Historic flight News

Not quite the next Friday but thanks to being unable to fly cadets due to a major power and water cut to the hangar we were able to fly the Saturday.

Extremely low temperatures left a little snow on the airfield with the runways and taxiways thick with ice ( bought back memories of a certain skating episode!). After a struggle getting the winch to the airfield the Sedbergh and Prefect were towed to the launch point. Everybody flew including Terry who ‘re-converted’ to the Prefect after some 40 years! Unfortunately rain then intervened so off to the pub it was!

 

We’ve been able to fly the last two Fridays! Not sure the tempreature last Friday got much above freezing, but good views and smooth flying conditions made it worth while. With limited people and the Sedbergh wedged in the hanger a little we flew only the prefect until the snow started.

Again this Friday?

Hi all,
Well all I can say is what a fantastic week!

Monday – Wind 210 / 15kts cu cloudbase 4000′. We all arrived to lovely hot summer weather, Rick Fretwell’s SHK aka ‘the V bomber’ was rigged along with DNE the ‘621 syndicate’ Astir and these along with the Prefect and Sedbergh were towed to the launchpoint. Thermals were tricky lower down and it was quite windy. The SHK and Astir proved no match for our winch and both duly disappeared leaving the rest of us to fly the HF pair. The initial thermal search was often lucky but both gliders had some lengthy flights as well as visiting the bottom of the Lyneham CTA. Pete Turner held briefings for those requiring field landing checks and flew with Andy and John in the Falke. to complete theirs. An enjoyable BBQ finished of the evening.

Tuesday – Wind 210 / 18-20kts gusting 23kts at times cu cloudbase 4500’+. A similar day to yesterday but with increased wind strength making thermal searching in the wooden gliders even more of a challenge. John Williams did his final qualifying hour for his cross country endorsement in the Astir and the MKIII was also rigged ready for the Pilot Magazine photo shoot at the end of the week. Unfortunately towards the end of the day the Peugeot finally gave up the ghost. Not to be deterred and in true 621 fashion an intrepid trio set off for Shepton Mallet at 7 in the evening to collect a car trailer, then on to Bournemouth to collect the replacement Peugeot finally making it back to the airfield at half past midnight!

Wednesday – Wind 210 / 15kts cu base 4500’+. An early start today for some ( 0630!) as the new Peugeot that had suffered a front end impact needed the front end of our old car. All repairs done by 0900 and a new cable towing vehicle was born! From a flying point of view again it was a bit of a struggle for the wood to thermal search but Oli Bourton managed a half hour leg ( in fact just short of an hour), Phil Woods did his field landings and Andy Trickey the nav flight to complete his cross country endorsement. All knackered by the end of the day so went to the pub!

Thursday – Wind light and variable but settled on 060/5kts. The new cable was fitted this morning and as it got thermic we started flying. Oli got his next bronze leg and John did his nav flight in the motor glider to complete his cross country endorsement. Thunderstorms and more general rain stopped play in the afternoon although Rick in the SHK managed to stay airborne finally appearing out of the gloom well after it had started raining at the airfield. The brakes on the winch finally gave up the ghost as we stopped flying so it was back to the hanger to strip them down.

Friday – Wind light and variable. The winch brake problem was narrowed down to a faulty master cylinder, so a new one was bought and fitted with a temporary brake pipe to get us flying. After a few run changes the wind settled on 360 calm. The Astir and SHK took aerotows and dissapeared but the wood struggled with 800′ launches. Peter March photographer for Pilot magazine was down for a photo shoot and hopefully we’ll have some fantastic air to air shots of the Sedbergh, MkIII and Prefect all bombing around the circuit with Pete juggling everything to keep station with the Falke so Peter could get the photo’s. Three of us aerotowed the Grasshopper to 2000′ and all I can say about that is if you get the chance give it a go it will be worth every single penny! A Will Embrey BBQ bought proceedings to a close and I’d like to thank all those that put in such effort to make this week such a success, I feel it probably won’t be a one off!!

