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Post by graham on May 2, 2020 15:25:22 GMT
I was thinking earlier about the trips I used to go on with my Dad when I was young and it got me wondering about everyone else here on AFA. The first aircraft I ever wrote the serial down for was Saunders Roe Skeeter, XM555 which was on a float in Basingstoke carnival in 1964 ( I think...) when I was eight. At that time, my Dad worked as an technician for Kelvins in Basingstoke who were later acquired by Smiths Industries. He calibrated machmeters for Sea Vixens and other jet aircraft of that era and loved his aircraft. I have many happy memories of watching b/w TV with him for the annual Biggin Hill and bi-annual Farnborough shows which of course, always had commentary by Raymond Baxter.
My Dad took me to a few shows around that time and also to Heathrow 3 or 4 times. I definitely remember going to the Waddington show in 1965 as we had an uncle who lived in Lincoln so we drove up the day prior to the show and stayed over. I can still see the early B1 Vulcans there all in a long row. Quite a sight.
We also went to the Little Rissington show in late 1967 and I remember hangars stuffed full of Jet Provosts and the Red Arrows' Gnats of course as they were based there back then.
We drove to Heathrow a few times in 1966 and 1967, how I would love to have a log of what we saw. My Dad was pretty good at aircraft recognition as I recall although he wasn't as such a spotter. He knew all the Russian Tupolev marques and could tell the difference between a B707, a DC-8 and a CV-990 whilst I was still trying to identify them with his clapped out old 8 x 30 bins.
By 1968 aged 12 I was pretty much travelling around by myself, it was safe back then, and I recall taking the train from Basingstoke to Waterloo, then the tube to Kings Cross and then the train to Leeds where my great aunt and uncle lived in a tiny two up, two down terraced house in Barras St. I spent a day at Leeds/Bradford whilst there but no longer have the logs.
Does anyone else have far reaching memories about their first "pot" or their first show? Let's face it, none of us has a great deal to do at present, so let's hear about a few walks down Memory Lane!
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Post by dave on May 2, 2020 17:51:15 GMT
hi, At squires Gate Blackpool, we went to the holiday camp, every year from about 1954/5, train spotting and watching the aircraft t/o and land over us, then the earliest log I have is from 1962, so that must be when I realised the aircraft had registrations, and the first I've got is G-ADDI a Dragon Rapide on flights round the tower, this also my first flight. First show Kings Cup air race at Bagington, Coventry in 1962, then Farnborough the bus park was near the E.T.P.S and all the goodies they had VX777 Vulcan, and a couple of rows of Piston Provest and Hunter fuselages... them were the days, no high security fences with razor wire, and pilots or mechanics had time for a chat, and let you have a look in hangars with a "don't let the boss see you"...
stay safe, regards. dave...
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Post by graham on May 2, 2020 18:46:24 GMT
Great memories, thanks Dave
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Post by rugbyref on May 2, 2020 19:02:30 GMT
Nothing so exotic for me. My friend and I had travelled from North London on a Red Rover all day bus ticket, and ended up on the 140 bus into Heathrow. We had started with buses, then trains, so when we noticed that the BEA Trident 1s and the BOAC VC10s had registrations, I bought my first Civil Aircraft Markings and the rest is history. So my first registration was either a Trident or a Viscount seen from the Queen’s Building.
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Post by rugbyref on May 2, 2020 19:10:53 GMT
Graham,
How about another thread for the most enjoyable location you have been when logging. Mine would have to be sitting in the water at the beach in St Barts, watching Winair Twin Otters landing down that hillside and desparately trying to stop before they joined me in the water. The other attractions on the beach were not bad either!
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Post by davidallum on May 3, 2020 7:27:26 GMT
My introduction to plane spotting began on a school geography trip in May or June 1968 to Cheddar Gorge,I can't remember where else we went but we did have to drive by Lulsgate on the way back.In those days light aircraft were parked by the fence by the main road so the guys on the coach who were into planes wrote them down and I just joined in,one of my school mates on that trip is a fellow member of this forum (keithh).We were all into buses & trains as well in those days so plane spotting seemed to right thing to do.Reckon we logged about 7/8 aircraft.
If you had another thread about most enjoyable location to spot at,my list would be quite big but if I had to make a choice then I think South Africa would top the list.
