I was being rather frivolous chaps! Up here, north of Hadrian’s wall, we have the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland- hereafter the RCAHMS : they can supply copies of Aerial photographs at various prices depending on size and type of photograph you require, and in varying detail, from surveys carried out from the late 1940’s onward. There may be a similar source in England for the airfield you are researching. A couple of my copy prints show local airfields in their entirety from a sortie in June 1947 where there exists now only a few sections of runway tarmac.
The phone number of the RCAHMS is 0131 662 1456 : I’m sure they’d steer you towards a similar source of Crown Copyright air photographs in England.
A4 Photocopies were only a few pence,whereas contact prints were quite pricy, going back over ten years. Google Earth is fine but it doesn’t show you what once was there before the bulldozers and developers!
Regards, Brian

The Way to the Stars

That other film would be ‘Twelve o’clock High ‘ Gregory Peck,Dean Jagger Gary Merrill et al
Cheers , Brian

If you try this link and search the G-INFO UK Register Database you should get info to fill in some of the gaps. Hope this helps!

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=90

Lee, as the JP flies I’m probably about an hour 20 mins from VL, but hope the non-jet Corolla will carry me and my long-time observer down for 7th July: (realistically 8 hours + ) perhaps I can smuggle my copy of “FAA Fixed Wing A/C since ’46” in my luggage for a signature if you could bear to meet up, albeit briefly, on the tarmac! Anyway plans being considered at present, but still somewhat tentatively.

All first class shots! Thanks for sharing Stringbag. The Vixen climbing away looks particularly good, and whilst not wishing to open old wounds regarding such as ‘Red Bull’ sponsorship and paint schemes, I know what does it for me when I see these lovely aircraft in original or near original livery and markings. Still, live and let live! ( And sometimes sunshine is not always the best for colour rendition, these photos are a case in point, excellent results, in spite of the overcast.) I bet Lee broke through that into some sunshine though, lucky sonofagun!

XL474 , coded LM-762 stalled and crashed into trees during a display at Yeovilton in June 1972, thereafter sent to Lee-on-Solent Mobile Aircraft Repair Transport Salvage Unit in July, but relegated to scrap January 1973 and struck off records.
XL 494 , still coded LM, struck its starboard wing on the Jumbo deck crane, and was reduced to spares and produce,i.e. cannibalised in October 1978 at Gibraltar.The fuselage shell languished in a scrap compound at Gib, and was struck off charge on 25th October 1978 🙁

…I feel rather envious when I see these superb photos produced nowadays and shared on these forums : we are certainly fortunate to have this digital technology at our fingertips today, but that is not intended to dismiss the skill and art in framing these subjects so well. I think back to the days (too long ago) when my son and I frequented Duxford and Mildenhall and we were always shooting into the sun, wrong side of the runways, of course. I suppose safety considerations would be the main objection, but wouldn’t it be good if Duxford were to make available a few open top double deckers on the far side of the airfield on flying days so that photographers, with supervision of course, could enjoy the prospect of shots with the sun on the subject, and for a few hours in the afternoon at least, at our backs, not in our faces or lenses! They could strap me into the bus if they cared to, I wouldn’t mind paying a fee, and I might even enjoy the photography so much I’d forget to eat my piggy-pie! Good idea, or no chance of this ever happening?