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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 12

11 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

The overcast day made the English breakfast and hot tea at the Abbington Hotel especially welcome, and got me off to an exciting day at the 2015 Flying Legends Airshow at Duxford. The weather report was for clearing by afternoon and I had my fingers crossed that the weatherman would be correct. Because of my reconnoiter of the area the day before, I was able to drive right to the correct parking area, off the A-505, just behind the American Air Museum building.

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As I strolled down the midway I realized I was not going to be able to stand up all day and was going to need a chair. As it happened there were trade tents selling everything a visitor could possibly need for a day at the airshow. I bought a folding chair and set it up right at the front of the tarmac fence, which would give me an unobstructed view of the day’s activities.

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The flight line of some 50+ aircraft was open from 9:00 to 12:00 to allow visitors to stroll down the line and “get up close and personal” with their favorite aircraft. After I photographed all the participating aircraft, I began a stroll thru the seven hangers full of restored aircraft and related memorabilia.

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I started with the American Air Museum in Britain aircraft which had been moved from their usual hanger while it was being renovated. The museum has a great collection of beautifully restored aircraft, but I was a little disappointed that they had to jam them all close together to get them into the Airspace hanger. I could walk thru and see them up close, but it was impossible to get a decent photo of any of them. The aircraft and memorabilia displays in the other six hangers were great and took up the better part of the morning.

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I ask a man at the information desk if he could tell me how many people they estimated attended this event, and he said, “We had nearly 20,000 yesterday, but with this weather the attendance may be down some today.”

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At 12:00 the flight line was cleared of visitors and the two Tiger Moths and two DH-89A Dragon Rapide aircraft, which had been carrying passengers for rides since 9:00, were requested to terminate their flying and several aerobatic performances were put on to open the show.

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I happened to be sitting next to Takashi Koreeda from Yokohama Japan, who was videotaping the event. He informed me that he had recently visited the United States and attended the air show at Chino, California. He was an avid airshow follower and told me that he wanted to visit the U.S. Naval Museum in Pensacola, Florida. We talked a little about museums and airshows and then suddenly he handed me a CD and said, “I just record this last week, you play on your computer.” All I could say was, “Thank you.” I gave him one of our Valiant Air Command Museum brochures and invited him to stop and visit our museum the next time he was he was in Florida.

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At 2:00 The Flying Legends Airshow started with the “Spitfire Tailchase.” This was one of the most spectacular performances I have ever witnessed! Ten Spitfires and one Hurricane took off, in groups of four from the grass field, as so many had done in 1940 during the Battle of Britain. They formed up and passed over the field in one formation. The sound of those 11 Rolls Royce Merlin engines was music to my ears. Then they broke off into three groups and, in trail formation, performed the “Spitfire Tailchase” for the next 10 minutes. I was awed and amazed!

Try to imagine a child with a ribbon on the end of two sticks, one in each hand, making figure “8” motions. This is just what the “Spitfire Tailchase” performance was, except they were passing across the field, weaving in and out and up and down, in a crisscross pattern from four different directions at the same time. It was breathtaking!!! The YouTube video above doesn’t begin to capture the thrill of that performance!

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 11

4 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 11 – Saturday July 11th

After another wonderful English breakfast at the Elmhurst Hotel, I had planned to visit the Berkshire Aviation Museum there in Reading, but they didn’t open until 10:30 am. Most likely the only airplane, of any special interest to me, at that museum would have been their Miles M.52 Research Aircraft. Designed about the same time as the Bell X-1 rocket plane here in the U.S, an unmanned scaled model of the M.52 reached Mach 1.38 during a test flight in 1948, validating its design configuration.

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I had several museums to visit this day, so I just headed for the Battle of Britain Bunker Museum in Uxbridge. The museum re-creates the underground operations room at RAF Uxbridge, which was used by No. 11 Group Fighter Command during WWII.

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The Royal Air Force Museum located in Hendon was one of the highlights of this trip. This massive museum complex consists of five major buildings and hangars dedicated to the history of Royal Air Force aviation, spanning the time periods from pre-WWI to present day. With over 90 beautifully restored aircraft and some 30+ engine displays, it was a little overwhelming experience to say the least.

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Next on the list was the De Havilland Aircraft Museum in Hertsmere. This was a small museum with only two hangers, but what was in those hangers took my breath away. Three De Havilland DH98 Mosquito twin engine bombers (sometimes called “Wooden Wonders” or “Mossie”) in various stages of restoration. I had read that several Mosquito bombers were being restored to flying condition in different parts of the world, but didn’t know about these three examples. It’s one of my dreams to one day see one of these wonderful machines fly at an airshow.

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Heading northeast again, next I visited the North Weald Airfield Museum in Epping. This is another case of a memorial to the history of a WWII fighter base whose planes and pilots were so instrumental in England’s struggle that came to be known as “The Battle of Britain.” The only thing remaining of the original air base is a small Control Tower and a Hurricane fighter “Gate Guard.”

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I had planned to visit the American Air Museum in Britain, which is part of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in Duxford to check out the museum, as well as the parking arrangements for the Flying Legends Airshow, that was being held there. That plan worked out fairly well as far as locating the correct parking area was concerned. However, security was very tight, and I was not allowed to actually park to check out the museum.

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The American Air Museum in Britain (I am a founding member) is a memorial to the American flyers of the U.S. Army 8th Air Force who lost their lives fighting for freedom during WWII. I was excited about visiting this museum, which I had not visited since our trip to England in 1991.

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As it turned out, the museum building was in a state of renovation, and all their planes had been moved to another hanger at the far end of the airfield grounds. Heading south on the A-505, on my way to the hotel for the evening, I stopped to watch the “Finale” of the airshow from the road. Even from that distance it was impressive, with some 30+ vintage WWII aircraft taking off, forming up, and then flying over me at the end of the field in one huge formation. The sound was awesome!

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Now I headed for the Abbington Hotel in Stevenage for the night. Greta took me right to the correct location, but because of road construction and rush hour traffic, I didn’t see the hotel on the first pass. I was able to circle around and take a slower look the second time, and there it was. The proprietors of the hotel were French and not too welcoming to “a bloody American” who needed to wash some dirty clothes. However, the accommodations were nice and a welcome sight after a long day on the road.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 10

28 Oct

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

 

Day 10 – Friday July 10th

The full English breakfast at the Box Bush Cottage B&B, in their lovely country style kitchen, was outstanding, with all fresh ingredients. If I had to grade the places I stayed during this trip, Box Bush Cottage would get 10 out of 10 in all categories.

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First on the list of stops today was the Madingley American Cemetery in Cambridge, which is a beautifully sculptured 30+ acre memorial with over 3800 headstones honoring American servicemen who died during WWII. As it happened, a large group of British RAF Cadets were touring the memorial and being professionally photographed. Their smart looking sky blue uniform shirts and berets made a striking contrast to all those white headstones.

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Then it was on to the Shuttleworth Collection in Baggingswade. This was a very special museum with a collection of 50+ aircraft, many of which have been restored to flying condition. They had six hangers full of beautifully restored aircraft, ranging from pre-World War I examples to aircraft produced up until the end of World War II. They also had a large restoration hanger which housed at least six different vintage aircraft in various stages of restoration.

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Next I planned to visit the Bletchley communication center in Bletchley park, where most of the British code breaking activities were conducted during World War II. When I arrived, it appeared that the facility was very extensive and when I asked the clerk at the ticket counter how long I could expect the tour of the facility to last he said, “Two or three hours to see everything.” I decided that would eat up too much of the schedule for the day, and chose not to participate in that museum.

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This gave me a little extra time before I was to meet my friends Mark and Tina at 4 o’clock in Newport Pagnell. I decided to go ahead and visit the Milton Keynes Museum early instead of after dinner as planned.

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This museum is an example of a 200 acre working Victorian farmsted in the Wolverton and Greenleys area of England during the early 1800s. There were examples of every conceivable type of equipment and technology (including a Wakefield Water Wheel electricity generator) needed to run a farm of that size during that time period.

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Mark and Tina are friends of my son & his wife. I sharing a video DiVoran had made for them, and then we made a video of them for our family. We went to one of their favorite pubs (The White Horse Inn) for dinner and it was wonderful. The food was great and the conversation was excellent. However, dinner and visiting lasted a little longer than I had planned.

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When I left their house for my hotel in Reading, I went the wrong way on the M1 motorway. When I finally realized what I had done, I had to retrace all those many miles I had just come. Things still didn’t seem right. So, I checked the hotel SatNav address again and discovered I had plugged the wrong numbers into Greta. By the time I finally realized that mistake, it was getting really late and I still didn’t know where I was. Greta couldn’t find the hotel SatNav address there in Reading, and neither could I. I had the street address, but I couldn’t read house numbers on any of the houses.