Gave up trains when steam finally disappeared but 52 years later,still heavily into planes.
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Post by graham on May 3, 2020 8:20:27 GMT
Thanks lads for the great memories so far. Please feel free to add your exotic locations here, it all makes for very interesting reading
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Post by graham on May 3, 2020 10:11:33 GMT
Ok, I'll start off the "exotic" location part of these memories. I know a lot of you lads have travelled way more extensively than I have so I doubt that many of these are truly exotic.
The wife and I have been Greece fans for 25 years and have travelled quite extensively on both the islands and the mainland. You can always count on the weather in Greece between late April and mid November plus the scenery is invariably pretty exotic. First year ever in Greece we stayed just outside of the capital city of Crete, Heraklion, underneath the approach to Kazantzakis airport. In later years, we have stayed on Kos, Rhodes, Lesvos, Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos plus several return trips to Crete and a couple more to Rhodes. Crete always provides a bumper haul, in the summer months the airport is busier that Athens with a flight landing every few minutes. The backdrop to Kazantzakis is quite mountainous and the main R to L runway is approached from over the sea.
Of course, there are plans now to move the international airport up into the hills south of Heraklion, to the existing Hellenic AF base at Kastelli, I believe the project has now secured most of the funding so I'm really looking forward to the first landing there, albeit's likely to be quite a while yet.
As far as "being close" is concerned, our last trip to Kefalonia in 2017 saw us stay in an apartment in Svoronata 500 yards from the threshold of the airport runway, with inbounds going over the pool at less than a hundred feet. Fortunately for the missus, Kefalonia airport only receives a small amount of flights per day so she did forgive me eventually.
I've attended shows in various other European countries ( France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Holland and others) and have made several trips across the Pond. Whilst I would never describe Chicago as "exotic", it was top of my list of US airports to visit and just being there was exotic enough for me, with the vast numbers of movements. It was also quite surreal to see the old Meigs Field there from the top of the Sears Tower
On the home front, I've been lucky enough to visit most military airfields in England, Wales and Scotland during the past 50 years or so as well as most of the GA fields and for me, for location and scenery, few can beat Compton Abbas.
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Post by davebasing on May 3, 2020 11:28:43 GMT
Continuing the exotic theme, I must admit to have been extremely lucky to have had a long career in aviation both as a regulator and still continuing with the cargo airlines and which has taken me to many places all around the world. Add to that holiday and spotting trips and I have seen and photographed aircraft on every continent except Antarctica (then only because my b…y Russian icebreaker broke down after leaving South Georgia and 1000 miles from port!). Mig wrecks in Somalia and Sudan, a Twin Bonanza on the remote Marquesas islands in Polynesia, a tea ceremony in a preserved IL18 in China all spring to mind. Perhaps the most “exotic” in its way however was photographing this preserved Argentine Navy Dakota outside Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, the most southerly city in the world and the most southerly aircraft currently preserved anywhere on the planet. Taken against the backdrop of the end of the Andes chain and the Beagle Channel it was really quite a moment. Still get a buzz while freezing my butt off at Heathrow though! anb 547 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
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Post by lordevanelpuss on May 3, 2020 11:57:55 GMT
My very first registration goes back to before I was a spotter. My late father & I were at the 1970 Farnborough air show and I was armed with my I-spy Aircraft book to mark off what I could. Flying high overhead was one of the aircraft mentioned, a Cessna Skymaster and to get the points I had to get the registration. Thankfully the pilot obliged me at the end of his/her sortie and did a low pass, so the first aircraft I noted was Ce336 G-ATAH. In my boyhood visits to Heathrow were very rare, there was one tagged onto the end of a coach trip, possibly some time in 1971. I didn't have any binoculars then, so it was a case of whatever I could manage with the mk1 eyeball. A few seen that day were: SAA B707 ZS-SAD; Sabena FK27 OO-SCA (much later seen on an A310) SAS DC9 LN-RLC; B737s of Aer Lingus & Lufthansa D-ABEC (in those days a srs100) LH B727-100 D-ABIC (later seen on a B737-500) DC-9s of KLM, Alitalia & Swissair. In 1972 my late mother won £1000 in a women's magazine competition, we all had a share of the winnings and for me it was my first pair of binoculars, then the serious spotting started. I would take them everywhere that I could manage to. such as on another coach trip on 20th August 1972 that saw us at places like Sonning, Caversham & Windsor. I got three Air Canada DC8s CF-TJB, TJG & TJL & KLM example PH-DEF along with BEA Tridents & Vanguard G-APEA at Windsor which cemented this as a great place to see airliners. Another place where I always took my binoculars is when we visited my Aunt & Uncle at Portchester & nearby Paulsgrove. Alas I was never taken to Portsmouth's airport but there was still plenty of aircraft flying about (some were probably pompey residents) One such day was 24th Sept 1972. A couple seen over Aldershot (we used to get aircraft flying over in those days!) before we left were PA28 G-AYAC & PA30 G-AVAU and over Portchester PA23 G-ARED, Auster G-AGYT, Ce150 G-AVGM, AWPX, AYSZ; Ce172 G-AYGX, BN2 G-AWVY. To qualify my statement about the empty skies of Aldershot (they had virtually emptied before covid19 arrived) here are a couple of the most memorable days of home spotting, starting with August bank holiday Monday 28/8/1989: DH82 G-AGZZ, PA28 G-BAZU, FLEN, BHFJ, BBKX, BFMG; Ce172 G-BOOL, WACZ; PA22 G-ARCC, FA200 G-BAPM, Shackleton WL790, Aeronca G-AKUO, Sunderland G-BJHS, Ce150 G-BLJP, Extra G-DIAN, Jodel G-ATKX, Ce421 G-OSRF, Robins G-BPHG, TCAR; DH84 EI-ABI; DHC1 G-ARMB, D62 G-AYFD; Balloons G-BPBY, BNHS & BHGF, Ce210 N6143F. I don't think I have seen such a variety of aircraft without having been at an aerodrome / airshow with a Shackleton, Sunderland (now with Kermit Weeks in Florida) and Aer Lingus' Dragon EI-ABI among the regular light types. Ten years later on 25th June 1999: Ce340 G-FEBE, PA28 G-BNEL, ISDB, BFBR, Ce421 G-RLMC, D-INPA; PA32 G-BRGT, Ce150/2 G-BNKV, DH82 G-AOJJ, ANFM, ANMO; HS125 G-BWSY, TSAM; DC9 EC-FML, FLK; TB10 G-PHTG; Bae ATP G-CORP; Jungmann G-CDRU; B737 CN-RNK; Canberra G-BVWC; Corvette F-GILM; Be55 G-BNVZ; DH104 G-ARHW; A340 EC-GJT, CS-TOA. Again it's a right royal mix of aircraft great & small & inbetween. Heathrow were on Easterlies hence the Iberia, TAP & RAM and ex Farnborough - D-INPA, F-GILM & the Bae 'hacks' of the day. The following day, though not as many seen, still yealded 16 aircraft, the usual mix of light aircraft. Oh for days like these to return. Favourite location to spot from? Has to be The Green Man pub in Bedfont, thanks to my sister & her husband for that one. It's at it's best when LHR are on westerlies and they are on short finals over the pub (think it's 27L) Armchair spotting with a beer or two and a meal, you can't beat it!
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Post by keithh on May 3, 2020 12:31:59 GMT
Thanks lads for the great memories so far. Please feel free to add your exotic locations here, it all makes for very interesting reading Reading Dave’s report above, didn’t you go Switzerland on the school trip. I wonder if you remember, there was a Beagle Airedale on the dockside as we sailed out of port, it had ditched a day or two before we left and was recovered. That was one of my earliest logged aircraft.
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Post by rugbyref on May 3, 2020 12:50:12 GMT
Moving on to ‘unusual’ flight stories. My wife and I were on Air Transat from Gatwick to Toronto, and had the ‘is there a doctor on board?’ announcement. From that point it was a full speed direct in approach to Toronto. It felt like we were being piloted by a naval aviator powering onto a carrier. I have also never taxied so quickly to the stand.
Slightly less dramatic was a VLM Fokker 50 flight from Manchester to London City. We were approaching V1 when the pilot throttled right back, and braked sharply with what we were told was an overspeeding prop. The second attempt at take off saw all the passengers paying more attention than usual.
