Is it called Areola Island?

Very apt…

Blimey.. a spare piece of green land. How long before a Tesco’s appears on it??:D

The unique C-133 sound wqas due to 18′ props with tip speeds nearly at Mach. In climb, it was 1.1 Mach, in cruise .97 Mach. So, the turbulence thrown off by the props promoted that unique sound. It also hammered on the fuselage, creating awful vibration on every aprt of the aircraft structure , leaidng to damage raning from minor (light bulb filaments) to major (skin cracks). It’s all in my book.

Cal Taylor

Thanks Cal, i had never heard one before but that clip of it landing for the final time left me very impressed. I just wish i had seen some of them when they visited the UK in the past, but nevertheless it has been promoted into my top 5 sounding aeroplanes.

Rob.:cool:

For pete’s sake can’t they leave anything alone? I visited the airfield a couple of years ago whilst on holiday and i remember going into the derelict tower and just standing there, looking out over the main runway and trying to imagine Beaufighters and Warwicks roaring by. Very atmospheric!

I think i’m right in saying that Cornwall has very few airfields of any kind, let alone relatively untouched ones like this.
I also remember visiting St Eval and St Merryn as well, happy days!!

It would be nice if they could Fly the Phantom in memory of Mark Hanna,the Duxford ground crew that used to run it up must be still around somewhere ,,they may even read these Flypast Forums ,who knows ?? ,any chance of you lads getting together again and ground running the Phantom ,it would be a big crowd puller at the museum ,more visitors must be good ,if the policy now days is not to do this type of thing ,,then change it to what the visitors would want,i for one would go and see it

You know what fella, i think that is an excellent idea. Take a look at how popular the Lightnings are at Cranfield and Bruntingthorpe. Not being flown, just started, taxied and a run down the runway.

I realise the Phantom is a thirsty beast but if the IWM were to advertise a day when it would be fired up, taxied and then a gentle run or two down there runway i’m sure there are plenty of people who would go just to see that spectacle and of course thats extra revenue through the gates that would help pay.

I could be wrong but surely its worth considering guys…

Does anyone on here know if this machine still belongs to the OFMC ,only i seem to remember about7 or 8 years ago the OFMC had a ground crew for this machine and i did see it run up a few times ,live at DX ,as they had a plan to get it flying at DX ,but then someone said it was on some cold war museum list with the russians ,so for this reason it would never fly again ,but I,m sure the OFMC did have a plan to fly it again ,am i right in saying Mark Hanna flew in it while serving in the RAF ??

cheers from Terry

Yes Mark Hanna did actually fly this example when in the RAF. It has over the years been ground run, i think usually on the end of Duxfords runway on the QRA. But as i understand it the CAA are very reluctant to allow any aircraft to fly in private hands that would under normal circumstances use reheat for take off. This i think was also a stumbling block for OFMC when trying to get there MIG 17 cleared for flight, and of course another problem would be that a Phantom could not operate from Duxford because of the runway required. When it was flown into Duxford by i think AVM John Allison the RAF set up a portable airfield arrester system so it could use its hook to stop safely on Dx’s runway. If i’m wrong then please advise.

Hi photodiver,
There was an extremely rare Westland Wyvern TF.2 ditched in Falmouth Bay in 1954 due to engine trouble. Although i personally don’t know of its exact location it was i believe basically complete when it sank and was never recovered.

Also i do realise that this area is very busy with shipping movements etc but its a tempting thought!