RAF Bovingdon - 1960s
Having just watched the video showing the Sunderland "touch and go" at Wellington Airport, I was reminded that the first airshow I ever attended was at Bovingdon in the early 50s when I was about five.
My mother used to tell me that a Sunderland did a flyby, but unfortunately I don't remember that. The only thing I do remember is a dummy parachutist suspended from the roof inside a hangar. Obviously I must have been traumatized by the sight, in order for it to be imprinted on my memory for so many years. Luckily PTSD hadn't been invented then!
My mother used to tell me that a Sunderland did a flyby, but unfortunately I don't remember that. The only thing I do remember is a dummy parachutist suspended from the roof inside a hangar. Obviously I must have been traumatized by the sight, in order for it to be imprinted on my memory for so many years. Luckily PTSD hadn't been invented then!
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Very interesting India Four Two. I was a pilot on Coastal Command Com Flight Ansons and Valetta at Bovingdon for just over a year in 1961/62, awaiting an Argosy course after completing a two year tour on Twin Pioneers and Pembrokes on 152 Sqn in the Gulf. My first ever flight was in 1955 when we went down to Pembroke Dock on a two weeks CCF camp and flew almost every day in the Sunderlands based there, which made up my mind to join the RAF in 1955.
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I flew from Bovingdon several times in 1956/8 as a member of the CCF,once in a Devon and several times in an Anson.The Communication Flights also had 2 Meteors,a T 7 and a NF??.There was also a RAF Dakota with a VIP interior which I never saw fly.Coastal Command visitors I saw were a Neptune and a Shackleton.I used to live quite close to Northwood. The USAF C47s were in and out all the time and I also saw a black Invader take off.Very noisy.
Colin.
Colin.
... flew almost every day in the Sunderlands ...
The departure was delayed due to a mechanical issue - we could see, through the open rear door, a mechanic's legs as he lay head first in the tailcone! The captain came over to me and my colleague and asked, since we were the only passengers for Tofino, if he could fly to Tahsis first. So I got to experience a water-landing, taxi up the ramp and a subsequent glassy-water takeoff. We ran for over a mile!
Gnome de PPRuNe
Lucky enough to see Kermit's Sandringham twice when Edward Hulton owned it - I wonder if Kermit will ever be able to fly it again. Mars is something I would love to see fly...
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' Photographed at Bovingdon recently an unusual Douglas RB-26c-46DT Invader (44-35762). First to be noted in UK with an O Serial. Various bulges may be seen under the nose and rear fuselage. '
Perhaps it was this Invader described thus by Air Pictorial 1956-01.
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 9th Nov 2019 at 21:43.
treadders, especially for you. My video from Oshkosh. Wingspan is 200', 5' more than a 747-100. Dropping 18 tonnes of water!
Anchored at the Float Plane Base:
My video from Oshkosh. Wingspan is 200', 5' more than a 747-100. Dropping 18 tonnes of water!Anchored at the Float Plane Base:
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C123 date unknown. Probably operating the daily Weisbaden to Burtonwood Freight run with a stop off at Bovingdon.
Possibly in the mid to late 1950s. Photo credit bovingdon-airfield.co.uk
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 14th May 2020 at 08:19.
Gnome de PPRuNe
Seeing that pic of the C-123... in the summer of '77 at my school a few miles south of Guildford, I was playing cricket and a high wing, twin radial engined transport droned NE towards London at about the height and on the same route that airliners approaching the Ockham hold followed. Without the aid of binoculars and mindful of the cricket ball being hoicked around the pitch, my glances identified it as a C-123 - pretty sure it wasn't a Pembroke or a Sea Prince. Can't think of anything else it might have been, but did the USAF have any in Europe as late as that? Might have been civvy one being ferried somewhere interesting I suppose.
Occasionally saw USN C-131s or C-118s on the same route as I recall, inbound Northolt.
Occasionally saw USN C-131s or C-118s on the same route as I recall, inbound Northolt.
Seeing that pic of the C-123... in the summer of '77 at my school a few miles south of Guildford, I was playing cricket and a high wing, twin radial engined transport droned NE towards London at about the height and on the same route that airliners approaching the Ockham hold followed. Without the aid of binoculars and mindful of the cricket ball being hoicked around the pitch, my glances identified it as a C-123 - pretty sure it wasn't a Pembroke or a Sea Prince. Can't think of anything else it might have been, but did the USAF have any in Europe as late as that? Might have been civvy one being ferried somewhere interesting I suppose.
Occasionally saw USN C-131s or C-118s on the same route as I recall, inbound Northolt.
Occasionally saw USN C-131s or C-118s on the same route as I recall, inbound Northolt.
Whenever a USN carrier approached UK waters, they would 'fly off' mail and anything else important to Northolt.
I 'controlled' several of these flights from Farnborough in the '70s/'80s, the Trader not being retired until 1988; I don't think any C123s operated in Europe after about 1970.
I remember C123s (and C130s) departing Bovingdon in the '60s; their 'standard' departure route took them towards Beacon Hill fan marker near Princes Risborough which meant they passed directly over my home town, Chesham,
Last edited by chevvron; 12th Nov 2019 at 06:20.
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B17 of 92nd BG Bovingdon September 1942. Photographed by Charles Brown.
Credit Roger Freeman Collection, Imperial War Museum
B17 Accident Cow Roast Berkhamsted:24.10.44. 91st Bomb Group U.S.A.A.F.B-17G 43-38398 1/lt. DeLisle Location of crash: Cow Roast, near Berkhampstead, Herts. England.
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 16th Sep 2021 at 08:47.
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I came across this rather lovely image from Bovingdon which filled me with nostalgia. It should be displayed here but due to finger trouble it's placed last! Halifax G-AILO was reduced to scrap in 1952. I sent a copy of the photo to my oldest pal David whose father Captain Gordon Rayment was with LAC and then Skyways before sadly he was killed in 1958.
David says his Father is the shorter of the three.
David supplied these snaps from his dad's logbook of G-AILO at Hong Kong having delivered a cargo uplifted in Hamburg. Routing was as follows:Bovingdon (30/4/51) - Hamburg 1/5 - Rome - Nicosia 2/5 - Bahrain (5/5 Hydraulics u/s at Bahrain) - Karachi - Delhi 6/5 - Calcutta - Bangkok - Hong Kong (9/5) - Calcutta - Karachi (11/5) - Bahrain - Nicosia - Malta - Bovingdon (13/5)
David says his Father is the shorter of the three.
David supplied these snaps from his dad's logbook of G-AILO at Hong Kong having delivered a cargo uplifted in Hamburg. Routing was as follows:Bovingdon (30/4/51) - Hamburg 1/5 - Rome - Nicosia 2/5 - Bahrain (5/5 Hydraulics u/s at Bahrain) - Karachi - Delhi 6/5 - Calcutta - Bangkok - Hong Kong (9/5) - Calcutta - Karachi (11/5) - Bahrain - Nicosia - Malta - Bovingdon (13/5)
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 27th Jan 2020 at 21:40. Reason: correction
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Yes Chevvron I agree. I remember playing on the Halifax hulks on the dispersals near Whelpley Hill. So far I've not been able to track down any images of the dumps. Perhaps G-AILO is about to be scrapped? She was withdrawn from use in August 1951. The life of these useful aeroplanes was short-lived. Apart from an unhealthy accident rate, lack of work post Berlin Airlift and a shortage of spares hastened their demise. Here is an image of G-AKXT of The Lancashire Aircraft Corporation which was scrapped at Bovingdon in December 1950. No location is given for the photograph but it could well be Bovingdon, the area looks suitably derelict!
Photocredit NA3T.
Photocredit NA3T.
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John Young's Album
https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-...viation-artist
https://www.cheshamgolf.co.uk/wp-con...John-Young.pdf
https://www.cheshamgolf.co.uk/wp-con...John-Young.pdf
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 13th Feb 2020 at 19:31.
