Linton on Ouse : The end of an era
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Teesside
Posts: 209
Linton on Ouse : The end of an era
The Yorkshire Universities Air Squadron left their home at Linton this morning to take up residency just up the road at Leeming were they will join the already incumbent Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron . The departure of YUAS brings to a close over 80 years of operational flying from Linton with a NOTAM issued today of an airfield closure notice and the station well into its eventual drawdown at the end of 2021 . Very sad times indeed . Some details here ;
https://twitter.com/RAFLintonOnOuse
and
https://www.facebook.com/raf.leeming/
https://twitter.com/RAFLintonOnOuse
and
https://www.facebook.com/raf.leeming/
Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 13,036
Sad to see another great airfield close. I went through BFTS there in 77/8 when the dispersal was a sea of red and white Jet Provosts.
My youngest was a member of YUAS only a couple of years ago and for a while she lived in the west wing of the Officers’ Mess, as I had done. I helped her move in. On arrival at the rear door she had forgotten the combination to the push button door lock. Almost without thinking I pressed the buttons and opened the door. Same combination forty years on!
Leeming is a very long way north, especially bearing in mind that YUAS’s earlier home was Finningley. Cadets travelling from Leeds are going to find that journey even more inconvenient.
Maybe they should rename it OJIYUAS - Only Just In Yorkshire UAS.
My youngest was a member of YUAS only a couple of years ago and for a while she lived in the west wing of the Officers’ Mess, as I had done. I helped her move in. On arrival at the rear door she had forgotten the combination to the push button door lock. Almost without thinking I pressed the buttons and opened the door. Same combination forty years on!
Leeming is a very long way north, especially bearing in mind that YUAS’s earlier home was Finningley. Cadets travelling from Leeds are going to find that journey even more inconvenient.
Maybe they should rename it OJIYUAS - Only Just In Yorkshire UAS.
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Near the coast
Posts: 1,886
YUAS
Whilst I share your sadness at the closure of LOO and acknowledge that Leeming is far less convenient for York based students you can hardly say that Leeming is only just in Yorkshire. In fact it is almost the geographic centre!
BV
BV
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: the far south
Posts: 457
Originally Posted by Bob Viking
Whilst I share your sadness at the closure of LOO and acknowledge that Leeming is far less convenient for York based students you can hardly say that Leeming is only just in Yorkshire. In fact it is almost the geographic centre!
BV
BV
Surely Leeming is way to the north of the centre
But then I google mapped it and saw you are spot on!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Newport
Posts: 7
My Grandad was based there in WW2 with the Canadian Air Force, as an engineer for the Halifax bombers, saw a lot of crews off, not so many returning. He also received his medals from the station commander there couple of years before he died, after having not received them when he finished serving, no idea who it was who presented them, but could upload the picture if asked for.
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 1,854
I remember the gentleman well Skua - Wing Commander (Retired) Alan Mawby. Some years ago he was kind enough to arrange a visit for myself, my wife, and my late mother whose first husband's Lancaster Mk11 failed to return to Linton from a bombing raid in 1943.
I've since found the following link which (sadly) answers my question:-
https://35squadron.wordpress.com/201...memorial-room/
I've since found the following link which (sadly) answers my question:-
https://35squadron.wordpress.com/201...memorial-room/
Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 13,036
Originally Posted by Bob Viking
Anything South of York doesn’t really count.
BV
BV
Last edited by ShyTorque; 2nd Dec 2020 at 13:23.
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Outside the Fence
Age: 68
Posts: 343
I also recall great days at Linton when in 1972 it was by far and away the Premier BFTS. The staff student relationship was at the forefront of a new era. Just imagine being permitted to be in the bar in the Officers Mess until 19.00. Indeed, it was almost a parade for all aviators on the Station, a different era from today! Very sad that a station with such a great tradition has gone.
Come on pilots, don't let a Navigator correct us pilots on a point of navigation. Who ever thinks that Leeming is in the center of Yorkshire needs a new map. It is in the center of North Yorkshire, however Linton is far more central to the whole county. I recall how my friends who were posted to Leeming for BFTS complained how lucky we were to be 20 minutes from York. Of course in those days the attractions of Newcastle and Durham were not quite the same!
Come on pilots, don't let a Navigator correct us pilots on a point of navigation. Who ever thinks that Leeming is in the center of Yorkshire needs a new map. It is in the center of North Yorkshire, however Linton is far more central to the whole county. I recall how my friends who were posted to Leeming for BFTS complained how lucky we were to be 20 minutes from York. Of course in those days the attractions of Newcastle and Durham were not quite the same!
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SW England
Age: 74
Posts: 3,865
I remember when Alan Mawby joined 214 as a captain on Victor tankers. On his first flight with his new crew he had put his co-pilot through his paces, making him work harder than perhaps he had been used to. In the crewroom afterwards the chap remarked (jovially) "our new captain is a bully". Tom Brown's Schooldays was being shown in TV at the time, so Alan was promptly nicknamed "Flashman" , which stuck while he remained on 214.
Really nice chap though, good pilot, and I was always very happy flying with him.
Really nice chap though, good pilot, and I was always very happy flying with him.
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: uk
Posts: 548
I was house member at one time, and well remember a large amount of 'art' in the mess loft. Going back a couple of years ago, I noticed that all the drawings of past aircrew that lined the corridors were missing. I wonder if they are now in the loft as well.
It would be a terrible shame if no one has thought to go and look.
It was some of the most memorable two years of my career, made more so by those two wonderful summers of 74 and 75.
It would be a terrible shame if no one has thought to go and look.
It was some of the most memorable two years of my career, made more so by those two wonderful summers of 74 and 75.
Gentleman Aviator
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Teetering Towers - somewhere in the Shires
Age: 71
Posts: 3,488
Along with - I guess - a relatively small number, I was commissioned there in 1968. What was ITS moved from South Cerney to Linton as AOTS (Aircrew Officer Training School) for a short-ish while before (I think) combining with the ground pounders at Henlow (?) as OCTU.
So different then (indicator of old git); to think we were turning out 30 or 40 commissioned pilots and navs every 5 weeks! And that was just the "gutter entry", not counting the General List RAFC Cranwell Flight Cadets!
So different then (indicator of old git); to think we were turning out 30 or 40 commissioned pilots and navs every 5 weeks! And that was just the "gutter entry", not counting the General List RAFC Cranwell Flight Cadets!
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 165
Originally Posted by ShyTorque
Sad to see another great airfield close. I went through BFTS there in 77/8 when the dispersal was a sea of red and white Jet Provosts.
My youngest was a member of YUAS only a couple of years ago and for a while she lived in the west wing of the Officers’ Mess, as I had done. I helped her move in. On arrival at the rear door she had forgotten the combination to the push button door lock. Almost without thinking I pressed the buttons and opened the door. Same combination forty years on!
Leeming is a very long way north, especially bearing in mind that YUAS’s earlier home was Finningley. Cadets travelling from Leeds are going to find that journey even more inconvenient.
Maybe they should rename it OJIYUAS - Only Just In Yorkshire UAS.
My youngest was a member of YUAS only a couple of years ago and for a while she lived in the west wing of the Officers’ Mess, as I had done. I helped her move in. On arrival at the rear door she had forgotten the combination to the push button door lock. Almost without thinking I pressed the buttons and opened the door. Same combination forty years on!
Leeming is a very long way north, especially bearing in mind that YUAS’s earlier home was Finningley. Cadets travelling from Leeds are going to find that journey even more inconvenient.
Maybe they should rename it OJIYUAS - Only Just In Yorkshire UAS.
