Pete TrumanI’ve just noticed after all these years, there appears to be a Grand Slam on a trolley under the wing, if I recall, I took the picture at Waddington, possibly 1964.
Pete TrumanVery nice shots, particularly like the one of PM631 over the north coast of Jersey.
Well that answers one of my questions, do you know where any other locations were, I fancy one of those caravans at the end of the runway at wherever it is.
Superb shots by the way.
Pete TrumanI have’nt seen this film for years and can’t remember much about it apart from Sophia Lorens pouting and protruberences.
I just had a look on IMDB, how did we manage to survive without it, and noticed that the Peenemunde scenes were shot at Holkham Bay, Norfolk, wonderful place, anyone who hasn’t been must go, but how the hell they got the gear up the sandy track to do the filming is beyond me. Incidentally, if you do go there, be carefull of the WW2 barbed wire that is still in situ under the dunes and comes to the surface sometimes, I once sliced my foot open so badly that the bloodstains remained on the steps down to Wells car park for several years.
Having read this thread earlier, I was going to point out that having seen the Lanc at the same time of production, it didn’t have a front turret, or top turret, was this aquired and paid for by the film company then.
Pete TrumanNot historic, but very unusual round here.
Last night at about 21:30, I was sitting in the garden having a glass of vino with my son and we had noticed during the evening that Stansted bound a/c were taking a completely different track and were coming in from the NW and turning over my house, never seen that before.
The next minute a fast jet appeared from the direction of Wethersfield heading NW at about twice the height of the airliners, I couldn’t get my bins in time, but I thought it was either a Typhoon or Tornado with it’s wings right back.
I haven’t seen military jets over here for years, apart from transitting from Southend, but to see one at that time on a Sunday night as well was very strange, so was it’s course, looked to be heading for the Birmingham area.
Anyone have a clue what it might have been and up to, I assume from it’s track that it had come in from over the North Sea, has there been an airshow in Europe this weekend, on the other hand, with all the bases being in either Norfolk, Lincs, Yorks and Scotland, why would it come over here, and I’m certain it wasn’t a Valley Hawk, the tail was too big.
Pete TrumanNice pics, it’s so sad to see the tower at Malling after going to all those cracking airshows, pathetic. Perhaps Mr McCartney would help, don’t forget that ‘I am the Walrus’ was filmed there complete with overfly by a Shackleton, dig out ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and remind yourselves.
Pete TrumanHow did the provost land and take off without hitting the test rig in the middle of the runway.
Have looked at the pics on Photographic and it looked a brilliant airshow, I knew I should have gone up to visit my mother, I could have borrowed my sons bike and relived the old days, mind you, it was always a bit of a pain cycling back up Bells Hill.
Pete TrumanJust got back from Feering railway bridge, I thought the flypast was superb, unfortunately my camera did’nt think so and I’ve been trying to persuade it to download for an hour.
It was interesting to note how the local residents took no notice of it whatsoever and just kept giving me puzzled looks.
Pete TrumanSpotting bomb craters was always a hobby with my old man, he could detect one from miles away. When I was a kid we used to play in Bramcote Woods, Nottingham.
On the way up the bridle path there was a depression on the other side of the hedge, this was apparently the site of two cottages that had suffered from the effects of the so called mis-directed bombing on the city.
We have a crater in a field on the other side of our village, this however was caused by a Havoc with a full bomb load and crew crashing on take off from Wethersfield following an engine failure, sad spot.
Pete TrumanJust a weather report folks, it’s absolutely stunning, no clouds and hot already, bit of haze though, pretty much ideal otherwise, could be a bit hot for running up 8 Merlins at Conningsby though. Cameras are all charged up and ready to go.
Just one thing, my missus has booked me in to look at a house we fancy at 13:30, that was clever wasn’t it, she obviously has it in for me today, as when I staggered downstairs this morning, she’d left the teletext on with a story that the directors of Hardy Hansons had accepted the bid from GK, good start to the day.
I would suggest that you look at the CAMRA web site to see what they think of it all, especially dhfan, thanks for your support Mr Currill, I wouldn’t like to see Spitfire brewed in Bury either.
By the way, Shepherd Neame have recently opened a pub in Braintree, I bet GK don’t like that, I shall now check my e-mails for writs.
Pete TrumanThere is no harm in registering.
Have tried it and it doesn’t want to know, must think I’m a b##### terrorist, unless it’s run by shareholders of Greene King.
Your map also refuses to cut and paste, though it doesn’t really matter as I know the route, just have a fetish for maps thats all.
I do sleep at night having worked on the beer pipeline, as it has hidden extras, the IPA automatically converts to Kimberley Classic halfway along, nuff said.
Stick to Reggata, Moggy, it may save the brewing industry from GK IPA across the country, though from my discussions with distraught Northern pals today, this has already happened, enjoy your pint at the Sole Bay Inn tomorrow, it may be the last, don’t forget, having destroyed some decent independant brewers across the country, GK will probably end up by selling out to Coors and we will all end up by drinking the Budweiser that is not related to Mildenhall Airshow breakfasts.
How come we beat Argentina last month, have just seen some of the match with Serbia and England may as well knock it on the head, come home now and have a few pints of GK tomorrow.
