Nuuumannn's UK Tour of 2018

Cool shots Grant!

great pics and info Grant.

Thanks again for your support. The Farnborough Airshow is a British institution, and I've been on several occasions before, expecting an eclectic mix of modern civil, military and of course the fascinating trade stands, where the world gets a glimpse at the future in the air. Not so anymore. The trade stands were closed and the big players had left, leaving a smattering of universities portraying youth projects and kid friendly displays. I was warned of this by my colleague I was staying with; he said that Farnborough had changed and he stopped going years ago as a result of how dull it had become. This was during the public show days, of course, which used to be really cool, but, with the major tradies gone before the weekend, has become a disappointing playground, with the aircraft too far away for decent photography. What's more, I didn't have my big 600 mil lens - long story, so my ground-to-airs were a bit poor. Some interesting stuff in the static though. Red Bull Corsair; again, an enjoyable display, but I saw the best of it at Legends.

2207 Farnborough Airshow Corsair

Hurricane in the Vintage park. Attempting to photograph the aircraft without support equipment, those pesky flags and metal barriers in the way became a new sport that I saw many attempting!

2207 Farnborough Airshow Hurricane

TAI Augsta Westland T129 ATAK with avionics made in Turkey and coming in a colourful hexagonal box full of sugar dust and aromatic jelly.

2207 Farnborough Airshow gunship

The promising little Hondajet hasn't seen wide sales, but deserves success. Note the placement of the engine nacelles.

2207 Farnborough Airshow Hondajet

Coral reefs gone by 2050? The A380 will be gone before then!

2207 Farnborough Airshow A380

Festive looking OV-10 Bronco; this won the Concours competition at Fairford and attracted much attention at Farnborough, too.

2207 Farnborough Airshow Bronco

Workmanlike Agusta Westland EH... sorry AW101 with its hi-viz vest on.

2207 Farnborough Airshow EH101

More Farnborough.

Nice stuff none the less. I like the stencil on the front of the gun on the Augsta Westland. Basically..."Point this end at enemy"

As mentioned earlier, because I didn't have my big lens, I relied on a 200mm one, which in the conditions wasn't stabilising as well, so I went for Sport mode, giving frozen prop blades. The flying display was not good at all. It looked fine on paper, but its execution was miserable. There were a few drop outs, understandable, but the display directors struggled to fill the time and to get alternatives in place, so there was often half hour waits between performers, which really dragged. The same Red Bull air race display was played out twice while aircraft were shuffled around as a result of the Harrier - what I really wanted to see - falling out of the display sequence. This became rather boring after the second time round. BBMF doing its thing.

2207 Farnborough Airshow BBMF

Because the display line was somewhere over Bedfordshire, my photos showed tiny silhouettes against a greyish sky, so I settled for finals shots at the runway's edge. This Spangdahlem based Viper displays an impressive mission tally on its nose.

2207 Farnborough Airshow F-16

The Blenheim and Spitfire duo was a bit lost in the big Farnborough sky - the Great War Display Team might as well have been over the Western Front! Historic Royal Aircraft Factory Black Sheds in the background.

2207 Farnborough Airshow Blenheim

Aah. Something interestingly different. It's always great to see big things turning about like fighters, with high thrust to weight ratios empty giving them excellent manoeuvrability.

2207 Farnborough Airshow A350-1000 i

The A350-1000 has a lot of catching up to do to match Dreamliner sales, but it's working hard at it.

2207 Farnborough Airshow A350-1000 ii

Boeing won in the battle between the A380 and the Dreamliner - the A350 is testament to that. It has already secured major sales abroad and will most likely outsell the Big Bus.

2207 Farnborough Airshow A350-1000 iii

Colourful Red Bull Alphajet was impressive, but none of my pics came out well at all!

2207 Farnborough Airshow Alphajet

At last, the Harrier display. This Spanish machine stepped in from its place in the static to take the place of the Italian one that couldn't fire up. It was good to see and hear the Beast again.

2207 Farnborough Airshow Harrier

The highlight of the airshow for me was seeing a Harrier perform again. Sadly, because it was almost sub-orbital when I took this picture, it didn't have the impact I was hoping for. Nevertheless, it was great to see one in-flight.