My third episode was landing back at North Las Vegas in a Twin Otter after seeing the Grand Canyon. The cockpit door was open, and I had an aisle seat, so I watched the pilot flying throughout the approach and ‘landing.’ I could see the stick shaker cut in as we stalled and ‘landed.’ After the others had disembarked, I spoke to the captain and said ‘that was a good height to stall from, wasn’t it?’ His face dropped and his nervous reply was ‘are you a pilot?’
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Post by howardlgw on May 3, 2020 15:41:10 GMT
My first plane was a SAS Caravelle LN-KLI,seen from the old Queens building, back in March 1970, I suppose that's why I have a high regard for the Caravelle. I lived in Morden South London and my route to the ROW was via Kingston on the 285 bus. I remember watching the planes heading in over my back garden and on some days departing, I always remember Malev IL18,s with a large reg on the underside of the wing. The thread originally asked for the most enjoyable spot , which for me was the old Gatwick fingers viewing terrace. On my first visit to LGW I remember seeing an African Safari Airways Britannia, a wonderful scheme. I was lucky to move down to Sussex in 1971, so LGW became my go to Airport and I can well remember the old light park which always seemed to be full of all sorts of goodies, easily viewable. In those days you never new what to expect to see, many light planes some mil (RCAF) and all sorts of Airliners and unusual carriers, Happy days.
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Post by keithh on May 3, 2020 16:26:21 GMT
I suppose the most unusual flight story I have was a trip to Rotterdam. An aviation group in Holland hired an Eastern Airways Dakota to go to Farnborough Show. In order to keep costs low, they sold seats on the positioning flights from Humberside and back for a very low amount, somewhere around £30 I think. The aircraft was incredibly only half full, apart from me there were a couple old guys going for a weekend away and half a dozen BA staff going to the Amsterdam red light district! On the return leg, the stewardess started peering through the window at the starboard wing, followed by the second officer. It turned out that the starboard engine was overheating and we crossed the threshold at Humberside followed by flashing blue lights down the runway. The engine was shut down and we taxied in on one engine. On another occasion, my cousin Martin and I were helping out at Popham back in the Jim Espin days and one of the club members was taking a 172 down to Southampton for fuel as there was none available at Popham in those days. We were asked if we wanted to come so off we went. We were cleared to land at Southampton and as we made our final approach, an Aztec holding for departure decided to line up! We overshot comfortably but our 172 was already reading virtually empty and that extra circuit was heart in the mouth time.
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Post by graham on May 3, 2020 18:18:29 GMT
Hi Keith, yes I remember the Beagle ditched in Folkestone harbour, I was in the first year at Stoneham so guessing it was 1967?
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Post by keefyboy on May 3, 2020 22:35:07 GMT
As a Battersea boy through and through, I should perhaps put things in context. I was surrounded by transport on all sides - the ships on the river, the traffic on Battersea Park Road, the railway from Clapham Junction to Waterloo, Victoria, Nine Elms and Stewarts Lane and the aircraft overhead at 10 miles from 28L/R as it was then. Like many of you, I was heavily into trains and buses - having potted the entire southern region train allocation along with everything on the London Underground I ventured further afield for the last vestiges of steam - York and Manchester being particular favourites. I'd be up the Shed watching Chelsea play pretty much every other week and during school holidays or non football weekends I'd be the one perched on the plinth as coaches turned into Victoria coach station - Ian Allen had bus books for every part of the country and I had the lot all marked up. Me and my pals visited every London and Country bus garage and bagged every RT/RM etc listed. Back in the day for a small fee, it was possible to find out where London buses you still needed could be found and a list would be posted through my letterbox. It was probably very OCD but my parents knew it kept me out of mischief and away from some very dodgy friends.
Anyhow, back to aviation - during the 60's, my folks always took me to Ramsgate for the summer holidays. It would be around 1966 that I realised all those Invicta Vikings and Air Ferry DC4's landing at Manston had registrations under their wings - the OCD kicked in again so in between reading my DC comics on the beach, I started jotting down their numbers. My interest never really kicked in until 1967 when I went to Heathrow and bought my first CAM and started potting Tridents and Viscounts from the Queens Building. By the end of 67 there would be a gang of about 12 of us spotting in QB - often at the lower level in the old restaurant but that's another story. That same gang formed the nucleus of a school squadron of air cadets who had many happy days at RAF front line units.
