Project Propellor 2009

Project Propellor is an annual event that is organised to bring veteran RAF aircrew together for a reunion. What is special about it is that the veterans are conveyed to the reunion by private pilots volunteering their time and aircraft to fly the veterans I n and back.

I have volunteered for this for three out of the last four years, but to date have not once managed to fly veterans in. The date chosen seems to be cursed with poor weather. The first year, it was only at Kemble (just over the ridge from Gloucester), but thick cloud sat on or below the ridge until 14:00 when it lifted enough for me to squeeze through – unfortunately, by then the veteran concerned had given up and gone home. On the last occasion at Bruntingthorpe, the weather was again very poor with a very low cloudbase and all I could managed was a low-level local, never getting above 1000’ and considerably lower cloudbase towards the north east.

This year the weather had been great leading up to Saturday so I was hopeful. It was again being held at Bruntingthorpe, a mere 35-40 minutes flying time to the north east. Saturday dawned and I threw the curtains back and ……….FOG! You have got to be kidding! Where I lived the visibility was about 200m first thing in the morning and it was plenty thick. I set off to the airfield more in hope than expectation.

At the airfield it wasn’t quite as bad, but was still less than 800m visibility and no cloudbase as such. I prepped the plane and loaded with the required amount of fuel and parked the plane up. There was not a breath of wind and it was warm and humid. The fog was starting to lift and form into low cloud and the visibility was improving. Maybe 1km now with 600’ cloudbase. It was worth hanging around to see if it would become flyable.

I spotted my veteran talking to others in the main terminal building and introduced myself. He is an ex-pilot in the RAF who got ‘stuck’ in training command in WW2 flying Avro Ansons on navigation training exercises from Northern Ireland. We chatted as we waited for the weather to improve. There were a few other pilots and veterans in the same position at Gloucester as we reviewed our respective personal minimas and strategies for Bruntingthorpe, who themselves were reporting an unofficial 500’ ceiling and 2k visibility (they are at 500’ elevation).

My slot time would have meant a 10:30 departure, but I thought there would be plenty of slots available, so vowed to ‘see what it was like for an 11:00 departure’. As it happened, by 10:50, the weather at Gloucester was now broken, thin cloud with rather nice sunshine, probably 1300’ cloudbase and 7km visibility. We checked with Bruntingthorpe again who were giving 3km and 800’ cloudbase and that was it, it is worth a try!

I saddled up while giving John a careful safety brief, especially the harness and canopy opening. We buttoned up as late as I could and taxied out to 27 for power checks (it can get very hot under the Perspex bubble canopy on the ground in weather like this). Power checks complete, we lined up and took off. I climbed to 1300’ and set course to DTY. Nearing my home village en-route, Gloucester called and warned me of many aircraft holding around Wellesborne at 500’ trying to get to Bruntingthorpe. I considered my options and with some good sized gaps in the thin cloud, decided to power up and go ‘VMC on top’. I was above the cloud by 2000’, but carried on to 3000’ to get a good view downwards. Still perfectly legal as there were sensible sized ‘holes’ in the cloud, so I was always in sight of the surface.

I continued to DTY and noticed one of two spots of significant vertical development where the cumulus was already starting to ‘tower’, but fortunately, these were off my route. I got a ‘basic service’ from Coventry and on hearing that I was ‘on top’ another aircraft called me for an update on conditions ‘on-top’, which I was happy to give him.

I was hoping that I could sit up there in the sunshine and cruise all the way to Bruntingthorpe and let down through a gap there, but once I got to DTY, the view north looked like a solid undercast, so scrap Plan A!

Plan B was to drop through a hole I spotted just north of DTY and try a ‘scud-run’ in. I transferred to Bruntingthorpe Radio who were frantically busy (good sign as others had clearly made it) and giving runway 24 in use and giving me the QFE. I set to this as I was VERY interested in ground clearance and was below the cloud and about 800’ above the ground, scraping my head against the cloudbase. I turned on every light I had, especially landing and taxi lights so others could see me. I set course using Ded Reckoning for Bruntingthorpe (it wasn’t in my GPS). Eventually I spotted a large airfield and another aircraft appearing out of the murk. I avoided him and studied the airfield. Big enough, but where is that huge 3000m runway that we couldn’t use? I dawned on me that I had found Husbands Bosworth glider airfield about 2 miles to the east – ooops! I set course for Bruntingthorpe. I didn’t so much see the airfield first as start to spot aircraft appearing all over the place around me!

