That is indeed Four Counties Queen of the skies, now you have me wondering. Indeed I was blighted with service on AEW 3, which allowed me lots of time to service gliders for 4Cs. Whoever you are, thanks for the photograph and the memories. Great times were had.
Smudge
Smudge, I started flying at 4Cs in mid Aug 86 while at Newton on the Bloodhound Mk2 Missile course (originally TG3 L Tech AD by trade, hence the JAFAD in my user name) and was one of the three West Raynham guys who flew at Syerston until the two who could drive were posted to RAFG / PVR'ed to become a God botherer. I moved across to Fenland after April 87 for a few months and was on the verge of getting Bronze C when a number of factors including a long illness forced me to give up. After that 90% of the postings (normally nowhere anywhere near a RAFGSA club) or AD site shift patterns (2 days, 2 nights, 4 off), normally in conjunction with the posting at the extreme points of the compass made getting back into the sport and keeping current a non starter.
Well off Topic
A few 4C's memories
Worst Landing ever: R36 on the first flight on the morning after the 86 AGM and the first introduction to Wobbly via some members of the most eastern club in RAFG. After bouncing almost all the way to the winch and after towing the aircraft back to the launch point was met by the duty instructor shaking his head with the comment, "Sorry mate, I'm going to have to ground you for that".
JLR water ballast bombing the bus on the flight that finally got him his Gold.
Mixed Naked Conga Team
Monster hunched up in the back of the K7
Kelly Dog.....ROGER!!!
Happy days indeed
A few more photos (mostly taken off damaged slides after a water leak in the loft where they photos were stored) or taken on a 10p Russian camera I brought at a jumble sale in 1979 (the 1983 ones)
Drags and R57 (funniest thing I saw with that one was the expression on the face of a guy who forgot that the U in WULF actually needed an action by the pilot in that aircraft after he found the cockpit was a lot lower to the ground than it should have been following a much faster and bumpy halt than normal).
The Janus (R9) only flew in her once when the weather was too windy for me to fly solo in anything. Got to learn about windshear on the approch though, plus did the fastest speed in any glider that I ever flew in.
One of the Mk III’s at Wethersfield taken in mid-82 during the USAF open house (with two 16 year old PPruners (Myself and Aber Ratman) either side of the cockpit). It may have been the one I did my first solo in (WT917) which would you believe is the one with the motor on it that Coff has posted a photo of or one of the other two aircraft I flew on that course (WT913 and WE790).
My first experience of Syerston wasn’t with 4C’s, but a week course at ACCGS in March 83. As the photos show the weather was awful and we only got one days flying in the whole 5 days. The Venture is either XZ552 or ZX555 (I think it’s 555 as that was the one I flew in). Somebody may have the Barge in their logbook. (I only ever flew in two, WB899 and XW150 at Debden).
Never took any photos of the rest of the 4C's fleet at the time (The Grob 103B (2nd solo, three years after the first), The K7 (First ever spin entry and recovery
) or the Ventus (R15???).