Hi all,
Before I start with this report one remark. Mike Tighe pointed out that he couldn't get the coordinates working in Google Earth. I tried and had the same result, untill I copied them but removed the º ' " signs. That way you'll end up at the spot that I intended.... And West Neon should be West Meon by the way
Today we had planned to visit Boscombe Down, to see if we could get some of the rare based stuff. When we woke up the weather had turned against us however, with a dark grey sky and drizzle.
Since we stayed the night in a Travelodge near Winchester we started with a short visit to the local Army Barracks.
John Moore Barracks, Winchester (51º 05' 26" N, 1º 20' 18" W)
ZB672 Gazelle AH.1 pr, no mks, c/n 1959
This one is preserved behind the main gate (signposted from the B3420, just north of Winchester), and easily visible. Although we expected a negative answer, we asked wether we could take a picture of the Gazelle, and to our surprise this was no problem. We were let in, and could take all the pictures we wanted!
Since the weather was so crappy, we decided that the activity at Boscombe would be minimal so early in the morning anyway, and we made another stop on our way.
New Barn Farm, Crawley (51º 06' 48.50" N, 1º 22' 27" W)
(G-APAJ) Jackaroo u. rest (ex Tiger Moth T5616)
(G-BXSV) SV.4 std (c/n 566) ex mil?
At this farm are a few different workshops, and we were shown all of them. The owner of the Jackaroo was very surprised we knew about it and also came all the way to see it.....
Well, after this nice, slow start we finally headed towards our main goal of today.
MoD Boscombe Down
XV651/824 Sea King HU.5 771 sq mks, apparently used by QinetiQ
XX327 Hawk T.1 no mks (CAM)
(ZA681)/AI Chinook nn, overshoot
ZB506 Sea King Mk.4X QinetiQ
(ZB698) Mi-17 QinetiQ, c/n 103M03
ZD242/P VC.10 K.4 std, 101 sq mks
ZE416 A.109E ETPS
ZF510/510 Tucano T.1 QinetiQ
ZJ649 Alpha Jet QinetiQ
? Alpha Jet QinetiQ, on platform
? Hawk nn, on platform
? Lynx AH.7 QinetiQ
? Merlin in heli hangar
Despite the terrible weather a nice score! The Lynx was in the regular camo with QinetiQ titles under the cockpit, is this ZD559? Any confirmation of this one or the other missing ones would be very much appreciated! We spent a lot of time along the fence here, with a scope on a tripod, and that attracted some attention. We were checked out by the MOD police, but no problems at all. Obviously the Mi-17 was the highlight, but we also finally got the Tucano we needed for a long time, and both Sea Kings and the Agusta were good for me as well.
Since we had a drive back up north ahead of us we had to leave early in the afternoon, but via a stop at Wallop.
Middle Wallop
Gazelle AH.1: XX378/Q, XX403/U
Lynx AH.7: XZ194/L, XZ655/A, XZ(661)/V, XZ676/N, XZ680/E, ZD281/K
Squirrel HT.2: ZJ244/44, ZJ248/48, ZJ249/49, ZJ250/50, (ZJ252)/52
XX392 Gazelle AH.1 pr camp opposite main gate, no mks
ZG846 Islander AL.1 no mks
ZK067 Bell 212 no mks
? Lynx AH.7 std outside, no tailboom
inside DEFTS (Firefly) hangar:
XP242 Auster AOP.9 AACHF
? Scout std? *I am told this was XP884*
? Sioux std? *I am told this was XT151*
Any help with the missing serials is very welcome again! The three gate guards and the two of the museum were also still present obviously.We also saw a few Apaches, including two flying, but what are those serials small..... Regarding the Lynx with code V; XZ661 is the serial from the Scramble database. I had this one as GIA at Wallop though, can someone confirm? It was very active here, with movements going on and on. Difficult to leave that way
But since we wanted to catch the aircraft at Fairford as well this day we had to go after all. RAF Fairford
Tornado GR.4/4A: ZA473/-, ZA543/FF, ZA556/047, ZD843/106, ZD847/108, ZD850/111, ZG727/126, ZG729/127
JAS.39C/D (F17): 39209/209, 39210/210, 39221/221, 39229/229, 39230/230, 39267/267, 39823/823
U-2S, 99 RS: 80-1089/BB, 80-1093/-
We were happily surprised with the two U-2's on the pan, since we had expected them to be gone by now. Apart from those we also got all Gripens and Tornado's, so we were very happy. Only thing missing was the nose of the Tornado F.2 that had been seen here as well. Reminded us of the VC.10 nose last time, when the US vipers from Aviano were based here..... When we were happy here we went to Lyneham.
RAF Lyneham
Hercules (LTW): (XV217)/217, (XV220)/220, (XV301)/301, (ZH871)/871, (ZH875)/875, (ZH879)/879, (ZH880)/880
We fought a losing battle against darkness here. There were more Hercs present obviously, but especially the green ones escaped us unfortunately. We had also Brize on our list for today, but we guessed that in the darkness that would only get us lots of frustration, so we decided to quit for today and drive up all the way towards Cranwell for our base visit tomorrow.
As always corrections, additions and comments are very welcome.
That´s all folks!
Hielko Overeem, Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation