Have you tried a search for the Beverley Association? I gather the Bev used to be flown from Abingdon; perhaps they'd be up for a reunion?

BEagle - good idea, yes i will try to find out about the Bev association.

Do you or anyone know how i can get the Plastic replica aircraft of the RAF Exhibition Flight?? - i thought it was Cranwell you have to speak to................??

ABN99
 

Hi ABN99, please check your PMs (but I don't think you'll find anything as I've tried twice and it's still not showing in my sent msgs folder). Please PM me back if you are who I think you are (common name, unusual spelling!)...

Gadget :ok:

aka ABN98 (1983-85 vintage)

Interesting and very unusual to see an AAC Apache circuit bashing between 9.45pm - 11pm on Tues 10th June, firstly '26 ' right hand then '18' right hand.Presume with night vision & all that.

Beverley Assoc
 

Further to BEagle's post, the link to the Bev Assoc is here. Hope this helps.

Havnt had time to read through all of this but Dishforth is know as Dishforth Airfield and is sign posted this. I fly there and my father is the CFI. If you look at the address for dishforth camp it is :-

9 regt aac.
DISHFORTH Airfield
thirsk
yo7 3ez

Re my 'Abingdon Fayre' event, does anyone know if it is the Tatical Communications Wing (TCW) at Brize Norton put in temporary runway lighting for exercises etc???

I wish to find out as runway lighting would further clarify the main runway for my event is in use!!! - had a few army personnel from bottom end of the airfield MQ's cross the active at this years show (could not read the warning signs & climbed over barriers) & like playing 'chicken' to jet traffic - not a good idea!

The CAA inspector & Air Traffic were not impressed

If anyone has details of who & how to get in touch, let me know via my e-mail ([email protected])

I would like to hear from any ex RAF Abingdon personnel, be it from LAC's to former Station Commanders with any interesting stories to tell during there time at Abingdon (keep it clean please!!), as we plan to have a noticeboard on our Display Stand which has RAF Abingdon memorabilia & our annual "Abingdon Fayre" Charity events on it. The idea is to present to members of the public a collage of interesting articles to read....from the RAF Days.

E-mail: [email protected]
Our event: www.abingdonfayre.latest-info.com

Many thanks
Neil Poter - Event Co-ordinator

Neil Porter

There was the story I heard when I was flying with OUAS from Abingdon in about 1947. There was a Corporal in Pay Accounts who decided that his pay would not let him live in the style to which he was accustomed (he was a National Serviceman, I believe). So he raised a paper squadron and ran it successfuully for several months, drawing all their pay net of deductions etc. He got away with it until the auditors picked up some minor discrepency attributing a breakage to someone who did not appear on the payroll, I believe. They court martialled him and slung him in the cooler. They should have promoted him when he got out - he really knew his onions as an akker-basher!

Jags in F Hangar (1 AMS)
 

Trying to contact anyone (or can contact me) with either Black & White or Colour photos of when Jaguars were serviced under No. 1 Air Maintenance Squadron .... willing to pay for copies.. be it from personal collections or official MOD Photos.

Any pics of the ex Indian AF Jags also most welcome, i believe some were stored in E Hangar in the early 80's.

To go on our RAF Abingdon memory boards as explained in an earlier text on this Post as part of my "Abingdon Fayre" event publicity material ( elsewhere is given the next scheduled event in 2004) - good for the locals etc to see some images from the past... all will be credited to the owners of the photos.

E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.abingdonfayre.latest-info.com

I will give my home address etc on request.

Also, the Battle of Britain Flight Lancaster was given a major overhaul in F Hangar in 84 i think, again any material relating to that then send it through...

Q: i have found out that Abingdons main runway can take loads of up to "LCG III" - does anyone out there know the weight in kgs as i aint got a f*****g clue!!

Need to know for my ref - Abingdon Fayre event, cheers.....

LCG III means that it can take a LCN of 51-75 as normal operations.

Rule of thumb from the FIH says that this means it can bear approx 75000lbs for continuous and that a 50% increase is acceptable as an emergency i.e. 112500lgs Gross Weight.

