Still sniping are we ! not helping the Airfields cause.

C A F Newquay

Full page article/press release in the daily Western Morning News today,with Cornwall County Council stating they have spent considerable time and money (together with the CAF) in renovating and ‘upgraging Hangar 404 (70,000 s/ft)
No mention of jobs being created although CAF are stating that they will be welcoming ‘volunteers’ to assist with the venture.
Not sure how the ‘Rapide pleasure flights’ will pan out,as Newquay only has the one runway and this is frequently X-wind limiting for the local PT operator.
Newquay Airport admitted an ongoing annual subsidy of £3.6 million recently (and rising) and is an ‘arms length company’ of Cornwall Council.This is the same council that has consistently hindered and obstructed the nearby private Perranporth Airfield that actually provides local employment and contributes a substantial rate input to the Council.
Many local people are questioning the motives of a Council that has spent ‘Squillions’ of pounds on its ‘own’ operation yet can only attract a Trust to utilise the facilities,when it has only ever penalised a ‘non funded private operation’ a few miles away!

St Mawgan

Pagen; why do you think that SM becoming NQ Airport is not ‘protecting’ things.
It is still an active airfield and i would suggest has a better future as such rather than becoming an army camp.(check out how many of those you can land on nowadays).
An airfield is about AIRCRAFT,and that is the reason for their existence.
When an airfield turns into an industrial or housing estate it loose’s that ‘open aspect’ that make airfields what they are.Not only that, it is the aircraft and crews that flew from the base’s that are the significant point, especially for those that did not return.
An airfields history is about the activity and its human aspects,not just the buildings.
What is a scandal is how many useful buildings (including housing) have been abandoned when the MOD leave an,area and then fall into deriliction.
SM was really a cold war airfield ( as St Eval was the main CC base during WW2),and most people will remember it as a home for Lancasters, Shackletons, and Nimrods in their AS role, plus the other NATO types that rotated through in a similar role.It was at the ‘sharp end’ of the very real W-pact submarine threat for decades, and as such was very much on the front line complete with its own comprehensive weapons bunkers (still there).
It was also A MDA and therefore has a legacy of ‘being available’ if needed.
I would suggest that its current use has kept that ‘spirit’ alive very well.

Thread creep C-Shell heroes’

I think the main interest from a film made in 1956 is how much original equipment and period locations are evident.
I suspect that at the time full details of the raid were still not in the public domain,but it did give a reasonable feeling of the effort required and the frail craft employed.
R f t Sky gave us some historic images of Kenley (as it was) even if they got the ‘teardrop’ canopies wrong.
The problem with POC was they had to pick up the ‘cuttings’ to try and make something out of it,and the ‘Friston’ bit no doubt took a fair bit of the budget to no avail.
In the end though i would rather see a good effort made with real equipment/locations than the arcade effect of CGI.
What we need is ‘Zulu’ with Hurricanes !!!! (at Kenley)

Of course i mean the quality of ‘Zulu’ before someone comes on to say they were not there.

P O C

I ‘sort of’ read POC many years after ‘owning’ an original copy of Fighter Pilot.
Yes FP was very well written,and considering the factual situation of the time Paul Richey also managed to inject some humour and what we now call satire into the account of events.
Some of the humour was aimed at himself; always a good sign of a good read.

Before the days of ‘forums’ and ‘feedback’ from instant sources the Deja-vu felling was almost instant (i wonder why).
POC was a ‘soapised’ production of a subject that deserved much better,its only saving grace was the ‘actual’ flying.

G45

I well remember when these were available (decades ago) in our local surplus stores for a few bob (boxed with mags).
We used to play with them when we were told to leave the Sibe Gorman diving helmets (and boots) alone. (operating the hand pump would bring the man hot-foot down from the till)
A feature of the camera was a heating element visible behind the front lens.
As this would have to be ‘on’ all the time to prevent misting was there a switch in the cockpit to activate the element or was it ‘live’ when the normal Aircraft electrics came on-line.
Later on the same store provided an early ‘bone dome’ (silver) which went on to help a friend to survive a major prang in a fretwork fighter.

Unexpected instrument flying situation

Now girls its Xmas, so what about some goodwill and cheer.
The problem with unplanned excursions into instrument conditions (not just cloud/fog) but could be a horizon limiting thick haze, is that a substantial number of pilots have not considered the ‘possibility’ in the flight planning stage.
All of a sudden :- Nav kit,comms,performance,fuel,notam’s and available alternatives become very important,especially if you were just up for a local bimble,and had not really thought you needed to bother. Pilots have become reliant on radio and GPS; which is fine, but a subconcious plan B & C is no bad thing when the ‘norm’ goes pear shaped.
When i say flight planning it should be remembered that an airfield may go ‘out’ at short notice for a non weather situation and this is not always appreciated by pilots who fly infrequently. Dry exercises at home on the kitchen table cost nothing but at least keep the thought process on-line.
When i checked out pilots for local (SE) commercial pleasure flying i expected them to know where all the local strips* were located and be ready to use one if the need arose (the op’s inspector did not have a problem with that).
Merry Christmas to all.
* Including m-light and farm ones.