Ramsbury Airfield

We took a small detour today from a journey west along the M4 to visit Ramsbury Airfield. It was opened in 1942 and used by both RAF and USAAF during the course of WWII mainly in a transport capacity and this included, early in the morning of 6th June 1944 52 C47s with gliders in tow setting off for Normandy carrying 82nd airborne division in support of D-Day. Three months later the 101st airborne were carried from Ramsbury in support of Operation Market Garden.

Following USAAF operations the airfield was returned to the RAF in June 1945 and closed the following year thereafter returning to agricultural use. No war time buildings remain although it is possible to establish where the runways and some of the perimeter tracks once were. A memorial has been erected at the intersection of the main and a secondary runway with an information board on a perimeter track and an RAF centenary memorial in adjacent woodland. A Spitfire passing overhead was a bonus that caught me by surprise!

                                                                 

Battle of Britain Day

September 15th is designated Battle of Britain Day. In commemoration of the brave pilots who flew back in 1940 here is the balbo from rhe 2021 BoB show at Duxford.

Mosquito progress

I saw Mosquito TE910 in the museum at Omaka a couple of years ago. At that time it was already in ground running condition but I am pleased to hear that the braking system is now restored and in the last day or so the Mosquito has been able to taxi under its own power for the first time since the 1950s. Well done all involved.

Repaint underway

This Lockheed Super Constellation that I saw at the Seattle Museum of Flight back in 2019 is having a spruce up. It will stay in TWA colours once complete.

The 'Maude' P40

The 'Maude' P40 is a Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk1A originally built as a P40E Warhawk. It has acquired its name because the aircraft was was bought by George Maude in 1946 for the princely sum of $50 from the RCAF and floated on a raft to his family home thus saving it for posterity. More recently the aircraft has been in Wisconsin and some restoration undertaken to return it to the skies. It has now arrived with ARCO at Duxford after being put up for sale through Platinum Fighters and the restoration will continue. The aircraft is considered to be one of the most original P40s in existence annd I was lucky enough to see it in the care of the Erickson Collection in Oregon in 2019.

Saved

This Lockheed Electra, which I caught around three years ago was the last aircraft remaining at the now closed coventry airport. It has been acquired by Buffalo Airways of Canada as they have Electras in their fleet. It will be dismantled and moved to a new location where the plan is that time expired parts on the Buffalo aircraft will be swapped and the Electra will be placed on display repainted in Buffalo colours.

Ted Girdler

Ted Girdler was the founder of TG Aviation, a successful flight school that operated out of Manston and I used to regularly see their red Steerman over the back of my garden. The business was forced to move when Anne Gloag came along and closed Manston in 2014 and it relocated to Lydd before closing permanently in 2021.

Ted Girdler was a former Red Arrows pilot and used to display an L29 Delfin at air shows and, tragically, lost his life doing so in a crash at Eastbourne in 2000.

The memorial garden at Manston has a plaque in his owner along with a suitably painted memorial bench.

'Elizabeth'

Overflying the garden this afternoon was Aero Legends Spitfire TrIX 'Elizabeth'.

Coastguard again

Approaching Manston this afternoon

Manston Spitfire museum

Had lunch in the museum cafe today which was a good excuse to pop into the adjoining museum. Not much had changed since I last looked in. The Spitfire and Hurricane looked excellent as usual but an addition was the modified nose section of a B25 used in filming of The Battle of Britain film.

P40 down

The Fighter Collection have reported that their P40C suffered an engine issue last Friday whilst on a maintenance flight out of Duxford resulting in a wheels up landing in a rural area away from the airfield. Pleased to hear that the pilot was fine and it seems the aircraft has been dismantled and returned to the TFC hangar. Hopefully damage isn't too bad.

These pictures from a couple of years or so back.

Fw 200

The Focke Wulf Fw200 was originally intended to be an airliner but with the advent of war it was developed as a reconnaissance and maritime patrol aircraft initially being successful in the Battle of the Atlantic. However, mounting combat losses resulted in it largely being used in a transport role.

There is only one surviving aircraft which was rebuilt from a plane recovered from a Norwegian fjord.

This is a 1/72 Revell kit built from the box. Decals weren't great but the kit is probably a few years old. Swastikas for the tail came from the spares box