Weekend had arrived, and that meant gliders!
But first a quick stop at a small airfield nearby, since a former Dutch Harvard should be stored here.
Earls Colne
42-12417 AT-16 std, USNavy c/s, ex KLu B-163
G-BXJB Yak-52 (c/n 877403, ex 15 ye)
At the airfield itself we were not allowed to look around unfortunately. "New regulations, and you never know who is watching". But they assured us they didn't have any Harvards or similar stuff; that only could be the farm opposite the airfield. So we went to have a look there, and indeed the fuselage of "our" Harvard was stored outside here looking very sorry for itself. We saw a fuselage inside a hangar here as well through a gap in the wall, would this be the Italian one that should be here (and of which the wings were stored outside as well)?
Then on to Wethersfield, where they were expecting us.
RAF Wethersfield
Viking T.1 (614 VGS): ZE498/VC, ZE504/VH, ZE558/WF, ZE563/WL, ZE585/WQ, ZE614/XN
It had been rather difficult to arrange a visit here, but just before we left The Netherlands we got the green light. And the score was three new gliders, so well worth it! Someone had said that ZE498 was going to be turned into a travelling exhibit by the way (I wrote that in my MAM, but don't remember where the info came from). But with the unit they don't know anything about this surprisingly! It was flying today, and should be doing that for a long time to come....
The other gliding unit we planned for today was at Watton, still quite a drive north. But as always we made a stop underway.
Lavenham (52º 07' 53" N, 0º 46' 02" E)
TW438 Auster 5 (G-ANRP) no mks
45-4(467)/44-J L-4J (G-BILI)
At the end of Alpheton (on the A134) take Old Bury Road right. After some 900 meters there's a bend to the left and also a path straight ahead passing a farm on your left. From here you can already see the nissen hut where the aircraft are in. There was nobody present and the hut was closed, but very conveniently the letter box provides a good view of the inmates
RAF Watton
Viking T.1 (611 VGS): ZE554/WB, ZE601/XA, ZE611/XL, ZE633/XX, ZE658/YK
XN186 Sedbergh TX.1 BGA3905, no mks
XP490 Grasshopper TX.1 pr inside hangar (on top of cabins), no mks
We had tried to contact them a few times before we started the trip, but never succeeded, so our coming here was a bit of a gamble. When we arrived the gate was locked and nobody was around to open it. We waited for some time, and finally a girl came back from the airfield to the HQ barracks, and she let us in. Funnily enough she spoke Dutch as well! She had spent the first years of her life in The Netherlands, and still knew a bit of the language. She was very disappointent that she didn't know we were coming she said, because she would have asked us to bring some "drop" (liquorice)
Lucky for her we always bring some when we travel abroad, in case a little gift comes in handy, so we made her very happy.We had a very long drive ahead of us, since tomorrow morning we would be having visits at Chivenor and Predannack, but the squadron commander here told us there was a Venture in RAF colours at a nearby airfield. We looked it up on the map and decided to have a look.
Shipdham
XX525/03 Bulldog T.1 (G-CBJJ) Glasgow & Strathclyde UAS mks
G-BUEK Venture T.2 (ex XZ559)
? Grasshopper std
The Grasshopper was all grey with no markings on it. The plate read:
SSK/NF149
38-4-1
SSK/FF1605
Again the question wether this makes sense to someone.
Originally we had planned to do the museums of Norwich and Flixton today as well, but (even before going to Shipdham) we were running late again. So we decided to skip those, and start our drive in the direction of Land's End. Only one more stop was made, just before last light.
RAF Mildenhall
(86-0414) C-130H (95 AS)
(58-0065) KC-135T (22 ARW)
58-0071 KC-135T 91 ARS
58-0102 KC-135R 465 ARS
61-0304 KC-135R 92 ARS
63-8033/D KC-135R 351 ARS
63-8879/D KC-135R 351 ARS
(71-1468) C-130E (222 Filo)
As light was quickly fading away we couldn't read off all visitors, but the missing ones came from Paul's reports. Only new ones compared with yesterday are logged by the way.
And after this stop we had a few hundred miles to go, only interrupted by a quick meal with KFC (I do prefer the pub meals, or a good Indian restaurant, but when you're in a hurry....). Shortly after midnight we finally reached our hotel near Chivenor, so we were ready for the next visits.
As always corrections, additions and comments are very welcome.
That´s all folks!
Hielko Overeem, Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation