Snake Pass, Peak District National Park May 23, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, Peak District, Royal Air Force, South Yorkshire.Tags: Derbyshire, Peak District National Park, Snow, winter, South Yorkshire, Sheffield, ICAO, UK, A57, Glossop, Manchester Airport, EGCC, stream, Pennines, National Park
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Snake Pass, A57 Glossop to Sheffield
I am from Derbyshire, and intensely proud of that fact. I am fortunate enough to be able to travel back fairly often, and visit friends and relations in the region. A few weeks ago, I landed at Manchester Airport (ICAO code, EGCC), the third-busiest airport in the UK and only a few miles from the boundary of the Peak District National Park. I have family in Sheffield on the other side of the Pennines.
I chose to travel the A57 road which runs from Glossop in Derbyshire to Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Part of this road forms the notorious Snake Pass, which winds it’s way through the National Park from west to east. Here you can see a typical piece of Peak District scenery on the A57, complete with pines and a rushing stream.
One thing the Snake Pass is notorious for is becoming blocked by snow, almost every winter, and its easy to see why!
Great Vintage Flying Weekend, Kemble, May 9 – 10th May 14, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, Great Britain, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, RAF, aircraft.Tags: 111 Squadron, aircraft, control tower, Delta Jets, EGBP, England, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, Hawker, Hawker Hunter, ICAO, Kemble, Kemble Air Day, Kemble Aviation, RAF, Royal Air Force
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Control Tower, Kemble Airfield
Well, the 2009 GVFWE has come and gone…..and it was a roaring success. Elements from previous events seemed to blend easily with the new, thanks to some excellent work by Glen and all at Kemble Aviation, (here is a shot of the control tower at Kemble, ICAO designation EGBP) . I know that those of us who were ‘carry-overs’ from previous years found ourselves thoroughly at home. Kemble, of course, is used to holding some first-rate aviation events, including an Air Day (this year a two day show) featuring some of the local Delta Jet fleet. GVWFE was re-worked to include a one-hour flying programme, in the middle of each day, which also featured sparkling displays by a Delta Jets two-seat Hawker Hunter, in the colours of No. 111 Squadron, RAF, and many other aircraft.
All in all, a great start to a ‘new’ edition of this classic event.
Skyjeep – a rara avis February 23, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, England, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, aircraft.Tags: Auster, Australia, Bankstown Airport, Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 engine, BWU, CH3 Super Ace, Chrislea, Chrislea Aircraft Company Ltd, Chrislea CH3 Super Ace Skyjeep Series 4, DeH Tiger Moth, Egypt, freighter, G-AKVR, GVFWE, IATA, ICAO, Miles, Miles Magister, Miles Messenger, New South Wales, Port Said, rear decking, Second World War, Skyjeep, Super Ace, taildragger, VH-BRP, VH-OLD, VH-RCD, war-surplus, YSBK
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Skyjeep - a rara avis!
The Chrislea Aircraft Company did many things wrong…it seemed that it was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong product. British buyers of light aircraft couldn’t afford a new design with a novel control system (see entry on the Super Ace) which was overweight and under-performed. Not when hundreds of war-surplus Austers (to which the Super Ace had a passing resemblance), DeH 82a Tiger Moths, Miles Magisters and Messengers were flooding the British market. Inevitably, the company turned turtle in 1952, and the remaining uncompleted airframes were scrapped. Just before it went under, Chrislea managed to undertake production of a series of 6 Skyjeeps, a developed Super Ace, with conventional (stick and rudder) controls and a ‘taildragger’ undercarriage (at a time when this was the norm amongst light aircraft); it had a more powerful 155hp Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 engine, and a removeable rear decking, to enable it to fulfil the utility aircraft role. One was sold to Argentina and at least two to Australia. The Australian registration, VH-BRP, was intended to apply to a different airframe, but there was a serious fire on board the freighter taking it to Australia in 1951, when she docked at Port Said, Egypt, which destroyed that particular Skyjeep, so the registration was applied to another aircraft! It was re-registered VH-RCD in 1956, following an extensive rebuild (which saw her wearing a striking deep purple and cream colour scheme). In 1963, you could have found the aircraft hangared at Bankstown Airport, New South Wales, Australia (IATA code BWU, ICAO code YSBK) in a very delapidated state, with engine and propeller removed (she had previous worn the Australian registration VH-OLD).
