About a month ago we crossed the Channel for another weekend in the UK. Main reason was the opportunity to join a Warton trip, and that alone is always enough reason to come over. Although it's a bit dated I hope there is still enough interesting information to post anyway, so here it goes.
We flew into Stansted this time. Not the first airport you would think of when you are going to Warton, but we had to fly back on Saturday evening because of work and this was the only available option. The advantage was of course that we would pass some interesting W&R locations which we normally wouldn't get to.
We left home around early o'clock to get to Niederrhein airport and arrived in Stansted around 7 am on the Friday morning. Our first stop was the village of Winwick, just south of Peterborough. There are no less than two farms strips here.
Valley farm, Winwick (52 24 55.7 N, 0 22 51.9 W)
1373 DHC-1 G-CBGJ, no mks
Behind the farm is the strip with a few small hangars. There was nobody present, but all hangars had enough gaps and cracks to see the inmates.
Less than a mile east from here is the second farm.
Dalkeith farm, Winwick (52 24 46.3 N, 0 22 08.3 W)
G-BAET L-4H std, ex 43-30314
Again nobody was present, but a public foorpath runs directly past the hangar and with some effort this stored Cub was seen lying against the wall. Another one for the books!
With those two locations done we continued our journey westbound. Not too far from here is another airfield.
Husbands Bosworth (52 26 14.5 N, 1 03 06.1 W)
WP809/78 Chipmunk T.10 (G-BVTX), no mks
G-BBNA Chipmunk T.10 ex WG417
G-BBSS Chipmunk T.10 ex WG470
G-BCOY Chipmunk T.10 ex WB762
G-BFAW Chipmunk T.10 ex WP848
We were shown around the two main hangars here, where we got four Chippies. The fifth one is in a small hangar along the road leading to the clubhouse, don't forget to have a peek in here as well! The lady that showed us around confimed that Sedbergh WB980 lives here during the gliding season. She didn't know anything about Grasshopper XK790 that is supposed to be stored here though, but then again she didn't have a clue what a Grasshopper is anyway. There was a rear fuselage part of a Grasshopper against the wall in one of the hangars, anybody who has more info on this one?
When finished here we continued quickly, only to get into another traffic jam. Early this morning we had already some delay since the M11 towards Cambridge had been closed for the night due to maintenance work, and they didn't finish in time. This time we got stuck because of some major accident. Landing right in front of us was a medical chopper (G-RESC) because of this. Annoying delay, but obviously a lot worse for the victims....
When planning this trip we had already quickly decided we wanted to get some of the newly delivered Tutors. We contacted the UAS at Cosford to arrange a visit, but to our surprise they were not playing ball. They said a visit would be difficult because they "are on military property". So are many UAS'es, but this was the first time we were not allowed to visit. Even the option we offered, to contact their HQ ourselves was no good.... So we had decided to see what the weather would be like when we got in the area, and then see wether we wanted to give it a try from outside or not. The forecast was rather bad, but actually the weather was quite nice all day already, so we decided to give it a try indeed. And that turned out to be a good decision!
RAF Cosford
Tutor, Birmingham UAS: G-CGKD, G-CGKE, G-CGKF, G-CGKG, G-CGKH
When we arrived the airfield was baking in the sun, and all five Tutors were outside on the line. Within a few minutes the first one started the engine and took off, so our timing was great.
Since we were here now anyway we made a very quick visit to the museum, where a few new (for us) items were on display. I am not going to type out the whole content of the display here, but if someone has a specific question he's more than welcome to contact me of course. We also got a short guided tour in the Beetham Conservation Centre, where the following was seen (all in different stages of restoration):
L5343 Battle I
(C3988) Dolphin DR.5
(P1344) Hampden I
(7198) LVG C.VI
G-AOLK Prentice T.1 ex VS618
After this we had to hurry to our next stop, since we had an appointment here.
RAF Woodvale
Tutor: G-BYVZ, G-BYWI, G-BYWJ, G-CGKP, G-CGKR, G-CGKS, G-CGKT, G-CGKU
Vigilant T.1: ZH124/TK, ZH193/UF, ZH206/UM, ZJ968/SN
WK624 Chipmunk T.10 G-BWHI
We had a short visit here, during which again all five new Tutors were seen. Not bad, 10 new Tutors in one day! It has been years since we managed to get such a score......The Vigilants and the Chipmunk live in the same hangar as the Tutors by the way.
