bzn20 Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 23 minutes ago, Ascoteer said: Without a doubt it's Abingdon. JATE (Joint Air Transport Establishment) didn't get to Abingdon until 1971 (you're thinking of the ATDU - Army Air Transport Development Unit), prior to that it was at Old Sarum, having been formed in 1968. I thought/pretty sure the Old Sarum outfit was the Helicopter Unit, part of what became JATE and ended up in one lump at Abingdon with the already there "fixed wing" JATE. I worked at OS in 85 and some old guy there was telling stories about the place. I know those hangar types don't exist at Lyneham ....The QRTs are colour coded Orange, wasn't Lyneham Orange ? Or do you think they used the Herc's kit? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Shows I didn't spend enough time at Abingdon Phew 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 1 minute ago, perdu said: Shows I didn't spend enough time at Abingdon Phew You should have been there at the end in 92. A Bucc on a bird strike repair went out and beat up the place at about 2 foot ! Low? He'd never get 3 greens lockdown anyway,I'm not joking. I wanted to join up again..... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephLalor Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about the station; much appreciated though I was wrong. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 1 hour ago, bzn20 said: You should have been there at the end in 92. A Bucc on a bird strike repair went out and beat up the place at about 2 foot ! Low? He'd never get 3 greens lockdown anyway,I'm not joking. I wanted to join up again..... Heard one or two of those "low-level" tales from an old mate who was a 'Toom fitter,just as mad them 'Toom drivers are.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edge Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 I spent a lot of time in mid Wales as a kid & always looked forward to seeing a Hecules (always seemed to be on a Wendesday morning for some reason) flying lower than anything else. Forget the fast jet boys playing tag in their Hawks or JP's or the odd fly past by the big stuff (Phanton on full smoke excepted), it's The Herc I remember most. Edge 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeronut Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 It was the AATDC at Old Sarum that moved to Abingdon to become JATE. Two MSP loads that the AATDC dropped (just once) were a de-rigged Skeeter and an Auster AOP 9. Both aircraft survived to fly after their drop. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Didn't this start with some guy wanting to build an aeroplane? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 (edited) 56 minutes ago, Edge said: I spent a lot of time in mid Wales as a kid & always looked forward to seeing a Hecules (always seemed to be on a Wendesday morning for some reason) flying lower than anything else. Forget the fast jet boys playing tag in their Hawks or JP's or the odd fly past by the big stuff (Phanton on full smoke excepted), it's The Herc I remember most. Edge Debs(Ascoteer)was probably doing the driving........ I remember driving through mid-Wales around 20 years ago(near to Newtown,top-ish end of the Mach Loop),wifey says "Wow,look at that",pointing toward the drivers' side A pillar. Low down and to the right was a Hawk fencing and playing racey-chasey with an Albert around the hills. Edited October 24, 2016 by Miggers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 55 minutes ago, phildagreek said: Didn't this start with some guy wanting to build an aeroplane? Shh the stories are fun After an exercise in Germany we were given a Landy 'lightweight' (so called 'cause they were heavier than normal Landies ) that had experienced 'issues' during an air drop and told to strip of usable spares. After 3 wasted hours we concluded there wasn't a single useful part in the entire wreaked mess and went back to drinking beer. Pull this one off and you'll have a fantastic aerial diorama TC 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephLalor Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 1 hour ago, phildagreek said: Didn't this start with some guy wanting to build an aeroplane? It did, didn't it? My fault, as per. I'll shut up now and follow the build! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 (edited) Just found this, grab your Cocoa, pull up a sand bag, swing the lamp time. I've cut and pasted this Potted post war history of JATE's place in RAF folklore with every acronym the Royal Air Force think tank command could cook up. TCDU was replaced in Februry 1950 by an Air Transport Development Flight (within Flying Wing RAF Abingdon) achieving status of a separate unit October 1951 as the Transport Command Development Flight (TCDF), moving to Benson in January 1956 and disbanding in February 1957. It was reformed as the Air Movements Development Unit (AMDU) at Abingdon in March 1958 being renamed in May 1965 the Air Transport Development Unit (ATDU). The Joint Helicopter Development Unit (JHDU) was formed in 1968 at Old Sarum as part of JATE absorbing AATDC's Helicopter Section. Subsequently it was decided to base JATE at Abingdon. Accordingly HQ JATE moved there in 1970, the remaining elements following between April 1971 and February 1973. By then AATDC and ATDU had effectively been merged. The 1974 Defence Review led to the transfer of JATE to Brize Norton between November 1975 and February 1976, with December 1975 as the formal date for the establishment of HQ JATE at Brize Norton. PS.. Its not called JATE anymore either! Edited October 24, 2016 by bzn20 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 On 24/10/2016 at 22:47, bzn20 said: PS.. Its not called JATE anymore either! Nope, it's now JADTEU (Joint Air Delivery Test and Evaluation Unit). BTW they are not acronyms but abreviations/initialisations since they don't form words. (Sorry I'm a bit OCD about the use and misuse of the term acronym. Just because the Spams have decided that any abreviation or initialisation is an acronym doesn't mean we should.) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tc2324 Posted October 24, 2016 Author Share Posted October 24, 2016 2 hours ago, phildagreek said: Didn't this start with some guy wanting to build an aeroplane? Don`t mind me, I`m quite enjoying the stories. I`ve had the pleasure myself to fly a number of times in a RAF Herc, the most memorable being standing behind and griping on to the pilots chair for dear life as he practiced a `Khe Sanh` approach at Lyneham. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 2 hours ago, Miggers said: Debs(Ascoteer)was probably doing the driving........ Oi Miggers ye wee skevitt I'm not that old! Mr Edge is a mere 8 years younger than me! Although I have poled Albert around Wales at lo level on many an occasion. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 1 minute ago, tc2324 said: Don`t mind me, I`m quite enjoying the stories. I`ve had the pleasure myself to fly a number of times in a RAF Herc, the most memorable being standing behind and griping on to the pilots chair for dear life as he practiced a `Khe Sanh` approach at Lyneham. That's a ride. I was standing up behind the front two, STANDING, coming in to Seeb on an Omani AF Herc. No warning, nose down, I'm staring into the Roundabout and Arch, roads ,sand, threshold, holy cow. How I didn't go between the seats I don't know, Arms and hands were killing me. Went out, seemed like vertical and every landing after was the same, Masirah, Thumrait and Salalah. Don't think he knew the other way of grounding it ! Loved it once I knew what he was going to do. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Ah yes the Khe Sanh. Always good fun to do. : Wheels on, ramp and door going open, max reverse, full braking, vehicles out the back, ramp horizontal, full power, rolling, rotate... Damn I miss doing that. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickers McFunbus Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Either way, it looks like Abingdon. The most westerly pair of A-types, on the pan just west of the tower (as has been mentioned the twr is just out of shot to the left). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 18 hours ago, Ascoteer said: Oi Miggers ye wee skevitt I'm not that old! Mr Edge is a mere 8 years younger than me! Although I have poled Albert around Wales at lo level on many an occasion. One of these days she'll tell me what a "wee skevitt" really is Of course my dear Debsta,I just knew you'd have had a go at poling Albert lo level around Wales,can't let them Jag fast jet jocks have all the fun can ye 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tc2324 Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 A little bit of work done tonight, mainly to correct the shape of the Land Rover. So out came the cutting tools and it`s fair to say I`ve trimmed it down a tad......., (apologies for the picture quality) Now I know it`s not perfect and it`s still work in progress, but hopefully I`ve done enough so that it will pass for an older make rather then the Snatch variant it came from. So while that was drying off I couldn`t help myself and taped the thing together to gauge it`s size using the Landy for a bit of scale...... SWMBO was not impressed.....! More soon. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephLalor Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Hi tc2324, I've only just realised that your dio will be in 1/48 so you'll be using that big old Italeri Hercules. Will you be using aftermarket for the serial numbers? The kit ones are too square at the ends of the characters I gather. I've managed to break most of the prop blades off on mine so I'll probably be drilling out the blade roots and attaching with 13 amp fuse wire. My kit's a long way off being assembled but I'll be taking a big interest in this ambitious project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted October 26, 2016 Share Posted October 26, 2016 I'm wondering whether the Italeri 1/48 Albert is merely a scaled up version of their 1/72 Albert? If so there will be a number of errors, not least the length and shape of the Allison T56-A-15 power units and the lack of the lower fuselage chine forward of the undercarriage sponsons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tc2324 Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 On 10/26/2016 at 0:34 AM, JosephLalor said: Will you be using aftermarket for the serial numbers? The kit ones are too square at the ends of the characters I gather. I have plenty of spares in the normal RAF font so no doubt a little `surgery` will take place. So on to this evenings task and get the cabin floor looking a little more realistic. First and sprayed the relevant parts in silver and then got out the masking tape. After a good amount of tape and time .......... ..... the end result looks ok to me. Next I sprayed the parts in dark grey and left to dry. Now it`s not gone missed by me that the engine nacelles on the kit do come up a little short and that after market versions are available. So I dry fitted the parts together for review ......... ......... and then googled said aftermarket parts which come in at around £20 including postage. Ouch! This is supposed to be a fun build and not one which happens to bankrupt me. So the question is, can I live with the kits nacelles? After viewing a few finished builds of the same kit OOB and taking into account the extra costs, the answer is, yes I can. Moving back to the cabin floor, masking tape was removed, Tamiya weathering kit applied to dull it all down and I`m happy with the end result. As I`ve been saying all along, it`s not perfect, but it will do. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Floor looks good n rough to me, knuckle scraper paint ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascoteer Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Gawd the number of times I had to re-role the floor fit in Albert doesn't bear thinking about. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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