I am afraid that this limits you to only 34.5 tonnes or 51 tonnes in an emergency.

A rough guide for a/c weights is MAUWs:-

C17 Globemaster 265.8 tonnes.
KC1 Tristar is 234.5 tonnes.
C130 Hercules 72.5 tonnes.
Chinook HC2 24.5 tonnes.
Jaguar GR1 15.7 tonnes.
Tornado GR4 26.6 tonnes.


So suffice to say you can get the jets and rotary guys in but nothing much bigger than a Herc with half tanks.

Hope this is of some help and before you all start shooting me down with my inaccuracies I am going to hide behind p.70 of the current FIH.

VT

NP
Just some happy memories re Abingdon in the mid 80s. It was then home to London UAS, Oxford UAS, an AEF (No6??) as well as all the holding pilots who flew for OC Fg - a Jag pilot called S/L Mike Lawrence (ace chap). The holding guys were just out of Valley/TWU with their wings and did lots of Hawk delivery flts. They were a good bunch. One chap went along dual with ML on his first that trip he thought was a simple delivery flight. When he got to Valley (or perhaps Chiv), ML said "right chum that's your acceptance check complete, go and fly that ac over there back to Abingdon". The guy hadn't been excpecting this at all and didn't have any LL charts, ATC freqs or red book and the like, and had to cuff it all the way across the country back to Oxon at 400+ kts - bit of shock for someone just out of trg. Needless to say he was fine but how we laughed!

The ULAS guys stayed in the mess but the OUAS lot went home each night. Some of my memories of those days are pretty much unprintable but they were absolutely f-ing magic! I think we must have broken the record for people in a mini when I drove half the sqn back to the mess in my car - unfortunately across runway 26/08 so RAF police not best impressed. However, I was let off with caution "don't be so silly next time, Sir" - that wouldn't happen these days!

The QFIs were top blokes - the best. Woody Woodhall was an hilarious guy who had a wonderful way with duffer studes like me - sadly, Woody is dead now. Pete Thorn - who was old even then (having flown Spits/Hurricanes and just about every ac type in the RAF inventory) was an excellent QFI who sometimes smoked his pipe while airbourne but occasionally fell asleep on Navexes! I think he is still flying in Oxon area and we keep in touch. Then there was 'Wild Bill' - a grumpy scot par excellence - who is still inflicting his razor tongue on unsuspecting UAS studes somewhere - damn fine pair of hands tho'. A brand new QFI called Ron arrived one day (I think he is now a Air Cde but is still an excellent officer and gentleman). Ron mistook Brize for Abingdon on his first flight - however, this wasn't uncommon as Abingdon was home to about 6 ex BA VC10s that were due for conversion to tannkers - so he can be forgiven but he was teased just a small amount!

One of the Stn Cdrs was a chap called Terry - an engineer with a pair of wings who also rose to air rank eventually. Nice enough chap but we ULAS guys broke his toe during a game of mess rugby one night - just before the AOCs AFI - he had to meet said AOC while sporting his foot in a plaster cast - we thought it v funny but he had a bit of a sad on with us from then on, tho!

The saddest day however, was the loss of the phantom crew on eve of the '88 BofB Airshow which was subsequently cancelled. Still we had a good wake that evening in their honour!

All good memories and i was sad to see the base handed to the brown jobs - who immediately built a fence across the runway - sacriledge. The RAF had the last laugh tho' during a major Army Ex in mid 90s when 15+ Hercs arrived on the now disused base, set up camp and had literally hundreds of flying complaints each night they got airborne. I believe Hercs have used the rwy recently for other exs - so PCN not a major prob as long as owners (MOD) happy - don't forget hercs regularly land on grass/sand! You would need to enlist help of HQ2Grope's tactical ATC and firemen to give some semblance of fire cover/rwy control. Suggest you contact Tac AT chaps at new Ascot Ops at Brize.

Arrabest

Ah yes. A great loss was Abingdon. Perfect for light ac ops as it had 2 runways virtually at right angles.

