Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

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Arthur Tee
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Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by Arthur Tee »

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! :grin:

20th May 1983

Shuttle Enterprise and Boeing 747 NASA 905 as viewed from the Tower balcony!

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Arthur
Canon PowerShot SX40HS - It's not what you've got - it's what you do with it!

coanda
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by coanda »

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!

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habu21
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by habu21 »

Looks like you had the best seat in the house....superb, thanks for posting.

graham luxton
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by graham luxton »

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

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Rob666
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by Rob666 »

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 :clap:

jonah626
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by jonah626 »

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

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vader34
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by vader34 »

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

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Arthur Tee
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by Arthur Tee »

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!

graham luxton
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by graham luxton »

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

parsley
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by parsley »

Believe it was en route to the Paris Airshow

p

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AMB
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by AMB »

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

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nigelblake
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by nigelblake »

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!

Image

SW man
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by SW man »

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

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flybynight
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by flybynight »

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

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Arthur Tee
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by Arthur Tee »

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!

jonah626
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by jonah626 »

Hi all,

Thanks for replies.

Wow! That would have been awesome to see..... am very jealous of the crowds that were there... :drool:

jonah

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kc10
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by kc10 »

Another awe-insiring sight, that i imagine with the planned shuttle retirement will be sadly a thing of the past, thanks for posting.

lambo17841
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by lambo17841 »

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

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hoppie
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by hoppie »

The pair put in an appearance at Manchester too - flypast only, but a fantastic sight all the same...

Image

Cheers for jogging the old memory banks!!

Mike

stickshaker
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by stickshaker »

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:

Image

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Arthur Tee
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Re: Fairford - Space Shuttle & 747 - 1983

Post by Arthur Tee »

Two other aircraft photograped on the day that the shuttle arrived were...

KC-135A 60-0314

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and

HH5-53C 69-5784 of 67th ARRS

Image

Arthur
Canon PowerShot SX40HS - It's not what you've got - it's what you do with it!

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