF on 101 SQN and it brought back a lot of memories from when the Sqn reformed in 1983 through to my departure in 1988. Good to see the old girl up close again and so pleased to hear she is being preserved.

Steve

Really good day today at Brize Norton. The event was very well organised and all three aircraft VC10 Tristar and C130K
were open for inspection (incl cockpits) together with air crew on hand to answer questions. There was unrestricted access to the 3 machines with good photo opportunities to all.
A big thankyou to the organisers. News from the airfield is that ZA147 will fly out 10am Tues to Dunsfold where it will remain for sometime. Last VC10 leaves for Bruntingthorpe on weds at 9.45am expected at Brunty at 11am (all departure times obviously subject to change!)

Some less than perfect shots taken from my phone to give a general idea but I am sure others more experienced with a camera will provide a better visual portrayal of the event.

You will be 3 months early for Santa.

I’ll be there, just look for the 6′ 5″ bearded geek 🙂

Enjoy it guys, I spent a wonderful 6 or 7 years there working on the Tens and was tempted to go back for one final time, but thinking about it decided I would forgo that chance to allow those that haven’t had that opportunity to soak it up. 🙂

I have been fortunate to be allocated a number of places and will be attending with my kids, it looks like a promising event with the aircraft being available for inspection and the pilots available to meet and greet . One of my party members is unable to attend so I have written to the wing commander asking him to give the place to someone on the reserve list (as per his original instructions) So if you are on the reserve list fingers crossed for you!

Lucky b*ggers.

I got 9.30!

I got “last Saturday” !

Lucky b*ggers.

I got 9.30!

Yup…I’ll be there at 10:45 also :eagerness:

Steve