Returning to spotting?.... Why?

[Jeff]

Something lots of us have done over the years is return to what was probably a childhood hobby. Personally I stopped spotting when I found girls, then marriage, then house buying and everything else required to keep your head above water. The main thing that made me return was moving to Farnborough at which point seeing light aircraft overhead (something I never saw living near LHR) prompted me to buy a CAM with the intention of just doing G-.... Farnborough airfield was then sold and opened up to more biz, the Airshow bought military and then I got a job at LHR.....🙄 So by 95 I was back spotting everything lol. I think the main advance and something that keep this hobby simple and easy is the abundance of VRs, any day is now potentially a spotting day..... So what bought you back to the hobby?

[graham]

I started spotting in 1967 aged 11 although my Dad had taken me to airshows from as early as eight as he worked in the industry. He wasn't a spotter as such but knew his planes. He took me to Heathrow a few times too and could tell the difference between a DC-8, B707 and CV-880 at a thousand paces, while I'd still be peering through the bins.

I was a regular spotter until 1977 when I was aged 21 and I got engaged to my first missus after which daily spotting ended but I did still attend as many shows as I could get away with. Wife number one came and went in 1987 and between then and 1996 when I met wife number two, I still went to loads of shows and took a few Stateside trips, New York, Chicago, Washington, Detroit, etc but didn't spot on a regular, daily basis,

In 2013 I was walking with our dogs along the old airstrip at Coate ( although I didn't realise it was a strip then), about a mile from home. I had often wondered why there was a windsock in the adjacent field but had always assumed that the old barn there contained farming paraphernalia. On this day, the barn doors were open and a chap was working inside on a lovely old Druine Turbi D53, G-APBO and he invited me in to take a look.

I had recently invested in my first good digital camera and had started taking a few shots on dog walks of stuff buzzing around. There were always loads of trails passing in both directions over Devizes and I sometimes wondered what they were but had no way of finding out. I then joined the old FAB forum where Jeff very kindly invited me to view his VR set up remotely ( I didn't even know such things existed back then)and suddenly, I could identify everything that went by, and I was hooked again.

[Trevor B]

I have never been away, started when my Dad took me to LHR on Sunday afternoons in the late 60's (we lived in Slough). I got the bug which see me at Terminal one every weekend from the age of 10. When wife number one came along we moved to a flat in Hayes that i could plane spot from or a quick bike ride i would be in the Queens building (that's when you could walk through the tunnel). With wife number two we managed to buy a house with a loft conversion in West Drayton that over looked the airport so the loft turned in to the spotting room. Now living down the South Coast you have to wait for the clouds to clear

I have been very lucky that my job has taken me around the world 4-5 times but travelling on your own can be hard. This hobby has kept me sane while travelling also the best thing about this hobby is meeting some fantastic people who some have turned into life long friends.

Now in my early 60's i still get the buzz when i hear a plane or helicopter going over and at long last even my wife (yes still number two) shouts the from garden if she sees something going over!

My biggest regret is not getting to my aircraft books and logs before number one wife!!

cheers all

Trevor

[alfred]

I had a mild interest from a young age, but then along came alcohol, girls, marraige, children.
Then in 1987 became seriously ill, off work for nine months.Doctor suggested a new hobby so i decided to get back into aircraft.

[gtf4j2m]

I started spotting in 1968 having been interested in aircraft from an early age. My dad used to take me to Speke during the school holidays and I finally got a CAM in 68 and started noting what I saw. I never stopped, I joined the RAF in 74 as a mechanic and my hobby became my job, I was able to spot everyday as I was on the line working Phantoms. I got married and carried on. When I moved to Shropshire in the mid 90's after leaving the RAF I married my second wife and she was happy to go around airfields so long as I did other things with her as well. I still work with aircraft and have been spotting for too long to stop now.

Graham
GTF4J2M

[graham]

I still have a load of missing logs Trev, my dear old Mum found a load in a cardboard box in the bottom of a wardrobe about five years ago which she handed over to me, much to my delight, gratitude and surprise. They dated from 1970-1973 or so, no dates just "London Airport" at the top then everything potted on the day. Like most of us I'm guessing back in those days when the only widely available logging book was the good old CAM, I wrote everything else down in various small hardback note books, one each for UK military,foreign military, foreign GA and biz, airliners not included in the CAM and so on. These have resisted capture and I can only assume that they were inadvertently chucked out decades ago.

I also remember going to loads of airshows with my Dad in the early 60s when I would have only been 8/9/10. We went all over the place, especially to East Anglia as he had a brother, my Uncle Arthur who lived in Bury St Edmunds. I have been able to put some logs together using the fabulous resources provided by Scramble and Threshold.aero plus the amazing knowledge that various members possess here on AFA but there must still be thousands of lost reggies from over the years that sadly, I will never find.