By this stage, the radio calls were interesting as the place was frantically busy. A particularly unusual (though undoubtedly necessary) radio call from the ground went something like ‘RIGHT – SHUT UP EVERYONE! Now, who is that on short final?’

By the time I spotted the airfield, we were coming in on left base for 24 (we would use the 800m x 23m taxiway that ran parallel to the huge runway which was being used all day for motor sport). I tucked in behind a plane and turned final. Both the grass runway and the hard taxiway were being used for runways, but as they were next to each other, we were not doing simultaneous landings. The guy in front opted for the hard runway, then I saw that they were backtracking aircraft up the runway to parking. I knew I was too close to the guy in front to give him time to do that, so called a ‘go-around’.

I tucked in behind someone else and came around again. Again, same thing, so I went around again. Third time lucky? On final, I was close to a Cessna. He opted for the grass as I let him get a bit further ahead so I could land on the hard. I managed it this time around. I cam in a bit fast given the last minute ‘dive’ once I had cleared the trees. No matter, I just held off and off and off. She touched, hopped a bit and touched nicely a second time and stayed down. I backtracked and followed the marshalls into parking.



Well, we had made it as had (it later transpired) some 65 out of an expected 105. A large number given the poor conditions.

Bruntingthorpe is an interesting place, full of ‘cold war’ machines, including a Victor tanker aircraft that can still do fast taxi runs (including becoming briefly airborne by accident in May 2009). John went off to find colleagues as I spotted some Flyer Forumites and said hello as we all compulsively watched and gave a critique of every landing (like pilots do!). One was a very impressive ‘triple bouncer’, from a PA28, another was a real ‘smackdown’ by a twin and yet another was a ‘I like to use ALL of the runway’ long-ish landing. I wandered around the old aircraft, including going inside the particularly ugly ‘Super Guppy’ that is based there. For me the star of the show was a dilapidated but still astonishing ex-Luftwaffe F104 Starfighter. The wings are tiny and the leading edges can only be described as ‘sharp’!





The Spitfire display due at 12:55 was cancelled due to the poor weather and by 14:00 a lot of people had started to depart. I started to rain and I sheltered under the wing of the Victor for a while. The weather had sort-of improved, probably a bit higher cloudbase (maybe 1200’) but the forward visibility was poor. I decided to check the plane. While over there, Adrian asked if I wanted to have a look at his spanking new Cirrus SR22 while he checked it over. I sat in and tried it on for size while the glass cockpit booted up – WOW, what a view! Artificial terrain, side-stick, soft leather – GA for the 21st century!



John spotted me and asked me what I wanted to do. I said if he was done, we could wander off. WE got back to the plane, checked her out and mounted up. I joined the queue for departures, which was nearly as bad as when I landed. I got away behind a PA28 heading in the same direction. I levelled out at 1300’ and headed towards DTY contacting Coventry. It was clear that I was catching up quickly on the PA8, so I put a further 100’ on and overtook in the prescribed manner, waggling my wings to let him know I was there.

Sure enough, pretty much overhead DTY, the weather changed abruptly into clear skies with scattered thin cumulus, better than when I left it three hours ago and still in the same place (but then there was no wind at all). I climbed to just over 3000’ and levelled out there.

I handed over to John to fly for a bit and warned him at the sensitivity of the controls. He handled it like a pro and when he did lose or gain height (it is VERY sensitive in pitch) he quickly got it back.



I was so busy chatting to John that I didn’t spot that we were headed towards one of the glider sites directly on track. First I knew about it is that there we a glider spiralling in a thermal and another off to one side. I took control and did my best to steer well clear. Once clear, I handed back to John while I got the ATIS for Gloucester.