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We went round and round, back and forth, up and down the streets. I finally discovered Church Road changed names just at the point where I had entered that road. One way it was Church Road, the opposite direction was another name. I was beginning to think I was going to have to spend the night in the car, but luckily the Elmhurst Hotel had a lighted sign out front and a doorman on duty. It was almost 3 am by the time I got to the hotel, and I was too tired to do anything but just get to my room (up three flights of stairs) and get in bed. Wow. What a day!

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 9

21 Oct

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 9 – Thursday July 9th

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After another great English breakfast at the Riverside Pub, the first museum on my list today was the City of Norwich Aviation Museum, located adjacent to the Norwich Airport. This was a small museum with 12 beautifully restored aircraft displayed outside. However, two of their displays were a Vulcan bomber and a Nimrod naval patrol aircraft. It’s amazing to me how these small museums manage to acquire these very large and rare aircraft.

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Next it was on to the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum in Bungay. This museum consisted of some 13 nicely restored outside static displayed aircraft and two Quonset hut type buildings of WWII memorabilia. This was one of the few UK aviation museums that did not have a Vulcan bomber in their collection.3

The Parham Airfield Museum turned out to be nothing more than a small restored control tower which was closed that day. I am assuming that the control tower contained memorabilia related to the U.S. 390th Bombardment Group that was based at this field during WWII.

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The Ipswich Transportation Museum has the largest collection of transportation items in Britain devoted to just one town. Everything displayed in the museum was either made or used in and around Ipswich, a county town in Suffolk. This included cars, trucks, buses, and trollies. The museum also includes many items of the Ipswich Engineering Collection.5

This turned out to be a fairly short day and Greta took me past the Box Bush Cottage B&B Iocated in St. Edmunds the first time. After I re-entered the SatNav, address she took me right to it. Box Bush Cottage is a lovely 200 year old two-story home situated on approximately 20 acres of beautiful farm land. The owners Nick and Emilie were some of the greatest hosts a person could ask for. They had beautifully landscaped yards and gardens. They also had some black Chochin China chickens, a really cute pet goat, and a couple of the cleanest small pigs I’ve ever seen.6

Nick is a roofing contractor and amateur race car enthusiast. He owns and was preparing his Morgan Three-Wheel Super Sport for a hill-climb event at Shelelsey Walsh in Worcestershire on the following Saturday. In case you are like me, having never heard of the Shelelsey Walsh Speed Hillclimb; it is a 1000 yard long 10-16 degree incline course that hosts one of the oldest motorsport events in the world (begun in 1905). I was very interested in the Three-Wheeler since I had only seen photos of them at car shows. Nick informed me that the Morgan Motor Company began hand building the first “Cyclecar” in 1909, which was the company’s original Three-Wheeler, that Mr. Morgan called the Morgan Runabout.

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Because of its superior design, it wasn’t long before the Morgan Cyclecar was entering and winning Cyclecar races throughout the UK and Europe. These race wins culminated with the winning of the Cyclecar Grand Prix at Amiens in France in 1913, against much opposition from many continental four-wheelers. After that victory, Morgan named one of his most popular Three-Wheeler models the Grand Prix.

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In 1920 Morgan introduced the four-seat Family Runabout three-wheeler which helped put economic travel within the reach of most families. Morgan Cyclecars continued to be improved and upgraded thru the years, and in 1931 the Super Sport was introduced.

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After WWII Three-Wheeler popularity declined such that production was finally discontinued in 1953. Morgan continued building automobiles, but then some 60 years later, in 2014, by popular demand, the company “Reimagined” their Three-Wheeler to 21st century standards. Nick’s new and improved Morgan Three-Wheeler is a beautiful machine, and I wished him and his son the best of luck at Saturday’s hill climb.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 8

14 Oct

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

Day 8 – Wednesday July 8th

 

When I checked in at the “Ye Ole Red Lion Hotel” the evening before, the hotel proprietor was very efficient and explained everything to me, including Wi-Fi password, dinner and breakfast menus & hours. I asked him if breakfast was to be served in the same dining area where I took my dinner (Fish & Chips) and he said, “Yes.”  I woke ready to dig into my English breakfast (served from 8-10) that was included with the price of my room. But when I arrived at the breakfast room, at 8:30, the door was locked. I knocked on the door but nobody came. I knocked on a window and still no one came. After waiting for about 15 minutes I finally decided I wasn’t going to get any breakfast. I thought, “You know that’s a good way for the hotel to save money on the free breakfast they advertise. Just don’t open up and then you don’t have to serve breakfast. The people have their destinations to get to and will usually give up and drive away, like I did.”

