The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent.

Good pics and descriptions Terry. Looking forward to a pint there with your guys next year.

Nice pics Terry. I saw a great P40 on Karl's facebook, so looking forward to see some airshow pictures

Thanks for sharing nice pictures, Terry !
You live in a beautiful country

Thanks very much chaps.
Marcel, I've started a thread on the American Air Show, in the 'Warbird Displays' section, with pics from myself and Karl. There'll be some pics of the shiny P-40 soon.

I'll post more pics of the Travels of the Tin tent soon - if the weather improves, I might spend a couple of days in the local area, around the Peak District, in the next couple of weeks, and I might also be going down to the 'Mach Loop' in Wales soon.

It's been a couple of months since I added anything to this thread, so time for an up-date, covering my latest travels.

Just got back last night, after a round trip of just under 600 miles which, being mostly on back-country roads, seemed more like 6,000 !
I set off on Friday 5th August, heading for East Kirkby, in the far eastern end of Lincolnshire, for their air show the following day. As usual when trying to get across the country, and only driving 110 miles or so, what should have been a 2.5 to 3 hour drive ended up being just short of 5 hours, but I arrived at the pleasant little camp site on the edge of the village in the early evening, in time to hook-up the Tin Tent and prioritise arrangements - aka, having a cold beer from the 'fridge !!
This was the first stage of what was intended to be a five day tour of Lincolnshire and East Anglia, taking in the air show at East Kirkby, a preserved, former WW2 RAF bomber base, and visiting some aviation museums and disused airfields, but it ended up being a nine day excursion, staying longer than originally intended just 300 meters from a beautiful village near Diss, in Norfolk - but I ain't going to tell you why !!!

I'll cover the air show in a separate thread, once I've sorted the photos, but meanwhile, here's some shots of the first two days of the 'tour'.

PIC 1. The 'Tin Tent' and 'Blunderbird One' on site, with obligatory cold beer in view.
PIC 2. A typical Lincolnshire sky, not as threatening as it seems, as it was a nice, warm evening.
PIC 3. Next day, on the airfield, and one of the exhibits in the main hangar.
PICS 4 to 9. Some of the classic cars on display in front of the Control Tower, including this beautiful Jaguar.

Next post will show a couple more shots on the airfield and camp site, before moving on to the next stage of the 'tour' in following posts.

Continuing with the first couple of days, and East Kirkby.

PIC 1. Believe it or not, this is a replica Lancaster nose section, built by Martin Willoughby, using genuine Lancaster parts and fittings.
It was open for inspection, for a small fee, but I was rather bushed after a full day in the sun at the end of the show, and didn't get aboard. I will later this month though.
PIC 2. In contrast, the museum's genuine Lanc, NX611 'Just Jane', was giving taxi rides at various times during the day, with that gorgeous sound of four 'Merlins' in harmony.
PICS 3 and 4. Back at the camp site, I shared a beer with another spectator, an aviation archaeologist from the North East of England, before settling down to watch the sun set, and the moon rise.

More pics of the travels tomorrow.

Good shots Terry!

Thanks Hugh.

And to think, we all live under that same moon....

Great pics Terry!

good stuff Dogsbody

Good stuff Terry.

Thanks chaps - more pics and info later tonight. It's an unusually sunny day for Macclesfield, so I'm going out in the 'Tin Tent' to enjoy it while it lasts.

Awesome shots

Thanks my friend, it's much appreciated.

I departed from East Kirkby on Sunday morning, in beautiful sunshine and clear skies, heading roughly south on the 90 mile journey to my next port of call, at Bottisham, in Cambridgeshire.
Now just fields, during WW2 this was a fighter airfield, first for the RAF and their Tomahawk Army-Cooperation Squadrons, and then the base of the famous 361st Fighter Group, 8th USAAF, with their yellow-nosed P-51's.
The Bottisham Airfield Museum Group have recently moved to the last remaining buildings on the airfield site, having previously been located at one of the dispersed sites on the edge of the village of Bottisham, which is now under re-development. The buildings, currently being renovated, were once the briefing and crew rooms, and Jason Webb and his crew have now added a new Nissen hut, built from scratch on the base of the original building, over the past few months.
Work was underway inside the new hut, with the final stages of painting and electrical fitting being carried out, in preparation for the 'Grand Opening' event over the open days weekend of September 24th and 25th, when all are welcome (see the BAMG web-site for details). I'll be going, to help out on the Museum's reception desk, and I believe Gary (Geedee) will also be there.

PIC 1 General view of the part of the site, with the new Nissen hut, and the 'Tin Tent' heating up nicely in the hot sun.
PIC 2. Looking over what was the airfield, from the site on the north east corner. The main A14 trunk road runs from left to right just on the horizon, bisecting the former airfield. Dotted around the edges of the fields, a few dispersal sites can still be found.
PICS 3 to 5. More general views of the site buildings, and the new Nissen hut, fitted out and painted exactly as it would have been in 1944.
PIC 6. Jason (center) and some of the boys, taking a well earned break from decorating the inside of the hut. Even the lamp shades are authentic period items.
PICS 7 and 8. This genuine WW2 wall mural was rescued from another airfield, and incorporated into the brick end wall.

Next stop later that day was the camp site at Fowlmere, adjacent to another former WW2 fighter base, where I stayed over night before meeting up with my daughter, and showing her around Duxford, just four miles 'down the road'.
Pics of that visit, and the following days, some time tomorrow.

Excellent adventure...tell us more Uncle Terry.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, and there's a lot more to come, with Duxford, the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton (Bungay), and a beautiful village in Norfolk.

Lovely shots Terry!

Thanks Hugh.