lauriebie, you were there on the Wednesday, then, which was the day the Saab 105 pilot “crossed the dividing line between those pilots who have landed with wheels up and those who are going to”. Don’t you remember the Viggen second prototype, 37002, on its first appearance?

That’s right, it was the Wednesday and I do remember the Viggen. Also I seem to recall first appearances for the L1011 Tristar and GAF Nomad.

Attached below are 3 photos of a series of 6 that I took as the 105 landed.

BR,

Laurie.

Wow ! Nice air to air shots Lauriebe ! so pleased we managed to hit a thread that got those brilliant pics out of you !
AR , i can’t currently post the pic i,ve got of XS186 due to copyright from the photo supplier , but i,ll enquire about getting permission.The scheme is definitely grey with orange bands , and most people react initially with the ‘i never saw a grey / orange JP, only silver /orange, hence the desire to get it back into it’s original colours.

Glad that you liked the photos. I have tried to put them in my photo editor and get some of the true colour back. Not very successfully though.

Spiteful21, you asked about JPs/Strikemasters. I have just found another 2 photos in an old album. These were taken at Farnborough ’72. The only Farnborough show I have managed to get to. The first shows an NZ Strikemaster prior to delivery. It still carries the UK civil reg which, unfortunately, is partially obscured by the tail. I think it was G-AZYN. The other photo is of JP Mk 5, XW436. Both aircraft were in the static park that year.

Again, the colours in the photos have faded somewhat. Still checking through old photos to see if I have any more.

BR,

Laurie.

Nice one Lauriebe !
You were at Manby whilst Xs186 was there , she departed there for the last time in 1972.
You may be able to help confirm something for me?
When you started at Manby do you recall the JP’s having the overall silver (or)grey with orange bands, which changed to the red and white scheme during your time there ?
Consensus is that the JP’s changed to red and white colour schemes in 1972?
That must have been a great experience flying in such a large formation!, do you recall much about the trip?

I remember the flight well. It was my first JP ride as well as the first time that I had flown in a formation. Originally, the flight was scheduled for around 10am. However, the weather intervened and that morning there was a heavy, low overcast. The formation was then rescheduled for around midday. Luckily, the weather cleared just enough for the flight to go ahead. It was far from perfect but acceptable.

The Varsitys and Dominies got airborne from Strubby and waited north of Manby for the JPs to join. These got airborne from Manby in pairs and joined up in 4 boxes of 4 aircraft before joining up with the aircraft from Strubby.

The flight lasted just over an hour and, as I mentioned in the other post, covered all the “Lincolnshire Air Force” airfields. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and my lasting memeory is of the running break into the Manby circuit at the end of the trip. Again, a first for me.

To answer your question on the colour schemes applied to the JPs at that time, as far as I can remember all wore the standard training colour sceme of red, white and grey.

I have attached three more photos of the formation. The first shows the JPs breaking away from the Varsitys and Dominies and the end of the formation . The next shows the lead box of 4 JPs. The last shows “Green 2”.

There was another Varsity shadowing the formation, a couple of thousand feet above. This carried the press party covering the event. It was broadcast on one of the local TV channels that evening.

Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. The prints have faded over time and I have long since lost the negatives.

BR

Laurie.

Funny you should mention that, Stringbag. I thought I had heard his name in another connection as well!! 😉 😉

Looking through my old photos this morning, I came across these. Both photos were taken at Plymouth/Roborough circa late 1963/early 1964 and show what I think was the total compliment of aircraft for No. 4 AEF from Exeter. Anybody know what became of them?

Spent several happy hours stooging around the skies over Plymouth in both aircraft.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos. They were taken on my first camera, a Kodak Brownie 127, which had a small crack in the side. Hence the fogging effect in one photo.

Yours truly is standing on the starboard wing of ‘576, securing the canopy.

Happy days!!

BR

Laurie.

Bobby,

Thanks for that view. The cockpit is certainly a lot less cluttered than in its original format. The sidewalls were a mass of cables, etc.

Looking at the altimeter, am I right in thinking that your strip is around 3300 feet above sea level?

BR,

Laurie.

Hi Bobby,

Thanks for the kind words. That was my first attempt at putting something together for a magazine. I hope it has helped to answer the questions that people had regarding the history of this marvellous aircraft. I am still looking for more so, if anyone out there has anything, or knows someone else who has, please get in touch.

Seeing the Seafire against that beautiful Montana skyline adds a whole new dimension to the story.

BR,

Laurie.

Owner takes flight in VP441

Hi Bobby,

Many thanks for the photo of Jim Smith flying his Seafire. We hope he enjoys many more to come. We are all green with envy. 😀

Your comments on Nelson’s work on VP441 are echoed here. I have already passed on my hearty congrats to Nelson and his fine team of co-workers at Breckenridge.

Keep the photos coming!

BR,

Laurie.