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My first stop today was at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in Doncaster. They had a very nicely restored Vulcan bomber sitting outside as you entered the museum property, but the rest of their outside display airplanes were in very poor condition. The inside of the only Hanger they had looked like a junkyard. It was so full of parts of airplanes, helicopters and engines that a person could hardly walk thru the mess. Their excuse for the condition was that they just didn’t have room to properly display everything they had. They did have a row of several British Cambara nose sections displayed outside that I thought Larry would be interested in.

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Next it was on to the Lincolnshire Aviation Center in Hagnaby. This was a beautifully restored our WWII RAF bomber base. Several of the original buildings and the control tower have been restored and used to exhibit their WWII memorabilia. The museums claim to fame is a fully restored Lancaster bomber. Every few days (today wasn’t one of those days) they start the engines and you can buy a ride in the bomber as they taxi it down the runway and back. WOW, what a thrill that must be!

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Next was the Battle of Britain Memorial Center and Coningsby. This museum reminded me of Kermit Weeks’ Fantasy of Flight in Florida. Every beautifully restored airplane they have in their collection is in flying condition, and is flown frequently. The only difference is that Kermit flies his own restored museum airplanes and this museum’s restored airplanes are flown by active duty No. 29 Squadron RAF pilots in their spare time, on special occasions, at airshows all over England. Missing from the photo below is their C-47.

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Next on the list was the Cranwell Aviation Heritage Center in Sleaford. This museum only had one plane and the museum was mostly dedicated to the history of the Cranwell Air Field Training Center there during World War II.

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The Newark Air Museum in Newark-on-Trent was closed today, but I did get a few photos of their outside static display airplanes, thru the fence.

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Next was the Finland & West Norfolk Aviation Museum in Wisbeck. I didn’t get to this museum before they closed, but I would never have guessed it was a museum, except for the sign over the door and the one airplane out front. From the outside, it looked like a work shop in a small warehousing area.

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I found the Riverside Chalets in the small town of Spalding.   The small apartment type rooms were located behind the Riverside Pub.  They were very nice, quiet and clean. I had a great meal of beef, new potatoes and mashpeas and a pint of Guinness at the tiny pub that evening.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 7

7 Oct

A Slice of LItes

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 7 – Tuesday July 7th

No free breakfast at the Edinburgh Lodges, so it was another Granola bar breakfast for me this morning. First on the list of museum visits today was the North East Aircraft Museum located in Sunderland. This museum had several static display aircraft inside and outside, but they were all in very poor condition and the entire museum was not well-kept. The only exception was their Vulcan Bomber which was outside and in beautifully restored condition.

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Next I headed for the city of York to visit the beautiful York Minster Cathedral. I finally found a car park, but when I paid for the “Pay & Display” receipt I used the last of my English pound coins. I thought, “Oh well, I’ll just use my credit card for entrance to the Cathedral and exchange some US dollars for English pound coins a little later in the day.”

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But as I started walking toward the Cathedral it started to rain, and I realized that the entrance to the Cathedral was quite a bit farther than I had thought, and I didn’t want to walk that far and back in the rain. Besides, I had toured this beautiful cathedral with DiVoran in 1991 (see “Our Trip to the UK Part 10”). So, I turned around and went back to the car and headed for my next museum. Don’t miss this beautiful cathedral if you are ever in York. It is spectacular and has a very interesting history.

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Greta took me to the wrong side of the railroad tracks for access to the National Railroad Museum, also located there in York. After asking directions, I finally was able to find the museum. This museum looked absolutely huge from the outside, and when I stopped to ask one of the museum guides (standing outside) about the possibility of exchanging some US dollars for British pounds (coins for the “Pay & Display” parking ticket) they were unable to help me. From the pictures on the internet, I missed a really good museum.

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Many of the aviation museums that I have visited so far in England and Scotland, are located on the sites of WWII British and American air bases. The Yorkshire Air Museum in Evington was one of the best restored RAF base museums that I have come across. The volunteers at this museum have done a wonderful job of restoring both their airplanes and what remains of the base facilities. This gives the visitor a good idea of what they would have looked like during World War II. It took a while to walk around the outside aircraft displays and inside the building memorabilia displays, but it was worth it.