2207 Farnborough Airshow Harrier hover

I missed the B727 display, which, so I've been told was excellent, but I left early to avoid the traffic and suffer more disappointment at Farnborough. Won't be going back, sadly. The best thing to come out of the show for me was that I bought a mint copy of Putnam's Airspeed Aircraft since 1931 for a really reasonable price! Very pleased about that.

Next, the last full day of my trip; a mini aviation tour round south-east Kent.

Good stuff Grant. I'll be off the grid for a couple of weeks but look forward to catching up when I'm back.

You did well in difficult conditions Grant.
Interesting to hear that Farnborough ain't what it used to be - my mate Mick stopped going around 12 or more years ago, for the very reasons you stated, and it hasn't been 'covered' on UK television for many years.
Looking forward to the final part of the tour.

Good shots Grant!

Thanks again Guys. So Farnborough was a disappointment and I said to my colleagues I was staying with that I'm glad I went, otherwise I wouldn't have seen how crap it was. Nevermind. Next morning was an early start, with a packed agenda on my last day's tripping around. This was a tour of south east Kent airfields, museums and sites of interest, some of which I had visited before, some of which not. The first stop was the site of the former RAF Hawkinge. There is a comprehensive museum there, the Kent Battle of Britain Museum, but it is closed on Mondays, so didn't get in. nevertheless, I have been before and the only attraction I would have wanted to have seen is the Defiant full scale reproduction that incorporates original Defiant parts that used to live with the Boulton Paul Heritage Society. Problem is, the museum doesn't allow photographs to be taken because the owners are paranoid someone will photograph the security features and break in. They had a break-in in 2002, which led to this draconian step, yet 16 years on it is still strictly enforced. Anyway. Not much remains of the old airfield as, like in many places it has become a housing estate. This is a memorial to the airfield on the main road into what was the RAF site.

2307 Hawkinge memorial

The base of what was Hangar 2. This empty patch of land is the only remaining section of the airfield site that hasn't been developed yet, so I was fortunate to explore it before it too disappears under a sea of development. There's an underground fuel dump nearby the developers have to contend with, though.

2307 Hawkinge hangar base

Base and door rails for what was Hangar 1, orientated 90 degrees to Hangar 2.

2307 Hawkinge hangar door rails

This is looking over the fence to the museum site at the all-important watch office and flight ready room building. Note the full scale Hurricanes, with to the far right in the shadow of the building, a Bolingbroke fuselage that will become a Blenheim one day.

2307 Hawkinge watch office

Workshops and MT sheds still in use today. These sit alongside the museum driveway.

2307 Hawkinge MT sheds

Sadly, nothing survives of the officer's mess building and the neatly kept lawn and oval out front. Rather deplorable as it should have been listed. It was demolished only within the last 20 or so years. This stone sits approximately where the oval out front of the building was.

2307 Hawkinge Officer's Mess marker

Just down the road from Hawkinge village is the Jackdaw pub at Denton.

2307 Kent The Jackdaw

Why?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VcF9IaOhJk


Next, the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel Le Ferne.

A quick drive to the coast takes us to the Battle of Britain Memorial overlooking the English Channel. It really is a serene site which befits such a thing.

2307 Battle of Britain Memorial Capel le Ferne 1940

The memorial's heart taken from the balcony of the visitor centre, and the Channel stretching out into the distance.

2307 Battle of Britain Memorial Capel le Ferne

The wall of honour, with two busts at its end, of Dowding and Keith Park. No Leigh Mallory, then?

2307 Battle of Britain Memorial Capel le Ferne wall

The Airmen watch over England still...

2307 Battle of Britain Memorial Capel le Ferne sculpture

Folkestone from the edge.

2307 Folkestone Kent

Full scale Spitfire I, representing R6675 flown by Supermarine test pilot Jeffrey Quill during a brief detachment with 65 Sqn.

2307 Battle of Britain Memorial Capel le Ferne Spitfire

Full scale Hurricane I, representing P2970 flown by Geoffrey Page of 56 Sqn, in which he was shot down and suffered severe burns to his body.

2307 Battle of Britain Memorial Capel le Ferne Hurricane

The squadron dog looks on longingly, awaiting the return of its masters...

