It was the end of flying ops at Lyneham today and a very sad day not only for Fat Albert but the RAF as a whole. Never having the romantic attachment for many people that Battle of Britain fighter stations do, it nevertheless has a rich history as this short clip from the BBC shows:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-13987771

Shutting an airfield that has two runways and moving vital transport ops to a location with one and history of closing for fog is folly in the extreme.

End of an era, start of an error in my opinion.

There was an article in the Telegraph about something similar:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8569705/Gadgets-when-technology-senses-what-you-are-doing.html

I am not sure the days of a plastic laminated A4 sheet where damp has got into the edges and around the staples; showing a fuzzy picture and list of performance figures with a brief description, are over just yet.

One of the difficulties of tech which uses the visitor’s own gadget is the variety of platforms and their performance. F’rinstance I am a BlackBerry user so an iPhone App is no good to me, but I am told that the BlackBerry QR code recognition knocks the Apple into a cocked hat. Some people are hell bent on Android; but let us not forget the many many users of non smart tech.

Earpieces connected to a low power radio station can be a bit hit and miss due to atmospherics affecting the AM broadcasts. If there is a decent surveilance radar running anywhere near you will get a blip every rotation and there is always the chance of an earful of white noise during ATC/Pilot radio talk. That said I have used them within sports venues where IMHO they enhanced the event considerably.

Price needs to drop dramatically before this sort of kit is available to anyone without an Arts Council grant to give the man from Apple/Adobe/Google/RIM etc champagne and canapes. But bring it on I say, whatever it takes to get people engaged and leave with a better knowledge gets my vote every time.

Pah! Get some op time in shiney fleet!

The first troops that deployed on Op Banner in 1969, did so in Fat Albert (a mere toddler at just two years old). I flew my last Banner run in 2007 just as the op was finally declared over.

I would love to see lots of Hercules preserved all over this country as we owe it a huge debt as a nation, but the harsh reality is Lockheed’s finest is still very sought after and bits of it are VERY valuable to Military and Civil operators. If you consider the money spent on the flight deck alone in the last ten years on upgrades, a full spares recovery programme is very lucrative indeed.

A very sad end to a mighty servant, but these are the times we live in.

The 10B is fitted to the Hawk T1 and the 16A to the Typhoon

I can confirm that the Cottesmore MRD in the mid eighties was a pair of Derwents and I hated and feared running them in equal proportions. Sat in a ‘garden shed’ between two ancient jets was no picnic and even though you had massive heat sources within arms length, piggin’ cold!!

It seemed like every winter the 1600 hrs Tannoy message across the station only changed from Blacktop Standdown to 2 hours notice only ever occured when I was duty MRD Bod. I was called out for real three times and sat in my shed for 4 hour stints was no fun. Even the delight in burning Bowser clutches out for an early knock off lost its sparkle when the MTO threatened to charge the driver and the operator the next time it happened.

We were never allowed on tarmac because it would be a molten mass at the far end of the runway by the time we finished. We even had to be careful on concrete as it was easy to blow the bitumen filleting out.

They were decommissioned in about ’89 I think and I seem to recall the lads in Prop Flight sectioned at least onE Derwent for display and I think another was painted and chromed also for display.

Better known as Christine or that F$%^&* B*£^&*” Jet.

Every type has it’s rogue jet and this is the Harrier fleets. I know some lineys that refused to work on it alone because of its ability to draw blood in a big way. A bit inconvenient as it was usually U/S for some reason or other.

It suffered its fair share of mishaps too including I am pretty sure, suffering quite a lot of damage ‘overseas’ resulting in a C17 ride home and an incident with a jack which led to an extended repair scheme.

Also of use for bulling boots!

Ahem! You may think that Prime Minister; i couldn’t possibly comment!