North Weald Diary 2020

Photos of warbirds, classic jets and museum visits
Post Reply
User avatar
LN Strike Eagle
UKAR Staff
Posts: 11191
Joined: Mon 21 Jul 2008, 3:29 pm

North Weald Diary 2020

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

First visit of the year - took a punt on the nice weather and was rewarded with the Mustang on a flight to Kemble. Jet Provost G-BKOU was also up late afternoon, after a couple of failed starts earlier in the day.

Surprised at the amount of changes on the airfield since my last visit in November (for the Aero Legends Remembrance Sunday flights): the GA contingent at the Squadron has now been relocated to the southern hard standing, where the scale modellers used to fly. A fence has been erected here, which now rules out the best angle for ground shots of the Gnats, and the northern end of the airfield has been turned into a customs area for HGVs post-Brexit. :facepalm:

Should note that the JP was on the Squadron side of the airfield too - I'm not sure if this is a permanent change for jet operations, because the taxiway outside Wings Cafe was probably my favourite spot on the whole airfield for photos. If the jets are operating from the other side, they're all going to be backlit from the car park/viewing, although with the Squadron becoming members-only access there's no guarantee that those vantage points will even remain. It's getting very cluttered on the airfield now, and the photo spots are quickly disappearing, with more new buildings and developments still to come. :sad:

Anyway, the light on the Mustang was pretty much on the nose during the start-up:

Image

It was more favourable as he returned late-afternoon:

Image

Image

And a couple more from the phone just before the Mustang was hangared:

Image

Image

Thanks once again to Peter and the Hangar 11 crew for the warm welcome and refreshments. :smile:
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

Ryan.
Posts: 412
Joined: Tue 24 Nov 2015, 1:30 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by Ryan. »

Beautiful Mustang. Particularly like the shot of it taxing.

User avatar
LN Strike Eagle
UKAR Staff
Posts: 11191
Joined: Mon 21 Jul 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

Sunday March 1st

The Gnats had some flying pencilled in for this weekend. I had to miss yesterday's three flights, but I did pop along for today's single sortie. The battle to find clutter-free photos gets harder and harder though, with the Air Ambulance's new facility now under construction. I'm considering a Duxford membership instead for this summer's flying season tbh.

The new arrangement for the flying club seems rather impractical too, as now the majority of the aircraft movements are using the same routes as the traffic to/from the cafes etc. An accident waiting to happen IMO. If I were in charge, I'd get a new taxiway installed to directly link the flying club to the (now closed) cross-runway and keep them well away from the cars.

Image

Image

Image

Image

And to illustrate the changing scenery...

Image
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

User avatar
vulcanshammer
Posts: 403
Joined: Thu 11 May 2017, 4:18 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by vulcanshammer »

Very nice! I for one do hope you do carry on making visits to NW as it's always nice to see any movement.
The sooner the world runs out of cotton wool the better

User avatar
LN Strike Eagle
UKAR Staff
Posts: 11191
Joined: Mon 21 Jul 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

It wouldn’t be at the expense of NW. I’ll continue to visit for as long as we’re allowed to - there’s still stuff to look forward to this year, like Peter Teichman’s new Spitfire and two Gnats that are getting closer to flying again.
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

User avatar
vulcanshammer
Posts: 403
Joined: Thu 11 May 2017, 4:18 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by vulcanshammer »

Ah excellent, just you used the word 'instead' which made me think you were considering curtailing your NW visits. Glad to hear that's not the case! :)
The sooner the world runs out of cotton wool the better

User avatar
LN Strike Eagle
UKAR Staff
Posts: 11191
Joined: Mon 21 Jul 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

First visit since lockdown at the weekend, as the Huey was flying for the Shuttleworth show.

Image

Image

Image

Nothing much has been happening - there are a couple of repainted Scout helicopters kicking around, but I'm yet to see either. Hangar 11 will shortly have their new Russian Spitfire flying, so I'm very much looking forward to that.
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

User avatar
LN Strike Eagle
UKAR Staff
Posts: 11191
Joined: Mon 21 Jul 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

Second lockdown is over so the airfield is open to the public again - just nice to be out in the sun with the camera really. The Spitfire XI was out for a local flight this afternoon, and the low winter sunlight nicely illuminated the original under-wing camera blisters that were added to the airframe earlier this year. The winter sun does tend to mess with the colour of the aircraft in photos though?

Image

Image

Image

The Air Ambulance was in and out as usual, so took the opportunity to grab some shots in the light while we still can - although the new hangar (which looks nearly finished) isn't far from the old one, the aircraft probably won't fly so closely to the cafe in future as the hard standing is located on the far side of the new building.

Image

The only other thing of note were the overflights from 747s turning over Harlow to begin their approaches to Stansted's RWY04, this Dubai Air Wing example the most interesting (excuse the heavy crop).

Image
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"

User avatar
TEXANTOMCAT
Posts: 357
Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm

Re: North Weald Diary 2020

Post by TEXANTOMCAT »

Lovely thanks for sharing 👍

Post Reply