As for more exotic locations - the middle east was my patch and I lived at Prince Sultan Air Base near Al Kharg for 3 months. The airbase itself has a perimeter the same size as the Isle of Wight. It was crammed with French Tankers and Mirages, RAF Tornado F3's and USAF F15/F16, and lot's of stuff from Offut. C5 and C141 were regular visitors. The Saudis obviously had a presence but they had a low profile till 9/11. Shortly after 9/11 some 40 Saudi Hercs appeared overnight. I used to fly into PSAB from Bahrain every other Friday either on a USAF Herc, Learjet or C12 - we would taxi past the lines of Saudi Hercs but given the nature of my job I could not write down numbers - I was certainly a covert spotter at the time. A couple of years later, I had the 7 roomed penthouse suite in the Marriott overlooking Doha airport in Qatar. I reckon during the course of my breakfast I would witness at least 4 USAF C17's taking off with another dozen or so still on the pan. Qatar Airways was of course a lot smaller in 2003!
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Post by graham on May 4, 2020 8:21:44 GMT
What some great memories and good to hear from some members who don't drop in that often. Keep 'em coming please.
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Post by keithh on May 4, 2020 10:52:39 GMT
One of my earliest spotting memories came from Manston. Our extended family used to holiday in Margate every year so I jumped on the East Kent bus down to Manston. There were two intact Invicta Vikings and two broken up. In their hangar was a DC 4 and while I was there a British Midland Viscount landed and taxied to the small terminal. The airport was all open then and you could go anywhere, I took a look inside one of the Vikings and still have a hand written bar manifest from the last flight. I have some very poor quality instamatic pics and I will try and scan them and pop them on here later. IKHF3689 by keith harbor, on Flickr VCYE1961 by keith harbor, on Flickr The pics are poor quality and faded alas
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Post by davebasing on May 4, 2020 11:58:47 GMT
In the course of my thousand plus flights I’ve had some interesting ones (lightning and bird strikes, aborts, go-arounds, diversions, unsafe gear indications on a Dove and CL44, air miss with an F100 while I was flying a Dove from Cranfield to Stansted, operating off dirt strips in Somalia etc) but the one that probably stands out as ‘a bit different’ is a flight some years ago from Southampton to CDG for a meeting in Paris on ATR72 F-GVZL. Halfway across the Channel the aircraft suddenly expressed a strong desire for a bath and pitched nose down towards the sea at some considerable angle. Eventually it leveled off not that far above the wet stuff. There was silence from the cockpit for a while (no doubt they were busy changing their trousers) then an announcement that “ve vill be making ze emergency landing at Rouen” full stop, no explanation. We landed safely accompanied by Rouen’s finest selection of fire trucks (sorry Bob/Filair but I didn’t photograph them as I was in the brace position – also known as how to kiss your backside goodbye). After leaving the aircraft I had a cigarette with the somewhat shaken French female cabin crew who had no idea what had occurred as they had no communication at all from the flight deck which on the ATR was separated from the passenger cabin by the cargo and baggage section of the main deck. The only other aircraft on the ground was a Blackbushe based Navajo. What luck I thought. I introduced myself to the captain of the Navajo who was only too happy to offer me a lift back except that his aircraft was already full. So Air France eventually laid on a taxi for the 3 hour drive to Paris where I arrived after dark and long after my meeting had finished. Never heard anything from Air France as to the reason for this event. Flew back to Southampton uneventfully from CDG the next morning on another ATR72 F-GKPD having accomplished precisely nothing. All part of the rich tapestry of something or the other!
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Post by graham on May 4, 2020 12:56:58 GMT
I remember sometime in the very early 70s, my brother and I were staying with an auntie and uncle who lived at Hatch, just outside Basingstoke and close to Old Basing village. They owned what was then "The Rainbow Cafe" on the main A30, and the ground behind the cafe backed on to the rear garden of their house in Lingfield Close.
