The last Major Service carried out on an RAF aircraft at St Athan was VC-10 K.3 ZA147 F, seen here departing last November.

Major servicing! tidy paint scheme I think NOT!
Oh dear, standards aint what they used to be. 🙁

It is so you can identify it from the front, imagine scrambling out to the line of aircraft then finding you are all at the wrong aircraft. or walking 1/4 a mile out to an aircraft to find it is the wrong one,.

So you’ve been there tooooo!

Fat Alberts were a sod to find especially when we were filming for a certain TV series and two a/c had the same numbers on the front, luckily not at the rear or underwing. Nearly ripped the cargo air conditioning duct out of the wrong one.:mad: Chiefy not amused.:o
Those were the days:D

Were you squeezing next to Spitfireman?:eek:

Lucky for me he was the otherside of the HDU.

Correct me if I’m wrong, and I usually am these days, her that shall be obeyed tells me! I remember, maybe, sappers lifting the AM2 matting from one end of the runway and putting back at the other. Also on a good day (not often) we would be asked to land the wrong way to try and push the matting back as the Tombs had thumped it that hard on landing it had moved.:)

Channel Dash

70th Anniversary of the Channel Dash, 12 February 1942.

You’ve got reason to feel more ancient still. The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway ceased to exist in 1923! But don’t worry, it must have been summer 1965 as the B.206S first flew at Shoreham on 23 June that year. However maybe not, as the Marathons would not still have been there at that time. All considered, I fear that you may be suffering a bout of merged memory syndrome!!!!

Not in the minds of those of us that lived there. But enough of that, I feel a Jeremy Clarkson coming on. :diablo:

We used to go to Shoreham most years for a summer holiday/treat! So from the early 50/60’s, we got a snapshot of life at Shoreham. This included the charabanc to Farnborough, and later Biggin Hill as well as Gatwick (when you could walk on top of the terminal. Dad took photos, but they seem to have disappeared into the midst of time.

Thanks for the superb photos, please keep them coming.

Bob

Ahhhhhhh! Brings back many happy memories. Sitting on Shoreham foreshore/beach? Miles Student screeching? flying over. Scramble to the airfield with my Dad and elder brother to see what’s happening. Being chased away from the Beagle Factory hangar doors. The 206S was being readied for first flight. Marathons, Moths (Tiger & Gypsy) and others I had to look up in my Observers books when I got home after a wonderful steam train ride courtesy of The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway all the way to Haywards Heath!
I feel ancient.

1942 book ‘Aeronautical Engineering’ edited by the one and only R.A. Beaumont, states that “It is built this way so that the most efficient form of cowling and engine cooling can be obtained”

When it stops leaking oil, worry!:diablo:

Source: Squadron Codes 1937-56 by Michael Bowyer & John Rawlings. (1979) ISBN 0 85059 3646

617 Sqn

AJ – First used in March 1943 by the Dambusters when stationed at Scampton. The letters were carried on aircraft in training and used for the dams raid.

KC – Replaced AJ soon after the Dams raid, possibly for security reasons. Letters used in 1945 on Lancaster VII. Used on Lincolns from Sep 46 – Apr 51.

YZ – Used by C Flight during 1945 for the very large bomb – Lancaster B 1 (Specials), Grand Slam etc.

Air Britain Lancaster File gives credence to the above but as usual it all comes with a standard health warning.