Excellent Mark 12 – keep ’em coming….

The Old Warden photos bring back memories of my first trip to Shuttleworth, probably sometime in ’73 or ’74 I guess. Neil Williams seemed to fly just about everything they put into the air in those days… They issued copies of their their annual display program on a piece of heavy duty card if you sent them an SAE, and their ‘phone number was Northill 211 (strange what weird facts the human brain remembers isn’t it).

Although the infrastructure at OW has changed a great deal since then, and a few ‘planes and people have come and gone, it always retains the same “cosy and peaceful” atmosphere that caught my imagination thirty years ago, even when the display includes noisy paraffin burners – I guess it’s the geography/layout/rural surroundings of the place that help.

Paul F

Sorry to disappoint, but the photos on the HAF site suggest it’s actually a Ju52, and NOT a Ju87 that was recovered, with the nose engine and tail missing.

I did wonder when I looked at the photo/links posted earlier in the thread (and in post above), as the underwater shots seemed to show the typical Junkers “Corrugated” skin, and an underacrriage leg and tyre that seemed more like a ’52. However, not wanting to make a fool of myself I kept my mouth shut….

The recovery photos now seem to me to confirm it.

– Not that a genuine wartime Ju52 isn’t important, it’s just that it’s not quite as “sexy” as a Stuka.

That said, one of the underwater photos does show what appears to be a more slender, smooth skinned fuselage, with Luftwaffe code letters etc, so maybe that is a Ju 87 waiting still to be fished out….

Paul F

I guess the fact that the replica was fairly light, had lots of drag by virtue of its design, and was travelling fairly slowly,meant that it fell relatively slowly, and then it cushioned the impact as a result of the structure deforming and collapsing as it hit the ground – but still one very very lucky guy to escape with such (relatively) minor injuries.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that many pilots from the early days of aviation survived multiple accidents relatively unscathed due to the relatively slow speeds and low altitudes involved, plus the construction of their aircraft, which tended to crumple on impact, thus diffusing the energy involved.

Paul F

The angle of bank in that last photo is impressive – damn near what they achieved during the Farnborough displays this summer!

Paul F

The first shot of the geese (ducks?) is stunning – looks like it’s one of those “How birds wings flap their wings” diagrams out of a text book, well caught Martin!

Paul F

How very sad to see…

As a spotty Air cadet I spent a week at Binbrook in summer of 1974 (give or take a year) on summer camp. My memories are of a vibrant, busy RAF station.

The hangars were full of Lightnings in various states of dissassembly, and the view from the tower across the airfield is etched in my memory – rows of shiny silver 5 Sqn and 11 Sqn Lightnings lined up on the apron, and screaming down the runways.

A couple of stripped out Lightning hulks sat out on the airfield as decoys, and a pair of AEF Chipmunks spent the week on site taking the visiting cadets on air experience flights. Other non-residents seen during the week included RNethAF F-104s, RAF Phantoms, a Belfast, and an Andover.

We also went to RAF Manby for a night exercise that week, and although it was dark, memory tells me the base felt largely intact – does that site still exist, or has it too succumbed to development?

Will try and dig out some of my photos if anyone is interested? – geeze was it really nearly thirty years ago!

PF