Nuuumannn's UK Tour of 2018

Thanks Andy. Went there after Flying Legends as well and it was packed!

Yep, nice pic of the Fiat, seen that before.

By appointment only, visitors are not encouraged to visit RAF Wyton, which is a joint intelligence base complete with roving armed guards, so photography outside the Pathfinder Museum is strictly prohibited. The museum is well worth it though, and details the pathfinder units of No.8 Group Bomber Command under canny Australian Don Bennett, as well as the history of photographic reconnaissance, as 39 Sqn was based there with its high flying Canberras until the unit's disbandment. Wyton is no longer a flying station.

0707 RAF Wyton Heritage and Conference Centre

Pathfinder Force unit board.

0707 RAF Wyton Pathfinder Force

I don't know the story behind this little guy, but he looks like a survivor.

0707 RAF Wyton Mascot

Another canny Aussie, Sidney Cotton's 'air force' established modern photographic reconnaissance in the RAF, until he was removed as the unit's CO, that is...

0707 RAF Wyton Cotton Club

There are the remains of several aircraft wrecks within the excellent and surprisingly extensive museum, including this B-17.

0707 RAF Wyton B-17 wreckage

A sneaky picture out the window of the bus as we drove round the base; no sneaky beaky secret squirrel stuff here...

0707 RAF Wyton flag pole

Lastly, the Wyton gate guard is a 39 Sqn PR Canberra, naturally. We were allowed to get out and photograph this.

0707 RAF Wyton Gate Guard

Next, a short drive to Duxford, which as usual lived up to expectations. Of course, we were returning for Legends, but it was good to get to the museum during an off day, but there's always something going on at Duxford. The Blenheim I was getting airborne as we arrived, so there was a mad dash to get cameras and lenses out and sprint for the flight line...

0707 Duxford Blenheim I

The exquisite P-40C joined in too.

0707 Duxford P-40C

Followed by the 'IWM Duxford' Spitfire I.

0707 Duxford Spitfire I

Hangars next.

Since many of you have been to DX before, I'll include only a few piccies as its been done to death on this forum.

Oxford in Air Space.

0707 Duxford Oxford

Concorde and friends.

0707 Duxford Concorde

Hawker Nimrod, navalised variant of the beautiful Fury biplane.

0707 Duxford Nimrod

Biber 90 German midget submarine.

0707 Duxford Biber 90

Bf 109 diorama.

0707 Duxford Bf 109

Percival Proctor with its wings folded. Nice to see.

0707 Duxford Proctor

Bristol F.2B

0707 Duxford Bristol Fighter

The Victor looks like a spaceship, even in this condition.

0707 Duxford Victor

Memorial to USAAF losses in WW2. Each aircraft silhouette represents a machine destroyed.

0707 Duxford USAAF Memorial

Inside the American Air Museum.

0707 Duxford AAM

Immaculate two-seat Spitty basking in the sun.

0707 Duxford Spitfire IX

In our next instalment, we leave the South and head North...

Great thread Grant.

Lovely shots!

Great additions Grant.
Pity we couldn't have joined you in 'The Eagle', but it would have been a long and slow stagger back to the campsite !!

Terry, the night of Legends we had trouble finding a table, there were around 12 of us, but we got two tables separated from each other and had to wait for ages for our meals. Good, though. Lots of Legends folk there, pilots, spectators...

On with the tour. After an early morning departure it was up to Newark, Notts to the Newark Air Museum, and this fading beauty. XM594 was one selected for Falklands service, but didn't fly any ops, - it had the Olympus 301 engines and the Skybolt mods added on the production line; pre-requisites for being selected for Operation Black Buck. The Douglas Skybolt was an air launched ballistic missile that the British were going to buy from the US, until it was canned after repeated failures, which meant the UK had to keep the Blue Steel in service for a bit longer. Vulcans were to carry Skybolts on hardpoints under their wings and on the B.2 production line, the associated plumbing was installed, but of course never used. XM597, the Vulcan that diverted to Rio in Brazil during the Black Buck raids was the only one modified in production with the capacity to carry both Skybolt and Blue Steel.

0807 Newark Air Museum Vulcan

Handley Page Hastings. I once read a great quote from the Berlin Airlift when a US controller asked a British crew what type of airplane they were flying, they said, "a Hastings". The American controller replied, "it should be called a Dragon, as its dragon its a** on the ground!"

0807 Newark Air Museum Hastings

Super rare Monospar.

0807 Newark Air Museum Monospar

Newark's collection has doubled - and then some since I was last there in the late 90s, and includes gems like this MiG-27, although a little car and attention wouldn't go amiss.

0807 Newark Air Museum MiG-27

Supermarine Swift, a failed fighter that became a recon platform. The missile on its rather elaborate loading trolley is a Fairey Fireflash AAM, which was to be carried by the Swift in service.

0807 Newark Air Museum Swift

Agh! A view of the general clutter apparent in most aviation museums these days. The Canberra is an interesting one, but its hemmed in by the rubbish placed around it. Newark is like most museums as it has too much stuff and nowhere to put it.

0807 Newark Air Museum Canberra hangar

On to Yorkshire, with its mushy peas and cups of flavourless dough the locals call 'pudding'. The Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington is a great place with the right atmosphere, and in interpreting its displays rivals the big nationals. Watch Office and Nissen huts complete the scene of a wartime airfield. The JCB kinda spoils it.

0807 Yorkshire Air Museum Buildings

The imposing presense of 'Lusty Lindy', the privately owned Victor that's regularly run for the benefit of the museum visitors.

