F-111 heaven - Upper Heyford July 89

[trend71uk]

Thought I'd put up a few scans of a greatly missed type from a much missed airfield.
Back in the Day when IAT took 3 days for the arrivals to fill up the airfield , myself and my uncle Jeremy used to make a week of it .
These pics were from our first IAT camping trip and although Wednesday to Sunday were at Fairford .the Tuesday was spent at Upper Heyford ,arriving there on Monday evening via Abingdon and a few other places .
Having never been to UH before we wern't too sure what to expect, but after having a close encounter with an F-111 on finals on Monday evening we knew we were in for a ggod day on Tuesday !
On Tuesday morning we we woken by the sound of multiple TF-30 engines at 7 am.
Talk about lucky , there was some sort of exercise on and the taxiways soon filled up with F-111s for a mass departure . 5 EF-111s departed one after another along with 20+ F-111Es . This set the trend for the rest of the day with flying continuing into the late evening . I remember sitting outside the 3 horseshoes pub watching swingers recover as it was getting dark. I logged 52 different F-111s that day including 9 Ravens. Probably one of my most memorable spotting days out.
Anyway enough waffle ,here are some pics from that day .There are others I could post too if you don't get bored to tears with looking at this lot !
Cheers, Mark


01-F-111E 68-011 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


02-EF-111A 66-023 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


03-F-111E 68-056 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


04-F-111E 68-020 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


05-F-111E 68-041 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


06-EF-111A 67-032 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


07-F-111E 68-041 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


08-EF-111A 66-031 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


09-F-111E 68-020 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


10-F-111E 68-072 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


11-EF-111A 66-023 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


12-F-111E 68-... by mark1stevens, on Flickr


13-F-111E 68-071 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


14-EF-111A 66-057 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


15-F-111E 68-065 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


16-F-111E 68-007 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


17-F-111s by mark1stevens, on Flickr


18-F-111E 68-076 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


19-EF-111A 66-055 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


20-F-111E 68-075 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


21-F-111E 68-067 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


22-F-111E 68-036 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


23-EF-111A 66-031 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


24-F-111E 68-002 by mark1stevens, on Flickr


25-F-111E 68-013 by mark1stevens, on Flickr

[raiford]

fantastic photos and great to see them, I miss the F-111's from Upper Heyford so much, and that number you described starting up around 7am was the norm every day over Worcester, singles, pairs, three ships, four ships, you could count over 20 in a morning heading north west, late afternoon recoveries heading south east and more outbounds heading north west again in the evening, we had it all over here from around 7am to late night, night flying was almost daily, they were absolutely tremendous times for military plane sightings, and shows!

[Tim Laurence]

they were absolutely tremendous times for military plane sightings, and shows!

Agreed and well said.

Thanks for sharing these images, there are a lot of good memories.

Tim

[RoverDriver]

.

[swingy]

Awesome thanks for posting. Great images of a great aircraft.

[ciaranchef]

Brilliant, beautiful set, great aircraft, love the head-on shots..Ciaran

[Ramp Rat]

Great set of scans Mark, certainly brings back memories of a much missed type.

With so many great shots can I suggest that it might be worth running them through some sort of noise reduction software such as 'Neat Image' as it will make them look even better.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Inthrustwetrust]

A great set, thanks for sharing.

During the last 2 years of UH I spent 2-3 days ar the west end of the runway from around 10.00 until 4'ish watching these beasts and taking poor shots of them.

I loved the friendliness off the crews with waves from them before 'buttoning up' after leaving the "last chance" check area.

Saw them practice the 3 ship for Mildehall with a line abreast differing wing geometry on all 3 followed by a 4th rolling behind them.

I also have fond memories of visitors lunch stopping toonincluding one day 3 German f4's, plus the seemingly endless processions of C-141 star lifters during the first gulf war build up.

All to the accidental last 111 out of Heyford over my house low level 12 miles from UH, on it's way Stateside.

I could go on but I won't bore you all.

Great times though

Cheers
Dave

[Paultojo]

Fantastic set

[Maurits]

Wonderful shots! What a great place was UH ...

Regards,

Maurits

[Buccaneer]

Amazing thread and pics..........................

[F-86]

Wonderful shots! What a great place was UH ...

Regards,

Maurits

Both the F-111 bases were great, Eagles maybe nice aircraft but they aren't a patch on the mighty Swingers.

Great set, thanks for taking the time and effort to post them. And please do add some more if you have any.

[Rory76]

really miss the Vark, one of my all time fave types

[wezgulf3]

Absolute cracking Set of shots and what an alarm call you had that day!! I stood on the centreline on the Runway a few years ago and just wished i had been around a few years earlier!!

Now lets hope Sheldon Cooper can build that time machine!

Wes..

[paulb1973]

On show days looking north across the UH runway - that 'HAS farm' seemed to go on forever, it looked huge. And on the south side, the hardened shelters seemed to be placed haphazardly in odd corners. I recall approaching the base by car from the west many times; certainly positioned on a plateau with quite a steep drop at that end of the base. Such a shame operations ended after 1993 (it won't be that long before we mark 20 years since the last F-111 departed, which seems astonishing).

[DanBeeden]

Amazing shots and a great thread!

Shot 17 is my fave and sums up what UH was all about as far as I'm concerned. A long line-up of Varks with some Ravens following up behind. Waves from the crew as they waited with canopies open. Wonderful days. Dad and I spent many days there between 1988 and 1992 and I wish like 'ell we'd been shooting slides at the time.

At the western end holding point, I took some close up prints of the crew waving from 68-0026 one afternoon. They came out ok so I sent them off to the pilot (I was a just whipper-snapper back then) and he wrote back with a selection of stunning air-to-air shots, squadron patches and tickets to the show that year!

Really enjoyed looking at these - and I'd love to see some more - Sparkvarks especially

[Maisie]

Top quality, Love the head on and the other head on with all the other F-111's behind it!

[Cimmerian]

What a great selection of aircraft. Could we have some please?

[rob68]

we took a diversion on the way home recently on the way back to Staffordshire through Heyford.................keep the memories, dont go back its a cold place now

[stranexuk]

1993....was it really that long ago!? I'm feeling old now!

Great set and certainly brings back some memories of my early days out as a teenager collecting numbers and (unfortunatley now looking back) not taking too many pics

The photo opportunities at the Eastern end were unsurpassed although I can never recall more than 2-3 cars there whenever I visited....how times change!

My overridding memory was taking a sickie from school, driving up with a mate in his old Cortina in pouring rain and then being roped in to push him out of the verge when he got stuck....much wheel spinning and mud splattered me later we eventually got a tow from the local farmer...but I digress!!

[NeilH68]

Great set of a cool aircraft, they are missed, along with most others from that era...

[st24]

Excellent stuff, taxiway especially yummy... kicking myself that I never did much "spotting" at UH even though it was my nearest front line base. Getting there was a bit crap though, then they build that lovely M40 that could take me almost doorstep to doorstep and they close the place.....

[jwarnerxh558]

this is such a great set, ive looked a few times now and keep coming back for more!! i wish they were still around so i could see them! i always say im 20 years too young!

[RAFUHHC]

Gotta love a Vark!

Great set of photos.

[shaggie]

Great set of images Mark