Friday 17 February
We had a couple of Biggin Hill visitors on Friday – Hornet Moth G-AHBL and Chipmunk G-BWNT / WP901
A PA22 Tri-pacer also came in for Farthing Corner. I’ll use this as a head’s up for the Air Britain Vintage & Classic Fly-in at North Weald on 17-18 June which will feature 80 years of Piper aircraft
Our home based SF260 N61FD went out to Cranfield as well
Thursday 16 February
We had a rare aircraft type fly in on Thursday – a Percival Proctor Mark 4 G-ANXR / RM221 from Headcorn
The latest EC145 helicopter, G-DCPB, allocated for supporting the Metropolitan Police came in for some circuits
Sunday 5 February
I have been on leave for a large part of February, so it’s good that Dan has posted some pics to keep things going. Here are some of the two Vampire sorties on 5 February courtesy of my colleague James McDowall
Saturday 14 January
Back at work on Saturday after a short break, and we enjoyed a sunny day for a change. Over 200 movements despite the crosswind, which meant that the Hangar 11 Collection’s Spitfire PRXI used Runway 30 for departure on a short local flight around noon.
I was back up in the Tower when it returned, so distant shots
The latest Airfield newsletter is also out now. We have copies in the Ops Office if anyone is passing. It can also be downloaded as a pdf from our webpage (scroll down to the panel bottom left), all the previous issues are also available too via Spirit of North Weald link in blue on right of page.
http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/index.php/out-and-about/north-weald-airfield
Tuesday 15 November
Coastguard 163, an AW139 from Lydd paid us another visit on Tuesday, parking on the grass infront of the Tower for a meeting of the Air Ambulance.
It departed back to its base as it was getting dark.
Sunday 13 November
Our Stearman was out on Sunday.
The Kittyhawk went off to Turweston.
Our two resident buzzards were also out soaring. I have been trying to photograph them for months, but they are very elusive. These shots aren’t great quality as the birds were quite distant, but they are the best to date!
Friday 4 November
Our final event of our 100th Anniversary Year was The Squadron’s Fireworks and Bonfire Party on the Friday night. It had been raining hard all afternoon, but fortunately it stopped and we had a clear evening. Aviation content? Well we had three tethered hot air balloons along with the fireworks, so certainly an airborne display! The pictures were taken from the top of the Tower. Around 4,000 people came along.
Wednesday 6 July and Friday 8 July
On Wednesday a Stearman, N43YP, which went tech during the recent formation week departed back to its home base.
On Friday Army Air 441, ZJ221, came in from Wattisham for some circuits.
The yellow Gnat, G-MOUR, was also out a couple of times on training sorties.
The Nostalgair show due to be held at The Squadron on Sunday 7 August has been cancelled.
The initial line up for our 100th Anniversary Air Fête on Sunday 17 July is as follows:
Dassault Falcon DA20ECM (Royal Norwegian Air Force) Arriving Saturday morning, departing Sunday afternoon
DH Vampire FB52 (Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron) Arriving Saturday
DH Vampire T55 (Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron) Arriving Saturday
MiG 15UTI (Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron) Arriving Saturday
Vampire T11 WZ507 (Weald Aviation based)
Jet Provosts Mark 1, 3, 4 and 5 (Weald Aviation based)
MiG 17 (Weald Aviation based)
Plus other warbirds to be announced next week
Visiting aircraft from the Shipping & Airlines Collection at Biggin Hill. These include:
DH 90A Dragonfly
DH 87B Hornet Moth
Miles Messenger
Civilian Coupe
Curtiss Wright Trainer
Piper L4A Cub
Rearwin Sportster
Visiting aircraft fly in for FREE. PPR the Tower on 01992 524 740
Sunday 3 July
Back to normal and a busy weekend of flying. The P-40 Kittyhawk Lulu Belle went off to display at the Chalke Valley Show in Wiltshire,, returning after a fuel stop at White Waltham.
The Shipping & Airlines Collection’s Dragonfly and Chipmunk also gave us a low level pass on their way back to Biggin Hill from Sywell.
The previous Saturday (25 June) AB910, one of the BBMF’s Spitfires also gave us a low pass.
Thursday 30 June / Friday 1 July
On Thursday 30 June the Somme commemoration started with members of the Ops Team who were dressed as WW1 infantrymen. Waiting for Zero Hour must have been terrible in the trenches, and we counted down the minutes until the symbolic brazier was lit by Deputy Chairman and North Weald Councillor Dave Stallan to start our overnight vigil.
The brazier was kept burning through the night.
We also filmed readings from a diary of a local soldier who was wounded on the Somme in 1918.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw6DcgiNn5w&feature=youtu.be
At 07:28, the sound of gunfire for two minutes heralded the start of our service of commemoration, which was led by Fr James Rodley from St Andrew’s Church, and included a mixture of readings, hymns and poetry. Those taking part included EFDC Chairman Jeane Lea, local Royal British Legion Secretary John Duffel, the Revd Stephen Cotterill, Bishop of Chelmsford, and members of the Airfield Ops Team. After the ceremony, many members of the local community took time to view our trench and the exhibition in the Control Tower. We also welcomed a school party from Cambridge, who are off to the Somme this week.
Tuesday 28 June
It is North Weald’s 100th Anniversary year, and the Airfield also hosted the Epping Forest District Council offical Battle of the Somme Overnight Vigil. As part of this commemoration we constructed a length of trench which formed the centrepiece of the ceremony. We also organised an exhibition in the Control Tower in conjunction with Epping Forest Museum and the Royal Gunpowder Mills,
On Thursday 28 June two members of the Ops Team dressed in period uniforms for a photo opportunity with a Vickers machine gun and Lee Enfield rifles. Millions of these were produced down the road at the Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield during WW1.
On the same day we had our first visitors to the exhibition. Two ladies were notable. One had been researching her family history and had found that her great uncle was a Lewis gunner who was killed on the Somme. The other’s father served through the battle and survived.
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