As this part of Scotland is rather poorly covered by Google Earth and Flash Earth placemarks are not given for all locations today and tomorrow. But where needed I'll give some directions!
Even with the disappointment of yesterdays not found Lightning we had a good night sleep, but had to get up early again. Although the amount of aircraft we were going to get today was rather small, the amount of kilometers was going to be rather big. First we drove towards Lossiemouth, but not the airfield itself.
Shempston Farm, Lossiemouth
DF155 Tiger Moth II (G-ANFV) no mks
45-4537/04-J L-4J (G-BFDL) which unit used this code?
This farm and its strip are located just West of the main runway of Lossiemouth. From Elgin take the B9012 towards Duffus. Just before you get to Duffus itself you turn right towards Duffus Castle (this is signposted). The entrance to the farm is on your left hand side after 1 kilometer, just after you passed the entrance to the castle on your right. We had a very friendly welcome, although they didn't like "spotters" genuine "aviation enthusiasts are always welcome". I guess we are both....
The wind was too strong for flying unfortunately so one of the owners was doing some maintenance on the aircraft, but when we arrived he immediately started to put the aircraft outside even before we could suggest this. Some very nice pictures were made this way! When chatting to the owners we found out that one of them also had the cockpit of another Tiger Moth at his home nearby. He offered to show it to us, and obviously we didn't say no! But when following him we first had a quick look at the preserved Bucc in Elgin.
Buccaneer Service Station, Elgin
XW530/530 Buccaneer S.2b pr, 12 sq mks
It is hard to miss this one I guess. If you take the main road from the airbase towards Elgin (the A941) you'll see the Bucc on your left hand side when you enter the village. It looks great! While you are there also have a quick look inside the station, as the owner has a lot of pictures and other Buccaneer stuff against a wall.
Private house, Elgin
? Tiger Moth std, cockpit
This is in a garage, and consists of the whole fuselage from after the fire wall behind the engine to the back of the second cockpit, including the fuel tank. Unfortunately the identity is not known, but the owner has contact with a guy from De Havilland who is helping him to find it out. Hopefully they will succeed one day!
Although we had a very nice visit here and at the farm it did cost us much more time than planned, so now we had to hurry. On to the gliding strip south of Elgin!
Easterton Airfield
G-AOSU Chipmunk 22 ex WB766
G-BVLX Venture T.2 ex ZA654
Both aircraft are owned by the RAFGSA which officially is based at Kinloss, but normally operate from Easterton. To get here from Elgin take the A941 southbound. After about 4 kilometers you'll pass the Benriach Distillery on your left. Just after this you turn right (it is signposted Birnie). If you get to Fogwatt you are too far! Follow this road till a T-junction (you can already see the windsock on your left before you get here), and turn left. After about 800 meters there is a small road to the left with a sign for the Highland Gliding Club. As almost always during this trip we were welcomed very friendly, and shown around both hangars.
As said we were in a hurry by now, so we graphed the aircraft and drove back towards Inverness.
When we arrived at the airfield there was a rather large crowd of spotters present, and within two minutes we found out why: Czech An-26 3209 arrived to drop of some soldiers for an exercise. Nice timing
After this we visited the local museum.Highland Aviation Museum, Inverness Airport
Xk532/LM-632 Buccaneers S.1 pr,
(XV867) Buccaneer S.2B pr, nose only, no mks
(XN607) Jet Provost T.3 pr, nose only, no mks
(XS176) Jet provost T.4 pr, nose only, no mks
(XM169) Lightning F.1A pr, nose only, 23 sq mks
ZA362/AJ-F Tornado GR.1 pr, 617 sq mks
(XD875) Valiant B(K).1 pr, nose only, 7 sq mks
The Valiant had a c/n plate in the cockpit with S2VW 11512 on it. In different serial listings no construction numbers are given for the Valiants, why not? Is the number I read off just some partnumber then? It definately looked like "the real thing".... I understand 800, 801 and 809 NAS flew the Buccaneer S.1, which one was based at Lossiemouth and used this aircraft (or this code)?
The museum has one more aircraft, a Hunter which is currently stored 20 miles away from here. It probably will be transported to Inverness though, as the shed it is in has to be vacated soon. The gentleman at the reception desk told us roughly where the Hunter was stored, and there was a picture on display of it being put inside the shed. I took a picture of this picture to remeber what the shed looked like, and we went off to search it....
Barnyards, Beauly (57º 29' 18" N, 4º 27' 5" W)
(WT660)/C Hunter F.1 std in parts, 43 sq mks
If you take the A862 northbound from Beauly after some 500 meters you'll see a couple of houses and sheds on your right a few hundred meters from the main road, signposted Barnyards. Take a right here, and enter the premises by turning right again. Turn left after the first buildings (following signs for Body shop or something similar) and drive on. At the end you'll see a rather shiny new shed, aluminium coloured. The Hunter is in the old shed before this, and it is just visible through the doors at the back side (the side of the aluminium building). You can see the code "C" on the nosewheel door, but you do need a flashlight for it!
Very happy with this finding we continued further north.
Glastullich Farm, Tain (57º 45' 44" N, 4º 1' 55" W)
G-CIGY Sioux AH.1 ex XT191, c/n WAN 41
Follow the A9 towards Tain, and you'll get to a roundabout where you cross the B9175. Just before this roundabout you can already see the windsock on your right, and you indeed have to turn right some 500 meters BEFORE the roundabout. The owner lives in the house just after the row of houses on your left, in the bend of the road, the helicopter lives in a small hangar behind the first big building on your right. We had called in advance, and although the guy was just watching some rugby we were again very welcome to have a look. The Bell was even put outside so we could take some nice pictures! The owner is thinking of repainting it, and we "insisted" he should put it back in its military colours then! Hopefully he listened to us, and we can see it that way someday at an airshow....
After this nice visit there still was one location left for today, and not really the nearest one....
2405 det. flt. ATC, Gairloch
(WJ721) Canberra TT.18 pr, nose only, no mks
If you enter Gairloch you'll see the sea and harbour on your left. Follow the main road, and you'll see the Gairloch Hotel on your right. Still continue, and after some 150 meters on your right is the Loch Inn. The air cadets HQ is located just behind this Inn, and the Canberra nose is on a trailer outside the building. A long drive, but luckily we did find it! And as we were here just before sunset we could take a nice picture of it with the Scottish Highlands in the background. After that we decided to take the time for a real decent dinner for the first time this trip, and we ate in the Loch Inn. Definately a recommendable place if you take the troubles to drive all the way to Gairloch! When we were done we still had the long drive back to Inverness ahead of us, but with the satisfied feeling that everything we had planned for today had worked out, and we got the Hunter and Tiger Moth cockpit as a bonus!
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)
