From today’s NOTAMs:

EGUN (MILDENHALL):

B)03/03/13 16:03 UTC C)03/06/13 23:59 AGA (U0317/03)
E)PILOTS TO ENSURE ACFT DEFENSIVE COUNTER MEASURES ARE SAFE PRIOR TO LANDING. DO NOT RE-ARM UNTIL AFTER DEPARTURE.

EGVA (FAIRFORD):

B)03/02/27 00:01 UTC C)03/05/31 23:59 EST RAC (B0375/03)
E)FAIRFORD MATZ ACTIVATED

B)03/03/18 11:07 UTC C)03/06/30 17:00 EST NAVW (J0101/03)
E)MIL REF (AUS) 03-03-0294
RESTRICTION OF FLYING REGULATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE UNDER ARTICLE 85 OF THE ANO 2000. NO AIRCRAFT SHALL FLY WI THE AREA NOTIFIED AS THE RAF FAIRFORD MATZ EXCEPT ACFT FLYING IN ACCORDANCE WITH AN ATC CLEARANCE ISSUED BY ATC RAF BRIZE NORTON OR RAF FAIRFORD OR IN THE SERVICE OF GLOUCESTER POLICE.
F)SFC G)3286FT AMSL

So, yes, Fairford is somewhere to avoid at present, although a normal MATZ penetration may still be possible. If there is some sort of incident, they could restrict our flying temporarily, but I can’t see anything to warrant this long term.

Most of the sensitive sites like Aldermarston and Burghfield are already covered by exclusion zones anyway. But it’s still possible to get around without too much bother, and if it means talking to more people on the radio to get clearances, that’s no bad thing either.

YR

I learned to fly on C152s, but I then converted onto low wing types and have flown them ever since. I definitely prefer them for overall visibility, especially when visiting airfields I’ve never been to before (though I can accept that passengers may prefer a high wing because of the view they have of the ground).

I was out in a Bulldog on Sunday and had a close call with a Cessna who hadn’t seen me and started doing spiral dives in my direction. The acres of glass on the ‘Dog’ meant I could keep him in view and get out of his blundering way. It was also a time when I was glad that I was wearing a parachute (but that could be the subject of a whole different thread).

YR

An interesting thread. I was at a talk last night by Charlie Brown at North Weald on warbird flying.

He made a very similar point about the BBMF long term. RAF pilots today are not trained on tailwheel aircraft any more, so any pilots continuing to fly the various aircraft operated by the flight will have to get converted onto type elsewhere. I suppose as everything else training-wise has been/is being privatised, they will just buy in the expertise from companies like Historic Flying, but it does make one think.

The whole question of currency is a knotty one. I know with DA renewals etc, there is a minimum set to try and ensure safety. But an experienced display pilot – Guy Bancroft Wilson – still managed to spin in the Kingcobra, and look how few hours he had on type.

There will always be pilots and investors with enough money to operate these type of aircraft. For a Spitfire you’re looking at about £2000+ an hour, realistically, and Charlie reckoned that the HAC MkV does about 35 hours a year.

Keeping current is fine if you’re on the circuit and can fly various aircraft with broadly similar handling characteristics. The problem comes with someone buying one for themselves, with relatively little experience , then getting into trouble. The Buchon is a particularly treacherous aircraft in this respect, apparently. I know HF will only sell you a Spit if they train you to fly it – hence the PV202 rebuild.

But all of us who fly know only too well that the time we flew the most was when we were learning (unless we go on to make a career of flying). From then on it’s a question juggling flying currency and cash to keep safe. And believe me, you do get rusty very quickly, especially on compex aircraft!

I would prefer to see these glorious old aircraft keep flying. But if it means putting them in the hands of pilots that aren’t really up to it, I’d rather they stayed on the ground.

YR

RE: War Cemetaries

I can remember the churchyard in the village where I went to primary school at Fovant in Wiltshire (midway between Salisbury and Shaftesbury on the A30).

This has many graves from WWI, where again a lot of ANZAC soldiers died from influenza. It’s a well known village because of the badges the regiments carved on the chalk downs nearby, which are visible from the main road. Every now and then they get cleaned up and re-chalked, but some like the map of Australia at Compton Chamberlaine and the Warwickshire Regiment badge at Sutton Mandeville are sadly overgrown and have disappeared.

When I was a boy, we used to go up on the downs to recover spent bullets from the old rifle ranges. A friend’s grandad had been in the Machine Gun Corps and was the only one of his squad to survive. The local war memorials were full of lists of brothers and cousins who were killed in the Wiltshire Regiment – terrible blows to such small farming communities.

For many years, the Armistice Day service used to be attended by a contingent of ANZACs, though they must be all dead by now.

What struck me about the large war cemetaries I have visited elsewhere is the young age of most of the dead – late teens or early twenties. Only the NCOs were a bit older. Such a waste of life.

Let’s hope the war that’s being talked up by the politicians can be avoided this time round. If not, it’ll be the young that pay the price again.

YR

RE: Belgian Pilots flying with the RAF

I?ve also got a Belgian pilot to ask about. My uncle – Bill ?Tommy? Tucker – worked at Supermarine in Southampton right through the all the Spitfre marks and into the production of the jet fighter prototypes at Hursley Park. He died earlier this year, aged 90, and I have some of his pictures from his time at Supermarine.

One was taken at Chilbolton after the war, when they were working on the Belgian Air Force contract for Mark XIVs. It shows the hand over ceremony to a BAF delegation of a Spitfire he had just signed off for flight. I can remember him telling me that one of the BAF officers spoke English as he had been in the RAF during the war, while the others just spoke French.

In the attached picture, my uncle is centre right wearing the long overcoat. I have managed to identify the BAF officer next to him as F/O Van de Wale, who served with B Flight, 349 (Belgian) Squadron during the war, and is in a Squadron picture featured in Hugh Smallwood?s book ‘2nd TAF Spitfire’ about the history of ML407 (Carolyn Grace?s Tr9).

I have sent the picture to a couple of people in Belgium to see if I could discover anything more about this officer, or whether the others could be identified as well, but have had no response. If anyone can help put names to any of the faces in the picture (English or Belgian), I would be grateful.

The only Spitfire picture I have been able to find of this batch is SG108 (IQ-V), which served with the Fighter School at Koksijde in a silver and yellow scheme, but as the final part of the code is cropped off on the picture it is impossible to identify the Chilbolton aircraft for sure unless someone also has information on this.

YR
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