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The Breighton Airdrome located in Selby was really hard to find. Greta finally found the location after I re-inputted the SatNav. When I got there, I saw a single car parked outside what I assumed was the museum entrance. The door was open but no one was around. The doors to the single hanger were closed, so if they had aircraft displays inside I couldn’t get to them.

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There was only one airplane sitting out on the tarmac, and it looked like it was in flying condition (minus its propeller). I took a picture of the plane and looked around some more for someone to ask about the museum, but no one ever showed up. Other than that, this museum looked like it operated out of this small private airfield.

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Next I headed for the Ye Old Red Lion Hotel located just south of York, where I was to spend the evening. It turned out to be one of the nicest accommodations that I’ve had on this trip so far.  The Fish & Chips dinner was outstanding and went very well with a pint of Guinness.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 6

30 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

Day 6 – Monday July 6th

The first museum on my list for today was the Solway Aviation Museum in Carlisle. This museum was located adjacent to the small Carlisle County Airport, and was one of the smaller museums I have visited so far. They only had four static display airplanes outside, and they were not in very good shape. However, I was surprised to see that such a small museum was able to be the recipient of a Vulcan bomber, one of England’s most famous jet aircraft.

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Next on the list was the Dumfries & Galloway Aviation Museum located just outside Dumfries, Scotland. This museum had 9 nicely restored static displayed aircraft outside. I was mainly interested in their Fairey Gannet AEW.3 (XL497) a carrier borne variant of the basic Fairey Gannet aircraft. This aircraft is unique because of its counter-rotating propellers which were driven by an Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba ASMD 4 turboprop engine of 3875 ehp.

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Since I had never visited a Buddhist monastery before, I had planned to just stop by the Klanyu Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, which is located in the hills, some 30 miles east of Dumfries. But on this day I was running behind on time and that extra hour of travel time wouldn’t have helped my schedule, so I saved that experience for another trip.

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DiVoran had asked me to stop in Moffat, Scotland and buy her a pair of argyle knee socks from the Moffat Woolen Mill. The lady at the mill told me that the argyle socks were out of style and the mill did not make them anymore. She suggested that DiVoran might find them on the Internet but she wasn’t sure who might still be making them. When I told DiVoran, she said it was no big deal, and that she would check it out when she had time.

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Next was a visit to check out the Tall Ship Glenlee, which is only part of the many displays at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Scotland. The Tall Ship Glenlee is a steel-hulled three-masted barque, one of many so called “baldheaded sailing ships” of the time. Built in 1896, she served Archibald Sterling & Co. of Glasgow, and other owners, until 1931, when she became part of the Spanish Republican Navy. In 1990, after many years of neglect, a British naval architect discovered the ship and she was rescued from being scrapped. The ship was subsequently bought and restored for public display by the Clyde Maritime Trust. I was surprised to see that the museum also had on display many transportation items, such as vintage bicycles, cars, trolleys and even a steam locomotive, inside their large museum building.

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Next Greta and I tried to find the National War Museum, which is located in the Edinburgh castle, but the castle is located in the middle of the city of Edinburgh and the area was jammed with rush hour traffic. I did however see the beautiful Edinburgh Castle (from a distance) as I was directed through the center of town by Greta. I wasn’t able to stop long enough to take a good photo because of all the traffic, and no place to park.

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When I arrived at the Edinburgh Lodges (which are actually located in the city of Musselburgh, Scotland) for the evening, I thought at first I might be sleeping in a castle, as that was where the lodges reception center was located.

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I walked into this hugh sitting room, with a tall fireplace, and access to a large lounge and dining hall, all guarded by a knight in full battle armor.

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As it turned out the guest rooms were located in more modern bungalows away from the castle, which were accessed by vine covered walkways from the castle. The castle and bungalow grounds were beautifully well kept and were lined with some of the most beautiful flowering bushes I have ever seen.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 5

23 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 5 – Sunday July 5th

After a full English breakfast at the Quality Inn Hotel (not like any free breakfast I’ve ever had at a Quality Inn here in the U.S.) the first place to visit today was the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford. This was one of the best aviation museums I have seen so far on this trip. The museum consists of four huge hangers full of beautifully restored British aircraft dating from the early days of aviation (pre-WWI) to the present time. A person could spend a whole day just reading about the many different aircraft that are housed in those hangers. These aircraft make up much of the backbone of British aviation history.

