Hello all,
After the success of yesterday we woke up early again to do a lot of "smaller" locations today, which needed a lot of driving again.
We started the day by driving towards Greenock.
James Watt College, Greenock (55º 56' 11" N, 4º 42' 12.5" W)
XX690/A Bulldog T.1 GIA, Liverpool UAS mks
Although their website gives the aeronautical department at Finnart Campus, that's not where the Bulldog is as we found out the hard way. They have a seperate building where the aircraft are (they also have some civil bits and pieces). Take the A8 in the direction of Greenock which is called Greenock Road. At the crossing (with traffic lights) where it turns into Port Glasgow Road you turn right (there is an IMO Car Wash on your left here). The road to the right is also called Port Glasgow Road to make it easier.... Follow the road to the right, and drive till you see Ian's Grill after about 400 meters. The college is in the same building as this grill, at the end. We were told that they are not too keen on unexpected visitors, as the neighbourhood apparently isn't too good, so a phonecall in advance would be best. The building itself is "spotter proof" by the way, so there is no use in showing up after college hours!
Next was a stored Grasshopper.
XXX Farm, Bridge of Weir (55º 50' 51" N, 4º 36' 49.5" W)
XK820 Grasshopper TX.1 std, fuselage with wings of WZ754 and WZ778
F5447/N SE.5a (G-BKER) replica
Forgot the name of the farm, anybody please? Owner Neil wasn't present, but his wife knew we were coming and we were shown the Grasshopper which is stored in a barn behind their house. It was bought for "nostalgic reasons", and although rather dusty in a good condition. It takes a brave man to fly it in my opinion; the way you are seated in a chair which is in the open air. But it must be fun!
Then into the city of Glasgow.
Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow (55º 52' 7" N, 4º 17' 25" W)
LA198/RAI-G Spitfire F.21 pr, 602 sq mks
After being renovated at East Fortune this Spitfire spent some time at the Glasgow Museum of Transport, but it moved on to its current home at Kelvingrove. To get here take exit 19 from the A8, and get on the A814. The Gallery is already signposted from here. The Spitfire hangs from the ceiling in a display hall on the right, and entrance is free.
After this we had to work our way south, and the first stop was Carluke.
Reynard Nursery, Carluke (55º 43' 55.5" N, 3º 53' 8" W)
XM697 Gnat T.1 pr, Red Arrows c/s
This is on Mauldslie Road, just West of Carluke. The Gnat is preserved behind the first greenhouse, and can be seen through the glass of it if the company is shut. When open you are very welcome to come in and photograph the aircraft (they also have a former Air Atlantique Convair in the back by the way).
And then via another detour (again work in progress; it seems they are working on about half of all the roads in Scotland....) to Prestwick.
RNAS Prestwick (55º 30' 50" N, 4º 35' 7" W)
ZH880/880 Hercules C.4 LTW
ZH824/- Merlin HM.1 HMS Lancaster
XV661/26 Sea King HU.5 771 sq, Gannet SAR flt
XV699/CU-823 Sea King HU.5 771 sq, Gannet SAR flt
XV705/29 Sea King HU.5 771 sq, Gannet SAR flt
WP808 Chipmunk T.10 (G-BDEU) which unit markins are this: http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php? ... 225&nseq=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ?
G-AORW Chipmunk 22A ex WB682
(186) N.1101 std, fuselage (G-ATDB)
(14 red) N.1101 (G-BSMD) ex FAF 139
You often see very interesting hercs being reported here, but what do we get? A RAF one.... But we had a visit at Gannet SAR flight which was very nice, with the Merlin (which was in one of their hagars) as a bonus. The warbirds are all at the aeroclub. You can't get access to this without prior permission, but those could be seen from outside the fence after a walk. To get here drive up to the end of Shaw road, park your car and follow the fence to the right. You'll see the aeroclub apron in front of you. The exact coordinates for their apron: 55º 30' 4" N, 4º 34' 59" W. The stored N.1101 is also at the end of this apron.
There is a club called Caledonian Chipmunks, which should have two Chippies, a Yak-52 and the above mentioned N.1101 in German c/s. Apparently their aircraft live either here or at Kilkerran, which is south form Prestwick. And as we were heading South anyway we made a little detour to try our luck.
Kilkerran aerodrome (55º 17' 43" N, 4º 40' 33" W)
WD305 Chipmunk T.10 (G-ARGG) no mks
WP857/(24) Chipmunk T.10 (G-BDRJ) no mks
G-YKCT Yak-52 c/n 9010307, ex 04 ye
From the A77 take the B7023 in Maybole, and then take the B741 towards Girvan. After getting on this A741 take the first street to the left (which is after some 2 km), go over the bridge and immediately right after that. There is a sign saying Kilkerran, and "private road", and a house at the beginning. We asked at this house and were told that they normally don't let people near the aircraft, but as we were there anyway we decided to drive on and try our luck. When we saw the little hangar on our right there were three cars present, so we parked our car, walked up to the hangar, and asked if we could have a look. No problem at all! One of the guys was the lord who owned the premises, and the others were the owners of the Chippies, and all were very friendly.
DERA West Freugh
(XN817) Argosy C.1 dump, in parts, A&AEE c/s
XT852/E Phantom FGR.2 dump, no mks
Both are easily visible from the B7077, and if you walk into the grass field next to it you can photograph them rather nicely as well. The Phantom is in old camouflage c/s, very nice! The code on the tail was very faded, it could have been an F or so as well. Anybody who can confirm?
As it was getting dark and late by now we decided to skip a few smaller items and continue to Dumfries.
Dumfries & Galloway Aviation Museum
(XT280) Buccaneer S.2A pr, nose, 12 sq mks
(WJ880) Canberra T.4 pr, no mks
XL497/041 Gannet AEW.3 pr, 849 sq mks
WT746/X Hunter F.4 pr, Black Arrows c/s
XP557/(72) Jet Provost T.4 pr, no mks
(XX483)/562 Jetstream T.2 pr, no mks
ZF584 Lightning F.53 pr, no tail, no mks
WL375 Meteor T.7(mod) pr, RAE c/s
WA576 Sycamore 3 pr, no mks
XD547/16 Vampire T.11 pr, no mks
(XT486) Wessex HU.5 pr, unmarked
FT36 T-33A pr, no mks, fantasy c/s
(318)/8-NY Mystere IVA pr, EC2/8 mks
Q497 Canberra T.4 pr, fuselage, no mks
(35075)/40 J.35J pr, F16 mks
54-005/HA F-100D pr, 174 TFS mks, real id FAF 42163
(68-0060) F-111E pr, cockpit, no mks
All of those were seen from outside the fence, by walking along the fence and using a much needed flashlight. We couldn't find the remains of Spitfire P7540 (are those inside somewhere?), Jet provost XN634 and Chipmunk WD386. Any info on those is welcome! The Hunter looked in a bad state, as if it had been in a fire. Apparently it used to carry false serial XF506 but we only read off its real id WT746 (albeit with some considerable effort). When we were finished here we did another "Mac-attack"; no time for decent food again. And still we didn't make it to our hotel before midnight.... One more day to go!
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)
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