0807 Yorkshire Air Museum Victor

The beastie with the mostest, the Mirage IV nuclear bomber is the only one outside of France, so a real coup for the museum. Such a snazzy aircraft.

0807 Yorkshire Air Museum Mirage IV

There's 92 Sqn and its blue aeroplanes again, Hunter T.7.

0807 Yorkshire Air Museum Hunter

YAM has a permanent memorial to 609 'West Riding' Sqn, including this plastic Spitfire.

0807 Yorkshire Air Museum 609 Sqn Spitfire

Of course, Elvington's crown jewel is this full scale reproduction Halifax made from a Hastings centre section and a few Hali bits. Looks convincing. The original 'Friday The 13th' nose art clipped from the bomber is on display at the RAF Museum.

0807 Yorkshire Air Museum Halifax

Next, railway country.

Good stuff Grant.

Loving it.

Thanks guys, thanks for following along with this. It's taking almost as long as the tour to finish.

On the 9th July we had a free day in York, which for most of us was time to wash our underpants. There was time for some (more) drinking, too, which we did much of on the tour (!), but there was also time for a little sightseeing. Whilst most people went to the Minster, I went and did some trainspotting at the National Railway Museum.

Bow plate of Queen Victoria's regal locomotive.

0907 National Railway Museum Queen Victoria Train

Royal carriages at a nominal platform during a royal visit.

0907 National Railway Museum Royal Platfom

Shinkansen, Japanese bullet train.

0907 National Railway Museum Shinkansen

Eurostar.

0907 National Railway Museum Eurostar

Nameplate from a Battle of Britain Class loco.

0907 National Railway Museum Spitfire

Evening Star built in Swindon - didn't realise the crummy town had a use other than a means of getting to the air tattoo at Fairford.

0907 National Railway Museum Evening Star

Brown is so flattering a colour on a train. GWR No.4 Railcar.

0907 National Railway Museum GWR

The big KF7 was exported to China and as a goodwill gesture, when the Chinese had finished with it, it was returned to Britain as a gift.

0907 National Railway Museum KF7

Record breaking A4 Class 'Mallard', holds the world speed record for steam trains at 126 mph.

0907 National Railway Museum Mallard

Mallard's cockpit.

0907 National Railway Museum Mallard bridge

Princess Coronation Class 'Duchess of Hamilton' and its unique streamlined body.

0907 National Railway Museum Duchess of Hamilton

Next, across the Humber Estuary to Bomber County.

Marvelous stuff Grant, and good to see the Monospar has progressed so much since my last visit to Newark.
BTW, the Halifax at Elvinton was built from the main fuselage of a Halifax II, which force landed on the Isle of Lewis in 1945, with Hastings wings and other bits, and a reproduction forward section.

Nice shots!

Yes Terry, Elvington and Newark are great and their collections are big compared to how I remember them. Yep, I know about the Hali bits, but we are really looking at a rear section 25 feet long aft of the wing box, and that's it. It is most of the rear fuse, and there are sundry items, such as a turret or two and bits of the hori stab, but essentially the majority is built from scratch. What they have done is built a marvellous and accurate looking full scale mock up, though. I would hesitate to call it anything more than that or a reproduction, but that's stretching it considering the reproduced fuselage bits are built of wood, but clad in metal, the props are glass fibre casts etc. Somewhere I have a diagram of what's original and what's not on the Hali from a brochure YAM produced years ago.

Wow, I just found out something interesting. What's the connection between this:

0907 National Railway Museum Mallard

And this?

0507 de Havilland Aviation Heritage Mosquito prototype

Sir Nigel Gresley, who designed the A4 Pacific Class locomotive, of which the Mallard was, occupied Salisbury Hall, the mansion house in Hertfordshire where de Havilland personnel withdrew from Hatfield to in October 1939, to work on the Mosquito prototype, owing to fear of bombing raids! Did not know that!

Continuing on the tour, we crossed into Lincolnshire to a grey day, but in expectation we would see some live aeroplanes. First off was The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby, where Just Jane, a former Aeronavale Lancaster VII is gradually being restored to flying condition, but not without its ailerons, is isn't...

1007 East Kirkby Lancaster I

The Lanc has been in the ownership of the Panton Brothers for years and has been regularly run for the public on many occasions. We were fortunate to have arrived on a day that it was being run - it certainly wasn't known when the tour was planned.

1007 East Kirkby Lancaster II

Despite the lack of people in the pictures, it was packed and other tour groups doing similar things to the Ian Allan tour were also there. Once the beast got moving, people were showing genuine emotion at being so close to it as it trundled by.

1007 East Kirkby Lancaster III

Based in New Caledonia, NX611 was delivered to Australia and restored to flying trim at Bankstown, near Sydney, where it was named 'Spirit of the Gold Coast', before its lengthy trek to Britain. On arrival in British airspace, it was met by a Canberra and Victor bombers, in what was surely a unique formation that will never be repeated.

1007 East Kirkby Just Jane

East Kirkby will eventually boast two classic ground runnable British WW2 types; this Mosquito night fighter is privately owned by Tony Agar, who has spent years putting it back together. It was in the last few months that it moved from the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington to its new home.

1007 East Kirkby Mosquito NF.II

The museum is housed on the site of the former RAF East Kirkby. Watch tower and Lanc.

1007 East Kirkby Tower

A last look over the fence as we left...

1007 East Kirkby Lancaster tail

More good stuff Grant.
The Lanc has just completed a total strip down and re-paint, with lots of restoration work being done, although the ailerons have been under restoration since 2016.

Lovely shots!