I recalled from the NOTAMs that there was some sort of glider competition from Bidford. Well off my track, but the gliders themselves would be around here. Sure enough, I started to spot them. I called Gloucester Approach and they warned me about ‘many gliders on the Cotswold ridge to the North East’ – precisely where I would cross. I took control and dropped altitude, coming across the ridge in the Gretton / Gotherington valley at low level – if they were this low, they were in trouble and landing! Sure enough, I started to spot them well above me. Once clear, I climbed again to 2000’ QFE for the standard overhead join for 27 at Gloucester.

The circuit was uneventful followed by a good landing. Unfortunately I didn’t quite make the early turnoff from 27 and certainly didn’t want to over-work the brakes, so I had to roll to the end and endure a baking hot ‘long march of death’ around the taxiway back to parking. I was very happy to get the canopy open at Cotswolds with the sweat now stinging my eyes!

John clearly enjoyed the day and I was pleased to be able to get him there given the poor weather conditions. He insisted on paying for his share of the fuel, but I insisted more strongly that he was going to do no such thing! We settled on him inviting me and my wife over to dinner one evening.

A good trip to another ‘new airfield’ for me. The plane is flying well, although now it is or course coming up for a 50 hour check, so more downtime. I really must book it for a weekend shortly for a cross-channel foray.

Back in the air!

In mid-April, one of the group members had a groundloop or two in the plane. We were lucky and the damage was limited to one slightly bent undercarriage leg with damage to the spat and tyre. It could have been much worse, as judging by the pattern of damage to the spat, the tail must have lifted considerably and it was lucky that we didn’t get a prop strike with all the attendant consequences that would have entailed! After much to-ing and fro-ing (the main culprit for the delay being good old HMRC holding on to deliveries from the US), the plane was finally back in the air in early June, some two months later.

This of course combined with a one week business trip to India, such that the earliest I could sensibly fly the plane was the week commencing 22nd June. I booked the plane for Tuesday 23rd and the weather even seemed to be playing ball. I left early from work and had to put the aircon in the car up to nearly full blast as the sun was out to play and it was hot under the glass – alarm bells were already ringing as I imagined myself under the bubble canopy of the RV6 with the sun beating down!!! I don’t think it is a great idea to go flying after a hectic day at work as my head is buzzing about loads of things, but I make a huge effort to relax and blot these thoughts out. It’s at time like this I wish I was the ‘Karate Kid’ and could focus the way the old Japanese guy taught him!

I gave the plane a careful A-Check and apart from a non-functional strobe (which I noted in the tech log), it seemed OK, oh and of course not enough fuel, even for a few circuits. I hauled the plane out by myself (not easy manoeuvring a taildragger by the prop past other closely hangared aircraft) and spotted my instructor striding across from his previous lesson. It is group rules that we need to do a check-flight if we have not flown the group aircraft for more than 30 days and although I was entirely compliant with legal currency rules and confident of flying the RV6 personally, one must of course abide by group rules as well, so it was up with an instructor for me.

Phil is a very experienced and laconic instructor of few words, but when he does say something, you had better listen. He went to book out while I taxied over to add a bit of fuel – enough for circuits anyway. Phil joined me there and hopped in. I am not a small guy (6’ 2” and 210 lbs) but Phil is larger (girth-wise anyway), all of which made for an interesting fit in the RV as I would have to grab for his thigh every time I wanted to use the flaps!

Well, I dropped the canopy as late in the start-up checks as I could and started to taxi. Of course Phil spotted that one of the fuel caps looked a bit ‘proud’, so a quick conversation with the Tower and they were happy for us to attend to this at the hold as there was nothing behind us. The runway in use was 09, so it was the ‘long march of death’ to the furthest holding point as the sun beat down through the bubble canopy. Yes, I got hot and yes, the sweat started to trickle into my eyes! At the holding point, Phil hopped out as I luxuriated in the cool of an open canopy and mopped my fevered brow! Phil got back in and the fuel cap was indeed a bit lower. Power checks complete, we lined up and held on 09 until we spotted a helicopter loitering near the end of the runway. Once visual, we were cleared for take-off. I fed in full power, started getting nimble on the pedals and quickly checked the rpm (normal for full power) and airspeed (some indication, so pitot is clear). The take-off was uneventful as the tail came up and as usual, I had to work to hold her down as she hopped and skipped desperate to get airborne. A little chirp on the stall warner and I eased forward a little, then she climbed away nicely.

