I’ve seen the pictures – at least its still open and operational as an airfield.

Could have gone the same way as Wildenrath – now that really is run down and changed almost beyond recognition…

Visited Laarbruch/Niederrhein some months ago. Indeed very active, but the road in is lined with vandalized and abandoned base buildings, some even burnt out (arson I suspect).

As for Wildenrath I had the pleasure of witnessing the last aircraft to leave after landing there. And it wasn’t military. It was a friend who landed off-field there by mistake. God knows how he managed to miss all the obstacles (the runway had already been torn up partially, trenches were criss-crossing the land, rubbish everywhere and they were pulling down one of the main hangars as we drove off. It took us some serious time to find somebody with the keys to the locked gates, and some serious off-roading to get the trailer to the glider. The place was a torn-up wreck by then, and new buildings and roads were springing up like mushrooms all over. He paid the beer that night.

On a lighter note involving motorized gliders: triple low-pass followed by an engine start during pull-out (not for the faint-hearted):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXu1STCmuu8

And some more low finishes after long flights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK5XVGV8eM8

589 is a Raab Doppelraab 7 (s/n 02), it was built by a German club from plans in 1955, first flew as D-5391 before ‘going RAF’. It was languising at Laarbruch in the 1980s when rescued by a gentleman from The Netherlands who beautifully restored it to fly as D-5391. It has been in secure storage near my home for some years now as he has too many aiorplanes and too little time.

520 is Ka.6Cr s/n 6222, the former 6222. I have a write-off date of 6Apr1976, which would make a lot more sense since in 1974 it was still flying in The Netherlands.

VW417 is still displayed on a pole at the gate of Leeuwarden AFB in The Netherlands. That should predate it. Just.

HMAS Melbourne was used to deliver Australian Army Porters to Vietnam in the early seventies.

Edit: obviously 1978 was a tad late for the Vietnam war… Picture would have been taken during Exercise RIMPAC 78.

Actually the online story refers to a defecting SYAF officier with his family, and the helicopter was simply abandoned on the beach after landing…

Spoke to the Belgian AF Herc crew afterwards (one of the Migs took out their starboard tailplane on the way down). They were watching the show on the roof of their aircraft. They had never evacuated their aircraft as quick as that day (hardly surprising with a burning jet hurtling towards you!), one of them even sliding down the side of the fuselage apparently. A long way down. The aircraft eventually departed Fairford some months later with a completely new tail section. I seem to recall one of the Spanish CASA’s had a damaged centre section too that grounded it for some time…

I don’t see any pictures?

Link: http://www.abpic.co.uk/results.php?q=bournemouth&fields=all&sort=latest&limit=10