Shackleton engine run

 Avro Shackleton WR963 is a 'live' aircraft. Currently at Coventry airport but slated for a move to Elvington there is an ambitious aim to restore the aircraft to flight. Whether this is possible I am not sure but for the present there are special event days when all four griffon engines are run up. We were in the general area so made the most of the opportunity to catch a scheduled engine run today and quite an impressive sight and sound it was. The engines were run for a good while and not just on idle either. To coin a phrase it was 'awesome'

Also on site is Nimrod XV232 which is also a live aircraft and has its own engine run event days. Since Coventry airport is being built on this aircraft is also scheduled to find a new home.

The hangar across the way was also briefly, slightly opened giving a quick glimpse of the resident Dakota and I grabbed a couple of shots of derelict looking airframes across the way.

Resurrection Shuffle

I have been making model kits for a long time now and so have a reasonable collection of spares, being unused bits or parts from damaged kits etc. Searching through the other day I realised I had most of  Fokker Dr1, albeit looking pretty sorry for itself. It's a kit I made as kid. I decided to see if I could put it back together.

I had to fabricate struts as only one remained. The engine is part of a Sopwith Pup, the prop is a reshaped item from a Pup and one machine gun came from a Sopwith Camel. I had a spare set of decals although a bit yellowed with age.

Not a work of art or award winner by any stretch of the imagination but it does now look like a Dr1 again.

P38F Lightning

This Lockheed Lightning was bought for me by a school friend when I was probably 12 or 13 so I have it a long time. As a consequence it suffered a bit with lost undercarriage, missing cannons and stuff. However, a little while back Ebay provided some left over bits for the same model being sold as spares. So I bought them and gave the old kit a bit of a make over with some cobbled together decals from the spares box.

Up and running !

The TFC Gladiator pictured in my Duxford post below is running again. The engine was being worked on when I was there and has since been run up successfully. Hopefully a test flight will soon follow. The aircraft has not flown in over 5 years following engine issues on a trip to a French air show.

Mautby Anti Aircraft Battery

This battery is a little west of Caister in Norfolk and was built, probably in late 1943, to protect the port of Gt Yarmouth. It is quite a rare survivor as there are very few such gun emplacements remaining and this is one of the most complete four gun emplacement batteries still extant. It also has an intact command centre and, as a result of its completeness, it is a scheduled monument with Historic England.

Access to the site is down a country lane and a narrow concrete track and it helps if you have someone to stay with the car when you abandon it on the edge of a field! A short walk along a public footpath reaches some woodland next to a farm field and the gun emplacement is within the trees. A slightly different aspect to my aircraft hobby and here are some images of what remains.

RAF Wendling

Wendling Airfield, 4 miles from East Dereham, was built in 1942 and handed to the United States Army Air Force. It was a heavy bomber field of the 8th air Force and the most northerly USAAF airfield of the 8th. The aircraft operated were B-24 Liberators. The last combat mission was flown on 25th April 1945.

At the end of the war the airfield passed to RAF Maintenance Command and became a stand by field before closing in 1961 and being sold off in 1964 after which it returned to agriculture.

Little of the airfield remains today and access is difficult although the line of the main runway is quite evident due to a tree line and rows of turkey sheds. A memorial has been erected close to the airfield.

Bristol Blenheim V5455

 This Blenheim MKIV, which had previously taken part in the first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne, departed from West Raynham for a raid on Germany on 9th June 1942. It suffered an engine failure and jettisoned the bomb load but sadly crashed at Brisley whilst trying to turn back to base and all three crew were lost. This memorial was erected in 2000.

Saxthorpe Airfiled

Saxthorpe in Norfolk, a little south of Holt, was a Home Defence landing ground in WWI that opened in 1916. It was home to 51 squadron who were operating Avro 504ks and Sopwith Camels from early 1918.

The airfield closed in 1919 and since it was only ever a grass field there is no longer any sign of its existence save the memorial at nearby St Andrews church.

RAF Trimingham

RAF Trimingham or RRH (Remote Radar Head) Trimingham is a radar station on the Norfolk coast a little south of Cromer. The station was originally established by the Bristish Army in 1942 before passing to the Air Ministry the following year. Apart from being used to detect German E-boats and low flying aircraft it also served as an Oboe station which sent signals out to help navigation of RAF aircraft on bombing raids. The site was deactivated for a while after WWII but reactivated in 1949 until being mothballed in 1965 and the site sold off in 1981.However, in the late 1980s the RAF reacquired the site and a new radar system was installed. Last year it was announced that RAF Trimingham would be moved 8 miles to RAF Neatishead due to the threat of coastal erosion and the increased interference experienced by operators from the off-shore wind turbines. The move is scheduled to be completed this year. Here is the site currently which includes derelict buildings across the road from the main site presumably dating back to WWII.