When I was a ULAS stude at White Waltham (where we definitely broke a record for the number of people in a car from WLAC to the OM via the peri-track. Sadly the impact of Nige Huck's ample backside on the bonnet of said vehicle did little to improve its looks. The car's, that is, nothing could improve the looks of the other!), my last summer camp was when we arrived at Abingdon. "Well at least we'll be secure here, chaps, they'll never close this place down" said the boss at the time...

And so they were until the early 90s when the current downward cut-cut-cut spiral really began to bite. Fortunately my time as a ULAS QFI from 89-92 was primarily at Abingdon, but then the wretched bean counters forced us over to Benson. I was the last to leave Abingdon (and had much fun saying cheerio to the ATC tower); Benson wasn't the same though - but at least we still had summer camps and the studes weren't under the pressure they are nowadays.

UASs of today? Politeness forbids me to comment - or perhaps it's just that words fail me.....

PS - Was that Ron P who said hello to Brize on his first trip? He of the small bladder who would require the bus to stop every few miles on the run back from THQ training nights to Abingdon? Nice chap - used to service the Vulcans I once flew! If 'twas he who to whom you refer, then well done indeed. Last I'd heard he was a Wg Cdr, so promotion must have been even more rapid than an RAF doctor's if he's now an Air Commode!

Thanks fore the great response to my thread, some excellent info & great memories stories - keep em coming in!
Vortex thing & Flipster - cheers for the Abingdon main runway LCG info & about contacting the Tact AT chaps at Brize..

It was a shame the Army built its Peri fence across the RWY 26 (about third of total length lost), i remember seeing it bein put up - i heard a funny story that when the RAF Motorglider School first arrived there in the mid 90's, the subject of the fence across 26 came up - the Armys response was " no probs we'll just open the big metal gates on the fence" so to get more RWY length if you need it!!!

I think i have mentioned earlier that RWY 18 / 36 has been shortened alittle cos of a military entrance just off end of 36 - its approx 6000ft now.

Flipster - yes the Herc ex (Roaring Lion i believe it was called) was fantastic, i have personally never seen so many Hercs assembled there....
The airfield is still used a fare amount really for flying activities - got to be thankful it aint ended up as a housing estate!!

You mention the Phantom crash in 88 whilst it was practising for the B of B day, one of the crew was Flt Lt C Lackman - my Mother knows Mrs Lackman - Webber (now re married) - but lives down this area bizarrely, and her son joined the local Air Cadets.

Sqn Ldr Lawerance ( Unit Test Pilot (UTP)- i did meet him a few times, nice chap... i know someone who also took a trip in a Hawk to deliver it back to Valley i think it was, on there way up UTP asked if he could see the Severn Bridge, chap in back said he couldn't so UTP promptly went inverted to make sure he could see the bridge!

Regarding my Abingdon Fayre event, again we will have an Air - Ground Air Traffic unit in place, operated by qualified Controllers from Kemble, but will ask Tact unit at Brize if maybe some temp RWY lighting can be put in, can only ask & see.

I have had some good initial feedback from the RAF to support the show in 2004 already, we have started planning again so lets see what happens..

NP/Beags

Yep, RP is now at least a G/C, of that I am sure - but someone told me he had been promoted again! If true, it couldn't happen to a more absolutely super, pleasant and honest chap. He stands head and shoulders above all people of that pay-group that I have ever met.

Mike Lawrence was a card - banged out of FJs at least twice so he had a few stories to tell! I was fairly big chums with his son, Charlie, who was another absolute gem - tho' dunno what has happened to either - anyone help?

NP. If you PM me I'll get the Tac AT types to touch base with you - they are always looking for more runways for Hercs/C17s to practice on - the local populace near to Keevil are fed up of late night arrivals!. However, suspect that the inhabitants of Boar's Hill would have a fit!!!

Tac ATC can provide rudimentary rwy lighting - white light, NVG or even day-glo marker panels, if req'd - but I'm not sure of the need for either during daylight ops as the runway is pretty big, is it not?.

Flipster - yep the runway is big!!
We have started to have the Merlins also use the airfield at night at times with underslung load training - and occasional Apaches too - last week for example we had a Merlin bumbling around til midnight.

