Just some ancillary comments to add on a most pleasant afternoon.
Treadders did some good organising of us all, an activity inevitably akin to herding cats, but which had a good outcome in that we all got there on time and enjoyed the whole experience. Many thanks for pulling it all together.
Both the Aerodrome Hotel (which seemed distinctly empty, aiding initial recognition – not too difficult when there is only one group in the bar) and the Old Terminal next door are interesting for their old photos, wall posters, punctured but genuine 1930s main wheels (!), and some typical thirties caricatures of personalities round the airfield were on the wall as well, making us glad we live in times where we can escape such parody.
Frank Gardner, our Historical Society host and guide, told of a difficulty he once had in doing little presentations to the local primary school, but that can really have been nothing compared to us lot. “Bet no one can identify that aviation flag”, he opened. Flag is instantly identified along with all the occasions it had seemingly ever been flown in the past 50 years. “There was a small airshow here in 1978”. Frank finds he is addressing the first display pilot to have landed at it. And on it went. Poor Frank. And, of course, many thanks to him for his fascinating and well-informed commentary, and handling all those questions and comments.
As we had been on our best behaviour up to this point we were allowed into the radio room, normally kept behind the glass, where we made appropriately pithy comments about much of the equipment. The radio set, with valves the size of milk bottles sticking out from it, is apparently still somewhat serviceable (possibly after about 3 hours warming up), so maybe we should call them up one Sunday afternoon and ask for a QNH.
An example page on display from a movement log in the 1930s, a whole day’s movements on one page, showed that life for the FISO in those days was a simpler task.
Various references to “radio” along the way but I suspect that much of it would actually be “wireless”, ie Morse Code. Which of course is a word that has now come back into technology. What goes around comes around.
There were kids beyond the fence on mini-bikes racing down pretty much what was the old 04/22 runway alignment, now an industrial estate. Some of them probably got up in a couple of seconds to more than an HP.42 take-off speed.
I wonder how many PPRuNe bashes have had a mid-session interval for a fancy dress parade ? I think we may have achieved a first here, especially the guest appearance by Ali G.
Among the various commercial uses for the buildings nowadays is the Rayon D’Or restaurant. Now the Rayon D’Or was the name of the Air Union (Air France predecessor) deluxe in-flight dining service from Croydon to Paris in the 1920s (Farman Goliaths for the technically minded), so one entered full of expectation. Alas, this was to be short-lived. A misunderstanding somewhere round the back led to us being served a child meal by mistake. Now we may give BA some stick for T5, or scrapping Concorde, or whatever. But in many a flight I don’t think they have even come close to serving me the UM’s meal.