[billsamuels]

My life spotting, sounds a bit like everyone else’s... Started really young, still in short trousers, mum and dad used to take me to LAP (Queen’s Building) a lot but also to Air Show’s, mainly Biggin Hill which in those days was two a year (Air Fair and Battle of Britain). But living in Fulham meant that aircraft were always going past either into or from LAP. Mum & dad funded the who thing, binoculars, telescope, books, radio’s - and of course visits to airports at weekends once I was old enough... Like everyone else, things in life interject and the spotting regularly suffered - football at weekends (playing and watching) girlfriends/wive(s) yes I’m on number two as well, career (fortunately in the airline business and travel) and finally three kids and subsequent grandkids... All have taken their toll on spotting.

But, 50+ years of spotting later, despite all the things that life throws at you, I’m still as eager today as I was in those short trousers, perhaps even more so - especially as Jeff said, the advent of VR and databases has been an absolute godsend...  One day last year I’d reached my 8000th daily log - that may sound just like another number but when you do the maths it means I have spotted every day for 22 years, of my 66!!!

So thanks mum & dad, I wouldn’t have got the bug without you... Also, I have to acknowledge AFA’s influence. I didn’t have many ‘spotting friends’ but since we created AFA I’m now delighted to call lots of members, mates... 

Have a great weekend everyone.

Bill.

[Deleted]

The earliest date I can recollect as starting spotting was the 1st June 1963, an Airshow at LPL- which had a USAF flypast including a KB50J a couple of RB66’s and some F100’s- which had come taken off from the still active Burtonwood Airfield. All my friends were spotters as well either trains or aircraft, and we used to do both, and regular walks down to Speke which was about 4 miles from where I lived to go to the airport which had a balcony at the time.


My first visit to LAP was with the school in 1966 when we combined 4 hours there with a trip to Wembley to see the England v Germany schoolboy International.

Once leaving school and starting work- a few bob in my pocket went to various air shows, Abingdon, Ternhill, Biggin Hill air fair most years and FAB etc. Then I got the European bug visiting Paris 1970, 1971 and 1973, the latter two for the Air shows- and Brussels in 1972 and Youth Hosteling in Europe in 1972 visiting Holland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.
(all spotting)

It went downhill then after that as I started courting and got married- so with a young family and not upsetting her- the trips out became less- albeit I still had the odd visit to an airport or two.


My main interest over the next few years was going to the match with my son’s coupled with a few trips to Fairford for the tattoo, and Heathrow. As my marriage started to go down-hill my football trips out and my aviation trips out increased, and I managed to go to the 1989 Paris Air Show.


After 18 years married to the wicked witch of the north I got divorced in May 1993 and married to the love of my life in October that same year- and then the world became a better place-she loved me having my days out and weekends away spotting and going to the match and a lot of times came with me – especially for the Trade fair at Popham, when we visited friends in Southampton and I went to Popham and they went out for the day- lots of holiday/spotting trips to the States as well and Europe as she believes you should have your independence and within reason go or do what you want to do -so 29 years later the world is a better place.


Hope I have not bored you with my ramblings.  


Stay safe and Up The Toffees


Bob

[davidallum]

I started spotting in mid 1968 whilst on a school geography trip which took us past Bristol-Lulsgate,2 or 3 of my classmates were spotters (we all did trains & buses at that time)they wrote down about 7 light and I thought that looks interesting and so my interest in aircraft was born,some 53 years later I'm still doing the hobby (thank goodness for a very understanding wife).

The only time I will give up this hobby is when they park me in that great hangar in the sky.

Stay safe everyone and hope to meet up in the not too distant future.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2021 10:23:01 GMT davidallum said:

I started spotting in mid 1968 whilst on a school geography trip which took us past Bristol-Lulsgate,2 or 3 of my classmates were spotters (we all did trains & buses at that time)they wrote down about 7 light and I thought that looks interesting and so my interest in aircraft was born,some 53 years later I'm still doing the hobby (thank goodness for a very understanding wife).

The only time I will give up this hobby is when they park me in that great hangar in the sky.

Stay safe everyone and hope to meet up in the not too distant future.