I think people round here have accepted Abingdon is still used regulary for Military flying ops, altho as you rightly point out the Boars Hill mob & a certain gent in a white house off to the left of RWY 18 mildly grumble i suspect!! i believe the gent in the white house even moans about the sheep bleeting in the field!!!
A Warrant Officer told me a Lightning once took off from Abingdon to go around and it blasted across the airfield on its "goodbye pass" to sort of point in the direction of Boars Hill & go "Vertical" in full burner.Lovely jubbly!!
But my arguement is why the hell do people move near an airfield in the first place knowing activity occurs..

It would be nice to have Herks / C17s use the airfield i must admit - Herks used to pop in at night on NVG sorties but have sort of stopped of late.I guess they go to Keevil as its closer???

Tac AT types need to contact the SSO at Dalton Barracks really to see if it ok, send me an e-mail Flipster:
[email protected]

Does any ex Abingdonions remember what year the Illushin IL-76 flew in to off load a Sukhoi SU26 aerobatic aircraft for a private buyer who owns a YAK facility at White Waltham??

I have some pictures of it upon landing and i had a good mooch around in it the following day!
Thought it was Feb 1991, but aint sure......can anyone help....cheers

Neil,
Try the Oxford Mail. I'm sure I remember seeing pictures of that in the paper at the time.
They should have loads of pics of (scheduled) interesting things that happened over the years, whether they will let you have them cheap/free is another matter.

Mike W

My somewhat battered 3822 shows that the very first time I took to the air (at the age of 13yrs 4 months) was from the Abingdon AEF where I must have first watched the Jump Jump John video.

Ahh, nostalgia - its not what it used to be.

That loop in a Chippy is responsible for my entire career. To my dying shame the instructors name was not recorded elsewise I'd have bought him a barrel of beer years ago.

Lovely airfield. Like so many now lost. How the heck the RAF managed to loose Chivenor baffles me to this day.

Cheers

WWW

Yep - the RAF gave up Heaven-in-Devon, Abingdon, Thorney Island - and lots of other great places.

But kept Valley and HMP K?

Now Lyneham is planned to close.........

NP ref Skylark4's comments about Oxford Mail.

Something else you may wish to chase is the OM report ref the USN S-3 Viking that overran the end of rwy 18 about 2 days before the '88 Airshow as it arrived for the static park. It was quite a laff that crews used to landing on carriers afloat and moving, could not stop on a stationary, 6000' rwy !!!

The crew and ac were not damamged but the ac broke the wooden 'frangible' over-run fence on the Shippon road. The nose wheel ended up on the double yellows, partially blocking the road. The first policeman (with GSOH) to arrive gave the pilot a parking ticket!!

I think I have a copy of the original somewhere but it wouldn't happen now, of course! However, the story featured in the OM the next day with photo - until the sad crash of the phantom crew made the headlines.

Yeah ta for that info re the S3 Viking - i was at the Crash gate on Gozzards Ford (about halfway along RWY 18/36), remember it going past and all of us looking puzzled as to why it could not stop on a 6500 ft runway!!

We cycled round to the end of Barrow rd to see it on the road - i have put my picture of it being towed off the road on page 2 i think it is on this thread.. and i heard about the 'parking ticket'!

A friend of mine still has the OXford Mail write up about the visiting Tornado GR1 from 14 Sqn at RAF Bruggen (yep another good base gone!!), it arrived on the thurs before the 89 Bof B airshow - remember seeing it ready for departure on the thurs eve, whilst i was in E Hangar to help unpack the airshow programs & heard it blast off with an immediet 'C130 sounding aircraft follow'!!.
I thought you can't have a Herk immedietly land after a Tonka just took off, then the sirens went off with an SAC shouting Oh F**k not again!!!!!!!!

I think it crashed at Oday Hill just outside Drayton & the crew got an award for steering the Tornado away from the villages.

I think the Tornado suffered a multiple bird strike??
And that eerie Herky sound was i guess the birds being gulped up by the Tornado!!

Being as Abingdon is used regulary for Flying activity ( Merlins / Pumas / Apache Heli's in the weekdays for example), is it worth the Military to look into re-instating perhaps the defunct Control Tower or something so to have some form of airfield control??
The reason i ask this, is because when the Army moved in, the base was divided in half so the domestic area is Dalton Barracks with the Airfield on the the other side of the new Peri fence.