Somehow the Skyjeep made her way back to the UK to assume her original registration, G-AKVR, and was then fully restored, becoming the ONLY survivor of her type. At the eleventh GVFWE at Hullavington, we manage to arrange participation by the one Skyjeep and the last two flying Super Ace aircraft on the British register, and parked them adjacent to each other in the historic section of the Aircraft Park. To say that this caused a ‘reverential scrum’ of aviation photographers would be no exaggeration, as they took hundreds of photographs of the total British Chrislea population.
SOCATA? Sud-Aviation? Gardan? French aviation alphabet soup…. February 16, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, Great Britain, Royal Air Force, aircraft.Tags: aircraft, Aviation, barracks, Bradford, British Army, Dalton Barracks, Danish, Denmark, EGNM, French aviation industry, G-GABO, Gardan, GY80-180, Hartzell propeller, Horizon, IATA, ICAO, LBA, Leeds, Leeds-Bradford Internation Airport, Lycoming O-360 engine, Nantes, OY-DTN, RAF Abingdon, Rochfort, SE-FGL, signal square, SOCATA, Sud-Aviation, Sweden, Swedish, West Yorkshire, Yves Gardan
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- SOCATA Gardan GY80-A1A Horizon
This pretty, retractable-gear four-seater tourer is shown parked at the edge of the old ’signal square’ at the former RAF Abingdon (now Dalton Barracks, an Army base).
It was subject to the typical series of name changes and take-overs which were part of both the French and British aviation industries in the 1960s and 70s. Designed by Yves Gardan, then licensed to the SOCATA plants at Nantes and Rochfort, who built it for the Sud-Aviation concern!
Whoever can take credit for it, this is a neat, efficient design, the Sud-Aviation Gardan GY80-180 Horizon is typical of the French ‘club’ aircraft, suitable for instruction or touring. Powered by the ever-reliable Lycoming O-360-A1A, driving a Hartzell HC-C2YK propeller, this GY80 has a range in excess of 700 miles; you could have seen it at Leeds-Bradford International Airport, West Yorkshire (IATA code, LBA; ICAO code, EGNM) in 2002, awaiting a buyer. It was formerly on both the Danish (OY-DTN) and Swedish (SE-FGL) registers.
Logan Airport – at risk? February 11, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, New England, United States, aircraft.Tags: Aviation, aircraft, British Airways, ICAO, Rhode Island, USA, Ireland, Dublin, Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Air France, Alitalia, Air Canada, Airbus A330, EI-DUO, St Columba, Colum, Boston, Boston Harbor, Manchester International, T F Green Airport, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, climate change, sea level, reclaimed land, Worcester Airport, KOHR, KBOS, BOS, KPVD, IATA, the Poles, the Atlantic, catering truck, support vehicles, aircraft tug, airport pier, the Emerald Isle, A330-202, Airbus, Spanish-American War, General Edward Lawrence Logan, South Boston, Terminal E, Logan, Logan International Airport, Airbus Industries, airport, Boeing 747, Boeing 767, long-haul
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- Logan Airport, Boston
This is a view out over Boston Habour from Terminal E of Logan International Airport, Boston (named after General Edward Lawrence Logan, a native of South Boston who fought in the Spanish-American War). This is the principal airport for Boston, although airports to the north, at Manchester, New Hampshire, and to the south in Providence, Rhode Island, do siphon some traffic away.
Alright, I confess, I REALLY like the An-2…. January 26, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, Second World War, aircraft.Tags: 'Annushka', 'Colt', aircraft, An-2, Antonov, Aviation, B-17, China, DC-3, EGHP, Hampshire, Hungary, ICAO, Li-2, Lisunov, M-25 engine, Mielec, NATO, Poland, Polikarpov I-16, Popham, PZL, Russia, Shijiazhuang, Shvetsov ASh-62 engine, Soviet, Wright R-1820 engine, WW2, Y-5
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- Antonov An-2
Here is another example of that wonderful beast, the Antonov An-2 (NATO reporting name, ‘Colt’). This one is carrying an Hungarian registration, HA-MKF, and was, like the vast majority of the survivors, built by PZL at Mielec in Poland (over 12,000 were built there). From the first flight on the 31st August 1947, it was clear that the ‘Annushka’ was a winner. China also built this type as the Shijiazhuang Y-5, and it remains in service.
