Where have you been? What have you seen?
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By 2Donkeys
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1820862
Birdbrain wrote:What condition is the runway in? Last time I visited, a few years ago it was pretty poor.


You can see for yourself in the closing 3-4 minutes of the video which shows the landing. It is, as you'd expect a standard concrete-slab construction, but much work has been done by IAE to remove the weeds and fill in any holes of note.

It isn't Heathrow, but it is perfectly serviceable and IAE's clients are routinely operating Caravans, King Airs and similar on and off it.
#1823347
Rob P wrote:I think Denny Dobson used to inhabit the watch tower (proper terminology), but my memory is pretty hazy.

It should still be there as it is Grade II listed, but that can't always be relied on.

Rob P


I think you tend to find 'watch towers' employed in places like the Inner German Border (Iron Curtain), aerodromes have (had) Watch Offices as far as I recall.
#1823972
Thank you for that link. I have just finished reading Lancaster Target by Jack Currie and it was very moving to listen to him describing some of the things from the book. My Dad flew some 650 hours in Lancs and Halifaxes but never spoke about his experiences during the war. I could picture him there instead of Jack, they looked similar and Dad spoke in the same matter of fact way. It did bring a tear to my eye.
#1823979
@JAFO

I think he was last heard of in Spain.

I really hated his early display flying. His 45s were somewhere between 35 and 65, often both (much like mine, but I don't claim to be a display pilot). Then he switched to a 'barnstorming' show and was hugely entertaining. He's sadly missed for those.

I think his wife/partner/girlfriend used to pop up from time to time selling RVs at remarkably optimistic prices.

Rob P
JAFO liked this
#1823980
You are very welcome TG6.

The bomber crews were the bravest of the brave. Young men in their teens and early twenties flying missions over the most heavily defended targets in Europe. Night after night for a tour of 30 missions. Only one in four crew would survive their first tour. The Lancaster crews were ‘lucky’. They had the finest bomber, possibly the finest aircraft, of the time. Those in other types were less fortunate.

125,000 airmen with 57,200 killed and a further 18,000 wounded or captured. That’s 60%. On a single night more bomber crew were lost than fighter command lost in the entirety of the Battle of Britain. It is a loss rate comparable only to the worst slaughter of the First World War trenches. Only the Nazi U-Boat force suffered a higher casualty rate.

Yet the flow of volunteers never faltered.

It took until 2012 to memorialise the courage and sacrifice of those youngsters.

Sorry for the digression!!
JAFO, Nick, T6Harvard liked this
#1824712
A4 Pacific wrote:You are very welcome TG6.

The bomber crews were the bravest of the brave. Young men in their teens and early twenties flying missions over the most heavily defended targets in Europe. Night after night for a tour of 30 missions. Only one in four crew would survive their first tour. The Lancaster crews were ‘lucky’. They had the finest bomber, possibly the finest aircraft, of the time. Those in other types were less fortunate.

125,000 airmen with 57,200 killed and a further 18,000 wounded or captured. That’s 60%. On a single night more bomber crew were lost than fighter command lost in the entirety of the Battle of Britain. It is a loss rate comparable only to the worst slaughter of the First World War trenches. Only the Nazi U-Boat force suffered a higher casualty rate.

Yet the flow of volunteers never faltered.

It took until 2012 to memorialise the courage and sacrifice of those youngsters.

Sorry for the digression!!


Agree with all of that.
I'd like to put in a word for the Halifax though - much liked by its crews and much easier to get out of in a hurry than a Lancaster, which resulted in better survival rates for the crew
https://tailendcharlietedchurch.wordpre ... -compared/
A4 Pacific liked this
#1824733
The Halifax at Elvington is well worth a visit.

It's a bitsa replica, but still impressive and a decent tribute to a worthy aircraft and its amazing crews.

Rob P
lobstaboy, 2Donkeys liked this