RE: North Weald. What’s the chance of an airshow?

There are usually a couple of DC3s based at NW. One currently has no engines. There are also two Catalinas (though one is being readied to fly to the US). The Meteor is tucked away around the corner in a dispersal pen, but is looking the worse for wear. The long resident Sea Vixen was scrapped earlier in the year.

Tony Haig Thomas keeps his Avenger at NW, there are also several Yak 11s, 50s and 52s plus two Beech 18s and a Staggerwing. There’s also a P51 being worked on in one of the smaller hangars.

Jet-wise there are a number of JPs, an L39, a T33 in Thunderbirds livery and the Galeb is back again.

Also, a lot of interesting stuff comes in for maintenance – like Big Beautiful Doll a few weeks ago.

In terms of an air show, I think the big problem now is that Stansted is much busier than it used to be, and NW is under their airspace with a 1500 foot ceiling (whereas DX has 4500 and is well away from approach and departure paths). This obviously limits what can be done with aerobatics or routines by ‘heavy metal’, although the Yaks, Extras and Sukhois manage OK at the Aerofair, but they are smaller, lighter aircraft.

RE: Another historic one lost

It was there in company with an Albatros and Nieuport 28. Thankfully noone was hurt.

We were at Diest on Saturday and left Sunday morning en route to Koblenz before they arrived. It’s a real shame as the Old Timers Fly-in is a great event. There were over 400 aircraft there over the weekend, including some rare and interesting ones such as two-seater Klemms (the German equivalent of the Magister), a Potez 60, Fokker SIIs and Fw 149s. There’s a marvellous atmosphere with people coming in from all over Europe.

They’ve had problems as a result of the airshow accident at Ostende a few years ago, and the fly-in was stopped for a couple of years. Hopefully this won’t affect holding future events.

Their website can be found at: http://www.dac.be

Some of the many aircraft that flew in are pictured if you check out the arrivals list. We’re listed as a PA28 G-BTGY (number 376).

RE: Best preserved UK airfield

I agree about Upavon, which has managed to retain its grass. An airfield steeped in history from the earliest days of military flying.

Crail in Scotland is supposed to be the best surviving FAA station. it was opened in 1918, I believe, and still has 4 runways intact, where so many have been ripped up for hardcore elsewhere.

And how about North Weald? Still retains its original hangars, albeit for warehousing and some of the dispersal pans survive. The Squadron clubhouse is a Nissen Hut and there are plenty of interesting aircraft based there – from a Spitfire, DC3s and Catalinas to Yaks (11s, 50s and 52s), Bulldogs, Jet Provosts, L39s plus the usual spam cans. A nice place to spend a summer’s afternoon – especially if the Aerostars are doing a stream take off!

Kemble is also impressive and complete – although only a maintenance unit for most of its operational life, it was the home of the Red Arrows.

I fly out of Stapleford. The wartime peri track is still there, but in a poor state. Some of it on the eastern side is now outside the modern airfield’s boundaries, but visible from the air. Because we now have two designated runways – 04/22 and 10/28, the rest of the grass has been ploughed up for cultivation. A few of the old buildings survive at the south western corner and are used as pig pens! One of the old shelters is open as a museum on Sundays during the summer. Although Johnnie Johnson learned to fly there in the RAFVR and it was used as a satellite station to North Weald and Tempsford, it doesn’t quite have the ambience of North Weald.

RE: Not Tempsford

Here’s a pic of all three Lysanders plus the Gladiator and Blenheim. A sight never to be repeated.

I’m glad the Duxford Lizzie is painted as Hugh Verity’s aircraft. Reading his book makes you realise what amazing pilots they were in those days, pinpointing fields in France with none of the navigation aids we’ve got now to keep us out of trouble.
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RE: Somthing gentle and bimbling for a change

The Prentice was certainly fun to fly in.

Here is a pilot’s view of a final approach to 05 at Coventry taken from the right hand seat of Air Atlantique’s Prennie.
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RE: RAF

The only thing I can suggest is to look at the CAA’s Safety Research Group website which lists the visual requirements for a JAA Class 1 medical. I would have thought this would be the minimum standard required by the RAF. At least it would give you an idea of how your eyesight matches up.

The site can be found at:

http://www.srg.caa.co.uk/pld/med/med_information.asp?page=/medical/SRG_…

RE: Flying experience

Aircraft I’ve flown in as a passenger:
DH Chipmunk (RAF St Mawgan 1971)
HS Nimrod (RAF St Mawgan 1971)
HS Andover (RAF Abingdon 1971)
Percival Pembroke (RAF Wildenrath 1972)
Percival Prentice (Coventry)
Douglas DC-3 (Coventry)
Antonov AN-2 (Schaffen Diest Old Timers Fly-in, Belgium)
Cessna 172
Cessna 175
Piper PA28-181-R Arrow

Aircraft I’ve flown:
Slingsby Cadet (RAF Halton 1972) ? Glider
Sedburgh (RAF Halton 1972) ? Glider
Cessna C152
Piper PA28-161 Warrior
Grumman AA5A Traveler, AA5B Tiger
Morane Saulnier Rallye 880
Yak 52
DH Tiger Moth

Static aircraft cockpits I’ve been inside (non airshow):
Avro Lancaster (Duxford)
Avro Shackleton (RAF St Mawgan 1971, Coventry, Newark)
Avro Vulcan (Coventry, Newark)
F104 Starfighter (Coventry)
F4 Phantom (Coventry)
AW Seahawk (Coventry)
AW Argosy (RAF Tangmere 1969, Coventry)
HP Dart Herald (Bournemouth)
Hawker Hunter (Bournemouth)
Westland Wessex (RAF Odiham 1969)