One bright day, she said, "jump in the car" and off we went along with her son Andrew, took the Alton road and drove straight into Lasham which of course, was somewhat active back then. She calmly drove her car all around the airfield on the basis that, "if someone stops us, I'll just tell them we're lost". I remember the Comets, a couple of Ambassadors and some B727s as we swept around the field. Afterwards, with no one having bothered her, we drove across to the Staravia scrapyard where me, my brother Martin and Andrew spent an hour rummaging through the piles of aircraft pieces there, most of which if I recall were Sea Furies, Meteors and Canadian F-86's.
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Post by lordevanelpuss on May 5, 2020 22:30:39 GMT
I'm eternally grateful to 'willook' who posted this video. Let me put things in context. I had been at Blackbushe for the airshow visitors as I had been all week. Then came news that an AN22 was due in FAB with the replacement engine for one of that year's show exhibits. Yes, I saw the AN22, but it was down & parked when I saw it. So a big thank you for giving me the opportunity to see and hear the arrival of CCCP-09329 at Farnborough after some 32 years. For anyone else, here is the arrival & departure of Farnborough's AN22: Expert flying, I'll never get tired of seeing this. I hope I'll get the chance to see another before I join my parents upstairs!
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Post by zz on May 6, 2020 6:21:14 GMT
I remember sometime in the very early 70s, my brother and I were staying with an auntie and uncle who lived at Hatch, just outside Basingstoke and close to Old Basing village. They owned what was then "The Rainbow Cafe" on the main A30, and the ground behind the cafe backed on to the rear garden of their house in Lingfield Close. I live in Lingfield Close, Old Basing, now. Small world!
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Post by graham on May 6, 2020 9:03:38 GMT
Morning ZZ, it was a long time ago but if I recall, they lived in the third house on the left as you drove into the close. I know they peed off their neighbours when they had the front garden of the house concreted over so they could park their collection of cars. The house was called "Rainbows End" and had a sizeable extension on it. They were Grace & Geoff Whittingham and they had five children. At one time Geoff also owned and ran a toy, fancy goods and joke shop at the end of May Place which I think ran from London Rd/St to Red Lion Lane where there was a carpark back then. Both Grace and Geoff have sadly passed on now.
They moved from Lingfield Close in the late 70s I believe and the cafe premises became a fork lift truck rental and maintenance place. I haven't driven that bit of road for years so no idea whether it's still there or not. The land that joined the back of the cafe to the rear of their house was quite substantial, what's there these days?
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Post by zz on May 6, 2020 10:39:14 GMT
I think it’s only houses and gardens there now, Graham. In 2015 they built a new, small Close next to Rainbow Close with about 7 houses, so perhaps that is on that land?
I live at the top of Lingfield Close, at the turning point, if you can remember that far back? And of course Davebasing lives in the village too!
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Post by graham on May 7, 2020 9:30:26 GMT
Thanks ZZ. I assume then that some of the land had already been built on if it was called Rainbow Close, as said, the cafe was called the "Rainbow". Once all this lockdown is over I really must go and take a look, work does take me that way very occasionally. I was born in Byfleet Avenue but I have never been able to determine which bungalow it was. My parents bought the land and the new build bungalow for £1,500 in 1954 which is I believe when Byfleet Ave itself was laid down. But it only had a name and no number. Despite posting on a couple of Basingstoke Facebook groups, no one can tell me which bungalow is was.
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Post by davebasing on May 10, 2020 14:52:15 GMT
hi, At squires Gate Blackpool, we went to the holiday camp, every year from about 1954/5, train spotting and watching the aircraft t/o and land over us, then the earliest log I have is from 1962, so that must be when I realised the aircraft had registrations, and the first I've got is G-ADDI a Dragon Rapide on flights round the tower, this also my first flight. First show Kings Cup air race at Bagington, Coventry in 1962, then Farnborough the bus park was near the E.T.P.S and all the goodies they had VX777 Vulcan, and a couple of rows of Piston Provest and Hunter fuselages... them were the days, no high security fences with razor wire, and pilots or mechanics had time for a chat, and let you have a look in hangars with a "don't let the boss see you"...
