It’s a lovely photo!

I can’t really add anything useful except to suggest that it looks as though the airfield is already disused, given the state of the grass in front of the tower, and the generally empty look of the building and background?

Does that allow some candidates which have been in continuous use to be eliminated perhaps?

Edited to add: disused as in Care and Maintenance too.

Overall, I thought it was quite good, certainly better than the last one in September 2005.

There were a few nice pieces and one or two new faces on the stalls – the Beaufort and Whitley c.g. models were fascinating.

The visitors seemed to be in more of a buying mood, too.

There’s talk of moving the venue. It tickles me to hear stallholders whingeing about Shoreham being “too far out” (from London), having driven 300 miles to get there myself.

And thanks for the compliment, Elliott, glad you’ve found them interesting!

I must be doing something wrong as I can’t seem to find it – unless it’s been withdrawn from eBay?

Jon H et al,

It might be worth talking to these people, if you are looking for a home for the nose in the North West…

http://www.hootonparktrust.co.uk/index.htm

That said, if I were them (and I’m not connected in any way), I’d expect you to be able to present some kind of convincing business plan for the long term future of the nose otherwise they might feel they were being asked to take on a liability.

It might be a good test of your preparedness for this whole venture anyway?

Good luck with it!

It’s amazing how accessible the old yards were to those with “the knowledge”.

I’d been told about the yard in Swinton (which turned out to be the best ever yard I got into) many times over the previous few years, but the lurid descriptions of what was to be found in there just didn’t ring true – maybe twenty years previously but now, in 1978, surely not? I put it down to folk losing track of time.

However, one saturday, I put on a display for N.A.P.S. in Salford, and just about everyone who came to view the bits and pieces, told me about the Swinton yard again!

I just had to check it out. After finishing the display, me and my pal drove over to Swinton. He’d hurt his ankle playing rugby, so opted to stay with the car and keep an eye on the bits and pieces (everyone knows leaving an unguarded car in Salford is a risky business).

He stayed with the car and I followed the very precise directions which every Salfordian seemed to know by heart:

“follow the river ’til you come to the canal, walk along the fence until you come to the third bush, crawl thru the hole in the wire”.

What presented itself to me was, quite literally, a pile of WW2 aircraft components – Typhoon elevators, Lancaster canopies, bits of turret, spade grips and throttle boxes. I actually tripped over a Miles Master throttle box!

When I eventually staggered back to the car, all I could say was:

“It’s all ********n’ true! There’s piles of the stuff!”

A few days later, we were there with the yard’s blessing and were allowed to take away anything we wanted. For free – they just could not believe that anyone had any interest in the old scrap that had lain around for decades.

That was the start of regular visits that went on for years until, one day, when phoning up to arrange yet another foraging session, I was told:

“It’s all gone”.

They had cleared the whole area, laid concrete and were using it for storage of containers, all within a space of about three weeks since the previous visit!

Looking back on it now, it just seems amazing that someone “into” cockpit collecting should find such a treasure trove of stuff, almost on his own door step.

Ah, Mag Elektron, happy days!

I subsequently found out that N.A.P.S. had investigated the yard during the 1960’s and had dismissed it’s contents as “scrap”! :rolleyes: