RAF Abingdon 50th Jubilee airshow 1968

[Fake Sealion]

One for the spotters perhaps ?

I had my very first flight ever at this show in a Moreton Air Services DH Heron "pleasure flight".

Can someone out there please dig out their dusty old books/photos as I would like to know the registration of this aircraft?

A posted photo would be a nice bonus!

Cheerz

FS

[Akubra]

Would it be the 3rd photo down on this page?

Edit: Must include link.. :) http://www.petergoodearl.co.uk/airdays/raf50/fiftyh.htm

[merlinxx]

That's a Devon/Dove, Heron 4 engines.

Fakie

Racking my brains as I was with Morton's 1964 signed over for the year from BUA., but still around in '68. Still thinking will rvt.

[Akubra]

Doh!
Oh well, looks like it was a big event. I'm sure someone here will have something :)

[Fake Sealion]

If it is any help, the show date was June 14 1968. Definately a Morton Air Services Heron.

FS

[Amos Keeto]

Interesting question, as 14th June 1968 was the Friday when HM The Queen made her inspection and watched the flying display. There were no public allowed that day and certainly no pleasure flying! The public day was Saturday 15th June 1968 and as I was there both days, I don't recall seeing any pleasure flights and would certainly remember if a Heron was flying. The only Heron I saw there was XM295 in the static park!
Here is a list of every aircraft appearing there with serials:

http://www.scramble.nl/mil/show/showreports/abingd68.htm

[Fake Sealion]

AmosK

Now you have me thinking!!!

OK it must have been the Saturday, not the "Royal Day" on the Friday. I was down the road at school that day. In those pre-security days I can recall there being more or less free access for the public to walk around the static park on the Thursday evening.
I am 99.999% certain my first flight was at this airshow. I saved up some Christmas gift money specifically for the flight which I took on my own. Can recall every detail, sat front seat, starboard side !!!

The plot thickens.....are there any "spotters" lists published on the web or some exRAF folk who were on duty that day and saw/worked with/re-fuelled the Heron?

FS

[Fake Sealion]

AmosK

The list from scramble.nl from your link is 100% military.....surely there must have been several civil VIP visitors for the event. The compiler of the list perhaps disregarded these?

FS

[MReyn24050]

I am not sure how may Herons Morton had but I believe these were operated by Morton's at sometime:-
G-ANSZ
G-ANNO
G-AOXL
G-APKT
G-ASUZ
G-ASVA
G-ASVB
G-ASVC

[Amos Keeto]

I have just consulted a friend who was also there both days and he agrees with me, 'there was NO Morton Heron at that Abingdon show' and furthermore, no civilian visiting aircraft. They obviously didn't want any civilian aircraft there disrupting such an important occasion and the only visiting aircraft were military. Sorry, but we feel that either you've got the date or location wrong!

[WHBM]

Morton had been taken over by BUA Group in 1960 but retained a separate identity to some extent until the end of 1968 (latterly little more than the name on the fuselage) when all the smaller operators in the group were reorganised as British United Island Airways.

The Morton Herons still around in 1968 were :

ANWZ
AOXL
AOGO
ASUZ
ASVA

[Fake Sealion]

Thanks for that. It does prove however that my Morton Heron pleasure flight could not have been AFTER 1968 !!


FS

[MReyn24050]

LGS6753 reports having a pleasure filght at Lydd in Morton Air services Heron G-ANNO here at Post#43:-
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=128490&page=3

[Amos Keeto]

Yes, I found that also but that is Lydd and in 1966, not Abingdon in 1968!!

[MReyn24050]

I know.However as you are confident that there was no Morton Heron at the Abingdon Show in 1968. I was thinking perhaps Fake Section visited Lydd as well as the Abingdon Show in 1968.
I have also found a Post (#30) by "TNT" on The Aviation Forum where he says that he flew in the Morton Air Services Heron G-ANNO at Lydd in 1968 for £1. http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=30287
LGS6753 placed a question mark concerning the date 1966 in his post therefore it is possible he meant 1968 instead of 1966.
Just a thought.

