Brough Airfield

[pug]

Passed the airfield the other day, no cars parked on the runway and they seem to have cut the grass for the first time in ages, is there anyone in the know or who works there that knows if it is being brought back into operation again? Keep hearing of runway extentions to fly the hawk?

[coldbuffer]

The Hawk is taken to Warton for final Assembly, no plans to change at the moment

[pug]

I have noticed that the old flying school building is being refurbished (being converted into offices) and the control room that once sat on top has been removed. Does this mean runway lights and such like are now unuseable? A great shame realy as it would be a great airfield for the Hull area.

I remember the Dove and Jetstream shuttle flights, plus the PC-9 and odd visits from Harriers and Hawks (though one of the latter seemed to have little runway to spare after landing!)

Anyone remember much of Holme upon Spalding Moor? Must have been an interesting place to be in the 70's and 80's but unfortunately nothing more than a field now.

[Suzeman]

I hear a story that Hawks will be flown to out to Warton in future :) instead of being taken by road....

Suzeman

[chevvron]

Looking on Flashearth, nothing much to see of H.O.S.M now. I'm not sure when it closed, but I did hear that years ago the SATCO went to London for a medical and came back with a 'proximity' endorsement (meaning he couldn't work on his own, there had to be someone else present with the same ratings) and while he was away, most of the other controllers resigned to work at either Dishforth or Barkston Heath.

[hatters united]

Chevvron.
Sorry to appear ignorant, but what does H.O.S.M. stand for ?:confused:

[Get me some traffic]

Holme on Spalding Moor. (RIP)

[chevvron]

Back to Brough though. I don't think it ever really closed as such; it was de-licenced and occasional BAe Corporate Transport Jetstreams still went in there. I wasn't aware it was used for Hawk production; how that's moved around; originally Kingston/Dunsfold, then a short lived forage to Bitteswell, then Warton, now Brough; Woodford next?.

[pug]

It has been anounced that Hawks will be flown from Brough to Warton for painting and test flying, the first to do so could be as soon as next month with a rate of around two a month thereafter. It is not thought the runway will welcome any incoming flights and HUY will be the emergency diverting ground, presumably due to Broughs short runway and lack of relevent fire services.

Could this open up possibilities for the company Kingair or Jetstream flights to again make regular visits now?

[Squadgy]

This NOTAM relates to this

Q)EGTT/QWELW/IV/BO/W/000/195/5343N00034W002
B)08/01/15 12:48 UTC C)09/12/31 12:00 EST NAVW (H0084/0
D)HJ
E) BROUGH AD. OCASSIONAL RE-ACTIVATION. AD WILL OPERATE AT IRREGULAR HRS. WI 2NM RADIUS 5343N 00034W (BROUGH, LINCS).
(AD-HOC FAST JET DEPS ONLY EST 2 ACFT PER MTH). OPS INFO VIA WARTON ATC 01772852392. AUS 08-01-0181/86/AS2.
F)SFC G)FL195

[x10ge]

If that NOTAM is correct then Brough has moved into LINCS, its going to increase my travelling expenses by quite a lot .......bugger!

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

Could be worse; I believe we once had a confused truckie try delivering his load to the Brough on the A66 across the Pennines...

[tezzer]

Just seen on the BBC website that they are looking to take Hawks out of Brough at the rate of 1 or 2 per month. Excellent, bring it on.

I was lucky enough as a teenager to go for a round Britain trip in the company Dove, years ago, flown by Derek Whitehead. Into and out of Brough, and visited three other sites, can't for the life of me remember where now though.

[John the Elderly]

Well, it actually didn't seem to be a Hawk straight off the production line after all, but the new Hawk advanced trainer demonstrator (maybe it had come in by road for work to be carried out on it ?) but it was good to hear the familiar noise again. Sadly, I had to leave before it took off (had a good spot on the roof of the old pillbox too :) so I hope to be able to get there again for the next one.

Took off (to the east) at around 3.35pm local, piloted by ex-RAF flying instructor Nat Makepeace, and headed off back to Warton.

BBC video is here:-
http://tinyurl.com/2c64qy

John (local resident)

[TSR22]

Hi Guys!

Nice to see Brough "active" again! I remember spending time during my schooldays in the hangars there (playing in an old hunter:rolleyes:). Did a Saturday club there too!

On another note... Does anyone have any decent pics of aeroplanes flying out of HOSM? I cant find any.. (I have some great aerial pics of HOSM though!)

[JohnFTEng]

Hi,
I was at Brough for a short time - 6 months - working on Buccaneer S2 for RAF. I remember being part of a party taking one to HOSM for first flight. The arrestor hook was removed, a couple of tons of ballast loaded into rear avionics bay which was HUGE, the nose wheel retracted, wings folded and the whole a/c towed backwards thro' the countryside on its mainwheels. Special permission was needed to tow an a/c across the railway to Hull. This was '68 or '69
Re "Block" Whitehead - there were some wonderful shots of him flying a Buccaneer past the water tower at HOSM so staff could photograph some tufts - used for aerodaynamic flow visualisation - on the upper surface of the wing. All of 500kts/50ft! He told some wonderful tales of low flying in Buccs. He was a test pilot of the old school. Is he still alive?

[pug]

Go to youtube, search for 'buccaneer tribute 2' (i dont know how to post the link, sorry) i believe the first minute or so is at HOSM, including a video of a bucc taking off from the backseat of another?

Unfortunately im too young to remember HOSM, i have been past the old airfield recently and there is nothing left of the runways or lighting etc, a few hangars and wartime buildings is all that remains.

I would be interested to learn what was flying from there particularly through the 70's and early 80's? I have a book with some photo's of a jag visit parked next to a phantom but also hear some larger executive jets frequented?