Post 68, a regular feature of Abingdon and other displays was a RAF C-130 demonstrating a ULLA drop – Ultra Low Level ( cant recall the A bit).

This was the dropping of vehicles or equipment from the ramp whilst the aircraft flew at circa 20 ft .

A school friends dad, Mike Nash was the C-130 pilot based with JATE at Abingdon who carried out much of this load dropping development flying.

Dim memories of one ULLA display going a bit wrong and lots of broken bits on the ground!

The ‘A’ was Ultra Low Level Airdrop . It was because of several accidents that this extraction method was abandoned. It was demonstrated by a RAF Hercules during the 1971 Abingdon Battle of Britain air display.

I see she is going to be auctioned on Thursday. I really hope this doesn’t go back to the States as this was the late John Fairey’s G-AIDN and I was quite excited when it was brought back to the UK, only to spend several years doing nothing in pieces at Kemble, then at Booker. Fingers crossed!

I thought it was Gen Milch taking the inspection in the opening sequence. Mind you it was an article from my dad’s “magazine”;) ( M*****r, if memory serves me right) so they could have got it wrong.:confused:

I’m sure you’re right, I haven’t watched the film for a long time. Thanks

Kemble strikes me as a great place to create both an aircraft and airfield museum.
The south site is RAF Expansion Era heaven with many of the original buildings and hangars still standing and in very good condition, and most faced in local Cotswold stone. The gas decontamination centre is one of the best surviving examples I have seen, complete with the original china bleach foot and shower trays.
Aviation wise the Bristol Aero Collection is housed there, along with Delta Jets, and it lays claim to both RAF and USAF maintenance usage.

Great idea, but firstly Delta Jets no longer exist, as they have gone into administration and secondly you would have to terminate all the businesses that occupy those hangars you mention, which bring in revenue to the airfield. The Bristol Aero Collection struggles simply because of its location and they would desperately like to move the collection to larger premises at Filton, but with no funding from Bristol Council even to house Concorde there, they are stuck!

Consequently with no financial backing a larger museum at Kemble is a non-starter. It was hoped it would be the UK’s jet warbird centre, but in the current economic climate, things are somewhat shakey.

whats the story with the Dominies? How come so many?

Six Ex RAF Dominies arrived at Kemble the week before the show for temporary storage, all with US-civil registrations. They were all there during the air show. Stories vary, but one said that three will go to the US for pilot training and three will remain in store for spares. Quite why anyone would want these 40-year old crew trainers with thirsty Viper engines is beyond me?

What was the camouflage scheme used during the filming of the Battle-of-Britain; was it painted on for filming?

Yes they were all repainted in Spain I believe, where a lot of the filming took place due to the weather over UK. Colours were pretty authentic, black/dunkelgrun splinter camo with light blue undersides, albeit gloss paint was used. Luftwaffe codes were correctly portrayed and thank goodness the ban on the use of swastikas wasn’t extended to the film aircraft! The aircraft looked pretty convincing and the opening sequences of the BoB film are very good with ‘Field Marshall Goering arriving in a JU-52 (don’t anyone mention it’s a CASA 352!) and inspecting two huge rows of ‘He-111s’. I would be interested to know how many of those were actually airworthy for the film and if Duxford’s was in that line-up?

I’m sure she will look good in the end. Being a ‘Northern’ lad I’m looking forward to eventually seeing ARPO in Northeast Airlines colours… I will continue to follow this thread for more of your updates!

As a purist, I have to mention that ‘RPO never flew in Northeast colours.
I guess it’s only going to be in Northeast colours because of its current location. I would have liked to have seen it in BEA red square livery, but that’s just my opinion.

I never put ‘vintage’ and ‘homebuilt’ in the same sentence, so will this just be for homebuilts, as I never regard any of these as ‘vintage’?