Pete TrumanI was at Grantham too! Around 1954. On a school trip from Lincoln City School a few years later, we trainspotters bunked off to Dover shed, see the results here (use the Search facility for Dover).
http://www.train-photos.com/
At the ripe old age of 64, I still photograph locomotives (steam preferably, but there are very few in Sweden) at every opportunity.
I had an Eagle badge once, and read it avidly from the very first issue onwards. Dan Dare was of course my favourite, and there was a space-type radio programme that thrilled me. What was that called? I suppose kids today would not be able to understand what it meant to have sugar (i.e. sweets) rationed!
Those were the days, when I would disappear on my bike all day and my parents didn’t worry at all. A bit later, when I was about 14, I biked all the way from Lincoln to Scunthorpe along the main road – no gears on the bike, no sandwiches, boy, was I tired and hungry when I got back! That was the road that goes past Scampton (obligatory aviation mention there!).
I think that the programme was called ‘Journey into Space’, probably Dan Dare inspired too.
You may be interested to know that assuming your cycle trip to Scunthorpe meant a look at Frodingham engine sheds, well, they have the last steam coaling tower left on the system, the other one at Carnforth is in preserved ownership so it doesn’t count. Trouble is, Frodingham has closed so the future of the tower is in jepardy, I doubt whether English Heritage would take on an uninspiring piece of concrete, but who knows.
Pete TrumanI was at Grantham too! Around 1954. On a school trip from Lincoln City School a few years later, we trainspotters bunked off to Dover shed, see the results here (use the Search facility for Dover).
http://www.train-photos.com/
At the ripe old age of 64, I still photograph locomotives (steam preferably, but there are very few in Sweden) at every opportunity.
I had an Eagle badge once, and read it avidly from the very first issue onwards. Dan Dare was of course my favourite, and there was a space-type radio programme that thrilled me. What was that called? I suppose kids today would not be able to understand what it meant to have sugar (i.e. sweets) rationed!
Those were the days, when I would disappear on my bike all day and my parents didn’t worry at all. A bit later, when I was about 14, I biked all the way from Lincoln to Scunthorpe along the main road – no gears on the bike, no sandwiches, boy, was I tired and hungry when I got back! That was the road that goes past Scampton (obligatory aviation mention there!).
I think that the programme was called ‘Journey into Space’, probably Dan Dare inspired too.
You may be interested to know that assuming your cycle trip to Scunthorpe meant a look at Frodingham engine sheds, well, they have the last steam coaling tower left on the system, the other one at Carnforth is in preserved ownership so it doesn’t count. Trouble is, Frodingham has closed so the future of the tower is in jepardy, I doubt whether English Heritage would take on an uninspiring piece of concrete, but who knows.
Pete TrumanAs far as I’m aware, the Rebel Air Museum’s Dassault Mystere is still at Andrewsfield looking somewhat the worse for wear.
It’s still there, looking just the same, I think that the cockpit has been fully closed up though.
As I pass it at least once a week, I’ll take a pic for comparison next time, I often wonder how long it will remain there, though it’s been around for as long as I’ve lived in the area and has become an integral part of the landscape.
Pete TrumanWell, it’s nearly spring, that time of the year, the Blue **** are eyeing the nesting boxes, the primroses and daffodils are out, the council have chosen to start destroying the local wildlife habitat again and next doors pond is full of frogs and toads.
I tydied up my pond on saturday, rearranged the plants and stocked it up with dafnia, shrimps and bloodworms.
Guess what, that bloody Pike is still in there, even more furtive than ever and much bigger. What could it possibly have fed on during the winter months, there’s only snails in there, the odd Heron perhaps, bloody hell this pond is only about 2m in diameter and 750 max depth, I can only assume that it’s been catching small birds that bathe in there, after all our Nuthatch has vanished recently. I’m waiting for Mr Rat’s tail to float to the surface soon, even my dogs could be at risk.
My missus reckons it should stay, but it ain’t going to do the local frog population a lot of good and trying to catch it seems impossible, what bait do you reccomend for my fishing rod as it’s the only way I’m going to catch it I reckon.
Pete TrumanWell, it’s nearly spring, that time of the year, the Blue **** are eyeing the nesting boxes, the primroses and daffodils are out, the council have chosen to start destroying the local wildlife habitat again and next doors pond is full of frogs and toads.
I tydied up my pond on saturday, rearranged the plants and stocked it up with dafnia, shrimps and bloodworms.