Dave - Mrs Allum reminds me of my Missus -who gives us a free rein as long as we don't take the Michael.   We are two very lucky lads

Happy Days

Bob

[dave]

hi,
as i've mentioned before it was the late 50's for me, i'd done trains for years then started working on them, and steam was going at that time, diesel's had not got the magic, so whilst on hols with mum and dad at Blackpool started noticing the aircraft from the then Squires Gate, and never looked back.
First CAM 1960, with free travel from my employment, i managed airports and airshows, and i've been solid ever since, when asked why, Leonardo hit the nail with "once you have tasted flight you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return"...also a few years ago i read someones biography, in which he said "i can never envision the day when on hearing a aeroplane, i wont look up". and with this bl**dy virus no visits and the weathers not helping with flyovers, so been trawling old logs, tidying them up and have sorted about 150 unknowns out up to now, partly due to members help so thank you.
That's me...even told my mrs put my telescope n the box with me just in case...

stay safe, regards,
dve...

[airsicksteve]

From one who lurks on this forum, regrettably more than contributes, this is a good time for me to nail my colours to the mast.

Living under the circuit at the then-named Leicester East aerodrome, the strange numerals under the wings of aircraft fascinated me from around 1968. An old pair of army surplus bins progressed to a 15-65x telescope, when airways traffic BPK-POL and inbounds over HON became accessible from my bedroom window. A 108-136 radio the size of a car battery completed my kit-list, ripping through AA batteries at an alarming rate as I scanned the frequencies, marvelling at the accents and associated hardware.

Cycling up to LE soon made me a friend and/or pest to airfield incumbents and a lot of good memories are still within easy recall. Joining the Midland Counties Aviation Society (MCAS) brought me into the fold in the early 1970s, with quarterly coach trips to LHR from a distant Loughborough, (usually at the QB 1030-1700) along with a few outlandish military and civilian fields / shows.
I’ll forever be grateful to my parents for putting up with - even at times indulging - my growing obsession / disrupted education as a result of my love of aviation / spotting.

Skip forward 40-50 years and it has never left me. All my old logs (each typed loose-leaf on an old Olivetti portable) have been thrown away (why??) and I now only have a few scraps of paper from passing visits, They still bring back so many memories, as do my old slides taken during some trips.

I now live a mile from SAM and since settling in Southampton, log what interests me on a ‘what-I-can-where-I-can’ basis. My entire ‘exotic’ overfly log is contained in a small blue exercise book, together with an A4 envelope of the paper scraps from years past. But they’re mine and evoke so much.

Rewind and I wouldn’t change a thing. Spotting taught me geography, numeracy and gave me an innocent pastime, which has kept me out of trouble for a few decades.

With particular thanks to you all at AFA, you’ve kept my fascination alive. Cheers from the south coast.

[graham]

Great story Steve, thanks so much to you and to all who have contributed to the thread so far. Yes, memories are there for us all I'm sure,both my parents have passed but I'm so grateful for what memories I have of going to airshows with my Dad from the age of about eight onwards until I reached the dazzling age of 12-13 when I started travelling around under my own steam using buses and trains until I passed my test a couple of months after my 17th birthday and bought my first four wheeled wreck.

I distinctly remember driving from my parents' home in Calne, Wiltshire in a Mk1 Cortina I'd acquired, 74 or 75 possibly, I drove to Reading where I picked up old pals Keith and Dave and we spent the day visiting various fields although I'm darned if I can remember where we went to. Maybe those lads can?

I haven't travelled anywhere near as extensively as some of you lads as far as spotting is concerned, a few US trips, a few European countries, Germany, France, Austria, Holland, Greece, etc and have yet to visit any civilian airfield north of the border.

No doubt though that given the current situation we all find ourselves in, our hobby is one we can enjoy from home and as I sit here typing this, a week into my second furlough period, it's something I'm so glad I have.

[dave]

hi,
i agree with you airsicksteve, it helped me with geography, numeracy and writing neatness well my logs copied out at home were, and i often pick out a notebook and just leaf through it and it must help my memoury as a number will stand out, and i can remember seeing that particular aircraft or visit from way back 40,50,60 odd years ago... also fitness wise, train, bus then 30min or more walk to a field, (always thought it would have been easier if airfields had been built in more accessable places).

stay safe, regards,
dave...

[airsicksteve]

Thanks Graham and Dave. I must confess that had it not been for the current climate, I’d most likely have not scribbled down my thoughts. Certainly enough time to reflect for the moment.
CAM 1976 marks the last year I spotted in earnest for a considerable number of years - my old copy found in the roof within the last hour, so neatly underlined in red and containing types that have since faded into nostalgia. It’ll now sit in my bookcase after I’ve recalled every entry, as a reminder of my youth, misspent or otherwise.
Dave, I look up constantly at every noise or glint in the sky, now having the luxury of FR24 and all others to playback and identify.
Back in the 1970s, there was a chap who - if you sent him a neatly typed list of flight no’s. and an SAE, could provide registrations of most (westbound?) transatlantic movements for a particular day. It took a month and was all manual!! I think the pastime has come a long way since then.

