Gunship
11th Jul 2004, 21:20
You have made this little boy's dream come true (and his mom's) ;)
Taken from a SAffer newsgroup (expat South Africans)
Tx RAF Base Lyneham :ok:
We've had such an exciting day that I just have to share it with you!
After months of having almost daily & nightly low flying Hercules over my house, I visited the RAF Lyneham website & added an entry into their guest book about how my little son has become an obsessed plane spotter. To my absolute delight, I received an email from one of the pilots, inviting us to spend a morning with them! Today was the day!
We were treated to a personal tour of the airbase by the pilot. My son (& my dad & I!) got to sit in the cockpit of a Herc & were given a detailed tour of the huge insides. We were taken to the control tower & the radar room, where we were shown how all the instruments work & got to "see" all the aircraft in the surrounding airspace on the radar screen. We watched several Hercs taking off, including one heavily laden with supplies on it's way to Bosnia. We also saw a Hunter & a bright red Gnat make a low fly-by over the base.
And that's not all!! We were then taken to the base's fire station, where we got to sit in the front seats of a fire engine & were given a demonstration of the water hoses in full action. Then we were taken for a ride in the fire engine - we hurtled at 70m/h with siren going down the runway!!! The fireman responsible confessed that he'd get into trouble for doing it but it was well worth it to be able to give a little boy such a treat!
At the end of an amazing morning, my son was presented with a framed photograph of Hercs flying & the back was signed by the Squadron. He was also given a roll of stickers of the Squadron's wings with "Future Pilot" emblazoned across. I was so touched!
As I'm sure you can imagine, my son had eyes like saucers the entire morning! This was really every little boy's dream! Today was such a priviledge as they don't often allow civilians onto the base & particularly into the restricted areas we were taken into.
Taken from a SAffer newsgroup (expat South Africans)
Tx RAF Base Lyneham :ok:
We've had such an exciting day that I just have to share it with you!
After months of having almost daily & nightly low flying Hercules over my house, I visited the RAF Lyneham website & added an entry into their guest book about how my little son has become an obsessed plane spotter. To my absolute delight, I received an email from one of the pilots, inviting us to spend a morning with them! Today was the day!
We were treated to a personal tour of the airbase by the pilot. My son (& my dad & I!) got to sit in the cockpit of a Herc & were given a detailed tour of the huge insides. We were taken to the control tower & the radar room, where we were shown how all the instruments work & got to "see" all the aircraft in the surrounding airspace on the radar screen. We watched several Hercs taking off, including one heavily laden with supplies on it's way to Bosnia. We also saw a Hunter & a bright red Gnat make a low fly-by over the base.
And that's not all!! We were then taken to the base's fire station, where we got to sit in the front seats of a fire engine & were given a demonstration of the water hoses in full action. Then we were taken for a ride in the fire engine - we hurtled at 70m/h with siren going down the runway!!! The fireman responsible confessed that he'd get into trouble for doing it but it was well worth it to be able to give a little boy such a treat!
At the end of an amazing morning, my son was presented with a framed photograph of Hercs flying & the back was signed by the Squadron. He was also given a roll of stickers of the Squadron's wings with "Future Pilot" emblazoned across. I was so touched!
As I'm sure you can imagine, my son had eyes like saucers the entire morning! This was really every little boy's dream! Today was such a priviledge as they don't often allow civilians onto the base & particularly into the restricted areas we were taken into.