Those were the days…

Mk 12

Trumper
You miserable sod, why didn’t you pay to go in, it cost peanuts and had a really great atmosphere,

🙂 Pete,which bit did you pay to get into?[the Debden display or HFL] i did’nt know the airfield was open to the public[either of them] i thought it was a private do 😮 ,if i had of known i would also have been crawling around the AN2 😀
PM Sent

Mk 12
Fantastic picture Mk 12, it really sums up that special moment, and I like the glass of vino in his hand, but it should have been a little more to the left and you would have picked up me and the old man standing about 100 yards away, incidentally the school is situated roughly in line with the left hand Spitfire, only below the horizon.
Trumper
You miserable sod, why didn’t you pay to go in, it cost peanuts and had a really great atmosphere, the only thing that spoilt it for me was that my missus and I were in the nasty throes of divorce and she insisted on going, why, I shall never know, I think it was something to do with bonding with the children, don’t worry, 14 years on and we have managed to remain good pals, despite all the nastiness at the time, word of advice to those in a similar situation, both of you swallow your pride and it works out best for everyone in the end.
I was allowed to crawl all over the Antonov, what big ******s they are, when I went into the beer tent, all the participating aircrew were supping pints, the Spitfire landed and the pilot, whoever he was that day, turned up at the bar and turned down multiple offers of drinks and stuck to Coke, his reply to the ensuing p*** taking was that alcohol and Spitfires don’t go together, quite right too.
Nice little airshow, drove past the place today and thought about it, then I saw the reference on here.
AG
I was thinking that it was only me and him that saw the significance of Zoot, I was lucky enough to be sitting on the sound desk at Notty Uni in 74 when Captain Beefhart did the most cosmic gig I ever saw, ‘Too many fans and not enough fans’, how cool was that.

The Warbird Registry may be a good start. Go here and type in Doug Arnold

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/search.html

I had a look once and three pages of search results came back.

No Arnold aircraft are at North Weald any more

so does anyone have a definative list of the airframes doug arnold had and where they all are now? i assume some may be crated up at the weald, going by the fact the new tfc spit and p-47 were there for years.

I pass Daedalus airfield (Lee on the Solent) in Hampshire which have a collection of warbirds on the SE corner of the field. Also on the NE corner there is a yellow Harvard coded RN-X (cant quite see the serial no.), a Tiger Moth and a Piper Cub parked in a hangar. anyone know who own them? Are they flyers?

Sounds like quite a few of us were round Saffron Walden! And at least two of you have made me feel very very green for never having the brass to go up to the airfield. 😮

By the way, I do struggle with the concept of Zoot Horn Rollo and Kylie in the same sig – verily, the mind dost boggle!

Adrian

I remember going round the hangars at Blackbushe just after the Indian Spits had been delivered. The Meteor was in the hangar as well but it was before all the assorted American stuff has arrived.

I remember being in Saffron Walden when HFL were still based at Audley End, and finished their first four Spitfires more-or-less together.

One Saturday all four seemed to be being airtested – it was wonderful watching them playing around Walden being put through their paces. Not to be seen again, sadly- well, not there anyway!

Adrian

😀 I used to live in Walden and looked forward to seeing them up where they belong.When i cycled to Audley End station i always hoped something was flying around.
In 1992 [i think]i stood outside RAF Debden [Carver Barracks] and videoed C-NG Spitfire doing a display there [there was also an AN2 and Harvards] and she also beat up Audley End HFL 😀

There was a crowd of people on the airfield, including 2 old boys, one in a wheelchair, we learnt that they were Alex Henshaw and Jeffrey Quill plus a group of people in connection with a Canadian Squadron that had flown one of the Spits.

15 August 1992. 60 Squadron bash. Spitfires TP280 and RW382.

Mark

I remember being in Saffron Walden when HFL were still based at Audley End, and finished their first four Spitfires more-or-less together.

One Saturday all four seemed to be being airtested – it was wonderful watching them playing around Walden being put through their paces. Not to be seen again, sadly- well, not there anyway!

Adrian

My son was at Saffron Walden County High School during the last few years of HFL’s tenancy, for those who don’t know, the school is at the bottom of the hill at the end of the runway. He used to come home sometimes with tales of constant overflights, I think it put him off going to airshows as he was subject to them every day.
I was always a little dubious about air testing newly rebuilt vintage a/c over a school containing 1000 kids.
One Saturday I took my old man shopping at Saffron Walden and drove him up the little track to the airfield. We stopped at the barrier at the top to be confronted by 2 Spitfires ticking over right next to us, almost within reach.
There was a crowd of people on the airfield, including 2 old boys, one in a wheelchair, we learnt that they were Alex Henshaw and Jeffrey Quill plus a group of people in connection with a Canadian Squadron that had flown one of the Spits.
The 2 took of together and proceeded to fly a scintillating routine, I’m sure that one of the pilots was Mark Hannah.
It was capped by a low level pass over the school below us and a steep low level climb up the valley towards us that had everyone ducking.
That would have been summer 1992, and did I have a camera with me, nooooooooo, there’s not usually much to photograph at Walden Waitrose.

I remember being in Saffron Walden when HFL were still based at Audley End, and finished their first four Spitfires more-or-less together.

One Saturday all four seemed to be being airtested – it was wonderful watching them playing around Walden being put through their paces. Not to be seen again, sadly- well, not there anyway!

Adrian

5 Miles by the crow flys from Old Warden.
40 mins by Road to Duxford
Skysport engineering about 15 miles from me.
Henlow is just down the road.
Campton airfield is within walking distance. (I believe there is a Stearman there and maybe a Tiger Moth)

Aerotechs on my way to work (only a block away in fact).Lynette Zuccoli has done a great job keeping her late husbands collection going.Been quiet these last few years but I do get to see the odd exotic plane visit every now and then.

Yep. It’s got to have been at least 15 years.

I remember being at school in Charles Darwin and seeing a P-51 take off while I was in German class. It seems quite ironic thinking about it now…

Doug Arnold at Biggin Hill?

Was that in the days when that red Hunter was mounted on a pole behind those South Camp hangars?

Regards,

Dan