But, as Merlin & Puma crews (and resident 612 VGS personnel will tell you), people go on the airfield part to walk dogs or on occasions you'll get vehicles on the runway.
There are 3 areas where people come onto the airfield, no one takes a blind bit of notice to the Health & Safety signs / MOD Keep out signs / Keep off the runways signs etc... and personally i am really surprised no one has been killed yet.
I hope it never comes to a death but it only takes a student pilot in a Motorglider for example to loose control momentarily on take off ie: in a crosswind situation to wipe out some person ignoring signs etc.

What are peoples views on this???
Do you think some kind of airfield control is needed???

abingdon
 

yes np.i think there should be control.its still an active airfeild.rules still apply.the army should take this very seriosly.they will be the first to kick up a stink if something happend to one of there personal.

I was part of the team that brought the Buccs to Abingdon in 1986 from St. Athan. I think we scared the living daylights out of the resident personnel as they were not allowed to beat the field up on delivery. Our squadron jocks thought it was a jolly jap. I don't know what Knobs Hill thought although the local press seemed to think we were some secret squadron everytime I took the a/c out for runs before we got our detuners, (and a fat lot of good they were)!

I remember 88 well. The first time the S3 went through the fence we gave it a tax disc and an MOT Cert and reassured the pilot that the local plods wouldn't slap an on the spot fine on him. The second time he broke it he wasn't in too good a mood so we left him alone!

Oh the good days

Yes the Bucc's were fantastic - remember in 89 when a Bucc took off on delivery flight back to Lossie, the pilot took it around the airfield & preceeded to fly oh so low down the runway & pull up to near vertical - something i will never forget!
Remember also the final 2 Buccs to be serviced, Central TV were there etc in early 92.
If memory serves me right, both took off to take a wide circuit round the south of the airfield, to come back across with the gear down, to clean up, go around & end with a fast pass each!!

Does anyone recollect the USAF C130 Hercules dets from the Minnesota & Ohio ANG'S.

We had a talk once from a Captain Collins on the 89 det on the Minnesota ANG -very interesting talk on there role & they loved Abingdon. Was lucky to fly in a ANG Herc on a local area famil, to see a formation of Nimrod, Buccs, Canberras etc in formation for whatever reason (?) near Fairford / Kemble way & to land back at Abingdon to taxi in behind the BBMF Lancaster which flew in especially for the ANG personnel..have to dig out the piccy.
ABN 99 (not Mike Lawerance!!), you have some articles on that don't you??

Ex 6 AEF Chipmunks / OUAS & ULAS Bulldogs
 

Any aircrew / ex aircrew who own a privately owned ex RAF Bulldog or Chipmunk, please get in touch with me - either PM me or e-mail: [email protected]

One of my aims at my 5th ABINGDON FAYRE 2004 on 2 May is to create an area devoted to these 2 types within the Static Aircraft park............ these 2 types were at Abingdon from the early 70's til closure in 92 so would be nice to get a gathering, i know & have had a few ex 6 AEF Chippies & ULAS Bulldogs into my show in 2002/ 2003 so they are about.......

Ta

AIR NATIONAL GUARD
 

Talking of deployments to RAF Abingdon, I recall the USAF A.N.G. being deployed to this base during the 1980's.

Three Exercises were held at Abingdon during this period. The units visiting were drawn from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve using Lockheed C-130 aircraft. All three exercises were held under the operational title.

"EXERCISE VOLANT PARTNER"

The first of these Exercises took place for a period of about two weeks at the end of September and the beginning of October 1984, and involved Eight C-130E.
Four of these aircraft were from the MINNESOTA AIR GUARD (109th TAS, 133rd TAW, normally based at Minneapolis Airport) and the other four were from the CALIFORNIA AIR GUARD (115TH TAS, 146TH TAW, normally based at Van Nuys)

The purpose of these exercises was to give the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve experience in a European war theatre.