We also had an appointment for tonight, but since we were a bit early we tried one more location: the Bygone Times antique centre in Eccleston. They should have the fuselage of a N.1101 here, but that hasn't been logged since 1999! We arrived just before closing time, and the two (young) people behind the counter didn't know anything about an aeroplane in their shop (apart from a mock up hanging above their heads). Does someone know more about this one? If not, maybe one for the locals to check with the store owner maybe?
Then we went on to our appointment.
Stockport
(WN957) Hunter F.5 pr, nose, no mks
(XG692/LM-)668 Sea Venom FAW.22 pr, nose, 750 sq code
(N-202)/10 Hunter F.6 pr, cockpit, ex Dutch AF
These all belong to Mike Rolfe and his dad, who were so kind to show us their pride! A lot of effort has been and is being put in the restoration of those beauties, and it shows! We got a lot of information about history and restoration, and also got the opportunity to sit in both aircraft. Frank was clearly too tall, but I did fit (albeit just). A great end of a fruitfull day! When we were done here we discovered a fish & chips shop nearby that apparently won some prizes, so we didn't hesitate a moment
After spending the night in Preston next morning we headed towards Warton, but made a quick stop underway.
Newton with Scales (53 46 31 N, 2 50 41.1 W)
XM173 Lightning F.1A pr, 56 sq mks
XT469 Wessex HU.5 pr, no mks
Both are preserved behind a garage along the A583 just west of town. We asked permission to graph them and that was no problem.
After this we reported at the main gate at Warton for our tour. As you probably know it is not allowed to post a log, so I won't do that, but I can assure you it was worth it indeed!
When we were waiting for the tour to start we heard that a Croatian CL.415 had landed at Manchester airport yesterday, apparently for a nightstop. We were only a few miles away then, if only we had known.... So when the tour had finished we drove back to Manchester, to see wether it was still present. While doing so we passed the "other" airfield of Manchester, so we had a quick look here (only to run into Stuart again
).Manchester-Barton
G-LYFA Yak-52 ex DOSAAF 110 ye
D-EARY FWP.149D ex 90+43
We had been here before, so didn't take the time to ask for a hangar tour, but the above was noted. Does this Piaggio live in the UK? And if so, is it based at Barton or somewhere else?
Next was the international airport of Manchester, but as we had already feared the Canadair had left early this morning. Well, we have to go to Croatia one day anyway
We wanted to finally get the Vulcan at Woodford, since we heard rumours it might be scrapped soon. When we were done in Manchester however I screwed up! Instead of putting the coordinates for Woodford in our satnav I put in the next destination. After driving about half an hour Frank said "I thought that Vulcan was really nearby?"..... We quickly did some calculating, and finally decided to drive back. We already missed the one at Blackpool (just a few months late....) and didn't want that to happen again with another mighty Vulcan.
Woodford
XM603 Vulcan B.2 pr, white c/s, no mks
The Vulcan is easily visible from the A523 that runs along the eastern perimeter of the airfield. No Nimrods were seen, but since it was a Saturday we didn't really expect any anyway.
So with this one finally in the pocket we drove to Ternhill, where one of our last three Vigilants was supposed to be.
RAF Ternhill
Vigilant T.1, 632 VGS: ZH119/TE, ZH120/TF, ZH126/TM, ZH129/TQ, ZH184/TW
While driving the weather was really great, with a blue sky, so we expected a lot of activity with the Air Cadets. Some 20 miles out from Ternhill however it quickly turned quite awful, with large clouds that were very, very low. Indeed when we arrived at the airfield we saw a few Vigilants outside, but those were just being put away in the hangar. We quickly drove up there and asked permission for a quick look and some pics, and that was no problem. The first Vigilant we got was actually the one we needed, so another mission accomplished. Only two to go!
After this we seriously had to start our drive back to Stansted, but we made one more last stop. Nearby we knew was the company Retro Aviation, where they should have some L-29 Delphins amongst others. While driving here we suddenly passed one Delphin that was preserved in a field next to the road (serial 53, in Russian markings but really former Romanian AF). I knew this had to be somewhere in the area, but didn't have the exact location with me. So a nice surprise! This one moved on to Bruntingthorpe recently by the way, so I understand. But when we got to the industrial estate where we knew the firm to be, we learned that it had vacated the premises a few months before. Their hangar was empty and no aircraft were outside either. Anybody for their fate/new location please?
And then it was time to continue to Stansted. We arrived nicely on time, flew home, and had a few hours of sleep before duty called early Sunday morning. A nice weekend out!
As always addition's, corrections and comments are very welcome.
That's all folks!
Frank Mink and Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
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