Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
- Arthur Tee
- Posts: 1169
- Joined: Mon 15 Sep 2008, 12:42 pm
- Location: Shawbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Whilst digging around in the reject box for a shot of a Puma in the Military thread - I found these...
Not the best of shots - but I was using a Zenith TTL with a 300mm 'drainpipe' lens!
20th May 1983
Shuttle Enterprise and Boeing 747 NASA 905 as viewed from the Tower balcony!
Arthur
Not the best of shots - but I was using a Zenith TTL with a 300mm 'drainpipe' lens!
20th May 1983
Shuttle Enterprise and Boeing 747 NASA 905 as viewed from the Tower balcony!
Arthur
Canon PowerShot SX40HS - It's not what you've got - it's what you do with it!
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Wow! great shots.....thanks for posting, we were talking about the shuttle visiting Fairford just the other day.....will make a nice close to the conversation!
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Looks like you had the best seat in the house....superb, thanks for posting.
-
- Posts: 84
- Joined: Thu 17 Sep 2009, 9:34 am
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Some great shots really enjoyed seeing them. I was at the 09 end taking cine film of its arrival and departure but having seen these shots I think I was in the wrong place!
Graham
Graham
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Many thanks for posting these, brings back some really happy memories in which I was advised by Mum that there was no way I was going to miss this and allowed me to skive from school and go down with my Grandad. Still remember it to this day and again appreciate you posting these.
Kind regards
Kind regards
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Excuse my ignorance - but what was it doing at Fairford? IAT was at GC that year. So was it a transit flight or an airshow?
Regards
Jonah
Regards
Jonah
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Thanks for sharing these, I wasn't so lucky, my dad wouldn't let me have the time off to see her, he went to Stanstead to bag them both. Unfortunately he's no longer with us but I have a shot of him with 905 and Enterprise. I was lucky enough to have a wander around 905 in February at NASA DRFC and our guide was one of the crew for the '83 trip, It was very emotional for me.
Rgds Stu
Rgds Stu
- Arthur Tee
- Posts: 1169
- Joined: Mon 15 Sep 2008, 12:42 pm
- Location: Shawbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
jonah626 wrote:Excuse my ignorance - but what was it doing at Fairford? IAT was at GC that year. So was it a transit flight or an airshow?
Regards
Jonah
Jonah,
Don't be fooled by the crowds - it was no airshow! I remember my mate and myself needed a police escort down the road to get to the gate and ultimately the Tower - 'Joe Public' certainly turned up in large numbers.
I'm damned if I know the reason why it came now...
Anybody out there remember why it visited Fairford & Stansted?
Arthur
Canon PowerShot SX40HS - It's not what you've got - it's what you do with it!
-
- Posts: 84
- Joined: Thu 17 Sep 2009, 9:34 am
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Arthur Tee wrote:jonah626 wrote:Excuse my ignorance - but what was it doing at Fairford?
I'm damned if I know the reason why it came now...
Anybody out there remember why it visited Fairford & Stansted?
Arthur
Fairford,with a 10,000ft long runway was earmarked as one of the Shuttle's future divert base's.
Graham
-
- UKAR Supporter
- Posts: 1002
- Joined: Sun 31 Aug 2008, 10:49 pm
- Location: Just east of a large airport in West London
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Believe it was en route to the Paris Airshow
p
p
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
parsley wrote:Believe it was en route to the Paris Airshow
p
Quite correct and it routed back via Stansted after the show for another 'photocall'.
Adrian
- nigelblake
- Posts: 2548
- Joined: Mon 01 Sep 2008, 4:10 am
- Location: Bedfordshire
- Contact:
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
I went to see it at Stansted, couldn't get time of work so ended up photographing it about mid-night, it shimmered in the light of many flashguns!
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
I recall seeing the shuttle over Paris on a school trip, I had forgotten it was piggybacking on a 747 though until these photos were posted.
Rich
Rich
- flybynight
- Posts: 460
- Joined: Sun 31 Aug 2008, 8:43 pm
- Location: Horley
- Contact:
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Arthur Tee wrote:I'm damned if I know the reason why it came now...
Anybody out there remember why it visited Fairford & Stansted?
Arthur
this BBC video report might help
25 years topic on the old forum
aviationjournal.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flybynight_airshows/
Taking it with a Bridge - Fuji HS50 EXR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flybynight_airshows/
Taking it with a Bridge - Fuji HS50 EXR
- Arthur Tee
- Posts: 1169
- Joined: Mon 15 Sep 2008, 12:42 pm
- Location: Shawbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
flybynight wrote:Arthur Tee wrote:I'm damned if I know the reason why it came now...
Anybody out there remember why it visited Fairford & Stansted?
Arthur
this BBC video report might help
25 years topic on the old forum
All - thanks for the replies. Nice to know that I've stirred a few memories!
If the weather is naff this weekend (well it is a Bank Holiday) - I'll dig deeper into that 'reject box' and see what other delights I can serve up!
Arthur
Canon PowerShot SX40HS - It's not what you've got - it's what you do with it!
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Hi all,
Thanks for replies.
Wow! That would have been awesome to see..... am very jealous of the crowds that were there...
jonah
Thanks for replies.
Wow! That would have been awesome to see..... am very jealous of the crowds that were there...
jonah
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Another awe-insiring sight, that i imagine with the planned shuttle retirement will be sadly a thing of the past, thanks for posting.
-
- Posts: 967
- Joined: Mon 01 Sep 2008, 8:02 am
- Location: Seaford,East Sussex
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
I was in the crowd at Stanstead when it stopped on the way back from Paris.As can be seen from the video clip the traffic on the M11 was a bit of a problem!!
John
John
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
The pair put in an appearance at Manchester too - flypast only, but a fantastic sight all the same...
Cheers for jogging the old memory banks!!
Mike
Cheers for jogging the old memory banks!!
Mike
-
- Posts: 221
- Joined: Tue 14 Oct 2008, 9:14 pm
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
It visited us while I was on flying training in the states in the same year - I thought our T38s were big, going up the ladder, until the shuttle combo turned up:
- Arthur Tee
- Posts: 1169
- Joined: Mon 15 Sep 2008, 12:42 pm
- Location: Shawbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983
Two other aircraft photograped on the day that the shuttle arrived were...
KC-135A 60-0314
and
HH5-53C 69-5784 of 67th ARRS
Arthur
KC-135A 60-0314
and
HH5-53C 69-5784 of 67th ARRS
Arthur
Canon PowerShot SX40HS - It's not what you've got - it's what you do with it!