Found another movie: a low flying Typhoon doing a strafing run. And there is more on that website. I hope you have a broadband connection…

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/Hurricane%20IID%20strafe.wmv

Tillerman.

One lazy quiet Saturday evening with little air traffic going on in the early ’80s, a Spitfire was to land at Rotterdam. I forgot why, probably to refuel or for a nightstop. When he was a couple of miles out the pilot asked if he could do us, on the field, a favour by performing a little air display before landing. Aerobatics were (and are) prohibited in the landing patterns at RTM and above the airport, so he was told “sorry, but no”. And, just seconds later :dev2: : “be prepared to abort your landing because we are not sure if we can get the runway free of birds in time”. So when he was on very short finals the tower called him to abort and climb out steeply to the right. Well, you don’t have to tell that twice to a Spitfire pilot who is eager to show off his aircraft…. We had a very spirited 2 minute (slightly illegal) airshow which also brought road traffic on the road along the airport to a complete halt.

Tillerman.

Finding a job….

Tillerman.

Pearce Airport, just north of Perth, Western Australia. Looks like they are breaking up a DC-10 or a L-1011 or something like that. It’s hard to see what type exactly.

Tillerman.

No, I wish I knew….

Tillerman.

In 2001 my wife and me drove from Perth to Darwin, Australia. In the Northern Territory we visited the village of Daly Waters (about 600 km. south-southeast of Darwin), and the world famous Daly Waters Pub, of course.
Near the village is the Daly Waters Aerodrome (DYW / YDLW), the history of this field going back to 1929. The airfield was closed in the 1970s, when long domestic flights no longer needed to land and refuel. It is now is an important heritage site in the Northern Territory. The surviving complex encompasses the hangar, accommodation, radio and navigational buildings, public toilets, Shell Oil store, apron, taxiway and runway.
Although no longer functioning as an airport, the runway is still used, and fuel is available in an emergency. The 1900 m bitumen runway 14/32 can still be used – landing procedures include an overflight of the Daly Waters hotel so pick-up will be arranged.

So far for a little background information on the airfield; I found an aircraft wreck there on my first visit in 1995, and in 2001 it was still there, to my surprise. This would be completely impossible here in Holland! Someone would have it taken home and sold for scrap. Anyway, I had recognized it as what was once a C-47, but more information was unavailable. A great help in finding out about which C-47 it was, was Mr. John Burford, owner of the website “Australian Aviation Archive” (since closed down). It was former USAAF C-47 44-76335, C/N 32667, RAAF A65-75, callsign VH-CIR. It had crashed there on October 23, 1956 and was destroyed. Afterwards some spares were cannibalised and exported to Israel, and the remains of the aircraft were left on site ever since.

Tillerman.

There was a funny part when they’re on the way back from a test & therefore somewhat light in their stripped down form. They come up alongside a formation of B24’s whereupon the copilot stands up in the cockpit & salutes the B24’s as they accelerate past in their open cockpit bomber 😀

Now that would have made for a nice bit of wartime movietone! 🙂

Tillerman.

When I toured the beautiful state of Louisiana back in august 1993, I found the Houma-Terrebonne airport near the city of Houma. I started taking some pictures through the fence when a friendly mechanic opened a gate and invited me to walk freely around the ramp. There were a couple of EASI (Environmental Aviation Services Inc.) DC-3’s and a lovely C-54 (N67024) of the same company.

Picture 1: C-47B-30DK N64766 (C/N 27218, ex C-GFGZ), airworthy.

Picture 2-3-4: DC-3A-269 N496 (C/N 2270, ex N25622), wfu and used for spares. One of only a handfull surviving original DC-3’s with a passenger door.

Picture 5: cabin of N496, with old style luggage racks still present. This cabin was infested with large, stinging insects, so I took the shot and made a very speedy exit!

Tillerman.