Nuuumannn's UK Tour of 2018

Great shots Grant. I was at Hendon in '77. Don't recall much and was upset that the BoB exhibit was closed for renovations I believe

Hi Terry, it looks great and was a surprise for us as one member had mentioned it would be running, but I don't think it was expected. Really great to see. The place was mobbed, too. Good to see the Hampden fuselage restoration, too; beginning to look like it should.

On with the show. After leaving an overcast - the first of the trip - East Kirkby, we drove to RAF Coningsby. The original plan was that we'd visit the Battle of Britain memorial Flight Visitor Centre, but before the tour began we were advised that this was not open to the public during this season, which was something of a disappointment. The MoD advising that the BBMF aircraft would be at airshows and public events all summer, and since we went to a few airshow at which they attended, we did get to see them. Don't really get that, though; this is the RAF's centenary year, surely giving the public access to the site would be a given. Anyhoo. That day was the same as the RAF100 flypast down the Mall and with expectation there were to be some 29 Eurofighters returning to Coningsby. We weren't disappointed. There was a sizeable crowd gathered at the runway threshold when we got there and we didn't have to wait long before the first arrived.

1007 RAF Coningsby Eurofighter i

They arrived in threes before breaking to land.

1007 RAF Coningsby Eurofighter Trio

6 Sqn Typhoon.

1007 RAF Coningsby Eurofighter ii

Just crossed the fence.

1007 RAF Coningsby Eurofighter iii

Unfortunately the sun was at an awkward angle, which meant the grey aircraft were constrasted against a light background.

1007 RAF Coningsby Eurofighter iiii by Grant Newman, on Flickr

Carefully framed; not cropped at all - couldn't do this again if I tried.

1007 RAF Coningsby Eurofighter iiiii

After a short delay, we headed back to the bus, but we spotted something in the distance whilst waiting to board. Turned out to the the first of the Waddington Big Boys. Sentry.

1007 RAF Coningsby Sentry

Sentinel, or a Bombardier Global Express with a larger power bill.

1007 RAF Coningsby Sentinel

Good to see the notoriously shy 51 Sqn's aircraft out and on public view. The Rivet Joint is almost as old as the Nimrod R.1s it replaced.

1007 RAF Coningsby Rivet Joint i

After an on finals descent these aircraft circled round and headed for RAF Waddington.

1007 RAF Coningsby Rivet Joint ii by Grant Newman, on Flickr

Next, Dambusters country.

Not far from Coningsby is Woodhall Spa, the small town whose name will forever be linked to the Dambusters. This is the 617 Squadron memorial in the centre of town.

1007 Woodhall Spa Dambusters Memorial

We were staying in the hotel that got seconded to 617 Sqn for use as its officer's mess; the grand Petwood Hotel.

1007 The Petwood Hotel i

Within is a room known simply as The Dambusters Room and it is full of memorabilia, including signed pictures and other bits and pieces.

1007 Petwood Hotel iiii

The Dambusters Room. The tree branch has some significance as after attacking the Tirpitz, one of the squadron's Lancs crash landed in Russia and the crew suffered a near miss as this branch speared its way into the cockpit canopy, narrowly missing its occupants. It was recovered and returned to the UK. There it is above the bar.

1007 Petwood Hotel iii

The main entrance to the Petwood by night.

1007 Petwood Hotel iiiii

On the grounds is this early prototype Upkeep bouncing bomb. It was one of several we saw on the trip.

1007 The Petwood Hotel Bouncing Bomb

A contemporary drawing of the Officer's Mess as it was during the war. A neat surviving memento in the hotel.

1007 The Petwood Hotel Officer's Mess

Next, cars and jets, cars and jets, cars and jets...

Excellent Grant.

Beautiful hotel

Damn that's cool

Hi Geo, the Battle of Britain exhibition is no more. Its aeroplanes are dispersed between Hendon and Cosford, but almost all are still on display. The Lysander is undergoing restoration. In my Hendon pics are four of the fighters from the BoB hall.

Thanks for your continuing viewing, guys. The next day we rose early and were driven into the East Midlands after an all too brief stint in Lincolnshire, for our next stop, the bizarre world of Bruntingthorpe. Once a military aerodrome, it is now leased to various car companies for the storage of motor vehicles, thousands of them. Oh, and there's also some real neat aeroplanes dotted between the rows and rows (and rows) of cars.

A Nimrod doing its best to blend into the background.

1107 Bruntingthorpe Nimrod

A Victor named Meldrew (geddit?) Only the Brits'll get that one (Victor Meldrew is a TV character). This is the Victor that had an unplanned take-off whilst doing a high speed taxi run along Bruntingthorpe's runway, scraping its left hand wing tip on the ground as the guys in the cockpit's sphincters were contracting like an anemone trying to get it back on the ground again.

1107 Bruntingthorpe Victor

The Tristars are ex-RAF and are being restored to airworthy condition again for an American customer.

1107 Bruntingthorpe Transports

This one looks a little bluer as it was shot from the window of a bus. We had to stay in a group and were being followed throughout our time there. The overenthusiastic security getting a little shouty at times when guys wandered off to photograph things on their own.

1107 Bruntingthorpe Tristar

One of the highlights of the tour was seeing this gigantic thing. Funny to think that before the Beluga, all Airbusses had their first flights in a Boeing!

1107 Bruntingthorpe Guppy

We were lucky to get aboard and wander about in its capacious interior, although it was around 40 degrees C in there. Not the prettiest face around.

1107 Bruntingthorpe Guppy nose

Bruntingthorpe is also where old airliners go to die.

1107 Bruntingthorpe 747

See what I mean about the cars? Jaguar XFs, mainly, in this lot. All new and ready to drive away. Note the Starfighter, Hunter and Tornado in the background.

