RAF Cosford, the training wing, Picture intensive
Were some of those airframes transferred from Halton?
I remember visits to the Old and New workshops at Halton in the '80s and they were packed full of airframes; wonder what those buildings contain nowadays?
I also remember when we were flying microlights at Halton in the '90s, they often used to be training Flight Line mechanics in marshalling using the JPs on the airfield and doing engine runs on the Gnats, then after a couple of years, seeing a line of both those types on the main apron being dismantled having been sold to civilian operators; I don't recall any Jags on the airfield though.
I remember visits to the Old and New workshops at Halton in the '80s and they were packed full of airframes; wonder what those buildings contain nowadays?
I also remember when we were flying microlights at Halton in the '90s, they often used to be training Flight Line mechanics in marshalling using the JPs on the airfield and doing engine runs on the Gnats, then after a couple of years, seeing a line of both those types on the main apron being dismantled having been sold to civilian operators; I don't recall any Jags on the airfield though.
Are all the JP5s gone now? The last time I visited they were still using them for the flight line training. I know they'd replaced them with Jags for that job but I thought they still had some left.
I think they've all been sold off now. Flight Line training is now all simulated, no live aircraft handling activity any more.
I'd forgotten what 'fine looking bird' the Jaguar T-bird was.
Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of working on a Jag, they were a 'Plumbers Dream' apparently!
It's a shame the Sea Vixens and Buccaneers have gone from when I was a trainee there. The Sea Vixen underwater escape 'add on' to the AAES was always a good challenge!
Great shots Nutty and I share your disdain at Sea King panels on the hangar floor with an empty rack beside. Many a good Sqn WO would go apoplectic with rage at that!
Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of working on a Jag, they were a 'Plumbers Dream' apparently!
It's a shame the Sea Vixens and Buccaneers have gone from when I was a trainee there. The Sea Vixen underwater escape 'add on' to the AAES was always a good challenge!
Great shots Nutty and I share your disdain at Sea King panels on the hangar floor with an empty rack beside. Many a good Sqn WO would go apoplectic with rage at that!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 32,762
Received 2,746 Likes
on
1,170 Posts
Thank you, I went through St Athan and Halton, never did Cosford, so a visit to the hangars was on my bucket list, I have done several visits to the schools outside area which I have posted. For what it’s worth, they still have a Bucc, my picture wasn’t that great so it never was uploaded, I will try to improve it and post it..
The odd thing about the Jag was unlike most aircraft, the Tbird actually is one aircraft that looks better as a twin than a single.. full of curves in all the right places.
The odd thing about the Jag was unlike most aircraft, the Tbird actually is one aircraft that looks better as a twin than a single.. full of curves in all the right places.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 32,762
Received 2,746 Likes
on
1,170 Posts
When I visited and took the photos, there were several JP5 still dum...parked outside the hangars plus the cutaway inside still earning its crust...
not seen so many jags outside since
and YES I’m on it.
not seen so many jags outside since
and YES I’m on it.
I had a nostalgic return to a Provost T1 that I flew at Tern Hill in 1961. I was being used as a marshalling trainer at the Apprentices School at the Aldergrove Maintenance Unit. In the late seventies the School was closing and the Provost was being disposed of. The knew that I was trained on them so they invited me to do its final ground runs before it went. The sound of a Leonides at 3,000 rpm +8 boost and the blue flame coming out of the exhaust was something that I never experienced again.
It now resides in a museum in Muscat.
It now resides in a museum in Muscat.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 32,762
Received 2,746 Likes
on
1,170 Posts
We used a Pembroke at Saints, the whole course cramming in it to taxy out to the area then taking turns to Marshal it, each having a go in the cockpit after our turn, we then all piled in keeping the weight forward to stop it tipping onto it’s tail for the return to the sheds..
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 32,762
Received 2,746 Likes
on
1,170 Posts
I'd forgotten what 'fine looking bird' the Jaguar T-bird was.
Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of working on a Jag, they were a 'Plumbers Dream' apparently!
It's a shame the Sea Vixens and Buccaneers have gone from when I was a trainee there. The Sea Vixen underwater escape 'add on' to the AAES was always a good challenge!
Great shots Nutty and I share your disdain at Sea King panels on the hangar floor with an empty rack beside. Many a good Sqn WO would go apoplectic with rage at that!
Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of working on a Jag, they were a 'Plumbers Dream' apparently!
It's a shame the Sea Vixens and Buccaneers have gone from when I was a trainee there. The Sea Vixen underwater escape 'add on' to the AAES was always a good challenge!
Great shots Nutty and I share your disdain at Sea King panels on the hangar floor with an empty rack beside. Many a good Sqn WO would go apoplectic with rage at that!
Cosford Airside Bucc by Tony Taylor, on Flickr