[rugbyref]

Like many others I started with buses when at primary school, then progressed through trains until a bus trip with mates from North London to Heathrow saw me decide to log BA Viscounts and BOAC VC10s etc. Hooked! A London Transport Red Rover ticket was then the method of getting to Heathrow as often as pocket money would allow in the school holidays.
A few holidays with parents added to the logs. I can remember sitting by a pool in Yugoslavia and looking to read off the huge registration on the underside of an IL18. For the first few years of work my hobby was almost dormant, but in the late 1970s I managed to transfer to an international team, and had work trips to Boston, Brussels and Dusseldorf. Back in the domestic team I then won incentive trips to Turkey, Mauritius, Thailand and the US, so the logs continued. A redundancy and move to a new company eventually saw me back in the international team, with company trips to Chicago, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Madrid, Gibraltar, Dublin, Prague, Antwerp, some of them several times. I even had an Aer Lingus hostess recognise me from previous trips on that 6.30 from LGW to DUB. By this stage I was also with wife number 2, who is a delight, and gained 2 stepsons, one of whom moved to Sydney. Hence my 7 trips down under to date. Thus far we have travelled to Sydney with:
Virgin Atlantic A340-600
Singapore A380
Cathay Pacific A350 then A330
Emirates A380
China Airlines A350

Using BA and a BA Amex card for business trips has meant I have 190,000 Avios waiting to be used, so unless China Airlines return to Gatwick, we may have to make our next trip from Heathrow, in which case maybe the Avios will pay for one of us in the club cabin of BA. (Assuming they return to the route.)

Keep the stories coming, chaps. They all make interesting reading.

Phil

[tomcat14]

Hi guys,

I started my interest in aircraft in 1968 when I first started collecting the registrations, although in reality I had been around aeroplanes before that as my father worked for de Havillands at Hatfield and we attended their open days. We also as a family often went to the QB at Heathrow (then generally known as London Airport).

Now over 50 years later I'm still going strong. I still have all my old log books stretching back to the late 60s, together with slides and photographs (although not as many as I would have wished - films and processing were expensive). I have embraced the digital age and have been lucky enough to do some aircraft logging in other countries, whether during a family holiday or as part of dedicated trips. Like many others have found, family commitments have often got in the way, so some years have been a bit barren but once you've got the bug it's hard to give it up. Now retired and with more time, and with all the information available, logging what's seen is much easier.

And to rugbyref in the post above we met at work in the mid 70s and I well remember our trips to East Anglia, and especially Sculthorpe, for various aeronautical exotica. It was good to meet you again a few years ago at Middle Wallop.

Paul

[keefyboy]

Well lets get the wifey thing over first because it seems to be a common thing on this thread that we've all been married twice! Greatly, rather than sadly, I'm divorced from my second wife too! Anyhow like many I started with schoolmates at Heathrow back in 67 - happy days and I moved on to the school squadron of Air Cadets in 69 and we did most of our flying in Chipmunks with 1 AEF at Manston. Various camps with Air Cadets at Colerne, Waddington, Brize, Scampton and Swanton Morley. Like most of you - women, alcohol, live music and football took over.

My spotting mellowed through the 80's though I always attended the big airshows at Greenham and the like though I was no longer into number crunching - especially as there was usually a girlfriend in tow! There followed quite a few lean years though I continued to collect numbers - preferably without my woman knowing what I was doing.

I spent a lot of what you guys describe as 'the sandpit' in the early naughties. On one base in particular, there must have been some 200 Apaches just waiting to invade Iraq. The nature of my job was such that I couldn't possibly collect numbers. Heyho! These days I can take it or leave it. I'm not obsessed and would certainly never make a 200 mile road trip to spot a few jets. Indeed, I'll be just happy to see a few fast jets at airshows again - that's what keeps me happy!

Cheers
Keith

[dave]

Jan 16, 2021 13:49:33 GMT airsicksteve said:

Thanks Graham and Dave. I must confess that had it not been for the current climate, I’d most likely have not scribbled down my thoughts. Certainly enough time to reflect for the moment.
CAM 1976 marks the last year I spotted in earnest for a considerable number of years - my old copy found in the roof within the last hour, so neatly underlined in red and containing types that have since faded into nostalgia. It’ll now sit in my bookcase after I’ve recalled every entry, as a reminder of my youth, misspent or otherwise.
Dave, I look up constantly at every noise or glint in the sky, now having the luxury of FR24 and all others to playback and identify.
Back in the 1970s, there was a chap who - if you sent him a neatly typed list of flight no’s. and an SAE, could provide registrations of most (westbound?) transatlantic movements for a particular day. It took a month and was all manual!! I think the pastime has come a long way since then.

hi,
    a mate used to do the letter request and pass mine on aswell, then we found Air Scotland, and finally short-wave, oh them nights/early mornings listening amongst the static for those 4 letters, now with sbs, freedar, planefinder, we get the reg. in real time, easy-great... but i do miss the short-wave, you get 3 letters then a burst of static drowns out the 4th, but the joy of reg's for your days list...

