YakRiderOne of the Venom landing too.
YakRiderSaw the Mustangs departingto the east as we were coming in past Ongar. Here is a pic of the Hunter landing. We’d just got back from our flight to Beachy Head and Rochester in the Bulldog, so had a grandstand view. It was a great day too.
YR
YakRiderYes, but some wag at the Squadron pointed out that it is aligned with North Weald Cemetary!
YR
YakRiderThe Halloween Fly-in is on Sunday. So no market traffic to contend with.
If you want somewhere to go on Saturday – how about East Kirkby. Just Jane is doing a taxi run at 13.00 and the Bayliss Tr9 is also displaying at 14.00. That’s where I’m going!
I’ll also be at NW on Sunday – I’ve got the Bulldog booked.
YR
YakRiderProbably at about 40mph. This is when the ASI usually starts to register (via the pitot tube).
YR
YakRiderI have been in two minds about posting on this thread as Gary was a good friend of mine, we had flown together a number of times and spent endless hours in the clubhouse putting the world to rights, so some of the sarcastic comments have been rather hard to take.
That said, I think that it is perfectly legitimate to ensure that anyone instructing or ?coaching? on aircraft of this complexity need to be fully conversant with all the specifications and procedures.
PPL instructors have to go though a course, be examined, then regularly revalidated ? though part of this is because they are being paid so there is a commercial imperative that they are safe and capable.
I?m not in any way suggesting that the pilots who train fast jet students are not capable, but there is a difference in training someone on a Jet Provost, where ex-RAF pilots have a familiarity with all the systems and emergency procedures and an L39, which, obviously from what happened in this accident, has dissimilar handling characteristics, which can catch people out.
If there are any ambiguities in POH?s as a result of translations, for instance, surely it is the duty of those operating the aircraft to ensure these are resolved and the pilots flying the aircraft understand them?
I?m not going to speculate on why Gary decided to eject. His friends have talked for hours about this, but we?ll never know. I went to Duxford the day after the accident, and there were skidmarks on the northbound carriageway consistent with a large truck doing an emergency stop just yards away from where the aircraft came to rest.
On a more positive note, one of the projects Gary was developing before he died was an idea for a series of training DVDs for jets, as he thought they would be helpful for someone starting to fly them to have at least some idea of what they?re letting themselves in for in terms of walk-around checks, cockpit and start-up procedures and flying and aerobatics.
Another friend was involved and has since taken it upon himself to try and make happen what Gary had thought about. Others have donated time and aircraft.
The result is that a training DVD for the Jet Provost 5 has just been completed. I was involved in the ground filming at North Weald, as I was asked to design the sleeve for the DVD, so was there to take still shots.
So, in a sense we are trying to do a little of what his widow Tina is asking for ? impart information to help ensure that trainees and instructors can operate the aircraft safely and confidently.
I can?t give any links as that would be advertising. The DVD is dedicated to Gary?s memory and I?m proud to have been part of the team that brought it to fruition.
YR
YakRiderG-ACDC
G-ACDC is definitely still around. It’s owned by the Tiger Club at Headcorn, and I’ve flown her. It’s supposed to be one of the oldest Moths still flying, but as it’s been rebuilt a number of times no one is sure what’s original!
YR
YakRider<< It’s just a shame that our relatives don’t always tell us what they went through. >>
I agree with that. As I said in my post, my father was in the RAF, he volunteered at the beginning of the war. Because he was married with a child they put him in the RAF Police.
He never wanted to talk about his experiences during the war, maybe because he felt that because he wasn’t aircrew his contribution was negligible, although the ratio of groundcrew to aircrew must have been something like 20:1.
He served on southern fighter bases during the Battle of Britain. I can remember him mentioning 92 Squadron. Then onto Coastal Command at Squires Gate, where a friend of his was killed walking into a Beaufighter prop.
From there to the Bahamas, where Coastal had their anti-sub patrols. He flew back over the Atlantic in the bomb bay of a Liberator.
There you have it. That’s about as much as I know about six years service. There must be a lot of other people in the same position.
