SPOTTING IN THE SW IN THE 90s!!

[buzzer]

first up day out at RAF Chivener.
park up in the car park,walk the old railway line to the park bench(anyone remember that?!) and that was you set for some close up photos
now this would be the flight line most week days!


and the pilots were allwas happy to give a wave..(at one point thay all had a thing for hand puppets?!!)

and remember RED,WHITE AND BLUE!

and for some time 176 had a rather worn looking allover black paint, as an experiment to see if all over black was more hi viz than the red & white
all FTS aircraft were flying in.. guess it was
and there was allwas the odd visitor poping in for the fuel stop


bit closer to home now..
and the once a week trip to St Mawgan was allwas worth it..!
just one or two from my album!
clay tip end first.






this little lot were playing the attackers

and these bad boys the defenders.this is just 2 of a 4 ship that were taking part in one of the phantoms last execise's before thay Retired


photos from the other end of the runway were allwas better.


swingers were allwas a nice site.. better when there was 2 of them
FRADU would allwas pop in

PR11 still going strong


and then one of the most rarest visitors to pop in! was USN EC-24A

and pulled of the net what she looks like now!!!


St Mawgan was allwas worth a drive up to.. was like a "Box of Chocolates"
you never no what you was going to get!!!
shame spottings not like that anymore!

got loads more photos to scan so will update when i get chance

[steve149c]

Great shots, love them all, unfortunately the hunters had stopped flying by the time I was old enough to hold a camera.

Would love to see some more when you get time,

Cheers

Steve

[buzzer]

Once again sir, i believe i was with you on a lot of these trips. 30-09-1992 the last F-4M deployment and what a day! I've long since lost the log but seem to remember in addition to the Phantoms. Buccaneers, Tornado Gr.1, F.3, Jaguars, Canberras, a Victor refuelling Tornados in the overhead, SHar 1, Wessex, Hercules and the Comet. Plus airfield attacks by AdlA M2000Ns and Alphajets and 100sqn Hawks deployed at CU. What a wizard day! And to think, we two were there alone most of the day!

I also remember that day at Chivenor, sometime early in 1993? And the EC-24, did it not used to call "Nucar" or something similar? And the swingers, how i hated those damn things, 20 minutes to do one circuit! reat memories kid! Keep 'em coming!

yeap you got it bud.. and yeah we were there most of the day on our own!! remember we got there early (about 8ish) as was told the F-4 would be going up about then to do CAP petrols over the airfield.. but there was no sign of them about an hour passed then the 100sqn hawks came in low level to attack the runway and then all hell broke loss!! as the F-4 came down from out of now were, to see them off!! best show of force i have ever seen!
to see 4 F-4 drop down from what must have been 15/20,000 ft to tree top hight with the burners lit.. was somthing else
i got a load more to upload from the last big excersize i went to up there would have been 93?or 94 maybe.. think it was called Ample train?? or somthing?
i'll see if i can upload them later..

[buzzer]

so " Ample train" (think thats what it was called)can't remember the date,but this lot is all in the morning!
GR1 first..


how many sqn badges can your see?!! think we would be hard pushed to match that today
then the F3



then the SHar 1 taxi out,


then the Bucc's



then later in the day thay all return!





if i remember right,one of the bucc's had a fire warning light come on ,on finals..
he landed and rolled to a stop in half the lenght it would normally stop in, and the pilot exited the cockpit rather quickly, much to our amusment
there loads of other movment on this day to (FRADU hunters/canberra's. 360sqn T17, plus hawks..
so all in we had rather entertaning day!
thinking about it,that one days movements was problay not fare of what an RAF base would put up in a week today?!!

[SteveS]

Fantastic stuff! Any more from Chivenor? I remember the bench, I'd have been the annoying 10 year old shouting and running around.

Steve

[buzzer]

moving on to Brize photo call..loads of pics, but just a selection of some of them.

GR5

remember the TTTE GR1's!!

hawk.. can't remeber were it was from!!



Jag looking very nice
and the good old Black smoker's (remember there take off's?!!) KC-135..


Then its on to the night before VL airday


as rare then as thay are now!
and first time i had seen dunsfolds T-7M


T-4N

and the first FRS2 as it was called then(later changed to)with the OEU to start with,note the old style paint.

being hit by the prop wash as i was trying to take the photo was somthing i won't forget!
and some of the museum's stock was pulled out, most with wings folded which made for some rare photos!



the the hilight of the evening was being able to get close up the these bad boys!


last time i seen the single seater 595, was when it made its rather dramatic entrance the IAT
for all that were there and remember it,you will understand why the photo is'nt the best.. me,and i think eveyone else just could'nt believe what we were seeing!!

thats it for now.. more when i get time..

[EGDGZTCW]

A great set of photo's...takes me back to some great times particularly at St Mawgan...thank you

[Victor5]

Nice photos. I remember that Ample Train, was it March 1993?

