Monday morning, and tension was high! When we started planning our trip nothing was known yet about Saudies coming to Lossie, and when word came out it first looked like we would miss them by a few days as departure was said to be on Monday the 3rd. But as after a while it was said that they would stay longer we started hoping, and finally we did get confirmation they would still be around when we were there. That should be a nice bonus! However, yesterday at Inverness we learned that the Saudies actually filed TWO flightplans for their return trip, one for Monday but also one for Tuesday. So now we had to cross our fingers again....
RAF Lossiemouth
XX286/286 Hawk T.1A 4 FTS, 19 (R) sq
XX317/317 Hawk T.1A 4 FTS, 19 (R) sq
XX332/332 Hawk T.1A 4 FTS, 19 (R) sq
ZA105/Q Sea King HAR.3 202 sq, D Flt
ZE386/R Sea King HAR.3 202 sq, D Flt
(ZA393)/008 Tornado GR.4 12 sq
(ZA395)/009 Tornado GR.4 no mks
(ZA410)/016 Tornado GR.4 15 sq
(ZA456)/023 Tornado GR.4 no mks
ZA458/024 Tornado GR.4 31 sq
(ZA459)/F Tornado GR.4 15 sq , spec tail
ZA467/- Tornado GR.1 pr, no mks
ZA472/031 Tornado GR.4 no mks
(ZA541)/034 Tornado GR.4 no mks
(ZA548)/040 Tornado GR.4 9 sq
(ZD713)/- Tornado GR.4 617 sq
ZD719/085 Tornado GR.4 14 sq
(ZD790)/099 Tornado GR.4 no mks
ZD842/105 Tornado GR.4 15 sq
ZD849/110 Tornado GR.4 no mks
(ZG727)/126 Tornado GR.4 no mks
(ZG750)/128 Tornado GR.4 31 sq
ZG754/130 Tornado GR.4 15 sq
ZG792/138 Tornado GR.4 no mks
472 C-130H 8 W, 4 sq
1812 KE-3A (6W, 18 sq)
703 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
704 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
760 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
7504 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
7505 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
7506 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
7509 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
7513 Tornado IDS 11 W, 75 sq
When we were approaching Lossiemouth we saw a Hercules disappear in the clouds, which according to locals who were already at the base was C-130H 1623 from 8 W, 16 sq. Already gone was 1622, which we missed as we were so stupid yesterday to pass the airbase without having a quick look. But obviously we were very happy with the Tonkas! When we arrived we saw ground crew working on them, and the first pilot also arrived already, so we decided to drive to the end of the runway as quickly as possible. The wind was rather cross, but at the 23 end there were a lot of locals waiting for the Saudies to take off. Just before the first two got airborne we heard that they were taking runway 05 instead. Bummer! But with no time left to go to the other side we had no choice but stay and hope for the best. One of the first four actually stayed a bit low so at least one nice pic was made. After those four it turned quiet again, and we decided to hurry to the other side after all. With this move we ran the risk of missing the other four, and non of the other spotters followed us, but we decided to try it anyway. Just when we parked our car at the other end we saw the tail of a Tonka appear, and as all the locals were using the short runway this had to be a Saudie one. I don't think we ever opened up the boot, grabbed our camera and ran through a field to the fence so quick in our lives before. But we were just in time, and apparently the gods were with us as even the sun appeared for a few moments when they were in front of our lenses. Oh boy, how happy we were.... And when this pair had taken off we only had to wait about half an hour for the last two to appear. Again the sun showed its face for a few minutes, brilliant! Til today I don't understand why all the other photographers stayed at the other end! We waited for about an hour and a half for the KE-3 to leave, but although we saw a busload of soldiers boarding it there was still no sign of it moving when we had to leave, as we had a base visit at Kinloss. Too bad, but the Tonkas were in the pocket!
RAF Kinloss
XV226/226 Nimrod MR.2 Kinloss MRW, grey c/s
XV229/229 Nimrod MR.2 Kinloss MRW, grey c/s
XV244/244 Nimrod MR.2 Kinloss MRW
XV248/248 Nimrod MR.2 Kinloss MRW
XV260/260 Nimrod MR.2 Kinloss MRW
ZE731/GP Tornado F.3 43 sq
(ZE735)/TG Tornado F.3 56 (R) sq, spec c/s
ZE757/FI Tornado F.3 25 sq
ZE831/FM Tornado F.3 25 sq
ZE963/YT Tornado F.3 56 (R) sq
ZE964/XT Tornado F.3 56 (R) sq
ZG798/GQ Tornado F.3 43 sq
ZH552/ST Tornado F.3 56 (R) sq
(ZH5)57/NT Tornado F.3 56 (R) sq
ZH5(59)/MT Tornado F.3 56 (R) sq
A visit with a bit of mixed feelings. We had especially requested to see both Vigilants based here, as we both need one of those, and that should be no problem. But when we arrived we were told that both had made a rough landing yesterday, leading to burst tyres, and we were not allowed to see them unfortunately. If we had known that before, we would obviously have been here yesterday.... And although we also were told that we could visit 56 squadron, which is temporarily based here, this turned out to be not possible either, as the squadron commander of 56 never answered requests from the PRO. Luckily we got six of their Tornado's while landing after we already had left the base, but there should have been some four or five more in a hangar. There was also one more Nimrod on the platform in the new grey c/s, does somebody know which ones are in grey? This one was apparently put inside while we were having a tour through the inside of XV260, so any help in id'ing it would be nice. Tornado ZH559 was so dirty that only part of the serial could be read off, and ZE735 had it at the spot where GR.4's have it, so it's unreadable from our pictures. Although the amount of aircraft was a lot less than hoped for the tour inside the Nimrod was very interesting, and we were lucky enough to photograph a grey Nimrod and the special tail Tornado from the outside with the sun on them.
By the way, According to the books they used to have the nose of Comet XR396/G-BDIU here as an instructional airframe. But our guide had never heard of this, so apparently this is no longer present. Anybody who knows what happened to it? My guess: the scrapman??
After this we had a long drive ahead of us towards Glasgow via Aberdeen, but we first took another look at Lossiemouth. And with success!
RAF Lossiemouth
(ZA367)/002 Tornado GR.4 no mks
ZA405/014/Y Tornado GR.4A 2 sq
ZA473/- Tornado GR.4 14 sq
RA-12957 An-12B c/n 8345508, ex mil?
Flying goes on all day here apparently.... Next we finally were off to Aberdeen.
2489 sq ATC, Bridge of Don
(XV581) Phantom FG.1 pr, nose, 43 sq mks
It took a lot of calling to get permission to visit Gordon Barracks and see this Phantom. And when we arrived it turned out that nobody had been given the key to the garage, in spite of what the HQ had promised! One of the staff felt sorry for us, as he did know we had been calling and had driven so far especially for it, so he did a good search. And luckily for us finally he came back with the key! The nose was a lot bigger than I thought, as it is the complete front fuselage. It's actually so big that they are thinking of just keeping the cockpits and scrapping the rest, as it is impossible to handle this way. Well, at least we have seen it
And as we had a hotel booked at Glasgow airport we quickly moved on, only to arrive there just after midnight. Another long but successful day!
As always additions and corrections are very welcome.
That's all folks!
Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
(please feel free to use, but with a credit)