RAF Cranwell

 Cranwell, in Lincolnshire, is home to the RAF College which trains the RAF's officers and aircrew. The college was opened back in 1919 but training commenced here in 1916 with the RNAS. The associated airfield is still active in a training role and is home to No.3 Flying Training School amongst other units. A couple of former training airframes serve as gate guards. These  are a Jet Provost and a Hawker Siddeley Dominie and as I was passing close by I went for a quick look.

Petlyakov Pe-2

 The Pe-2 was designed as a dive bomber but was also used as a standard bomber, for ground attack and reconnaissance. When introduced in 1941 it was one of the fastest aircraft on the Eastern Front.

This model that I have just completed is an old Airfix kit picked up cheap on ebay. Believed complete said the listing but it turned out to be missing 3 of the 4 engine cowlings so the build was more of a challenge than anticipated!

Queen Elizabeth Class Carriers

A display area at the Fleet Air Arm Museum relates to the new Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth Class carriers. There were two designs submitted. The top picture shows the selected ship with a ski jump ramp and the second picture a more traditional looking carrier with an offset flight deck.

The final choice between the two was based on the Navy, and RAF in fact, electing to go with the F-35B which is the STOVL version of the aircraft as opposed to the F-35C which is launched with catapult assistance when on a carrier.

RNAS Yeovilton

Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton was completed in 1941 after the land had been requisitioned 2 years earlier but was in use and bombed by the Luftwaffe from 1940 and has remained active ever since. The airfield is home to the Royal Navy and British Army. It is currently home to Royal Navy Wildcat HMA2 and Army Air Corps Wildcat AH1 helicopters as well as the Royal Navy's Commando Helicopter Force Merlin HCi3/4/4A and Wildcat AH1 helicopters. The airfield is also home to the Fleet Air Arm museum.

On the move

I gather that Buchon 109 marked up as White 9 has been acquired by the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar and will feature in their flight experience programme from next year. Should be a great experience for anyone doing a tail chase with a Spitfire, whichever aircraft they are in.

Blackburn Skua

The Skua was a twin seat dive bomber/fighter used by the Fleet Air Arm. It had a fairly short active life. It entered service in 1938 and was withdrawn from the front line in 1941 as it was outclassed by axis fighter aircraft. It did however continue in some minor roles, such as target towing, until 1945.

No complete aircraft survive although significant remains are being restored at a museum in Norway. The Fleet Air Arm museum have the significant remains of L2940, recovered from a Norwegian lake back in 1974. The aircraft put down on ice following an engine failure. The crew survived and tried to torch the remains but only the centre section burnt out and when ice thawed the rest sank. The museum have created a diorama of the wreckage as if under water, how it was found.

Fleet air Arm Museum

I have been to the FAA museum a couple of times in the past. The first time was in the mid eighties and the second must have been 15 years or so ago so a return was overdue. Making the most of being on my own as the wingman visited family I set off earlyish this morning for what proved to be a 3 hour drive to the museum. I bought a ticket in advance just as a precaution but it really wasn't necessary.

The museum is situated on the edge of RNAS Yeovilton, split in to 4 display areas with around 40 airframes on display. Apparently the FAA reserve collection is home to around 60 airframes and there are tentative plans afoot for an open day so the public get to see them. That could be interesting but the meantime here is some of what I saw today.

Jet Provost

Picked up in a well known supermarket with a bargain aisle this set me back all of a fiver and is my latest completed model. An Airfix offering it's quite a nice little kit of the British jet trainer that served the RAF from 1955 until 1993.

Today's spotting

A little activity over the garden today. In the blue corner we have a Jet Ranger

In the red corner a Robinson R44

A Coastguard Navajo

and a Piper PA32

Flying Heritage and Combat Armour Museum

This museum, which was my very first port of call when we visited America in 2019, belonged to the late Paul Allen. Paul Allen was co-founder of Microsoft and passed away the year before my visit leaving the future of the museum and collections a little uncertain. I was pleased to see recently that the complete aircraft collection has now been sold to the Wartime Heritage Museum and will remain at Paine Field in Everett, Washington State. The plan is to re-open the museum within the next year and here are a few of the exhibits that will be on show.

Coming soon

 Tickets booked for the Just Jane Fireworks Night next month. Not been for several years. Must wrap up well, it was icy cold last time!