[TS010]

hawk.. can't remeber were it was from!!

St Athan.

[buzzer]

hawk.. can't remeber were it was from!!

St Athan.

i know that! i was just being silly, its easy enough to work out were its from seeing as its got rather large welsh dragon down the side!!
but thanks for your input anyway

[buzzer]

BUZZER.I'm pleased to say that I have the Flanker/TU134 pass on video. Good memories!!.

oh we need to see that!!

[radical99]

Thanks for showing them. Wonderful variety of aircrafts on show. Hope to see more.

[MarkS]

Once again sir, i believe i was with you on a lot of these trips. 30-09-1992 the last F-4M deployment and what a day! I've long since lost the log but seem to remember in addition to the Phantoms. Buccaneers, Tornado Gr.1, F.3, Jaguars, Canberras, a Victor refuelling Tornados in the overhead, SHar 1, Wessex, Hercules and the Comet. Plus airfield attacks by AdlA M2000Ns and Alphajets and 100sqn Hawks deployed at CU. What a wizard day! And to think, we two were there alone most of the day!

I also remember that day at Chivenor, sometime early in 1993? And the EC-24, did it not used to call "Nucar" or something similar? And the swingers, how i hated those damn things, 20 minutes to do one circuit! reat memories kid! Keep 'em coming!

yeap you got it bud.. and yeah we were there most of the day on our own!! remember we got there early (about 8ish) as was told the F-4 would be going up about then to do CAP petrols over the airfield.. but there was no sign of them about an hour passed then the 100sqn hawks came in low level to attack the runway and then all hell broke loss!! as the F-4 came down from out of now were, to see them off!! best show of force i have ever seen!
to see 4 F-4 drop down from what must have been 15/20,000 ft to tree top hight with the burners lit.. was somthing else
i got a load more to upload from the last big excersize i went to up there would have been 93?or 94 maybe.. think it was called Ample train?? or somthing?
i'll see if i can upload them later..

Hi Pete,

Now ther's a trip down memory lane , nice shots from all but , ah, St Mawgan one of the best spotting bases in the UK !

The EC-24A visited twice , Sep 93 and again in May 94 . It used the callsign Nucar 03 on both occasions.
A few years earlier in August 86 (showing my age now) the USN sent their NKC-135A on TDY to SM and used the callsign Nucar 01, I have some shots of it taxiing out on a sunny Sunday evening somewhere!
The exercise at the end of Sep 92 had ,as well as the SM traffic ,10 FAF alphajets at Chivenor and 6 FAF jags at Yeovilton , I did all 3 bases in the one day on Sep 30th ! There were airfield attacks that day by M2000N's and also a pair of 2000C's . Never did get the "N"s but the "C"s were 19 and 25 -"magic formation".
The exercise in the following set of pics of yours was March 93 but I cant remember the name of it . I dont think it was Ample Train as this was held in May 93 at SM with Hellenic M2000s, Turkish F16s, Spanish EF18s, Italian F104s, German F4s, Dutch F16s and USAF F15s ............not bad eh ! Have shots of all those too............

Just started scanning my old pics and have done a few early SM and CU pics from the mid 80s including SM airday in 84 with that lovely grey and white F8 that turned up during the day!

Anyway enough rambling , keep em coming they're great to see .

Cheers, Mark

[buzzer]

spot on Mr stevens you memory is better than mine
good times if i think hard enough i can see them all giving it large over the field
these young boys don't know what thay missed
now YOU best get some of them scans uploaded
EDIT: just got me thinking
the may 93 one with the turk's and greek.
there was a greek Herc and turkish Transall parked on the same pan,next to each other. now if i remember right, it was noted that this was the first time
the 2 nations had shared the aprone of any NATO base i rather a long time?!! (sound about right?)
and it was all down at our local

[paul simmons]

Guys
These bring back some memories, Apart from Mr Stevens I'm not sure who you chaps are!! Needless to say I've have near identical photos so we must have shared a few trips together. I've a some shots from as far back as the late '70s as soon as I figure out how to post them I will.
Simmo

[MarkS]

EDIT: just got me thinking
the may 93 one with the turk's and greek.
there was a greek Herc and turkish Transall parked on the same pan,next to each other. now if i remember right, it was noted that this was the first time
the 2 nations had shared the aprone of any NATO base i rather a long time?!! (sound about right?)
and it was all down at our local

Yep , I think thats right !
BTW the C-160 was 021 and the C130 749 !

I'll try and put a few up , I've got SM 84 show to hand , Ill see what I can do !

[MarkS]

Evening Mr Simmons , now the late 70s would be just fantastic . Those French Navy C-47s would be nice !

[davedubya]

Mark Marples is going to have a heart attack when he sees that first photo.

[MarkS]

now YOU best get some of them scans uploaded

Just put StMawgan 84 up here................

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=38504" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

cheers, Mark