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Next I had planned to stop and take a picture of the old Eastgate & Eastgate Clock Tower in Chester. But, by the time I got there the town center was jammed with people (of course Greta had to direct me right through the middle of all those people to get me to the clock tower location). It was all I could do to catch a glimpse of that beautiful clock structure as I drove under it, while trying not to run over a pedestrian.

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The Speke Airdrome Museum probably should not have been in the museum guide book, because the old Liverpool Airport terminal has been closed and turned into a luxury hotel. The only airplanes were a couple of mid 50s commercial aircraft behind the hotel (that used to be the airport ramp), that have been out in the weather for so long that they were looking pretty shabby. As you might guess, I didn’t spend a lot of time there.

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It started to rain about that time and since my next stop was at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, also located in Liverpool, and would probably be mostly outside, I decided to skip that museum and move on to the Avro Heritage Museum in Woodford. However, this museum was only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I just kept heading north.

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I was surprised to see that the Manchester Airport Museum, for its size (the very small museum consisted of only two aircraft) had two of the largest modern British aircraft on display; a Nimrod bomber and a Concord airliner. Visitors were allowed to inspect the interior of both aircraft. Since I had already inspected a Nimrod bomber, at a previous museum, I elected to only walk through the Concord. That is one of the special aircraft I wish I had been able to take a flight on before they were removed from service.

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I was disappointed to find the Imperial War Museum (North), also located there in Manchester, was closed. I was expecting to find this large museum to be well represented, since it is part of the National Imperial War Museum Foundation.

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Next I headed for a visit to the Ribble Steam Railroad Museum in Preston. Here again I was disappointed to find it closed. This was another one of those cases where Greta took me within two blocks of the museum and said I had arrived at my destination. Luckily there was a couple out for a walk, and they were able to direct me to the museum.

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I ended the day by visiting the 11th century Lancaster Castle, which it is said was built over the location of a 1st century Roman fort overlooking the River Lune. As it turned out, the castle was located on the hilltop just a two-minute walk from the Royal Kings Arms Hotel where I spent the night.

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The Royal Kings Arms Hotel was built in 1625 and was immortalized by Charles Dickens in his tale of “The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices” and “The Bridal Chamber.” Several members of the English royal stayed at this hotel in the early 1800s when it was also a coach station. The rooms were nice, but the hotel itself was showing its age. However, I have to say this was the only accommodation I stayed at during my entire trip in the UK that had an elevator for guests.

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—–To be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 4

16 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

 Day 4 – Saturday July 4th

Since I had inspected the breakfast room the evening before, and saw that it was going to be a “Cold, help yourself to cereal and toast” setup (and the choices really didn’t look that appetizing), I elected to skip breakfast that morning and just have one of my granola bars instead.

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That got me off to an earlier start for the day than I had expected, which put me at the Jet Age Museum in Gloucester 30 minutes before they opened. One of the docents saw me pull into the carpark and came out to inform me that they couldn’t let me wonder around the outside static display aircraft or into the museum until 10:00. I told him that was no problem, that I would just wait in the car until they opened. The next thing I knew, here came that same guy carrying a tray containing a cup of hot coffee (with sugar & cream) and a croissant, just for me. I thought, “This is the best service I’ve ever had at any museum anywhere in the world.”

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I was the only visitor at their museum that early, and all the folks there couldn’t do enough for me. It was a small museum but they had the front section of a Vulcan bomber on display, as part of their museum tour, and they escorted me into and around the cockpit and navigation/weapons stations. I discovered that for as big as that plane is, the crew stations are very confined. I did however, manage to squeeze into the pilot’s seat for a photo op.

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Next it was on north to try to catch the Baginton Air Pagant which was being put on at the Baginton Airport. As it turned out, Greta got confused with all the road construction in the immediate area and couldn’t find the entrance to the airport. So, I had to settle for visiting the Midland Air Museum, which was located right there adjacent to the airport runway, and was one of the museums on my list. And, I was able to see a few of the airshow flyovers from that vantage point.

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The Coventry Transport Museum was an absolutely marvelous collection of beautifully restored British made bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles and trucks, from the earliest days of motorized transportation to the present. The museum took up a whole city block (not as big as a city block in the U.S.) and exhibited displays on four levels of the building.