stay safe, regards. dave... Hi Dave - Just to bring back a memory for you I photographed G-ADDI at Squires Gate on 20 May 1962. Sorry for the poor quality, digitalised from my negative that's almost 60 years old and with the original taken with a rather basic Ilford camera. The AA used to keep their Rapide there too (taken same day). Just for interest, airliner types logged there that day were Silver City Bristol Freighters G-AIFM, G-AIME & G-AIMH, their Hermes G-ALDP and their Daks G-AKNB, G-AMJU, G-AMWV & G-ANAE; plus Starways Viscount G-ARER; stored Miles Marathon G-AMHS and the burnt out hulk of Anson G-AHIE. By the way I was, like you, at Coventry for the Kings Cup on 18 August 1962. Still not got a complete list of the Patrouille de France who displayed with their Mystere IVAs that day (flying in from, I think, Gaydon). bpool2 by dave tompkins, on Flickr bpool3 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
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Post by graham on May 11, 2020 8:45:31 GMT
Morning Dave, I've posted a request on the FCG for the French Mysteres. They usually come up trumps.
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Post by davebasing on May 11, 2020 9:18:34 GMT
Morning Dave, I've posted a request on the FCG for the French Mysteres. They usually come up trumps. Thanks Graham, that's kind of you. I did acquire a list way back but it had Mysteres on it that were never actually French or had not served with the PdeF. Did see a list once from an RAF chap who logged them when they arrived (I think at Gaydon but I may be wrong) and was no doubt accurate but that included the spares they had brought over and which did not go on to Coventry where the team never actually landed. From memory 3 of those tied in with the original list I was given for those that supposedly flew that day. I was still at school in those days and living in Chiswick. I know that I went on my own but how I got to Coventry has faded in the mists of time (my parents never had a car then). While I've digitislised almost all of my aircraft slides I've done very few of my old black and white negatives so lockdown has enabled me to make a start. Sadly, as I think I've mentioned before, I used the local chemist near Kew Bridge to process my films. He was cheap and all I could afford from my pocket money and my evening job cleaning a local builder's office, but sadly quality was not this chemist's strong point (and the camera, a present from my parents for passing the eleven plus, was somewhat basic as probably were my photographic abilities).
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Post by rj on May 11, 2020 10:14:58 GMT
Because my late dad was a spotter I grew up with it all so difficult to pinpoint what the first aircraft I logged. As a starting point we had a family holiday at Bracklesham bay easter 1976 (I was 6). That log is mostly of light aircraft but the two Andover's from Thorney Island made it in along with XN404 Britannia. My first airport visit was Blackbushe 2/7/1976 visitors included EI-AWB B105 and EI-BBS PA30. By 1977 I had got more into things and was at Blackbushe 20/3/77 (4X-AYC, AYF BN2). 12/4/77 first trip to LHR, apparently I had been nagging for ages to go there, mostly to see concorde. Highlights for me looking back Gulf Air VC10, Air France Caravelle, Pan Am 707's, LOT IL-18 and gazillions of Tridents and Viscounts. Followed by a day at Greenham Common for the show, followed by the Blackbushe Airshow and a trip to Hendon. The rest is history.
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Post by davebasing on May 11, 2020 11:30:27 GMT
Because my late dad was a spotter I grew up with it all so difficult to pinpoint what the first aircraft I logged. As a starting point we had a family holiday at Bracklesham bay easter 1976 (I was 6). That log is mostly of light aircraft but the two Andover's from Thorney Island made it in along with XN404 Britannia. My first airport visit was Blackbushe 2/7/1976 visitors included EI-AWB B105 and EI-BBS PA30. By 1977 I had got more into things and was at Blackbushe 20/3/77 (4X-AYC, AYF BN2). 12/4/77 first trip to LHR, apparently I had been nagging for ages to go there, mostly to see concorde. Highlights for me looking back Gulf Air VC10, Air France Caravelle, Pan Am 707's, LOT IL-18 and gazillions of Tridents and Viscounts. Followed by a day at Greenham Common for the show, followed by the Blackbushe Airshow and a trip to Hendon. The rest is history. Hi RJ - I was at Blackbushe a couple of weeks after you back in 1977 and graphed your Islanders 77-co by dave tompkins, on Flickr Graphed them both again at Southend 5 years later (together with AYR) when all white. AYF was last heard of derelict in Bamako, Mali of all places as Togo registered 5V-TTB; and AYC in Cyprus with the local parachute club as 5B-CHD but was replaced by a Cessna 208 in 2018 and stored.
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