After a good night sleep (what can such a simple thing as a bed be great....) we started our second day in the UK. Originally we had planned to visit the museum at Boscombe Down today, but unfortunately the tour here got cancelled already some time ago. So we had found some other destinations for today, and the first was a small civil airfield.
Popham
WD331 Chipmunk T.10 (G-BXDH) no mks, and no code (in the books as code "J")
XW311/W-ME Jet Provost T.5 pr, no mks
27 rd Yak-52 G-YAKX (ex DOSAAF 27 gr)
100 bl Yak-52 G-YAKI (ex DOSAAF 100 ye)
G-AMEN L-18C (ex MM52-2398)
We drove past the entrance, and almost ended up at the A303 without any turning back possibilities for a few miles. Luckily it was a Sunday morning, and we could put the car in reverse.... So be careful if you want to go here; you'll miss the entrance easily. Reception here was very friendly, no problems at all with walking around the airfield and into hangars. When we asked for a few "missing" aircraft from our list we were told they were in a closed hangar, but since there was a fly-in due to start those should be opened up later on. We didn't have the time to wait unfortunately, but headed on to the next stop Steventon. Unfortunately, as expected on a Sunday, nobody was present in the workshop here, and this really is spotter proof. We did get confirmation from the farmer the workshop is rented from that a few Israeli Piper Cubs are still present.
So we didn't stay around here and headed on to Lasham.
Lasham
SWWAPS:
VR192 Prentice T.1 pr, no mks
WH291 Meteor F.8 pr, 79 sq mks
WF137 Sea Prince C.1 pr, no mks
WV798/026 Sea Hawk FGA.6 pr, FRU c/s
XK418 Auster AOP.9 pr, no mks
XM833 Wessex HAS.3 pr, no mks
(E-423) Hunter F.51 pr, no mks
22+35 F-104G pr, JBG 34 mks
(4X-FNA) Meteor NF.13 pr, bare metal, composite
airfield:
WBxxx Sedbergh TX.1 u. rest, see below
XP463 Grasshopper TX.1 std (BGA4372) no mks
G-ATRG Pa.18 (c/n 18-7764) no mil history?
G-BIRH L-21B (ex KLu R-163)
G-CGAF/778 Vanguard TX.1 (ex ZD652)
(BGA3148)/993 Sedbergh TX.1 (ex WB990)
At the airfield we were not allowed to wander round "due to the new regulations". Luckily there was a pilot who walked with us to the main hangar for a few minutes, so we still could get a few. The unknown Sedbergh is in the process of being painted. Only part of the registration was on it, and I couldn't find anything in the cockpit. It has the name Lucy on the nose. Is this WB945/BGA1254? No Jordanian Bulldogs were present; the place where they are/were used to be parked was empty.
After this we were heading southbound towards Southampton, but via some stops.
Redwood Cottage, West Neon (51º 01' 35.50" N, 1º 03' 24" W)
51 ye Yak-50 G-BWYK, c/n 812004, ex DOSAAF
G-APMX Tiger Moth II (ex DE715)
G-BOOC Pa.18 (c/n 18-8279) no mil history?
I had the wrong location marked on my map, but after some asking around a local knew the name Redwood Cottage. Just when we arrived the owner of the place drove his tractor onto the grass runway, and he was more than happy to show us his aircraft. Nice!
Next was Lower Upham, and this turned out to be two locations.... We were driving towards Roughay Farm when we suddenly saw a sign warning for aircraft along the B2177. This was definately not the place we were looking for, but we made a stop anyway.
Lower Upham Airfield (50º 58' 21" N, 1º 14' 574" W)
N201W H-13B std, c/n 83 (ex 48-0803)
Joe Baugher gives this registration for it, at Demobbed they give 48-0801.... 0803 ties in with the serial batch as given by Joe; anybody who knows for sure? This is stored inside the only hangar there is on the airfield. The guy who showed us around also has a former LAPD chopper stored (not sure about the type anymore, but I think an OH-23. Well, civil anyway
) plus a few civil other things. A nice surprise! Then we drove on to the intended stop.Roughay Farm, Lower Upham (51º 59' 10.50" N, 1º 15' 25" W)
G-AYWT SV.4 (c/n 1111) no mil history?
G-BWOR L-21B (ex FAF 26229)
? Auster std, fuselage
This is not Phoenix Farm as mentioned on Demobbed, the firm Classic and Vintage Aircraft Services that used to be based there has gone. Only a few girls were present looking after the horses, and they send us to the hangar. Nobody was there, but we could have a quick look around. No sign of L-4 G-BEDJ that should be based here according to Demobbed, and there was also no sign of it in the airfields logbook for the last few years. So this probably either was a visitor or has moved on to a new home some time ago. The Auster fuselage was stored in an open barn some 100 m behind the hangar, anybody for an id?
Aero Antiques, Hill Farm, Durley (50º 56' 02" N, 1º 16' 08.50" W)
? DH.82? u. rest
? DH.84? u. rest
Those two were in a workshop on your left hand side when you walk towards the main shed of Aero Antiques. Both were bare wood, and were visible trough the windows. Anybody for the id? A few hundred meters further is the operational hangar, but this was closed and very spotter proof.
It was already getting far in the afternoon by now, and after some thinking we decided to skip Southampton and Bournemouth and return to Popham for the fly in instead. We were hoping to catch some of those rarely seen aircraft based at farms, and hopefully also see the few based ones we didn't get this morning.
Popham
VF512/PF-M Auster 6A G-ARRX, 43 OTU mks
WD347 Chipmunk T.10 (G-BBRV) CFS mks
G-AJYB Auster AOP.4 (ex MS974)
G-ATBU Terrier 2 (ex VF611)
G-BDEZ L-4J (ex 44-80087)
G-BCPJ L-4J (ex 45-4466)
G-BVIW Pa.18 (c/n 18-8277) civil only?
G-BXBU Cap.10B ex FAF 103
G-CUBN Pa.18 (c/n 18-7902) civil only?
G-OROD Pa.18 (c/s 18-7856) civil only?
N18028 D.17S (c/n 147) civil only?
Well, not a bad decision! A few nice visitors were seen and photographed. By the way, is there a Piper Pa.18 production list somewhere? That would be very usefull.....
We stayed here till most visitors had left, and by then it was getting dark. So we went to get some nice pub food, and then on to the hotel. Tomorrow was going to be the first operational day of the trip!
As always corrections, additions and comments are very welcome.
That´s all folks!
Hielko Overeem, Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation