Leuchars Airshow this weekend

[jamiehamy 0]

Hey,

 

Going to this for my first time, and probably the last show there. Anyone else going? Taking the van up and camping tmrw night to save the drive Saturday. Looks out for my wee blue T25 in the car park!

[coullstar 0]

If youve never been you will enjoy it. Ive been loads of times but you do notice the lack of investment in the forces when it comes to displays. Vulcan is worht it though.

[Timbo 0]

I went a couple of years ago. I spent quite a lot of the day staring at the Corrado temperature gauge :S.

[aust 0]

I'm working the airshow this will be my last one due me moving.

[corrado head 0]

I was there last year and there were no fighter jets! I was rather disappointed!

[Yandards 0]

I'm working the airshow this will be my last one due me moving.

 

North or South?

[craigowl 0]

As a boy growing up nearby in Dundee, I went 2 or three times in the early 1960s.

I remember Hawker Hunters, followed by Javelins then Lightnings as the state of the art fighters regularly flying over the city 1955-64.

 

My first place of work, before being detatched, was in the tower at Leuchars when I was 19 in 1964. All conversation had to stop when the Javelins or Lightnings took off. Really nerve-wracking for a youngster if you were on the phone at the time and unfamiliar with the work. The racket was ear-splitting. I concluded that the Lightning, in particular, was "all engine" and everything else was merely add ons.

Before that, whilst at school, the most awesome visit - never to be forgotten - was to the airshow in the early 1960s, when the Cold War was at its height, and our three "V-Bombers" were there. We, the spectators, were cordoned off, only a few tens of metres it seemed, from the aircraft as they took off. Imagine that these days.

The ultimate noise and power came from the Victor as the engines were spooled up - the most incredible sensation and noise of sheer power made the ground tremble - and all your innards! Unforgettable and never to be experienced again, though I spent another 9 years at airfields both civil and military.

 

As a small boy in Leeds in the early 1950s, I looked up to the sky and saw an, at that time unfamiliar large triangular shaped aircraft, flying - probably towards Yeadon. I now know that was the Vulcan. Someone on an aviation forum said the new Vulcan (probably) flew over the Avro factory at Yeadon to honour the workers there. Don't know if that is true, but it sounds likely. Can still remember that exciting "aviation moment" after about 60 years. Oh...and I remember going to a place as an even smaller boy with my father to see a Lancaster that toured the UK in large sections on long trucks and was assembled to show us what we won the war with. A bit triumphalist, but post-austerity Britain was a gloomy place for adults in those days.

Edited September 15, 2012 by craigowl

[jamiehamy 0]

I can't wait to see the Vulcan. I saw her take off from Robin Hood last year, but never seen a full show. My parents told me that I've actually been to Leuchars before when I was wee but I don't remember it. I visited once when I was in the UNi Air Squadron, but it was a quiet day and I was just colelcting peices of uniform.

 

Weather forecast is looking good. Just need to find somewhere to camp - all the sites are full, so will be wild camping. Hopfully find a quiet side road with a layby near the water. Going to try West Sands Road, but I've heard they have no camping signs.

 

---------- Post added at 11:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 AM ----------

 

The pics were taken about 1950 and 1952 in Leeds in Queenswood Drive (we lived in a new prefab) and at The Vesper in Kirkstall.

 

Pics are brilliant, and really clear too!

[craigowl 0]

Wild camping - a man after my own heart.

Good luck - it isnt as easy to find places as it used to be.

Snooty areas like St Andrews and northeast Fife (landed gentry) wont take kindly to "that sort of thing". Plenty of formal camp sites, though. Maybe a farmer will let you camp in one of his fields if you ask nicely and dont tell him you come from a place near Greenock. (Kidding!)

 

---------- Post added at 11:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------

 

As you seem interested in aviation, Jamie, here is link to my flickr site - Lancaster at Prestwick airshow when I worked there.

Some others from shows there too.

Best wishes

Iain

[BILLCOR 1]

"Snooty areas like St Andrews" the cheek of it old boy, what what :grin:

You could be ok at the West Sands Jamie, just watch out for the cars with the steamy windows

Also, the harbour area or there is a small car park at the East Sands, my local is just round the corner, The New Inn which has a live band on tonight :thumbleft:

[jamiehamy 0]

thanks Bill, parked up in a big parking area at West Sands. Had a nice fish supper earlier! Hopefully weather is still good tmrw!

[aust 0]

North or South?

 

South mate moving to Marham. Having to get my Corrado trailered down there, in bits.

[Yandards 0]

South mate moving to Marham. Having to get my Corrado trailered down there, in bits.

 

Ah the fens, not a fan of that location having spent a number of weeks on various courses there over the years.

 

I had to hire a van last time I got posted, they wouldn't take half my spares or the engine - it was on a stand so would have been easy to shove on the lorry!

[jamiehamy 0]

That's me just home. Had a great day, weather was brilliant.

 

Thanks for sharing pics Craig, really interesting. I love old pics like that. My partner is from Prestwick, so makes even more interesting. Imagine seeing Concorde at PWK!

 

Coullstar, I very much get your point about lack of investment from the forces. The Chinook display was brilliant, as was the Vulcan. The RAF seemed to lack quite a bit of hardware. Would not have been so long ago we'd have had Tristars, Nimrods, Dominies, Jaguars, Harriers and a Canberra.

 

There wasn't even a Herc present, or a C17, which was disappointing in more ways than one. No doubt they are all operational, but if the RAF cannot spare a couple, they must seriously be lacking in budget. I still cannot believe they chopped up all the new Nimrods.

 

Ah well...the Yanks gave us a blast past with a B52 which was good!

[jamiehamy 0]

Vulcan to the Sky!

[Yandards 0]

There wasn't even a Herc present, or a C17, which was disappointing in more ways than one. No doubt they are all operational, but if the RAF cannot spare a couple, they must seriously be lacking in budget. I still cannot believe they chopped up all the new Nimrods.

 

That would be correct..