I spotted that we were sharing the circuit with a PA28 from one of the schools, although he was well into base as we approached downwind, so no problem you would have thought. I held 1000’ QFE nicely (the RV is VERY sensitive in pitch and any poor trim or inattention will have you 200’ out of your target altitude in a few seconds). By the time I was base, I was visual with the PA28 who now seemed to be on about 1.5 mile final – what has he been doing? I really do hold the speed of the RV down in the circuit. Anyway, concentrate on my bit. Power back, speed bleeds slowly back to the flap limiting speed, take both stages one notch at a time and get established on 80kts on base. Altitude coming down, turn final. PA28 now just landed, so I continue and concentrate on bringing the speed back to 70kts and getting the picture right. The tower clears me to land before I can call final (not much point until the PA28 takes off again). I acknowledge and am cleared for a T&G and concentrate on my approach, let’s make the first one a good one. I come in over the threshold with good speed and height and chop the power, round out and flare. I flare possibly a little high, so ease forward a bit. Stall warner sounding as I ratchet it back, and back and we touch and stay touched. Not a greaser, but not hard either, so a good ‘starter for ten’.

Power up and around we go again. I spot the PA28 now on downwind as I am well into the crosswind, so I delay the downwind turn to follow him on a wider circuit that I would normally do and wider than indicated by the airfield. Phil gives me the sound advice to drop a stage of flaps. I chop the power and wait for the speed to bleed back to the flap limiting speed (which takes some time) and drop a stage, then hold the speed at 80 kts to try to give the PA28 some space. He seems to go on and on and on before turning base. He has got to be on the edge of the ATZ by now. I sort myself out on base. By now he is on a 2 mile final and I am going as slow as I care to. I turn onto final behind him and try to concentrate on flying my own plane. Approach and speed looks good. Both Phil and I watch this guy now on very short final as he carries out a series of alarming turns or PIO’s that look very close to the ground. I don’t think this is a glide approach as his approach angle was way too low to be doing it without power. He executes what looks to me like a very alarming landing and even the laconic Phil comments ‘That’s unusual’.



Anyway, my turn as I am cleared for T&G just as I almost on top of the threshold while the PA28 has just got wheels up at the other end. Chops power, hold off and off, touch and stay touched. Again, not pillow soft, but not hard either. Power up and away. I look up to see the PA28 still climbing out. Phil speaks to the Tower on the radio and gets permission to ‘overtake’. Phil takes over (spoilsport!) and pulls the plane well inside of the PA28 (not difficult!) and hands back when we are at 1000’ and very close in to the runway on late downwind. No bother, this will be fun. Again, I sort the flaps out and come in for a high final. I start to try for a sideslip, but Phil says not to worry, it will come off. So power off as I do a glide approach. It does indeed come off as I round-out and flare. This time I don’t hold off as long as I should before we touch and I am instantly punished by a minor bounce. OK, no worries, keep her straight down the runway and hold her off again, this time we touch nicely and stay touched ‘two for the price of one’ observes Phil, ‘just trying to get my monies worth’ I reply. Off we go again and Phil is happy and says I can do this one to land if I want. Well, I’m hot so why not.

Because we have overtaken, I have room in the circuit and fly a normal (i.e. tighter than 2 nm) circuit. I come in to land and I am on a sensible final when Phil points out that we have caught back up to our friendly PA28 again as he is only just taking off from a T&G! I land long as the exit is at the end of the runway, but not long enough as we still have a considerable taxi. It was probably the best landing of the day, a nice one to finish on.

OK, now ready for some flying. I am pleased with my performance given the ‘stress factors’ of being wound up from work, slowly baking under the bubble canopy and having to be careful not to mow down someone in front of me in the circuit. Although I hadn’t flown for two and a half months, I really did feel back at home immediately, a bit rusty of course, but not as much as I expected. I will of course give myself some refreshers now on steep turns (yeehaa!), stalls (whooooaaaa!) and PFL’s (booh-ring!).

Now for Project Propellor this weekend and I must then book the plane for a cross-channel day or weekend shortly.

G-GDRV still out of commission

Back from holiday now only to find that G-GDRV is still out of commission. The leg has been shipped and repaired in the USA. Apparently they have shipped it back but it is now stuck in customs. The shipper will only speak to the US firm that repared the leg to tell them where it is and we can't seem to get in touch with the US firm.

Bottom line is that it seems unlikely that G-GDRV aill be back in the air until early-June.

Meantime, here she is still on jacks in the hangar. Withdrawal symptoms or what!!!

Bad things come in threes?

Let’s hope that bad things really don’t come in threes!

Recently, I taxied into a sign at an airfield and dented the underside of the port wing. This meant repairs costing some £200 and the plane being out of action for about three weeks.

The plane was up and about again around the middle of March, which allowed the group to get flying again (including my own ‘trip’ to East Anglia and a very pleasant evening bimble locally).

I did not have the plane booked at all over the easter break as I thought it only fair to give the other group members a look in over the weekend and bank holiday break. The weather was generally excellent – warm, sunny with scattered cloud and very light, if any wind.

One of our other group members who is relatively new to the group is doing tailwheel training and was hoping to be signed off for difference training by his instructor very soon. So I was surprised when I received a group-wide email saying that the plane had ground-looped with the instructor on board while doing circuits at Enstone. Apparently, it was a low speed groundloop at the end of the roll-out from a landing.

This resulted in bad damage to one of the spats, disconnected and damaged tailwheel and the left main leg being bent back slightly.

I do feel sorry for the member concerned as must have been quite a shock. I am sure we will understand the circumstances later.

Subsequent inspection has indicated that the left leg is indeed bent – some 2 inches backward – and probably needs to be replaced. A new spat is required, so we may use this as an excuse to replace both spats with a newer type with more ground clearance more suited to grass strip operations. The tailwheel and linkage is also damaged.

In any event, it looks like we will be ordering and fitting a few new parts from that nice Mr Vans in the USA. So it looks like the plane will be out of action for a good few weeks. Let’s hope that’s the last of the bad news for 2009!

Evening bimble

Now that the clocks have gone forward one hour, it is a lot lighter in the evenings, so it makes those pleasant, quiet evening flights after work during the week a possibility.

With this in mind I booked a Wednesday evening for a relaxing ‘local’. I hoped to get away early, but of course no such luck. It wasn’t too bad though, I was at the airfield just before 17:00. I wandered out to the plane just in time to see another group member finishing up moving the plane back in the hangar – to be fair, he had waited with the plane out on the ramp until well past my booking start time of 16:15 and had assumed that I was a ‘no show’.

As luck would have it, it was our group member who is also an aircraft engineer and had recently installed our new Mode S transponder (this is now mandatory for all VFR flights in many European countries). He ran through how it all worked, which saved me a fair bit of reading up.

[RANT MODE ON] Just how pointless are Mode S transponders for VFR flights? Suffice to say that now there is a large area of the Netherlands that has imposed a ban on the use of Mode S transponders for VFR flights as far from ‘improving safety’ (as we were of course told by the bureaucrats) it produces so much ‘clutter’ that the controllers now cannot see ‘the wood for the trees’. Apparently, many pilots and controllers told the authorities that this is precisely what would happen, but were told that they were wrong etc.! So now some £2000 poorer, our group have been forced to buy a bit of kit that frankly will do nothing for us, in fact it will probably end up being a step backwards! Only governments and civil servants can do this! [RANT MODE OFF]

The plane had sufficient fuel and had already had a thorough check for the day, so I gave it a quick once over (walk around for obvious damage, physically check the fuel and oil levels), booked out and hopped in.

There had been a fair bit of wind during the day, and it was still a breeze at about 220/13kts at ground level. Nothing for a nosewheel aircraft, but worth knowing about for a tailwheel, particularly as regards likely runways and crosswinds. Fortunately, Gloucester have a runway 22, so no real crosswind, maybe even a nice headwind to flatter my landings with an agreeably short ground roll! Also, as the evening draws in, the winds tend to settle a bit anyway.