Guess what, that bloody Pike is still in there, even more furtive than ever and much bigger. What could it possibly have fed on during the winter months, there’s only snails in there, the odd Heron perhaps, bloody hell this pond is only about 2m in diameter and 750 max depth, I can only assume that it’s been catching small birds that bathe in there, after all our Nuthatch has vanished recently. I’m waiting for Mr Rat’s tail to float to the surface soon, even my dogs could be at risk.
My missus reckons it should stay, but it ain’t going to do the local frog population a lot of good and trying to catch it seems impossible, what bait do you reccomend for my fishing rod as it’s the only way I’m going to catch it I reckon.
Pete TrumanJust out of interest were they taken on top of the bank along Brandon Road, at the south end of the runway, good spot, but don’t you find the traffic annoying.
I luckily happened to be there a few years ago during a deployment of F-117’s, a truly great moment occured at sunset when all the station tannoys blasted out ‘The Stars and Stripes’ while an F-117 deliberately flew low and at right angles to the runway, right across the face of the sun, looks great on my video, but all you can hear are the constant whoosh of heavy lorries passing.
Must get up there during the next few weeks when the Golden Orioles start to arrive at Lakenheath RSPB reserve, a good spot to see the F-15’s climbing away as well, with nothing to disturb the sound of their afterburners but birdsong.
Pete TrumanWe slept outside last night waiting for the big one to happen, well, you can’t be too careful, I’m preparing for the extinct volcanoes in Scotland to erupt shortly, I’m putting polythene sheets over the garden to protect the plants from the ash.
Seriously, friends and relatives in Nottingham and Norfolk were shaken about, but the London Clay in Essex must have absorbed the shockwave.
The night before, our sensitive doggies were a complete pain all night because of the wind and rain, but on the night, we all slept soundly through the whole affair and didn’t notice a thing, mind you, it must have been an interesting experience at the top of some of those high rise flats in Nottingham.
I recall an earthquake centred on Charnwood Forest in the 50’s that woke me up and rattled the windows, quite a strange experience.
The only recent thing that affected us was the explosion at the oil depot in Hertfordshire over a year ago, that was wierd, I was convinced that something had crashed at Stansted and went straight on to the Teletext to find out what had happened, well, it ruined our trip to the Mosquito museum didn’t it.
Pete TrumanWe slept outside last night waiting for the big one to happen, well, you can’t be too careful, I’m preparing for the extinct volcanoes in Scotland to erupt shortly, I’m putting polythene sheets over the garden to protect the plants from the ash.
Seriously, friends and relatives in Nottingham and Norfolk were shaken about, but the London Clay in Essex must have absorbed the shockwave.
The night before, our sensitive doggies were a complete pain all night because of the wind and rain, but on the night, we all slept soundly through the whole affair and didn’t notice a thing, mind you, it must have been an interesting experience at the top of some of those high rise flats in Nottingham.
I recall an earthquake centred on Charnwood Forest in the 50’s that woke me up and rattled the windows, quite a strange experience.
The only recent thing that affected us was the explosion at the oil depot in Hertfordshire over a year ago, that was wierd, I was convinced that something had crashed at Stansted and went straight on to the Teletext to find out what had happened, well, it ruined our trip to the Mosquito museum didn’t it.
Pete TrumanAnyone, got any ww2 photos of the above 9th AF, they can post please.
Photos of the old control tower, would be great.Thanks.
Swampyrv.
Oh, someone else interested in the place, why is that then.
Try Roger Freemans book ‘Mighty 8th in Colour’, I haven’t got it to hand at the moment, but there are a few very nice colour pictures in there.
A few years ago, Great Saling had a village fete, the village hall contained a large scale model of the airfield and a display of photographs, unfortunately the hall has succombed to a housing development, and I don’t know what happened to the model and photographs, I expect somebody knows though, try ringing the current airfield, they might be able to help.
Thinking about it, it may have had something to do with the now defunct Rebel Air Museum that moved to Earls Colne but has since ceased to exist, they had several artifacts including the rear end of a B-26, it must have all gone somewhere.
Pete TrumanVulture
Have sent you a PM with regards to planning.
How many of those sad wrecks from Failsworth have survived, didn’t the Brigand fuselage and record breaking Swift fuselage come out of there.
