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wessex boy

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November 2, 2005 at 4:10 pm in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1425294

wessex boy
Participant

Thanks Flood, Great thread (from before I bacame a forumite!)
I must go there at some point…
Back in 1980 (when I was 11!) we did a family holiday to Florida, as well as seeing all the usual sites, we spent a few days around the back of Miami International, Fort Lauderdale, and a couple of smaller airports looking for Propliners (Mainly drug running impoundees!)
At Fort Lauderdale we were picked up by the sheriff and taken for questioning, when he found out that we had come all the way from ‘Engerland’ just to have a look at ‘his’ airport he got his secretary to type a letter of introduction and gave us complete freedom to go on the ramp and photograph the aircraft!
From my Memory we saw a lot of L749/1049s C46s and Convair 440s.
We also did a day trip to Bimini & Nassau by Mallard as well, oh and Disney world was OK, what a Holiday!

November 2, 2005 at 1:36 pm in reply to: Multi-Engined Replicas? #1425403

wessex boy
Participant

From what I understand the big drawback with the P39 was the vibration from the prop shaft, but I am sure with modern tecniques they can overcome that….
Good luck to them, though it seems strange to build it at 86%, why not do it at 1:1?

November 2, 2005 at 1:27 pm in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1425527

wessex boy
Participant

Sorry Wessex boy i don’t think you have seen any C-141’s lately, Did you mean C-130’s.

If it wasn’t a C141, then it was probably a C5 or C17, The KC135s tend to come right over my house if they are on an extended circuit, but I saw a high, swept wing aircraft passing just North of me (Warboys, 4 miles from RAF Wyton), which I presumed to be a C141, but am willing to be corrected!!

What struck me when visiting the ‘hall was the lack of aircraft compared to 20-25 years ago when I was taken up there regularly. Obviously there are less fighters/bombers to refuel in Europe now, and there is not the Logistics requirement there was during the cold war. There used to be stacks of KC135s C130s and C141s with the occasional Galaxy, it all seems a bit empty now….

November 2, 2005 at 1:17 pm in reply to: RAF Binbrook, 29 April 1988 #1425534

wessex boy
Participant

As I have mentioned on this forum before, I was on cadet camp at Binbrook the week leading up to the Last of the Lightning show, I can’t remember the show particularly, but what I do remember is the day before when the Tornado F3 arrived in the circuit at the same time as an F6. They did 2 joint flypasts, disappeared then came back at high speed, the Lighning went vertical, and the F3 went a bit asthmatic!

What really struck me about that week, was the difference in activity to a previous camp that I did there in August ’83, it was a ghost of it’s former self.

November 1, 2005 at 9:31 pm in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1426008

wessex boy
Participant

No vertical climbs, they all departed out to the east initially, great spectacle nonetheless.
Of course I have seen no end of KC135s and C141s over my house in the following few days, which means that Mildenhall must be busy……

October 28, 2005 at 9:15 am in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1430884

wessex boy
Participant

Glad your day worked out well.
Where hey stop is the arming pad. Final checks and arming is carried out prior to departure.

Thanks, Yes I wondered if it was something to do with arming, they probably want the least amount of time armed whilst they are on the ground….

October 27, 2005 at 10:30 pm in reply to: Starliner to fly again? #1337641

wessex boy
Participant

Lets hope they bring it over to Europe, I missed the MATS visit, even though I joined my father up as a supprter!

October 27, 2005 at 10:24 pm in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1337655

wessex boy
Participant

Back in the late ’70s, early ’80s Mickey’s was my first contact with an authentic American diner, most of the other clientelle were in uniform, and there were pictures of blackbirds, U2s, etc all around the walls. They took Dollars as their primary currency, which was very novel at my age then!

October 27, 2005 at 6:06 pm in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1337790

wessex boy
Participant

A good day out was had, Mildenhall was dead, we saw one movement in and out (both KC135s). You can’t get to Mickey’s tea bar any longer, it is all barricaded off with grunts and HumVees in the way, it used to be opposite the old main gate. I introduced my son to the delights of Little Chef instead….

