Old Farnborough Aircraft

[flyingtrack]

Herewith a 3 up formation over Basingstoke, 1st October 1973.
Dominie T1 XS738, Hastings C2 WD480 and Comet C4 XX944 (G-APDP of Dan Air)



Air Pictorial January 1974

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SBAC Show 1972: 3 x Lynx XW838,XX469 and XX153.



Air Pictorial February 1973 cover

[flyingtrack]

Here's a story from WWII.

Under Days to Remember by "MERLIN" March 1973

Dogfight Treble

Although it would only be a month or two before we were in the R.A.F., we were still at school and this came in handy for it enabled us legitimately to use what was probably our most vital piece of equipment for the day in question—a school cap. You see, in days of war the average policeman, and even the service policeman, looked on a schoolboy as an object of light amusement and if one of these objects were found sculling around a prohibited area like an aerodrome, it was simply to be despatched with a cuff round the ears and a stream of withering invective. To pull a schoolboy into the guardroom when one was supposed to be catching spies was likely to incur the displeasure of one’s sergeant—a happening not lightly undertaken.
So on 30th July 1942 the pair of us donned our school caps, put a packed lunch in our O.T.C. (Cadet Corps) packs and entrained. At Woking we changed to the “Slow to Basingstoke”, a steam train headed by a tired old T14 “Paddlebox” which clanked wearily to Brookwood and then on to Farnborough. We got out and set off on foot on a rather dull, overcast morning—up the Farnborough Road, a glance in through the main gate of R.A.E. where we could see two camouflaged Wellington fins beyond the control tower, and on up to the Queen’s Hotel where we dived to the right down the road to the golf course.
A bend in the road revealed the dispersal by Dingley Dell and before our eyes were the usual two Hudsons T9309, T9423, a Hampden P1169 and, most interesting, two Mosquito IVs of which we could only see one serial, DK286. The Mosquito was still on the secret list and no pictures had been published of it, so we were most intrigued at our first close look. We moved on.
For the day we had become “members” of the golf club and skirted round the edge of the aerodrome, following the rolls of barbed wire. From the spinney we looked up at Liberator II AL523 towering over us. Then, as we walked into the open down past what is now Southern Squadron Dispersal, we passed, respectively, two Whitley V’s (Z6649 was one of them), a soot-black Beaufighter IF X7521, the Heinkel He 111 of KG 26 with German two-green camouflage on top, yellow underneath and no serial (it was actually AW177), and Typhoon IA R7576.
We carried on, on to Laffan’s Plain and round to where the workmen were extending the end of the runway, found a comfortable bush to lean against and settled down for the day. The workmen, and the occasional S.P., smiled and nodded to us and we returned the compliment—a happy arrangement! We now had a good view of all that landed and took off.
Hopes ran high.
Up in the quivering distance by the control tower we could see those two Wellingtons, Mk. V or VI; they were there every time we came and never seemed to fly, so which ones they were we never found out. The dull overcast was being burned off by the summer sun so hopes ran high.
The first aircraft ploughing down the runway had a familiar profile—a Fairey Battle. It had the black and yellow stripes of a target tug and turned out to be L5598, one of the regulars at Farnborough. A Magister came in over the hangars at the other end and turned off long before coming near us, but now we could see three aeroplanes taxiing out from by “A” Shed. The first one roared down towards us and was Mustang I AG349, brown, green camouflage and yellow underneath, but our eyes had turned to the second aircraft which had two engines and a tricycle undercarriage (an odd sight in those days). It couldn’t be? Yes, it was, a Lightning! As it climbed up past us we saw that it was a U.S. Army one, serial 17561. Well, that was quite something. We found out later that it was from No. 1 (Fighter) Group at Goxhill and flown by the Group Commander, Colonel John Stone. It climbed away to the south, following the Mustang.
But what was this third aircraft, roaring down the runway at high speed? At first it looked like a Typhoon but no, it had a radial engine. Good gracious! It was nothing less than a Focke-Wulf 190, just like the provisional silhouettes in the Aeroplane Spotter. We must have captured one intact. Hey, we must get its number! As it tore past us it looked like MP492; then it climbed away, brown and green camouflage and yellow underneath.
It took us some minutes to get over our surprise and all seemed quiet at the airfield until these three were spied, bearing down on us. They started to dogfight over the airfield, in and out, tail-chasing, zooming up and then diving down on each other. It was fascinating to watch these three up-to-the-minute fighters being pitted one against the other. It is believed that the FW 190 was being flown by W/Cdr. H. J. Wilson but no one seems to know who was flying the Mustang. It was pretty clear that the big, heavy P-38F Lightning was rather out in the cold in the contest and the Focke-Wulf could out climb any of them—a menacingly magnificent performance. This continued for quite a while, everybody including the workmen stopping to look at this delightful spectacle. Then it was all over, throttles came back, under carriages popped out and they followed each other down the runway. We now had a look at the 190 close to (MP499 it was, not 492). It was one of those aircraft that “looked right”—quite terrific.
After that the rest of the morning’s performance paled into insignificance. Even Airacobra AH572 seemed somewhat commonplace. We munched our lunch contentedly for the sun had now come out and it was beautifully warm. A Whitley trundled out and took off—nothing unusual but hold on, it’s got code letters. As it trundled by we saw it was BD504, “NF:F”; of more than passing interest because it belonged to No. 138 Squadron, one of the spy-dropping squadrons. No doubt it was on its way up to Tempsford where No. 138 was based.
The afternoon brought more of interest but nothing to capture the thrill of that morning’s dogfight. The trio took off again and Typhoon R7576 was with them but if they had another battle it was out of sight of the airfield. No fewer than thirty- six types were seen that afternoon, among them such rarities as Chesapeake AL943 and rocket-Hurricane Z4993. A Sunderland was spied sailing along westwards, probably following the A30 from Short’s at Rochester down to Mount Batten, Plymouth.
The Mosquito DK286 flew that afternoon—another joy to us, with its throaty Merlins and its dashing lines making quite an impression and certainly a contrast in speed and elegance to Whitley Z6649 which was towing Hotspur BV200. The fighters returned, the afternoon drew on and our youthful appetites at length decreed that it was time we set off for home, having long since emptied our packs.
As we made the long, hot tramp right round the golf course, up to the Queen’s and then down to the station, we saw other aircraft which we wished we had stayed for: a Martlet, a Warwick I and a Swordfish. As we passed by the main gate Liberator AL523 swished back in over our heads, having taken off earlier that afternoon.
Now the long wait on Farnborough’s platform, the slow journey back home but minds full of a memorable day’s spotting and a notebook with some fascinating new serial numbers in it.

[flyingtrack]

Yet another old picture:



March 1973 Air Pictorial

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I caught 17980 leaking in 1986



No matter which aspect you took, this was a mean aeroplane.

[flyingtrack]

Here's a snap of 76-0174 4th B-1A prototype at SBAC - 11th September 1982. Elsewhere on the Web there is an account of fixing the blown hydraulic pump on landing.

[Buster the Bear]

I watched one night on radar, an SR-71 do a Go-Around at Mildenhall (not that we knew it was an SR-71..wink...wink). It's radius of turn was rather wide! Thankfully it occurred during the early hours whilst the TMA was silent!