Road trip to Ragley Hall Friday 3rd June 2022

[davidallum]

Having seen the logs & pictures from last year's event,myself & Rob Belcher decided that we would go this year so we booked the hotel (Travelodge Alcester) last July and when the tickets went on sale for this year's event we got them right away,then it was just a question of waiting.

Due to other commitments we knew that we would only be available for the last three of the scheduled mass ascents so we left home on the Friday and drove to Staverton first where we had something to eat before driving around the various nooks & crannies,being a Bank Holiday there wasn't a lot going on but did manage to pot the following.

OM-M159 Blackshape Prime
N940RW Socata-Mooney TBM940
G-RSAF BAC167 Strikemaster
G-CMFA Vans RV8 (number 6 of Team Raven)
G-JGAR Robinson R44 Raven
G-TRNG Agusta A109E Power
N854WA PA-46 Malibu 500TP

We then drove to Ragley Hall and got there approx 12.30 and it was then we were informed by a couple of balloonists that the evening mass ascent had been cancelled due to the wind and that it would be very unlikely that any tethering would take place.We had to content ourselves with watching the air displays,still made the following.

1365/G-DHPM DHC1 Chipmunk
G-BYXH Grob G115E
"WDC"/G-CMDK North American P.51D Mustang
G-CIBM Vans RV8 (Team Raven)
G-SOUT Vans RV8 (Team Raven)
G-VFDS Vans RV8 (Team Raven)
G-EGRV Vans RV8 (Team Raven)
C-FPSH Dornier 228 Summit Air (RAF Falcons parachute display team)

We got to the hotel & checked in and it was here when we were going out for something to eat that Rob said that he had received an email from the organisers that the mass ascent for Saturday 4th June had been cancelled due to the worsening weather forecast.


We woke up on the Saturday to really strong winds and we decided to check out and go home a day early,so first stop was Birmingham (I still call it Elmdon) and we spotted from the MSCP @ the old terminal,bloody hell,was it cold & windy,however did manage to pot the following.

N59GX Global Express
PH-NXH Embraer E195 KLM Cityhopper
EI-GPP ATR 72 Emerald (Aer Lingus Regional)
2-HXFJ A330
ES-SAA A320 Smart Lynx Estonia
OE-LKV A319 Easyjet Europe
G-POLJ Eurocopter EC135
TC-LTJ A321NEO Turkish
UR-CAJ Antonov AN12 Meridian Air

Next stop was an airfield that I haven't been to for more years than I care to remember Wellsbourne Mountford,again the weather was rubbish so we logged what we could before going to find somewhere to eat as the cafe was heaving with people.I potted the following.

G-BZMH Scottish Aviation Bulldog
G-EGBW PA-28 Cherokee 161
G-RAGT PA-32 Cherokee Six 301FT
G-CLRW PA-28R Cherokee Arrow 201
G-CDRC Cessna 182P
N2086P PA-23 Apache 160

I also made one in the small museum on site

RA-01378 Yakovlev 52

Last stop of the day was Kidlington (how they can call themselves a London Airport is beyond me),the following were potted.

G-KWET Cessna 150L
G-BYCA PA-28 Cherokee 140
ZS-DEX Dassult Falcon 900EX
G-YPSE Eurocopter EC130T2
F-HYPE Eurocopter EC120B Colibri
G-JSNS Gulfstream G280
G-PFTC Tecnam P.2008JC
G-PFTD Tecnam P.2008JC
G-PFTE Tecnam P.2008JC
N358MY Gulfstream G600
2-PASC Diamond Aircraft DA.40D Diamond Star
G-CMCZ PA-28 Cherokee 181
G-CTSA Diamond Aircraft DA.40NG Diamond Star
G-CTSK Diamond Aircraft DA.40NG Diamond Star

So the trip wasn't a complete waste of time but we will try and make sure that we can attend the whole of next year's event. 

[graham]

Thanks for the report and log Dave, I last visited Wellesbourne in 2016 and was given permission to walk airside

[davidallum]

We could have walked airside as well Graham but it was so cold & windy we didn't bother