[graham]

Yes, how the techie side of our hobby has dramatically improved all aspects of it, I started with a five quid band converter that you strapped to a regular radio, found a vacant wavelength and listened in to the chat although you rarely picked up the actual registration. I then started saving my pocket money and once the required amount had been reached, got my Dad to run me up to an aviation shop in Hounslow I think where I parted with £30 for a spanking new Waltham 1049 multi waveband radio that was the size of a small suitcase, weighed about 15lbs and picked up everything from ATC to utilities, emergency services, marine band and goodness knows what else.

I'm always envious of you lads who could afford to take photos back then, as a teenager on pocket money, funds ran to a Kodak 110 Instamatic for which you bought the 12 or 24 shot cartridges from Boots, usually in B and W although very occasionally, colour was purchased. Of course, you had to be ultra selective about where you aimed the camera with only 12 shots to spare. When I think what my aviation photos might have been like, having made all those trips to LHR in the late 60s and 70s, had I been a little bit wealthier...;0)

I guess that back then, 50 or more years ago, we could only have dreamed about the add ons we all take for granted now, VR, digital photography, scanners and online databases. My first CAM was the 1967 one with the Skyvan on the cover, price 3/- with the Brit register ending on G-AVCE. I have every CAM published except for the very first edition from 1950, an original of which is hard to find and expensive if you can find one. Many have been picked up for a couple of quid from jumble sales, charity shops and book stalls on the market. That 1950 edition ran for two years with the next one being released in 1952, ending with G-AMPC.

[Deleted]

Graham,

There is a 1950 copy of CAM on sale on E-Bay currently for 99p has about a day to go on it, postage though £4:68 plus another which is on for £15. 

Bob

[Jeff]

Jan 17, 2021 13:25:44 GMT graham said:

Yes, how the techie side of our hobby has dramatically improved all aspects of it, I started with a five quid band converter that you strapped to a regular radio, found a vacant wavelength and listened in to the chat although you rarely picked up the actual registration. I then started saving my pocket money and once the required amount had been reached, got my Dad to run me up to an aviation shop in Hounslow I think where I parted with £30 for a spanking new Waltham 1049 multi waveband radio that was the size of a small suitcase, weighed about 15lbs and picked up everything from ATC to utilities, emergency services, marine band and goodness knows what else.

That would of been 'VHF models' on the Great West Road, a big glass fronted shop on a curved parade of shops which is now 'Mimis coffee and desert lounge' 🙄, an all in one model, book, photograph and radio shop for all discerning spotters

[rugbyref]

Was it also called VHF Supplies?

[Trevor B]

Jan 17, 2021 17:37:49 GMT rugbyref said:

Was it also called VHF Supplies?

Yes it was i went there each month to buy my Avaition Letter, before heading to Heathrow

[Jeff]

Jan 17, 2021 17:37:49 GMT rugbyref said:

Was it also called VHF Supplies?

Your right, where did I get 'models' from.. Lol

[chrisj]

Ah ! now whilst reading through these similar tails i came across reference to VHF Supplies . Run by Nigel 'Thingy bob' and originally located on the Bath Road among the old houses opposite what is now the hotel next to the north side visitor's centre / academy . Houses and all long gone . Nigel moved down the A4 to what I think is / was called Nobel Corner . A large glass fronted shop with curved glass front . With luck , I hope to add my 2d worth ( That's old money !) . Chrisj

[chrisj]

Grey cells clicked over .... Nigel Thompson I think was the person in question . Chrisj

[chrisj]

Sorry , those grey cells now over active . Nigel moved across the junction and into a hotel/pub where he sold a range of ready built model aircraft . Chrisj

[graham]

Thanks Bob, would you be kind enough to post a link to that CAM on Ebay please as I can't find it? They did reprint the 1950 edition in 2000 as a 50th anniversary thing, there seem to be plenty of those about. Originals do appear on Ebay now and again but they are usually at least £25 and as you might expect for a 70 year old softback book, not in especially decent nick.

[graham]

Thanks lads, yes, that rings a bell as the shop where I bought that radio.