So Long RAF Swinderby….

I feel I must reply to Fieldhawks remark about Wellingtons, I remember driving from Lincoln to Newark, and having to stop at the traffic lights to allow a Wellington to taxi from its dispersal on the right hand side of the road to the runway on the left. Bet those lights are long gone as this was in the forties.

Can’t remember the lights on the A46 from my days at Swinderby in the early 60’s when it was Vampire T11’s and not DI’s that flew the circuit.

Ah yes, Swinderby 1973 – Corporal Rose was our particular pain in the posterior.

That’ll be the station battle bunker, I remembered that little hill and wondered about it for bloomin’ years until I discovered the existence of ‘Battle Bunkers’
There’s a thread, with photos, about it here :- http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=62451&postcount=3

Did my 6 week stint in Jan 80. Contracted the mandatory Swinderby Flu on week 4 and don’t remember much of the final 2 weeks, including our passing out parade, to be honest!
😀

It is a Battle Headquarters, some onfo on them here;
http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/forumdisplay.php?f=94

I have just updated my webpage with the photos I took at Swinderby in June, http://www.airfields.fotopic.net/swinderby – may interest some of you.

…Mind you if they also remove that damn hill thing we used to run over on cross countries, i will get my shovel and give them a hand.

That’ll be the station battle bunker, I remembered that little hill and wondered about it for bloomin’ years until I discovered the existence of ‘Battle Bunkers’
There’s a thread, with photos, about it here :- http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=62451&postcount=3

Did my 6 week stint in Jan 80. Contracted the mandatory Swinderby Flu on week 4 and don’t remember much of the final 2 weeks, including our passing out parade, to be honest!
😀

So long RAF Swinderby

I feel I must reply to Fieldhawks remark about Wellingtons, I remember driving from Lincoln to Newark, and having to stop at the traffic lights to allow a Wellington to taxi from its dispersal on the right hand side of the road to the runway on the left. Bet those lights are long gone as this was in the forties.

Cool, did you visit the vulcan in a bag that was a war reserve? and kept on the other camp

No, we went to see them during majors, Buccs as well.

All pretty much gone I am sad to say, some photos have been added to AiX, link here:
http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?p=28484#post28484

On our pass out parade the Co of RAF Valley took the salute and in the fog four Gnats flew past , we heard them.

Before the move there was certainly a He111 and a Ju88 in the shed, there is no mistaking them. Indeed I remember the 162 as well.
Still, happy times (sort of).

Cool, did you visit the vulcan in a bag that was a war reserve? and kept on the other camp

I was there 12/69 to 02/70 anyone remember cpl (formerly sgt..) Westerman..?? awesome guy who got us all to where we needed to be…. ahhh happy days !

Before the move there was certainly a He111 and a Ju88 in the shed, there is no mistaking them. Indeed I remember the 162 as well.
Still, happy times (sort of).

No, Stan Currell webt on to be a civvy instructer at Halton, I met him there as well.
Indeed the museum hanger, I was there for the move as well. I remember a Spit, a JU88, He111, the 190 was a T bird, a Stuka and a couple of meat boxes, one of which was the prone position a/c.

u sure?? HE111 are you sure that was not the Dinah? they were rebuilding it and made a hash of it doing the wings with pops, they eventually came to Trent Aero at East Mids to get done properly, its now in Cosford as well,
The Ju88 was probably the Me410 that is now in Cosford, we had that running to, if memory serves me correctly they had to put a hose from a hydrant into the cooling system as it had a major leak.
Cannot remember the Stuka, was a lot of Spits, one had the legs chained together to keep the gear down…. was a ME163 and a salamander, sat and had a fiddle with all of them bar the Salamander as they would not let us play with it and the sick spit….. was also a Bleriot replica and a few others, we took a load down to the Gym Hangar for an open day, cutting down the lamp posts outside the mess on the way. FW 190 was ran as was the Tony both in the museums now.