2307 Battle of Britain Memorial Capel le Ferne dog

A rather glorious place.

Next, RNAS Capel and the predecessor to Chain Home.

Beauty Grant.

Fantastic stuff Grant

Marvelous stuff there Grant.
I've heard a few tales about the Kent BoB Museum, which all give the impression that those involved don't really want visitors !

Cool shots Grant!

hmmm, yes, it's a bit bizarre, Terry, and many (not me, God no!) have expended much time debating the issue with the owners, but they just dig their heels in even further when things get heated.

So, Capel Le Ferne is a small wee village and right on its edge during the Great War was a Royal Naval Air Station, RNAS Capel, with three giant airship sheds, although no rigid airships went there, only non rigids for maritime patrol duties; Submarine Scout types and the like. It didn't last long; officially opened in 1915, by the end of 1919 it had closed and of course after the end of military airship ops in Britain with the R.38 disaster in 1921, the sheds were dismantled, although the RAF stayed and it became a wireless station. Nothing survives that hints at the site's past, but being so close to the Channel, was a busy place. The main site is now occupied by a campground, with the road into the site remaining in use as a back road to commercial firms occupying parts of the site. Where this house stands was the site of the accommodation camp and MT section building.

2307 RAF Capel airship station entrance

The only existing piece of infrastructure from the station is this road that leads into the camp site from the back road in the previous photograph. This is at the back of the campground, and if we were here in 1918, we would be staring at a vast airship shed and its wind breaks.

2307 RAF Capel airship station campground

it is difficult to place the site into context without some form of orientation, so you'll have to use your imagination. Pictures of Capel on the net are rare; I'll leave it up to you to do some research, but take a look here:

RNAS Capel - WWI Airship Station

This image shows a field - one of many that I stood on the edge of during this trip and photographed emptiness, but for the fact that there was some infrastructure where aeroplanes and airships buzzed about at one time. Again, we would be looking directly at the front doors of a giant airship shed if we were here in 1918. The tree border to the right is the edge of the camp site, with the previous image at diagonally the opposite end of the site from this picture. It was taken from the new road, which runs straight through where one of the sheds stood.

2307 RAF Capel airship station shed location

The Royal Oak is a direct link to the past as it existed at the time of the airships, and sits directly opposite the first image at the entrance to the site, with the fence line at the right of this picture following the road.

2307 RAF Capel airship station Royal Oak

Just a wee ways out of Capel on the main road is a slip road with a walkway to the coast that goes all the way to Dover, over the cliff above Fan Bay. On the cliff's edge is this observation post for a vital component of Britain's air defence in the between the war's period. It is facing towards Folkestone to the left of the image.

2307 Kent observation post

This is an acoustic parabolic mirror, or simply a sound mirror that was to form part of a chain of these things along the coast for detection of oncoming aircraft by sound waves. There was a stand with a microphone located directly in front of the mirror that captured any noise from the drone of aeroplane engines. Note the OP from the previous photograph to the left on the top of the hill.

2307 Kent Sound Mirror i

These were quite precise structures made to exacting tolerances, but proved almost useless as they recorded all sorts of noise that might have been mistaken for aeroplanes, which is where the OP comes in. You also couldn't gauge distance nor height of the approaching aeroplanes from the sounds, neither. They weren't very effective, but it was better than nothing. With the development of radar and the instigation of the Chain Home system, they fell out of use and the network was never finished.

2307 Kent Sound Mirror iii

There's a big site on the Romney Marshes, but it's on conservation land and is only accessible during certain parts of the year. There are three big mirrors of varying sizes there. Others still survive round the country, including one in Dover, but this is probably the most accessible given its on a public walkway.

2307 Kent Sound Mirror ii

Dover. This is taken from ramparts on the cliff face from beneath the castle, which I visited.

2307 Dover

Admiraly Pier, Dover to the right of the following image, where the cruise ship is berthed has significance as it was the very first spot on the British Isles to be subject to aerial bombing. On 21 December 1914, a Friedrichshafen FF 29 seaplane from Seeflieger Abteilung Eins at Zeebrugge arrived overhead and the pilot dropped two bombs that fell harmlessly into the sea. A foretaste of things to come.

2307 Dover Pier

Next, Dover Castle and Operation Dynamo.