[Amos Keeto]

Yes I wondered that, but he has PM'd me saying he lived in Abingdon and was at school there. He is adamant it was Abingdon and pretty sure it was 1968. There was no other show at Abingdon in '68, as the Battle of Britain show was at Benson that year (where it poured with rain all day and flying was cancelled!). Therefore it still remains a mystery?

[4mastacker]

Hi guys, just to muddy the waters even further. I was stationed at 16MU at the time and along with several of my colleagues, "visited" Abingdon for the show. Although the Friday was an exclusively Service day, I thought that there were some pleasure flights on the Saturday which took place both before and after the main flying display. The reason I say that was because the name 'Morton' rings a definite bell, there were also a couple of pilot-type chappies with lots of gold bars on their epaulettes and my thinking 'WTF have they got to do with the Fiftieth?' Don't ask me what aircraft they were using. I seem to recall that the pleasure flights were operating away from the main static display area and near to what used to be 46 Sqn's hangar.

Air displays and me did not mix and I avoided them like the plague until my tour at Leuchars in the mid to late seventies and there was definitely no Morton representation there!

.

[Amos Keeto]

At this rate I think we stand a better chance of finding Madeleine! FS has PM'd me and we have been discussing this 'off forum' and he now recalls the weather as dull and overcast, which it certainly wasn't at Abingdon for the RAF 50th Anniversary show on either the Friday or Saturday!

[Fake Sealion]

Amos and 4Mastaker

Thanks for all your posts and PM's on this one. I maintain however, my Morton Air Services pleasure flight at RAF Abingdon was at either the Sept 67 Battle of Britain Display or the RAF 50th Event on Sat June 15th 1968.

4Mastaker - Your comments are interesting! My Heron was operating at the Eastern end of main dispersal area at Abingdon. Not sure how this relates to 46 Sqn hangar but it was roughly in front of Eastern most of the five hangars.

Finally.......last appeal to solve this mystery. :ugh:

Does anyone else out there recall seeing/flying in a Morton Air Services Heron
conducting pleasure flights at an RAF Abingdon Air Show in the late 1960's.

Surely there must be!!!!!

Thanks again

FS

[JEM60]

I don't know if this helps, but I had a ride in a Morton Air Services Heron around about that time, and it was in poor weather at a show at RAF BENSON.

[Amos Keeto]

This gets worse! The good news -There WAS a show at Benson on 17th Sept 1966 AND there WAS a Morton Air Services Heron doing pleasure flight which was G-ANSZ. The bad news is the weather was glorious that day!!:rolleyes:

[Fake Sealion]

I have sent you an email.

I have found another Ppruner - username - Peter Barron - who posted in 2003 that he flew in a Morton Air Services Heron at the ........wait for it............June 15th 1968 Airshow. Your email has a link.

At last a result.!!!!:D

Perhaps in my excitement in getting airborne for the first time my mind was hazy .....not the weather!

FS

[JEM60]

This actually gets even worse!!!!!! At the Benson show, the only one I ever attended there, they weather was so bad that the flight of Lightnings was visible through the cloud for about 2 seconds!!!!! So when I flew in the Heron, I can assure you that the weather was far from glorious!!!!!. It was horrible!!! Perhaps somebody could help with the year??? Not important to me, by the way.

[4mastacker]

FS

46 Sqn's hanger was indeed that last one. It certainly was in 1967 when I spent a few weeks at Abingdon doing my air movements course.

Just slightly off topic - the reason I was at Abingdon for the 50th anniversary was because my boss said "You've just come back from Abingdon haven't you?" When I replied "Yes sir" he said " Good, you know your way there then.. off you go .. Oh, and make sure your No 1 is in tip top condition" b:mad:

[Fake Sealion]

Thanks for that, but if you look at my post 22 above it does indeed prove that your memory and mine are sound!

There was a Morton Air Services Heron flying pleasure trips.

For some reason it has been "cleansed" from all records of aircraft attending the event !! Very odd.

But it was there and I flew in it! :ok:

FS

[DH.114/1B]

Hi

I only joined PPRuNe Forums today and I am pleased to confirm there was indeed a Morton Air Services Heron 2D at Abingdon on the 15th June 1968

I am afraid the old memory cannot be sure if it indeed gave pleasure flights but somewere in the depths I seem to recollect it doing so AM before the flying display started

I nearly forgot the registration G-ASVA