Lancer – may I remind you and anyone else interested in Swedish military aircraft that the Aeroseum at Gothenburg Säve Depot is an underground hangar containing a Lansen, three Drakens and two Viggens among other aircraft and helicopters. I mention this because I shall be guiding people around it this afternoon, as I often do. This is a non-profit museum and I don’t get paid for being a guide there.
U believe that a certain airline offers very cheap flights to Säve (also known as Gothenburg City airport) and I would be very happy to take any enthusiasts from the UK (or elsewhere) around it, as I am allowed to have one free visitor per tour, which lasts a couple of hours.
Mods, you may of course delete this post if you consider it advertising, but really there is no money involved as far as the Aeroseum is concerned in this case, as I can take one guest in free at a time.
This may be the only chance for you to sit in a Draken or a Viggen! We encourage you to take as many photos as you like of these static examples. We hope to add a Tunnan quite soon.
Anyone wishing to take advantage of this should PM me with dates so we can arrange a suitable day and time for a tour.
My mentioning HMS Eagle may be a red herring, since this photo was taken much earlier than the others that I put up on the Time Capsules site, which all show him surrounded by Royal Navy personnel. This picture however shows 100% RAF personnel, and I do remember him mentioning an airfield in Eastern Scotland somewhere. If he is the one I think I recognise on the picture, he doesn’t appear to have any rank stripes, and I think his AA entry passed out in 1928, so it would be in the early 30s.
Incidentally information on the other pictures of Royal Navy Squadrons on the Time Capsules web site would be of great interest to me too, such as 774 Sqn here:
http://www.time-capsules.co.uk/picture/number595.asp.
http://www.shipsandharbours.com/picture/number3697.asp
May I humbly submit the Swedish stealthy corvettes, like HMS Härnösand? A bit small (650 tons), but with the requisite range (2300 nm) and perhaps sufficient armament too. Not that Sweden would bash anyone else’s country, they stopped doing that a few hundred years ago!
I have read somewhere that it was the noisiest helicopter ever! The idea of using it in Central London (e.g. at Battersea Heliport) was thus never a starter!
Look in the Airshow Photos section!
About 1951 when I was 8 or 9, in a Miles Messenger from RAF Waddington at a Battle of Britain day or suchlike – there were plenty of aircraft and lots of people. Cost of flight – 5 bob! (5 shillings to you youngsters, or 25p in funny money)
Failed link.
Two at the top of my list:
Udvar-Hazy at Washington DC (I had 4 hours there and needed 40!)
USAF Museum, Dayton, Ohio (been there 3 times and would have wished it was 30!)
Low inverted glider flying
I have read elsewhere that the pilot had an interview with no tea or biscuits immediately afterwards. Thanks for the photo, I wondered what it was all about!
Eerie coincidence – not knowing until I saw this thread this evening, that this was the date of Operation Chastise, I saw a Dambusters DVD in my local store and bought it this afternoon. I’ve just been devouring it, then looked at this web site and here is the commemoration! A sixth sense?
This was XH498, which was repaired but did not however crash on its return to the UK. The accident at Wellington was during a landing attempt, followed by a crash landing at Ohakea.
I believe the one at Paine Field (list no. 11) is marked 5429 with code Z – at least I photographed one marked as such there last year doing engine runs.
Definitely a Shackleton, with a radar bubble under the nose.
I will visit again soon and try to get some local details of the circumstances. Gorgeous sunny warm day today which would have been ideal – but I have work to do!
The daffodils on the graves are a nice touch – perhaps I can find out who put them there. Swedish graveyards, especially on the islands, are usually well tended.
Many thanks for the instant reply!