1107 Bruntingthorpe cars

A pretty Mystere not covered over or closely hemmed in by junk, unlike evrything else of interest among the fighter jets there. We didn't get to see the runnable Lightnings, which was a bit of a disappointment, but Brunty was a sight to behold that left us open mouthed.

1107 Bruntingthorpe Mystere

Next, Midland's aviation museum.

Love the head on shot

On our way to Coventry Airport, we passed this on a roundabout near Lutterworth. It is a full scale mock-up of a Gloster E.28/39; Britain's first jet. Its significance in this spot is that its engine was built nearby. There's a similar one on a roundabout at Farnborough, Hampshire.

1107 Lutterworth Roundabout

The Midland Air Museum has a fascinating collection of post war jets, but also mementoes of aviation from the area. A meteor F.4 surrounded by crap, as is the norm in museums.

1107 Midland Air Museum Meteor

Oooo, what the... Boulton Paul P.111 delta wing research aircraft. Had powered flight controls and was described as being 'touchy' to fly, and like 'a knife edge'.

1107 Midland Air Museum P.111

The Blunt End, Gloster Javelin.

1107 Midland Air Museum Javelin

Pretty Hawker Sea Hawk wearing Suez Crisis invasion stripes.

1107 Midland Air Museum Seahawk

Oddly, BAE Systems offered an avionics upgrade to Eastern Bloc users of the Mil-24 Hind gunship. No one bought it and the prototype ended up here. Snazzy paint scheme though, kinda Blue Thunder-ish vibe going on.

1107 Midland Air Museum Mil-24

This pile of scaffolding is actually a helicopter, a Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri, to be precise. One of only two complete examples thought to exist.

1107 Midland Air Museum Kolibri

Next, Cosford in all its magnificence.

They should put that in the museum brochure..." Come see our Meteor F.4, surrounded by crap". That Russian helo is a tough looking bird.

Maybe its a museum of crap obscured by a Meteor.

There's at least one more of those Flettners at the Berlin Technical Museum that I saw a month ago. No pics though.

Excellent series of pics Grant.
Good to see the Petwood Hotel has been tidied up a lot - it looked a little 'worn' when I was there last, in the early 1980s with some chaps from the BBMF.

Lovely shots Grant!

Yes, Andy. It irks me a bit because I would rather photograph the whole aircraft if I can, not the surrounding junk. More often than not the stuff around the aircraft has little to do with it and is completely out of context. That Meteor is a case in point; there's an Avon behind it, a bomb rack, some wings underneath it, a propeller by the left wing tip and display boards galore. Just unnecessary. The high speed Hunter at Tangmere is the same; it has a Goblin engine next to it and a large model of a Lancaster. I understand a lack of space in museums; none has truly enough to store everything adequately, but rotate stuff on display so the place doesn't get stale. They shouldn't place everything they have on display, Just ends up looking cluttered.

Andy, are you sure it's a Flettner and not a Focke Achgelis Fa 330?

The RAF Museum has two sites that are open to the public (there's a big store at Stafford), Hendon and Cosford. Once considered an outstation, Cosford is now an equal to Hendon in terms of the size and scope of the collection, and visitor numbers; both sites receive around 100,000 visitors per year. Enthusiasts however, prefer Cosford, owing to the scope of the enemy aircraft and the prototypes. Anyway, we spent nearly the whole day there and were privileged to get a tour of the Sir Michael Beetham Restoration centre.

One departure from Hendon that I'm interested in is the Daffy. I talked them into allowing me to do a walkaround of it!

1207 RAFM Cosford Defiant

The elegant Ki-46 is one of the impressive wartime twins at Cosford.

1207 RAFM Cosford Ki-46

This Ju 88R has a fascinating backstory. Three of its crew wanted to defect, and had a bit of trouble convincing the fourth to do so, but managed to. In advance they had let British Intelligence know that they were arriving in UK airspace with the latest night fighter variant of the Ju 88 complete with its Lichtenstein radar. So the scene was set and on arrival off the coast of Scotland, the aircraft was met by Spitfires and was escorted to land at RAF Dyce (now Aberdeen Airport), where a pristine example of a Ju 88 night fighter was presented to the RAF. The Machine was given the serial PJ876 and was extensively tested. Post war it was part of the Air Historic Branch collection and was placed on display in the Battle of Britain Hall when that opened. Note the Me 410 in the background.

1207 RAFM Cosford Ju 88

Stainless Steel Bristol T.188 with some of the trials and testing prototypes visible. Note its unusual air brakes.

1207 RAFM Cosford Bristol T.188

Out on public display at last; a 51 Sqn Nimrod R.1; at one point the Ministry of Defence denied the existence of the squadron and its secret squirrel electronic warfare aircraft, although I saw one at Fairford once. Note the award winning Cold War building behind.

1207 RAFM Cosford Nimrod

The only surviving complete Vickers Valiant nuclear bomber, so called as it dropped Britain's first hydrogen bomb, a yellow Sun, during the Grapple trials. That's one alongside the aircraft.

1207 RAFM Cosford Valiant

One of the most photographed aircraft at Cosford owing to its attitude. EE Lightning doing what it did best; defy gravity rather spectacularly.

1207 RAFM Cosford Lightning

Vickers Wellington undergoing long term restoration. Sadly, we didn't get to see the Dornier Do 17.

1207 RAFM Cosford Wellington

Handley Page Hampden torpedo bomber; it's almost finished and looks fabulous.

1207 RAFM Cosford Hampden

After Cosford, we left Shropshire and headed south to the rather uninspiring town of Swindon. It's RIAT Time.