I know of this place, it seemed to have been the equivalent of the Barry scrapyard of steam locos, except that Dai Woodham of Barry had a love of steam engines and tried to put off cutting them up, he individually made it possible for our kids to have a ride behind a steam loco in this country. Who owned Failsworth and what was his attitude, I doubt whether he was an aviation enthusiast on par with Mr Woodham, pity Dai wasn’t involved with cutting up aircraft, who knows what would have survived thanks to his efforts.
Pete TrumanSorry, slight tweaking of thread, I thought that the FD-2 had a droop snoot, the one pictured at Cosford doesn’t appear to have one and although I’ve seen the one at Yeovilton a few times, I don’t recall that having one either, must have been a pig to land without it, why was it removed.
Incidentally, didn’t the Bristol 188, an expensive, giant, useless, high speed, stainless steel, Canberra derivative as I thought of it at the time, now at Cosford, achieve some sort of world speed record, or was that some sort of propaganda incited by the then contemporary Eagle Annual. What was the point of the thing, was it going to be Britains high profile, gleaming answer to the SR-71, passing like a a bright star over Soviet territory. Surely the money wasted on that would have been better spent on TSR-2 development, it may have made the difference financially, though I doubt it.
Pete TrumanIs that Christmas 2007 or 2008?
Hey, you never know. :diablo:
They probably aren’t too sure, hopefully it will be 1967, that was a good year.
With a bit of luck Julian Courtauld, yes, he of textiles fame, will bring his bagpipes with him, he knows I want to have a good blast on them, no doubt he’ll have a definate lean to the east as well, bless him.
Pete TrumanIs that Christmas 2007 or 2008?
Hey, you never know. :diablo:
They probably aren’t too sure, hopefully it will be 1967, that was a good year.
With a bit of luck Julian Courtauld, yes, he of textiles fame, will bring his bagpipes with him, he knows I want to have a good blast on them, no doubt he’ll have a definate lean to the east as well, bless him.
Pete TrumanDon’t get me wrong Paul ..when i was a young man through the sixties i too quite often got drunk or enjoyed a funny cigarette..i just wondered what in our psyche makes us want to do it!!
Don’t, I’ve got to go to my missus works Xmas party tonight, yes in February, as usual I’m driving so I have to sit there and watch everyone getting paralytic around me, not that I’m bothered as from past experiences, it’s quite fascinating to watch everyone go downhill and make fools of themselves dancing to songs they would normally run away from.
Hopefully they will hire a better DJ this time, but I doubt it, it’ll be Robbie Williams and Boyzone all night.
I watched an interesting little item on BBC Look East last night, it was about a group of people that live for the 60’s and Ska music, I gather it’s the only form of dance music that men can actually cope with without looking too stupid, now where’s me pork pie hat.
Good old Bert Jansch, one of the first songs I learnt to play was Needle of Death, how depressing….
We were checking up on Cambridge Corn Exchange gigs and found the the original Pentangle are due to perform in July, can this be correct.
I remember seeing them at what seems a million years ago, and at first I was quite excited by the prospect of them reforming, but I think I would rather watch individual material from Renbourne and Jansch, besides, the accoustics in the Corn Exchange aren’t the greatest in the world, any comments PMN.
Pete TrumanDon’t get me wrong Paul ..when i was a young man through the sixties i too quite often got drunk or enjoyed a funny cigarette..i just wondered what in our psyche makes us want to do it!!
Don’t, I’ve got to go to my missus works Xmas party tonight, yes in February, as usual I’m driving so I have to sit there and watch everyone getting paralytic around me, not that I’m bothered as from past experiences, it’s quite fascinating to watch everyone go downhill and make fools of themselves dancing to songs they would normally run away from.
Hopefully they will hire a better DJ this time, but I doubt it, it’ll be Robbie Williams and Boyzone all night.
I watched an interesting little item on BBC Look East last night, it was about a group of people that live for the 60’s and Ska music, I gather it’s the only form of dance music that men can actually cope with without looking too stupid, now where’s me pork pie hat.
Good old Bert Jansch, one of the first songs I learnt to play was Needle of Death, how depressing….
We were checking up on Cambridge Corn Exchange gigs and found the the original Pentangle are due to perform in July, can this be correct.
I remember seeing them at what seems a million years ago, and at first I was quite excited by the prospect of them reforming, but I think I would rather watch individual material from Renbourne and Jansch, besides, the accoustics in the Corn Exchange aren’t the greatest in the world, any comments PMN.
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