So I was soon rolling and airborne from 22. I was by myself tonight with a relatively light fuel load. So I was rewarded with amazing aircraft performance and 2000 fpm climb rates – wooo hoooo!



I bumbled out to the north west and paid my respects to the Malverns. I was up around 5000’ with very scattered and thin cumulus at about the same level. The visibility was great and the land below looked like a crisp and sharp aerial photo. It wasn’t too bumpy, just a few around the Malverns, so I tightened my shoulder straps so I wouldn’t smack my head against the canopy (not a good idea when you are flying solo).

It was quiet and peaceful, with only a handful of planes on the Gloucester Approach frequency. As usual, I bumbled over to Winchcombe, but this time descended to 2000’, the flew along in front of Cleeve Hill and the ridge of the Cotswolds just for the sheer joy of it.



A mandatory orbit or two of my home village, then back to Bredon Hill to get the ATIS and call for a rejoin.

Just heading back to Gloucester, I spotted a high wing jet some 2000 feet above me (where I had just been before I descended). It was either and HS125 or a C17 going into Fairford or Brize.

Given 22 right hand with a standard overhead join. I reported as usual at 2 miles and was told to switch to the tower frequency. I called the tower and unexpectedly got a ‘pass your message’ – I responded hesitantly that I was now closer than 2 miles and joining overhead for 22. He asked if I had been passed across from the Approach frequency as the penny dropped at his end. I confirmed and got the usual report downwind. Bit of a comms failure in the tower there methinks – to be fair, I have never personally heard this happen before at Gloucester, so I guess they were distracted.

As I flew crosswind, I spotted a Cessna outside and ahead of me at the same height. I wasn’t sure if he was going to depart the circuit or turn downwind. I was just about to turn downwind, when I saw him turning in a downwind direction, albeit further out. So I assumed he WAS in the circuit. Knowing that it was probably one of the local flying school Cessnas, rather than ‘have a race’ on the downwind leg and maybe unsettle the other pilot, I asked for an orbit for spacing (now aren’t I nice?). I did this and got suitably behind him and continued the circuit.

The wind had calmed a bit, but was about 230/09kts as I lined up on final for 22. I reminded myself that I was a lot lighter than normal, so drop the approach speed a bit and get ready for more float than normal.

I managed most of this and landed with a small ’spitfire hop’ (that’s my excuse anyway).

Then the final hurdle. I pulled up at the hangar with the hangar next door locked (so I couldn’t borrow their towbar) and our hangar with the jets parked up and no one else around. So I had to man-handle the tailwheel RV6 into a tight hangar space, single handed without a tow bar. In the event, I managed it pretty well – whether by luck or judgement I am not sure!

A great flight on a very pleasant evening. Well, another 0.9 hours logged and now up to nearly 450 hours total time. A nice bit of ‘quality time’ all by myself. I’ll do more of these, offering places to people at work that expressed an interest in going up with me.

James Stewart memorial flight

For some time now, I have been hoping to take in a couple of airfields I haven’t been to before in Norfolk. Part of this is also around my interest in military history, in this case both were bomber bases for the US Army Air Corps in WW2, AND both were the bases that a certain Hollywood ‘great’, James Stewart, flew from during the war.

The weather during the week had been appalling, strong winds and rain showers, but oddly it was always forecast to be calm and clear on Sunday. I awoke with my usual healthy degree of scepticism with UK weather forecasts, but in this case they got it right. OK, not quite clear skies, but scattered fluffy cumulus and best of all from a taildragging point of view, virtually nil wind!

I met up at the airfield with a fellow pilot (and on this occasion, self-loading ballast), Gavin, who has just returned to flying after three months off with a snapped Achilles tendon (nasty).

I had the route planned for weeks and had already checked the NOTAMs during the week, so we were good to go. The plan was to fly from Gloucester via DTY VOR then track towards Norwich airport, neatly slotting between Lakenheath and Marham MATZ’s to land first at Old Buckenham, then onto Tibenham a few miles away then back. All at FL40 if possible. I had planned the route some time ago and had all the changes of frequency marked, circuit directions, the lot. I called as requested for PPR and was told that there was intensive parachute activity at Old Buck and to call some ten miles from their ATZ.

