8 Squadron were a very friendly and obliging bunch, and I flew with them a couple of times in the 1980s.
The memories that stick out are of the tiny briefing room, largely taken up by a large wooden box which lit up if there were any ‘purple’ Royal Flights going on anywhere in the country, droning over the North Sea at night, bored slouched aircrew all reading paperbacks, and bulkhead swing doors all swinging in unison up and down the aircraft, and sitting up in the forward nose glazing, heading for the Dutch coast, bomber’s moon, getting a fleeting insight into what it must have been like for real during WW2. Almost had me looking for fighters!
Has to be one of my favourite war movies…
Please credit the image owner where possible – David M. Kay
In that North Weald vid, the windsock looks like it was blowing right across the runway (the large open end is plainly visibile on the footage), and it takes a 15 knot mean to make an ICAO windsock sit horizontally.
On a typical day, a mean of 15 knots would give gusts to 25 knots – hardly suitable for an aircraft with a 10 knot crosswind limit…
Sign In
