Tangmere Pics

“last year I went to the anniversary of Neville Dukes air speed record and met the man himself,they also had most of the external aircrafts cockpits open ,I got to sit in the lightning and a couple of the others.”

By coincidence,I visited on the morning of the same day,although I couldn’t hang around for the afternoon with Neville Duke. If I’d known I’d have arranged it differently,but hay ho!
:rolleyes:

I go there often as its my local museum although some 20 miles away and agree its a great place ,last year I went to the anniversary of Neville Dukes air speed record and met the man himself,they also had most of the external aircrafts cockpits open ,I got to sit in the lightning and a couple of the others.
Thats a crime about the control tower, its a pity they cant take it down and move it onto the museum site. Most people who visit the museum dont even realise the control tower is still there.I remember about 20 years back driving around the runways and aircraft pens on my motorbike before it was put back to arable use like as mentioned on the ghost thread a very peaceful and serene atmosphere.
They also do a good breaky there in the little cafe.

I believe the SeaVixen had her canopy smashed by vandals when she was on display at Christchurch,hence the black bin liners on the canopy in my pics and the more heavy duty item in Shorty’s pic.All the airframes are covered up with tarpaulins over the winter,there was a good pic of the cocooned Lightning on A.net a few weeks back,so i guess they’re waiting for the winter weather to fully pass before they completely unveil the ‘Vixen.
As for the tower,it was cleaned up and repainted a few years ago for one of the aerojumbles they used to hold on the old airfield site. (The event was moved down the coast to Shoreham two or three years back) Since then the airfield site has apparently been left pretty much to it’s own devices.I can’t be sure,but I believe the old airfield site is now the property of the local church, so I suppose it is up to them what happens to many of the buildings on the site.The museum have very little or no say on what happens with the airfield.
(PS The above knowledge is based on a conversation I had with a member of staff 3-4 years ago,so things may have changed since)

That’s because I don’t know the real reason, I just assumed there was a good one.

Anyway, what are we going to do about the tower ??

Originally posted by Kye
What is the history behind that Vixen and the squadrons she has been in? By the looks of it the tail mark looks like it may have been station on the Ark Royal 🙂

According to W&R this [b]Sea[/b] Vixen;) was with 899NAS – whose markings it wears. Almost certainly went through the drone programme at Llanbedr, Farnborough, and FRL at Bournemouth before being displayed at Christchurch then Tangmere.
Guess it leaks – Shorty never did tell us why it wore a cover!

Flood.

What is the history behind that Vixen and the squadrons she has been in? By the looks of it the tail mark looks like it may have been station on the Ark Royal 🙂

Hi Dez,
The Lightning arrived late in 2002 having previously been in storage in Gloucestershire.Although she’s painted as ‘XR728’ she’s actually ZF578,an ex-Saudi F.53. The real XR753 is kept as a ‘mascot’ by 11sqn at RAF Leeming.

Oh Sh*t, I forgot. HORROR. One of the staff was saying that the control tower may get demolished soon. Any ideas on how to prevent this. If I was rich I’d buy it & live in it. Unfortunately I’m not, so I can’t.

Cheers Ant,

I might write to them and see if i can have a closer look when i go down!

The SeaVixen head on photo is superb!

How long has the Lightning been there? Last time i went was 97, don’t remember seeing it…

Hi Dez,
Yep,the one at Tangmere is the one that was at the Duxford show,it has wings which can be detached for transport on the back of a low-loader which explains it’s swift disappearance after the show! 😉
I think it still belongs to the Spitfire Society but is on indefinate loan to Tangmere.

…sorry if I’m overdoing things,but I couldn’t resist posting this one.The sun came out at just the right moment. 🙂

Not been to Tangmere for many years, im gonna try incorporate it into my tour of Kent in May!

The Spifire K5054 looks superb, how accurate is it?

There was one on the flightline at the Spitfire airshow at Duxford in 96, is this the one? i often wondered where that one disappeared too?

Again…

Beautiful pics Shorty,thanks for sharing.Tangmere is a great little museum that will hopefully become a not-so-little museum in the near future.Planning and fund-raising are now underway for a hangar extension,in essance another hangar adjoining the one that was built a few years back.

http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/

I’ve been going to Tangmere for years and never tire of the place,there’s plenty to see and the staff are great.It’s a million miles from the ‘Oi!Don’t touch!” treatment you get at Hendon! Thanks to the kind and helpful staff I can tell you that the Spit protype replica is great on the inside aswell as out,although access to it is now more difficult since they put the RJ Mitchell display up in front of the two Spits.The Hurricane is great too,if you didn’t know it was a replica you might never twig it!
If you’re ever down Sussex-way,it’s a place that you won’t regret visiting.
Here’s the SeaVixen last summer with no covers on…

Briefly. It was the lure of nice fluffy cumulus against a blue sky as a backdrop to the a/c outside that spurred me into action.

Nice. Good weather too!

Flood.

Nice Spitfire vb replica. Named after an ancient Danish King.

..and the star , the Supermarine Swift.

Composite of record breaking Meteor 4 EE943.

Record breaking Hunter WB188 .