The weight and balance with two of us bigger guys in did not make for happy reading, with room for a meagre, but entirely sufficient 70 litres, so we stuck 30 litres in at the pumps and took off on 27 at about 11:00.

My plan called for FL40, but it was either 3500’ odd or FL60 above the thick but broken cumulus. I opted for FL60 and called for a ‘basic service’ from Coventry. I was soon forced up to FL65. From earlier trips, I recalled a vague notion that there was controlled airspace around DTY at maybe FL55. A check on the map and it looked like we would easily miss it.



I still had a nagging doubt when Coventry called me and said if I continued on track at the current FL for another 5 miles, I would be in controlled airspace. Without hesitation, I confirmed a circling descent back to below the clouds at 3500’. Once established there, a close look at the map showed that I was right AND wrong (i.e. therefore wrong!). The bit I had spotted dropping into BHX would have been fine, but there was a small area of controlled airspace at FL55 right by the VOR. Lesson learned – plan the flight and fly the plan – always go through your long planned route on the day of the flight to refresh yourself on min / max altitudes etc. Some people now question ATSOCAS and debate the value of a ‘basic service’ – well, it certainly helped me on this occasion!

Abeam Northampton, I bade farewell to the helpful but relatively quiet Coventry and switched to a listening watch onto Lakenheath MATZ. Gavin and I were astonished at the apparently huge new ‘hard’ runway at Sywell / Northampton. I knew they had a planning application in, but I didn’t know they had built it now – wow!

We bumbled along at 3300’ odd keeping a sharp lookout for traffic. We saw some, usually below us and certainly no conflict. We were going to thread the gap between Lakenheath and Marham MATZ on a direct track to Norwich until some 15 miles to run, then turn SE to Old Buck.



As it turned out, I decided to orbit Shipdam at 3000’ whiole I called Old Buck for airfield information and the latest on para-dropping. They were OK for me to approach and suggested a downwind right join for 25. We started towards Old Buck, mindful that an overhead join was not allowed (one of the few occasions where I WOULD like an overhead join is at a new airfield!).

We both squinted and instinctively leaned forward to reduce the visual distance by about one foot (like you do!) to try to spot the airfield. It was probably lurking in the shadow of a cloud on an otherwise sunny day. I spotted where it must be and saw large buildings, but no runway. Then we spotted the Jodel that called a few minutes before us as I decided to slot in behind and follow him on the assumption that he knew where he was going! He certainly did as we spotted long sheds aligned with the correct runway heading, which on closer examination were obviously built on part of what must have been the HUGE original runway.



I was a bit too close to the Jodel so called that I was setting up for an orbit on final. That complete we resumed approach. The displaced threshold for 25 is VERY rough and we avoided that for a decent landing. The guy on the radio gave us very helpful taxi instructions to park on the very smooth and neatly mown grass.

We parked up and paid the landing fee, a very reasonable £10 IIRC. The café is basic but clean and with very prompt and friendly service. We took the bacon roll and tea outside to the picnic tables arranged on the grass overlooking the runway (very much like Compton Abbas, and Old Buck definitely reminded me of Compton somehow). It was such a perfect day and such a friendly and generally pleasant airfield, we both remarked that this was flying as it should be – friendly, unfussy and relaxed.

There was a lot of WW2 memorabilia and photos around, including of course James Stewart, who we the Executive Officer here for the Liberator group based here.



Their fuel bowser developed a few problems so I couldn’t refuel as planned. I did want to refuel here as the Flyer Forum fuel survey indicates that it has very reasonably priced fuel. Instead we mounted up somewhat reluctantly, having obtained PPR from Tibenham for the short hop some 5 nm away to Tibenham.

