Hi folks
I have previously shared these photos before on the old board, but in realising it has been ten years since I scanned them I think there may be a new audience that might like to see them now.
The recent stalled attempt to bring Church Fenton back onto the airshow calendar brought the old SSAFA events back to mind, and hence drove me to root out these scans.
Being a County Durham lad by birth, Church Fenton was one of our closest shows - and a very good little show it was too. Being in support of SSAFA it had equal pull to all three armed services, was well supported by our allies and always had a choice selection of civil/historic acts too.
1983 was my first visit. I remember the Jordanian F-5E display like it was yesterday.
1984 skipped, due to its early June slot being right in the middle of my o-levels (remember them?) so 1985 is next
1986
1987. A rare bad weather year, but memorable for an appearance by the first Blenheim restoration which managed a very small number of displays before coming to grief on Denham golf course
probably the last year of the VC-10 display
a Harrier in the rain is always good, no matter how dodgy the pic
1988, and back to sunshine
shine on you crazy diamond..
the Pussers Pair were effectively half of the Sharks, and their short lived successors
1989
and finally, the present and future for RAF Church Fenton as they were in 1989
I moved away from the North East in 89, and never returned to Church Fenton, although the show carried on into the 90s. Looking at these pics, its all pretty standard 80's fayre, but if nothing else these shots illustrate that it wasn't the just the big events and bases that pulled a good military show together.
Good luck to the folks trying to pull an event back together there, all the best for 2017.
RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
- Wrexham Mackem
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Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
You took some nice stuff in that set, well scanned also. BTW what did you use to scan the shots?. I used to travel across from the Guisborough area to the show and it always
had a few surprises. Happy days...
had a few surprises. Happy days...
Don't say something crass, to hide your envy. Just give credit, when its applicable...
- Wrexham Mackem
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Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Thanks Jonny, happy days indeed. As I recall, the show was sponsored by the Yorkshire Evening News, and didn't get much general publicity outside of that, otherwise I'm sure I'd have a history going back to the 70's to share. It was only when I started buying aircraft magazines and finding there was listings of air shows in there that I realised it existed, and that in fact there were so many in general.
The slides were scanned with a flatbed Epson scanner-printer combo, that I no longer possess, about ten years ago. I think I was on Photoshop Elements 2 at the time They could be so much better with a film scanner, a job I've intended to tackle for the last ten years, I'll get round to it one day. I clearly didn't know how to correct a colour cast when I scanned some of these
The slides were scanned with a flatbed Epson scanner-printer combo, that I no longer possess, about ten years ago. I think I was on Photoshop Elements 2 at the time They could be so much better with a film scanner, a job I've intended to tackle for the last ten years, I'll get round to it one day. I clearly didn't know how to correct a colour cast when I scanned some of these
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Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Nice photos. Shows what some of the lesser known shows were like back in the 80's. Nowadays you only get that sort of line up at a couple of shows, sad really
Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Hi Wrexham Mackem,
Many thanks mate for your return reply, with some interesting answers. The Epsom scanner seems to have done the slides/negatives with a better than average job for a flatbed type
scanner that is a non dedicated film machine. Was it a 500 or600?Either way I hope you do find a proper machine, the results will be eagerly awaited for viewing. Good luck...JB
Many thanks mate for your return reply, with some interesting answers. The Epsom scanner seems to have done the slides/negatives with a better than average job for a flatbed type
scanner that is a non dedicated film machine. Was it a 500 or600?Either way I hope you do find a proper machine, the results will be eagerly awaited for viewing. Good luck...JB
Don't say something crass, to hide your envy. Just give credit, when its applicable...
- LN Strike Eagle
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Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Wrexham Mackem wrote:
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"
Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
great scans there, I had some medium format slides done recently by https://piciscan.co.uk// and they turned out great.........
check these from Valley in 1985 on my flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/35699306@ ... 4283422625
may be worth you having a look and see ........
check these from Valley in 1985 on my flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/35699306@ ... 4283422625
may be worth you having a look and see ........
Sony A700, A550, , Minolta 135, 500, Sigma 10-20, Sony 18-70, 50,70-300GSSM,Tamron 17-50,90mm
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Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Very nice, thanks for posting. Was lucky enough to be around to see some of those types at shows.
That Harrier take-off is terrific. Happy days indeed.
That Harrier take-off is terrific. Happy days indeed.
- Wrexham Mackem
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Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Crikey!!
That's not the way to make your debut for sure. That was '83?
Great post Smudges, I didn't see that one coming
That's not the way to make your debut for sure. That was '83?
Great post Smudges, I didn't see that one coming
Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Halcyon days very nicely caught Nige...
You caaan't trust the system... Maaan!
Re: RAF Church Fenton: SSAFA shows of the 80's
Should have been born earlier
Great stuff!
Great stuff!
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