663 VGS RAF Kinloss 29th June 1986
This was taken on the second last day of "wood" at Kinloss
L-R Steven Laing, Geoff Smith, Terry McNeill, Roddy Kemp, Roddy MacRae, Laurie Beaton (The Boss), Gavin MacDonald, Paddy Cunningham, Gordon Crookshanks, Alan Gray, Duncan Sutherland, Jeremy Joynson, Mark Conway and Graham Morrison
Missing from the picture - Bob McGregor, John Hutchinson, Richard Osbourne, Ian Smith, Alan Docherty, Ken Thompson and Mark Shelly
The aircraft were WB961, WB974, XE785, XA290 and XN241 and the cadets were from 161 ATC Squadron Inverness.
It was quite a sad day as 663 VGS was the last operational school in the UK to finish on "wood". The penultimate school to finish on "wood" had been two weeks previously and ACCGS" had stopped flying "wood" on the previous Friday.
It had been planned to fly long into the evening of Sunday 29th June as it was our last chance before the airfield was to be dug up and we converted onto the Venture T2. As with many summer days at Kinloss, the wind was swinging round quite a bit. So at about 1530 it was planned to change ends from runway 08 to runway 26. This was done by launching all the aircraft and recovering them to the other end of the airfield.
I was last in line for launch and the wind had swung round quite a bit by the time i got the last cable. It took some time to get flying speed with the tail wind, but finally i got up in the air achieving a lofty 700ft before cable release. This was just enough height for a gentle 180 degree turn over the forest and land on the 26 end.
I had just pulled the aircraft off the landing site when i noticed a Sedbergh in a very nose down attitude at about 900ft above the airfield. It promptly pulled up into a very smart loop, leveled off and turned down-wind for landing. It was not the first time a Sedbergh had been upside down over Kinloss but it was the first time it had been done in front of the "Boss" Laurie Beaton (top bloke).
Probably quite rightly he thought the silly season was about to descend so flying operations were suspended early. There was one final Sedbergh flight with Jeremy Joynson and Roddy Kemp.
So it turned out, unknown to me, that i had just flown the last operational Kerby Cadet Mk3 flight in RAF service. It was XN241 and my passenger was cadet Kerr. It lasted 3 minutes.
Oh the looping pilot...................... was one P...y C........m
(another top bloke) who had taught me to fly.
Last take-off and landing of Sedbergh at Kinloss 29 June 1986
The wings don't look too bent from its loop on the previuos flight
Lunch on the Sunday 29th - Waiting for the fog to lift
The p**s up on the beech to celebrate/commiserate the end of "wood"
Great times and i would love to do it all over again