Guy has very kindly agreed to sponsor the diesel needs of the Historic Flight and last Friday was able to visit Hullavington to have a look at where his fuel is going. After watching proceedings for a while Guy and I strapped into the Sedbergh and although the soaring day was coming to an end launched into 4 knot thermal to almost 3000′. This gave plenty of time to take in the sights on a gin clear day with views from Exmoor to the Malverns and beyond Didcot. Guy tried his hand at the controls to discover them somewhat agricultural compared to the helicopter he had flown in the past. After flying we had a look at the winch end of the operations followed by a tour of the hanger to see how things have changed in modern times!

Yep, after being on site for only a week the Prefect has landed out! Our intrepid OC launched into a booming sky ( just look at the photo!) After visiting Castle Coombe ( maybe the Prefect had designs on chasing the Pucklechurch Viking !!!) the conditions weren’t kind for the return. A text book field landing was carried out near Stanton Manor ironically on an old aircraft dispersal near the motorway that the locals call the Runway!!

The logsheets show Dave landing at 1200, the MK111 then had to be taken off the trailer, drive to the field, de-rig and load the Prefect, drive back to the launchpoint, re-rig with the next launch taking place at 1420 – not bad going!!

After almost a year the MKIII has been de-rigged awaiting transfer back to Keevil. In its place the lovely Prefect has returned. Last Friday saw the most people I have seen on an Historic Flight Friday flying which was excellent to see, with visitors from Keevil, 625, Hullavington Barracks and 621 past and present providing much banter at the launch point. Both the Sedbergh and Prefect were flying giving some of our visitors their first taste of open top gliding, with the rest of us getting re-aquainted with the Prefect. Shaun flew it for the first time in 30years!! and Rob Newbold also converted to it – his first ever single seater!!

Day out at Hullavington with 621 Historic Flight

Had the most fantastic day out yesterday at the invitation of Adam and his team at the 621 Historic Flight.
I arrived at Hullavington and there was a Mk3 by the origional (but far to clean!) red and white checkered caravan and a Barge just going up the launch – eye moistening stuff!
They made me very welcome and within minutes I was strapping the Sedburgh on, and off up the launch for the first time in 35 years!
A bit of thermalling on the second trip (remember the little red and green “balls”?) was followed by much reminiscing with John (another guest also ex 622 – but before my time) and the rest of the crew over tea.
Then it was time for the Mk3. Given a choice of seats I didn’t hesitate to grab the back seat of course (1800+ launches in that “office”) and WHAM! I was instantly back 35 years I just loved it!!
Thank you so much chaps for a fantastic day, the a/c are immaculate and the standards of airmanship (and winch launching!) are excellent.
The day was made exceptional (if that was possible!) by seeing the Grasshopper winch launched not once but twice………..amazing – Adam, and Pete…… you’re bonkers! (they wouldn’t let me have a go, bloody spoilsports!)
Apparently, all ex ATC GS staff are welcome and I urge you all to contact them and go and have a go.
Thanks again Adam and Co.
Jez Cooke

Unfortunately due to a volcano in Iceland the 621 Air Cadet Easter course had to be cut short. This enabled the ash resistant historic flight to have a busy few days. The Grasshopper was given an airing on the Thursday evening with the MKIII and Sedbergh having a good few flights on the Friday. Saturday saw Pete Turner bring Mendips tug over which was put to use aerotowing, thus followed some huge grins after aerotowing the MKIII to 2000′.

The following Friday saw all three gliders at the launch point and we were joined by a couple of ex Air Cadet instructors who had an enjoyable day of nostalgia, one of which flew in in a beautiful Jungmeister bi-plane and produced his Air Cadet log book showing his last MKIII flight in 1975!

Pictures to follow

A very pleasant day was had by a few on Friday with the Sedbergh floating around in some early spring sunshine. Jim, Shaun and Daryl all got current again, Al popped over with the Bannerdown tug to say hello and gave the Sedbergh a lift on his way back to Keevil ( all smiles from Jim although it didn’t stop him and Pete complaining of cold!!). Hopefully this is the start of a nice season!