Jet Provost
 

Dont know if there are any Jet Provost jockeys out there, if so you may be interested in the following I received via e-mail from an amateur radio contact. The website might also be worth a visit.

Wednesday, 2 August 2006 "Hi Have not heard anything from you in months and months. Will look for AYW13. News from this end... whilst in the U.K. last Fall, we made a bid on 10 Jet Provosts Mark 5's at RAF Cosford... we won them all!!! The aircraft have been crated, and are now aboard a ship headed for the USA. Should arrive sometime around the middle of the month in Houston then will be shipped to our facility in Watkins, Colorado... www.astreair.com ...a rather poor website that is being rebuilt. Will keep you informed. 73 - Dave, KTØH

Hmm - looks like enough to get a formation aeros team going if there's enough dosh around for the project. Remember the halcyon days of the Poachers, the Blades, the Gemini Pair, the Macaws, etc?

Yeah, all those neighbourhood gangs! Er ...... sorry ...... no ....... they were ice-hockey teams ........er ....... perhaps not. Damn .......too long ago to remember.

Don't forget the "Vipers" from Syerston..... IIRC "Blades" were Linton or Leeming (?), "Poachers" were Sleaford Tech and "Macaws" were Manby (CAW - geddit).

My God - four different BFTSs ......... and the same course for all before wings and specialisation. Whatever next ....

Teeteringhead - yes, and each BFTS had 3(?) sqns, all working to the same syllabus. Shawbury are reluctant to have 2 parallel sqns 'cos they think standardisation would be a problem!

Perhaps real military QFIs at UASs teaching students to fly 30+ hours each per student per year in military aeroplanes, not rented plastic planes? Or real military QFIs teaching all student pilots to fly real military jet aeroplanes to a common Wings standard?

Or separate 'fast-jet' AFTS and TWUs?

Nah - 'twould never catch on.....

I wonder if the purchaser is aware of the condition of these aircraft! A friend of mine was looking to bid on them until he discovered that the wing fuel tanks had been filled with concrete!! Apparently, this was done to create the weight necessary to teach the RAF apprentices appropriate techniques for lifting/jacking aircraft. The work required to remove the concrete will, almost certainly, render the wings unserviceable. I standby to be corrected on that information. Had that not been the case, the aircraft might well have been remaining in the UK. Oh, and standby to standby on an aerobatic team (of sorts) flying Strikemasters for next season.

Might take a while, but this might get it out, bit by bit, layet by layer, without damaging the tanks... Back-Set :cool:

... you mean 705 might have to have a Met Brief rather than "Shareholders"??;)

Teteringhead

Actually there were five BFTS in the early 1960's flying JP3's and 4's. Syerston, Church Fenton, Acklington and Linton -on Ouse plus Sleaford Tech. I don't think Manby was a BFTS - wasn't it the school of Refresher Flying or somesuch. And of course Little Rissington for CFS.

ACW

Having been stationed at both Manby and Linton, I can hopefully answer a few queries. Manby was home to the School of Refresher Flying (SORF - not a BFTS), until the airfield closed in 1974. In the mid to late 70s, 1FTS at Linton had four JP Squadrons (five, if you include Standards Sqn). The 'Blades' was Linton's aerobatic team (previously 'Linton Gin'). Leeming had the 'Gemini Pair', and subsequently the 'Swords'.

Don't think that Linton and Acklington overlapped, not Linton (RAF) rather than Linton (FAA).

SORF was indeed at Manby as was the College of Air Warfare, hence the Macaws for the JP team. But it's all a very long time ago, and as I heard a retiring senior officer say at at Dining-in-Night once:

And the Manby Macaws predecessors were 'The Magistrates' (JPs - geddit).

the facitity above (1st post) already has 3 JP's in flyable condition, and quite a few Gnats - a couple flying - lots of engines and wings also.

they specialise in long term restoration to flyable condition.

some photos I took of the Gnats at Front Range a few months ago on another forum:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57509

I can post the JP photos if anyone is interested

Teteringhead

You are of course correct but I was also forgetting Leeming. So that makes five BFTS's flying JP3's and JP4's plus Cranwell. Just because Linton was training FAA did not mean it was not largely staffed by the RAF. I did my Advanced Flying Training at Linton on Vampires along with Naval fixed wing BFTS students on JP's and Naval Helicopter pilots doing 70 hours on Chipmunks.

Made for an intersting circuit at times with all three types at different speeds and heights.

ACW

I think the JP3 probably would have a hard time meeting that specification - throttle forward = more noise throttle back = slightly less noise. But very reliable and predictable, apart from a double inverter failure once .....

Leeming Early 70's
 

Remember the Gemini pair when Dusty Miller was no. two. Can't Remember the no.one's name but he went on to fly Pitts with the Rothman's team.
As for the J.P.TMk. 3 it was bloody cold in wintertime out of Leeming. Other than that all that comes to mind is that seemed to work.

Bob Thompson?

Believe the other half of the Gemini Pair was Rod Pattinson - whose party piece was eating daffodils.....

Was indeed Bob Thompson, who went on to lead the 3FTS 'Swords' in 1974.