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The Cold War Jet Collection located at the Bruntingthrope Aerodrome in Leicestershire was closed, but I was able to take a few pictures of their outside static displayed aircraft through the fence. Bruntingthrope Aerodrome is where the world’s last airworthy Avro Vulcan bomber (XH558) was restored to flight condition in 2007. This beautiful airplane will be grounded for safety concerns after the 2015 airshow season.

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The Bruntingthrope Aerodrome is also the home of the world’s last airworthy de Havilland Comet 4C (XS235), which is kept flight certified by the Aerodrome volunteers there.

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Greta couldn’t find the National Motorcycle Museum in Bickenhill, so I called it a day and headed for the Quality Inn Hotel in Birmingham for the evening.

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When I got to Birmingham, Greta took me to the correct street number, but one block to the north of the actual location. I re-entered the address and she took me right back to the same place. I finally asked a man on the street if he could tell me where the Quality Inn Hotel was, and he said, “It’s just right around the corner on the next street over.”   That happened more than once on this trip. The rooms at the Quality Inn were very nice, but were accessed by a maze of up and down stairways that gave my knees a real workout, even without my suitcase.  I had to ask the clerk to move me to another room which was accessed by fewer stairs. He was glad to do that for me, and my knees were glad too.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow ~Part 3

9 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

3 – Friday July 3rd

My first English breakfast with hot tea the next morning was great! A fried egg, Canadian bacon, grilled sausage links, grilled tomato, mushrooms and navy beans, served with toast and jam.   It looked like a lumberjack’s breakfast to me, but I ate the whole thing.

1

As I was leaving, my host said, “You go on out to your car with those things, and I’ll catch you up with your suitcase.” I love how the English phrase things. I discovered the airplanes in the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Museum located in Newquay had been moved to a new location. This coupled with the fact that I could not find any indication that there were any real ships to see at the Mayflower Maritime Museum in Plymouth, helped me decide to by-pass those two museums. That reduced my travel by 125 miles for the day! What was I thinking?

2

I headed north to Yeovilton to visit the Fleet Air Arm Museum. DiVoran and I had visited this museum in 1991 during our trip to England, Scotland and Wales. At that time it was a small museum with most of its few airplanes on display outside. But I did remember that they had one of the Concord prototype aircraft in their collection, which we were allowed to walk thru. It was filled with the original test and recording equipment.

3

Since then they have expanded their museum with a huge new hanger, and with more restored RNAS airplanes. Of course, the Concord prototype is now their centerpiece and I was able to walk thru it again.

4

Now I headed for Bath to have afternoon tea at the famous Pump Room and Roman Baths. This was one of the most memorable stops DiVoran and I had made during our 1991 trip, and I wanted to experience that special sensation again. However, Greta was not cooperating that afternoon, and she took me on a wild goose chase for almost an hour, all over the area surrounding Bath. Finally, after taking a Stress Gummy and asking directions a couple of times, I found a carpark within walking distance of the Pump Room. I spent a delightful hour relaxing over pot of Earl Gray tea and their famous Bath Buns with Strawberry Jam. This fabulous experience was enhanced by a wonderful three-piece ensemble playing classical music.

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I did not take the time to go through the Roman Baths, since DiVoran and I had explored them in great detail when we were last there. I did however, take a drink of the “Special Healing Water” available there in the Pump Room. It had noticeably less of a sulfur taste and smell than I remembered. I asked the attendant about that, and he said that it was thought the sulfur deposits that the water ran through were being eroded away, reducing the sulfur taste and smell. There you are, Bob’s your uncle!

6

Since I had wasted so much time running around the countryside, following Greta’s misguided directions, and with the extra time I had spent at the Pump Room, I decided to just head for Bristol and try to find the Well Cottage B&B before it got dark. The B&B was very nice and instructions on the door of my room informed me that the hostess retired at 9:00 pm. I couldn’t see how that could possibly affect me. Not, that is, until after I had taken a shower, and discovered I had somehow locked myself out of my room (yep, it was after 9:00). I was so glad I had put my pants and tee shirt on. I knocked a couple of times on the door I thought was the hostess’s door, and got no answer. I was really stuck! Then another guest came out, saw my plight, and told me she could have her husband call the hostess on the phone, and request that she come let me into my room. Boy was I ever embarrassed! But when the hostess came and unlocked my door, she told me it was OK, and not to worry about it. Whew, what a relief that was!

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—–To be Continued—–

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