We departed on 25 and did a climbing right turn out of the ATZ to climb to some 2000’ to spot Tibenham. This we did easily as it has three huge black tarmac runways in the classic triangle arrangement. I called on the radio and got some information, basically to say they were using runway 33 for gliding. I approached and got myself oriented with the runways. There were cars and (as it turned out) a glider control cabin on runway 08/26, so clearly that was out, so I slotted in for runway 33 right hand downwind. I spotted a glider on final and was warned about this by the Radio. I continued until final and saw that the glider had come to a halt on the runway by the intersection with 08/26 and wasn’t moving. Then it dawned on me that of course gliders didn’t normally taxi off themselves, but needed man-handling – DOH! So I did a go around. At the same time, I heard another aircraft declare final and land on 03. Tibenham Radio suggested I did a right turn onto downwind for 03 and landed there instead. The windsock was barely moving so that is what I went for.

Man, the runways are HUGE! A decent landing had me down on 03 and the very helpful Radio operator gave me suggested taxi routing to hold by the gliding control cabin while they recovered the glider on 33. Once clear, I carried on and parked up outside the brick building near the clubhouse that turned out to be the AVGAS store.

We shut down and clambered out. There was some sort of MG rally going on as we inspected the poignant war memorial to the 445th US AAC Bombardment Group who flew Liberators from here in WW2 (again, along with the famous actor, James Stewart).



They were again very friendly and helpful in and outside the clubhouse. The glider towing pilot helped us to put 40 litres in the tanks (at a pretty expensive rate I have to say) and I settled up in the clubhouse.

This was only a flying visit as I said to another group member that I would try to get back by 16:00.

We mounted up and cleared the area, heading north to Shipdam then set a direct track to DTY at about 3400’.

We had a listening watch on Lakenheath as we sat happy as sandpipers at 3300’ below some very scattered and thin fair-weather cumulus. The trip back was uneventful, apart from an encounter with a glider not far from a gliding field (yes, that did alert me to keep a particular look out). I suspect we both saw each other as I skirted around him and he continued doing tight orbits, obviously trying for lift in a thermal.

Gloucester were still on a single combined frequency, so busy, but not frantically so. We got a standard overhead join for 27. Going crosswind, we spotted a PA28 in the circuit outside us to our left, so kept a close eye on him. We turned downwind in the usual place and he just kept going. I thought maybe he was departing the circuit. I called downwind only to then see him also turning ‘downwind’ waaaayyyyy outside us – I mean as bomber circuits go, this was mega! He HAD to have been outside the ATZ on the ‘downwind’ leg!

I turned base and called final. There was minimal wind. I made the mistake of coming in a little too fast this time. Well the RV will punish you for this with a very long floooooooaaaaaat! And so it did! I sat there feeling (and probably looking) like a numpty until the RV had humiliated me sufficiently with the tower and assembled onlookers and decided to sound the stall warner and deign to land. Bit of a bounce, nothing dramatic, then down. In the event, I didn’t go far past the intersection with runway 18 and was given a backtrack to vacate.

A great days flying in wonderful weather. I managed to take in two airfields I had not been to before and give myself a decent refresher on navigation and touring. Ready now for a spot of France with maybe some more UK-based ‘airfield collecting’.

Sudden Dread Syndrome

OK, I made the condition up, but it neatly summarises what I felt on my last flight and feel very occasionally when flying. I just wonder if it happens to others?

Last time it happened was on a commercial flight from Venice back to the UK. We had climbed to, oh I guess 25,000' on a very clear day and I looked down out of the window and had a sudden wave of what I can only describe as 'fear and dread' sweep over me. No panic, sweating or uncontrollable twitching like in the films, just a certainty that the plane was going to blow up or otherwise fall apart, eject me into the air and leave me falling to my death without a parachute - weird or what? It didn't last long, but it did unsettle me and I had to look away.

Now I confess that I am fundamentally scared of heights (or altitude if I have the QNH set), which is mainly why I took up flying - yeah I know, dumb or what. But I have since discovered that many pilots are scared of heights.

Well I didn't think anymore of it until it swept over me again at 8000' in the RV6 over the Malverns. Not as bad as before, but a fleeting irrational fear about being at 8000'. I got over it and descended below the clouds to 3500' odd and felt much better - which is really stupid because a fall from 3500' will kill you just as sure as a fall from 8000' - not that I was going to fall anyway!

I just wonder whether others also feel this on occasion? Hmmmm.... maybe I should get 'professional help' after all!