The second of these exercise took place between 1st and 17th May 1986 and involved the same two Air National Guard units from California and Minnesota.

The purpose of their visit once again was to give the reservists experience in European flying conditions, as well as providing additional airlift support to their tactical commanders the 322nd Airlift Division at Ramstein. During their stay at Abingdon the aircraft were used in exercise 'Open Gate' (southern NATO area) and exercise 'Flintlock 86' (central area)

On this occasion there were nine C-130E aircraft based at Abingdon, five from Minnesota and four from California.

The third and last "Volant Partner" exercise to be held at ABINGDON was between the 5th and 15th June 1989. The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Units deployed on this occasion were the Minnesota and Ohio ANG.

The C-130E and C-130B aircraft, participated in a NATO exercise called 'Avenue Express' simulating the defence of Denmark. They undertook both tactical (flying down to 300ft) and airlift missions. Their first two operations (dropping parachutes into Germany and one mission into Denmark)

I understand RAF Benson and RAF Odiham were also used during the 80's for this role.

Regards
Alan
"ABN99"

ABN99 - Remember the big Exercise held in August 93 for a couple of weeks - Exercise Roaring Lion..
Loads of C130 Hercules activity, remember coming into work at the base to see 9 C130's lined up on the E/W runway (used for parking), then joined by a shed load more to have around 20 or so Herks on site at one point - and what a sight!!
What was it, 5am stream take offs!!! - mind you i pity you being on the approach path!

I think the locals didn't know what hit them at first, afterall eight months before the RAF had pulled out & was now an Army base!
OK, 60 sqn who then had Wessex from Benson used the field alot but to have all this descend was a very pleasing sight. The USAF sent in a C130, and the RAF loading a couple of Scout Helicopters to take to Keevil i presume?
I did hear talk of C141 Starlifters using Abingdon for the second part of the exercise but i think the runway aint long enough for those beasts.

TAC put in temp runway lighting and the Air Traffic tower was used once again, like the good old days!!

Pumas & Chinooks were involved also - i have attached a piccy from the Abingdon Fayre website of troops waiting to go etc..... anyone out there with any photos of the Exercise, PM or e-mail me please with your details as would like to purchase some!

http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/abingdo...f/SAVE0042.JPG


Thanks to Geoff who e-mailed me ref: US Navy photos from the ill fated 88 show, cracking shots of the F14 Tomcats, F18 Hornets, EA-6B Prowler & A6 Intruders.......oh and the S3 Viking!

Air Traffic Control building -
 

It seems that in the near future, the present occupiers of Abingdon Station (Dalton Barracks) prefer to demolish the disused Air Traffic Control tower & associated 3 bay Garage next to it on Abingdon Airfield if they can get the money to do so.
For those of you who know Abingdons layout, its in the NW corner of the airfield..

The Tower was in reasonably regularish use as a security look out point on exercises or the resident RAF 612 VGS Motorglider School would use it as Air Traffic whilst there moblie unit was in for servicing etc.

When the RAF vacated, the consoles in the glass house "up top" were all taken away but the Air Conditioning, internal Lighting and Heating was re-installed to work.

Unfortunetly, vandalism struck so two thirds of the windows were smashed including a few of the big windows in the glass house "up top", so around 1999/2000 the decision was made to board it all up as the link below testifies (the tower in question is the two colour photos halfway down the page):
http://www.controltowers.co.uk/A/Abingdon.htm

We as an active volunteer organisation who run the annual ABINGDON FAYRE charity events (mini Airshow / Country Fayre) are actively putting together a collage of pictures from its past to go on display at local / not so local Fetes & Shows for public viewing in the form of a PR Stand.

I intend to purchase an aircraft cockpit in the near future to add to the PR display stand and we are now trying to find out / aquire the Air Traffic Tower & 3 bay Garage for storage of our expanding PR Stand, equipment for Abingdon Fayre events and the idea of maybe to set up a small RAF Abingdon memorial museum so to be a permanent reminder of its past and would save the Tower and Garage from being bulldozed!