See you all at Feering railway bridge tommorrow lunchtime.
Pete TrumanMy old man used to tell me the story that in order to protect the Rolls Royce and railway plants in Derby, fires were lit in the Vale Of Belvoir in order to persuade the Germans that they were over Derby and drop their ordnance in the countryside.
Unfortunately, the powers that be, hadn’t worked out that the distance from there to Nottingham equalled the distance from Notty to Derby, the Germans worked this out and subsequently bombed Nottingham, thinking it was Derby.
Somewhere we have a map showing the bomb hits, most of them being in the south side of the city which would have equated to various premises in Derby, the Co-op bakery air raid shelter recieved a direct hit which resulted in the loss of many lives, other notable places were the old Boots factory, and I remember seeing the bomb splinter marks in the walls, High Level Station and Notts Counties football ground.
During the raid my old man was home on leave, he was unable to leave the city and his pass expired, good old Redcaps arrested him in Newark and he spent his only ever night in prison in Newark jail.
Fortunately his CO back in Mablethorpe was more understanding and no further charges were pressed.
I think that this was the only major raid on Notty, as I have been told, the result of mistaken identity, however I have always been unsure of this, as a major city and industrial centre, I can’t beleive it wasn’t targetted deliberately, personally, I think they were aiming for the railway stations, Boots and the Ordance Factory, which I think got away with it, they were building Naval guns at the time which continued into the 60’s, the sight of these things on railway trucks next to the plant was most interesting, now they make SA 80’s, bit of a come down perhaps.
Pete TrumanI can just about manage a bit of German and French, but not Italian, can we have a translator please, and how long has the big cross been laid out in the desert and did they take the prop, I would have.
Pete TrumanJust as an aside, I’ve been shocked to see on the local news this morning that one of my favourite breweries, Hardy Hansons Kimberley Ales, the last major brewery in Nottingham, is subject to an attempted takeover by those sharks at Greene King, who will inevitably shut it down.
At our village fete 2 weeks ago Greene King, that’s all you can get in our village these days, held a beer festival consisting of beers from breweries they have closed down but still use the names, although it is now brewed in Bury St Edmunds, Morelands, Ruddles, Ridleys etc.
I walked out in disgust.
As you Forumites seem to be quite keen on a decent beer, might I suggest that the flypast be diverted over Bury St Edmunds, go supersonic, smash the brewery windows and possibly drop the odd LGB, and this is from someone who helped design the beer pipeline to the bottling plant.
If I fancy a pint on the way back from the Flypast tomorrow, you can bet it will have to be GK, there is a lovely pub called the Dolphin en-route, they used to sell Ridleys from oak barrells behind the bar, but guess what it is now. Who’s next, Adnams? sorry, I’m really wound up about this.
At least I’ve found me battery charger, unfortunately madam can’t go, my stepson is so clever at school that he has been asked to attend a science fair at 12:30, he is sort of impressed, but would prefer the Flypast.
Pete TrumanSuperb pic Bigverne, were you in the back seat then, just to think, 10mins before that was taken they’d just come right over my house at Witham, we were standing in the back garden supping pints at the time, I’m going to raid my slide boxes and see what I can find.
DB
Where did you take your shots of the practice and have you got any more.
For those who don’t know, there’s always a flypast on the Queens Official Birthday following Trooping the Colour, she nips back to the Palace, no doubt has a quick snifter and watches from the balcony at 13:00, they usually miss most of it out on the live TV coverage.
The formations form up over Southwold, Suffolk and head inland, by the time they reach Essex, they more or less follow the main Ipswich-Liverpool St line through Colchester, Kelvedon, Witham, and Chelmsford.
Ahead of the formations are always a couple of Hawks weaving about at low level, to check on the weather and low flying civvies, for the past few years from wherever I’ve been watching, there’s always been some nutter stooging about in a Cessna, probably deliberately.
My missus calls the Hawks ‘Little Friends with pirate flags on the tails’, now that’s one Liz that does enjoy the planes.
When I lived in Witham, they used to come right over the house every year and at the time I was working in Chelmsford where the practice session for 77 came right over the office.
I reckon that a good spot to watch is a little railway bridge just a few miles east of Kelvedon, you can do a bit of trainspotting while waiting as well.
Otherwise, do your shopping at Morrisons, Witham at about 12:45, they will come over the carpark right on cue.
When it was the Queens Golden Jubilee we went to watch at Hatfield Peveril station, which is about where the reserve planes and Hawks leave the formation, the weather Hawk came sniffing about and was obviously unhappy with the large black cloud overhead and the whole formation swung over to the north and passed about half a mile away which did not help the camera.
During the Gulf War Flypast in 1991, I went and stood on a hill by the M25 near Brentwood, unfortunately, the weather was so bad that they all flew up the Thames estuary and I didn’t see a thing.
Will be interested to see the route of the BBMF on Saturday, now, where’s that battery charger.
Pete TrumanCheers for that, I will visit my nearest decent camera shop in Bishops Stortford and see what they can come up with.
Incidentally, the former girlfriend met after 40 years was absolutely gorgeous, don’t try it, it caused a bit of trouble, nuff said.
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