My uncle was much more forthcoming about working at Supermarine. One of the things I meant to do was get him to write things down about what he remembered, or maybe to tape his reminiscences. I never got round to it, and it’s too late now as he died just over a year ago.
You mentioned a school project which got you asking questions. I think that this oral history is vitally important to preserve. Our parents, aunts and uncles are a dwindling resource of information, especially about aspects of the war which aren’t covered in the standard aircrew memoires.
Hopefully this thread will spur others to note things down. It’s sometimes frightening how fast time flies!
YR
Another pic – this time of a data sheet issued by Supermarine about sheet metal working. Just the sort of thing that gets thrown away when a dead relatives belongings are being cleared out…
YakRiderAn interesting post. My family lived in a village called Braishfield, near Southampton. My mother was living with her parents, as my father was in the RAF and she was nursing my elder brother who was born just before the war. My mother’s sister and her husband also lived there, my uncle working as an inspector at Supermarine.
Both my uncle and aunt had lucky escapes. When the Supermarine factories were bombed there was a mix-up over the air raid alarm and a number of the workforce were killed before they could reach the shelters. My uncle was on the opposite shift at the time and drove in to work that day to find the factories in ruins and many of his friends and colleagues dead.
They then dispersed the factories to various laundries and garages around the area. The drawing office and development section were sent to Hursley Park, where my uncle later ended up – working on prototype development. The facilities on the airfield at Eastleigh remained undamaged. During the Battle of Britain and into 1941, his job was to visit RAF fighter bases checking on the modification state of the Spitfires. Very often this work was interrupted by air raids, and of course many of the aircraft did not survive long enough to require updating!.
My aunt also had a close escape when she and a number of other people were machine gunned by a Heinkel as she cycled home from work. She had to hide in a ditch to avoid the bullets.
They also remembered seeing a Ju88 shot down by a Spitfire which flew low over their house. The Ju88 crashed just outside the village, the crew being killed. They went along with a lot of other people to view the wreckage.
The picture shows the seventh production Spitfire K9793 at Eastleigh in 1938 before joining 19 Squadron at Duxford. Destroyed 11/9/40 in combat with Ju88 while serving with 92 Squadron from Biggin Hill (pilot Sgt S Duszynski ? listed as missing).
Lest we forget.
YR
YakRiderThis deadline is for objections to the Epping Forest Draft Development Strategy 2021, drawn up by the Epping Forest District Council (EFDC), which proposes a “major new community development” on the airfield site and surrounding land.”
In a sense it is a separate issue from the previous objections to the Harlow Options report drawn up by the consultants Atkins, which was concerned with housing and employment prrovisions for Harlow.
The latest threat is specifically from Epping Forest Council who own the airfield. Quite separately, they are proposing a similar development of the site to those drawn up by Atkins – houses and warehousing.
It is a response to government plans for 1.2 million new homes to be built in the South East of England. The Government Office for the Eastern Region and the Eastern Regional Assembly had requested the relevant County and District Councils in the area to come up with development proposals aimed at meeting the region’s share of this target. Hence the similarity to the Harlow Option plans.
Both plans are unacceptable to the airfield users and local residents.
The arguments against both are pretty much the same. So, if you wrote to Atkins, a similar argument in favour of retaining and developing the airfield would suffice for EFDC.
One note reagarding the weekend fly-in. The cost of the Spitfire (heavily discounted) was borne by an individual donation, the Saturday market traders and the old people’s home in the village. That says something about about what local people think of the airfield. They don’t want thousands of houses and gridlocked roads.
YR
Sorry, saw the Chippie leave, but didn’t take a pic.
YakRiderClive departs back to Duxford after some lovely low passes
YakRiderThe fire crew get to strut their stuff!
YakRiderMark V cockpit
YakRiderClive’s first pass (into sun so a bit grainy!)
YakRiderGreat day at North Weald. Well done to the Squadron for organising that line up – mostly from home-based aircraft.
Great photos too. Here are a few of my humble efforts. First the static line..
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