Can i have peoples thoughts on this, and any willing helpers to volunteer any services or contribute as we want to get the ball rolling.
Please initially e-mail me on:
[email protected]

Many thanks
NP

Revamped website for Abingdon Fayre
 

Ok we now have a revamped website for the annual "Abingdon Fayre" air / country fayre events...... same address on www.abingdonfayre.latest-info.com

But you ex RAF Abingdon chappies / Chappesses may like to look at the revised tribute page on Abingdon - contains a few more differring image:
http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/abingdonfayre/raf/

Thanks to those of you who have sent in jpg form some nice old piccies from Abingdon, have over 120 ! - a couple are on the RAF Tribute page at the bottom.

Still looking for pics ie: Lancaster in F Hangar on maintenance in 84, Indian Jags (early 80's), USAF ANG dets etc - doesn't matter if they are from an official source or your own pics, all i want is a copy sent in jpg form if you can.....keep em coming in!

Any Benson personnel reading this - in the spring 2004 edition of "Lions Roar", you should have a whack of Abingdon nostalgia in it!!!!!!!

I was Duty Instructor at 612 the day Mr Mansell landed there! Taxiied right up to the guard room to ask where he was!!!!! What a pro! Only about 11 miles out!!
Good job his driving was a bit better:{
Mr Chinchilla.....check yer PM's.

Anyone remember the Royal Jordanian Air Force contingent which boltholed to Abingdon prior to a IAT show at Fairford in mid 80's- think it was Pitts Specials aeros team " jordanian falcons"?

wll done NP for making sure that the world knows Abbo is still alive....doing a great job with AbFayre-stick at it....
all the best mate oxfordshire aviation group:ok:

Cheers Mr OAG!

:ok: :D

noprobs,mate....grobs flying today

Abingdon
 

NP,

Excellent Air Fayre in 2003. Good to see the Merlin and the sound of the Hunter at Abingdon again (great show - even if the BBMF did cry off!).

Perhaps you might get one of those AAC Apache chappies to visit next time . . they seem to frequent more and more these days. It seems they like the 'blacked out' night vision conditions imposed by the Army residents driving their vechicles over the runway lights!

Keep up the good work in 2004.

Ian
ESAG - Oxford University

Like to say again a big "thanks", be it on this forum or via my private Email / telephone etc, for the excellent feedback about my "Abingdon Fayre" events from members of this Pprune website, all gratefully received.... :ok:

Ian , that would be telling if an Apache has been requested for Ab Fayre 2004, but all i will say is watch this space - well keep checking our website especially after mid Feb 04, you all may have a surprise or two!!

I have had a request from the local Abingdon Town Museum to put something together on RAF Abingdon for spring 2004, so again anyone wishing to contribute pics from RAF Abingdon days then send me a JPG to my private e-mail ( [email protected] ), or send me a PM and i will forward my home address if you wish to send a copy of a piccy but ideally by end of Jan 2004 - and remember all photos will be credited to whoever took it!

:cool:

np
further to your request for Abbo memories...read on.
Just been flicking through my "small"[???]collection of mags and saw article & picture of SUKHOI 26,CCCP-5201 being delivered to Richard Goode at Abingdon in January 1991.
Re. the Lanc on maintenance there in '84...in late-February[I think]of that year I was on a base-tour of Abingdon with a local enthusiast society,which,so far as Iam aware,no longer exists.After looking at the various Jags etc we taken out to the ramp outside 'F' Shed where PA474 was standing in all her glory awaiting engine checks.I remember it being an extremely foggy morning and those members who had brought their cameras proceeded to capture the ol' girl on film with the aid of FLASH.Within minutes there was the sound of sirens filtering through the murk as the RAF Abingdon fire & crash rescue crews approached the Lanc at great speed.Apparently,someone in Air-Traffic had seen some flashes of light in the area around the Lanc & fearing the worst,decided to investigate.Obviously it was the photographers who'd generated the problem,& once everything had been confirmed as NOT on fire,the group was given a stern lecture as to the advisability of using flash photography near a valuable historic aircraft which was being prepared for action

Finally,to anyone else reading this,please give Neil all the support you can...he's doing a great job and deserves all the support he can get...see you on May 2nd
COLIN-OXFORDSHIRE AVIATION GROUP