LH was better, 2 ship went off at 13:30 on the spot, as predicted, and returned 20 mins later, one doing a missed approach and circuit.
Then nothing…..I just decided to give it 10 more minutes then I started to hear noise…lots of it, then 16 Eagles taxied out!
They obviously have an external check done at the holding point which takes a few minutes (never seen that before?), and then they went out 2 x 6 ship and then a 4 ship departure.
Unfortunately son then got tired so I had to leave before they all returned….

October 27, 2005 at 5:59 pm in reply to: Halton 1985 #1337791

wessex boy
Participant

Now you’ve got me going……

According to a very good history brochure in the local Tourist Information in Wendover, Halton was first used in aerial manouevres by No.3 squadron in 1913, with the first formal camp being established by the RFC in 1916.

The School of Technical Training got its first permanent buildings in 1917, apparently built by German PoWs. Halton was also used for training Royal Australian Air Force members in 1918 with FB5s, RE8s and BE-2s (hence my interest!), even Handley Page O/400s being based on the airfield. There are a number of vary good period photos of Halton in the Australian War Memorial archives http://www.awm.gov.au, type in Halton on the ‘Collections Search’.

In 1919 the RAF bought the land which had previously been loaned by the Rothschild family, along with the manor house, and moved No 1 School of Technical Training from Cranwell.

Here endeth the history lesson. Now for a nice pic of some aeroplanes……

Thanks for that, I will have to ask my father if he has any photos from Grandad of that era, I remember him showing me some of the mid30s on carriers in the Med, I am hoping that they have survived, and his logbook is something to behold, most of the types pre-WWII I have never heard of!

October 27, 2005 at 10:01 am in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1338178

wessex boy
Participant

Thanks, I will time my visit accordingly!

October 26, 2005 at 9:43 pm in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1338363

wessex boy
Participant

Thanks! I will aim to get to Mickeys for Lunch, take a drive around Mildenhall, and then head over to LH in the afternoon…

October 26, 2005 at 8:11 pm in reply to: Halton 1985 #1338378

wessex boy
Participant

When did Halton Open? My Grandfather started his apprenticeship there in 1926.

I spent a week there in 1988 doing my first-aid course, the new Sargeant’s mess had just opened, and the food, especially the cakes/puddings were to die for!

The first aid instructor learnt that you shouldn’t leave a bunch of ‘Plastic Sargeants’ unsupervised with a canister of Nitrous Oxide……. :diablo:

October 26, 2005 at 8:01 pm in reply to: some aviation black humor #1338394

wessex boy
Participant

Living 4 miles from Wyton, I can confirm that that is the normal weather…..

On a similar vein…The Met officer at Shawbury got so fed up with student Pilots ringing him and asking for an ‘actual’, he slammed the ‘phone down, stormed down to our crewroom and drew a big rectangle in chinagraph on the window and wrote ‘Actual’ underneath it, threw the pen down and shouted:
“Right, you don’t need to keep calling me, just look out of the *******ing window!”

October 26, 2005 at 7:24 pm in reply to: Mildenhall – WB57 #1338404

wessex boy
Participant

I am unsupervised for a few hours tomorrow and in charge of my 2.5 year old son…I was thinking of nipping up to Mildenhall & Lakenheath for a visit.
How active are they nowadays? can you park up anywhere at Mildenhall? And most important, is Mickey’s tea bar still there?

My Dad used to take my brother & I up there during half term many years ago, we used to go down a farm track at the back end of Mildenhall which meant you could stand a few yards from the Threshold. These were the days when the KC135s had the original turbojets, and when they throttled up for take off we used to get engulfed in smoke…we would return home black from head to toe….much to Mum’s delight!

I am assuming that you can’t get down the farm tracks anymore without the thought Police getting upset?
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Viewing 15 posts - 916 through 930 (of 1,048 total)

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