Remember the Bucc they did and set up for the RAF at Home open day, got it jacked and retracted the gear and there they stayed partially up, took em ages to get it down again. Also the Hunters that we used for training that dissapeared over a bank holiday, had flown out to be refurbed for i think Lebanon? and the stupid WAFF that dissapeared and Nationwide TV search on, we turned the camp upside down looking for a corpse, under heating ducts and on the Hanger roofs to find she was shacked up in some Airmans room on west camp lol

I am lousy with names, was the Chief the one in the office with jet black hair that looked like it was dyed, if so he turned up at Odious as a flight sergeant on 18 Sqn.

We had the bad luck at Swinditz to do the AOC’s parade so our camping was done on the end of the Airfield and we had extra drill! 🙁

The person with both arms in plaster was standing by the waer heater on camping when the tank exploded and he was badly burned, he had to go to the med centre when he wanted a pee or other things and a nurse would hold it for him….. :p

Still it allowed us when we got to Saints to be involved with dragging most of the junk out from the Museum Hanger to be run for a sound recordist to record it for posterity, that included the Tony and the FW 190 🙂

No, Stan Currell webt on to be a civvy instructer at Halton, I met him there as well.
Indeed the museum hanger, I was there for the move as well. I remember a Spit, a JU88, He111, the 190 was a T bird, a Stuka and a couple of meat boxes, one of which was the prone position a/c.

I’m afraid it isn’t just recycling the runways there’s a significant sand and gravel extraction component to the project. http://www.cemex.co.uk/ac/ac_pr_2007_20071126.asp

It’s a bit ironic really because in its early days RAF Swinderby suffered from flooding problems and this was one of the reasons why RAF Winthorpe was constructed; normally areas rich in sand and gravel are fairly free draining! :confused:

So now when it’s wet!

Then you might remember ‘Boots’ Fieldhouse. Or what about c/t Currell (the bionic smile)?

I am lousy with names, was the Chief the one in the office with jet black hair that looked like it was dyed, if so he turned up at Odious as a flight sergeant on 18 Sqn.

We had the bad luck at Swinditz to do the AOC’s parade so our camping was done on the end of the Airfield and we had extra drill! 🙁

The person with both arms in plaster was standing by the waer heater on camping when the tank exploded and he was badly burned, he had to go to the med centre when he wanted a pee or other things and a nurse would hold it for him….. :p

Still it allowed us when we got to Saints to be involved with dragging most of the junk out from the Museum Hanger to be run for a sound recordist to record it for posterity, that included the Tony and the FW 190 🙂

When they say Quarrying it is not to turn the whole place into a Quarry, it means they will be removing the concrete bases and runway to get access the the hundreds of thousands of tons of high quality hardcore that was used in there construction, they did the same at Greenham and Hatfield, it is worth a fortune….. Mind you if they also remove that damn hill thing we used to run over on cross countries, i will get my shovel and give them a hand.

Scary thought to have that so close to you. Makes you wonder what other things have slipped through down the years. The live bomb on Scamptons gate springs to mind.

The live 6in naval shell that a Tesco’s in Pompey used as a doorstop for years is another…

Well then that means you had the opportunity to watch me leave as the senior course of A mech P’s from Saints 🙂 was on I think 179

Then you might remember ‘Boots’ Fieldhouse. Or what about c/t Currell (the bionic smile)?

Are you tick-tocking!…………just kidding!:D

….often, I was the only one in step!!!

Indeed that does ring a bell. I went from Swinders to St Athan as one of the last A mech P courses there.

Well then that means you had the opportunity to watch me leave as the senior course of A mech P’s from Saints 🙂 was on I think 179

Cpl O’mara was my DI as well !!… along with Sgt Dalgleish.

Here’s a pic of us on our Pass out parade, snapped by my Dad. Sorry, but the quality is not brilliant. It was a lovely sunny, but bl**dy cold November morning. We had a Nimrod as our Flypast, a bit spooky really as I ended up at St Mawgan for many years……happy days
Note the Canberra airframe on static display in the background far right of the photo. I also remember other airframes stored in some of the drill hangers. A Swift was one of them and a piston Provost also I think. Memory fading these days, wish I had taken Photo’s.

Are you tick-tocking!…………just kidding!:D