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A strange old Month which started off with a dose of Covid. The main symptom was fatigue and although I was testing fine by RIAT week I really didn't feel like driving up to use my Friday ticket. On Sunday a friend messaged me with the offer of a departures day pass and after a bit of thought I decided to go. Starting off with Newquay. Photography there has become a real pain, the Spaceport building site has narrowed the possibilities down considerably. I was delighted to finally see a French A330 MRTT, but only just! I was sitting in the garden with the Mrs when a friend messaged me saying it was descending over Devon. A quick dash in the car saw me miss one approach, but luckily it did a couple more. The Osprey spent a weekend at Newquay, flying sorties each day. The Army Dauphins arrived late one evening. RIAT Departures Monday; Still got loads to plough through but here are some of the ones I've looked at.

Here is a compilation taken around Cornwall during July and August. I've avoided posting any from Culdrose Air Day as the show has already been covered here.

After many years of building plastic kits it has been a totally new experience and a pleasure to be involved in the restoration of a life size example of one of my favourite aircraft. WT722 has been with Classic Air Force at Newquay for while, stuck outside and rather neglected it was decided to repaint her in the colours she wore during the 1970s. The departure of Classic Air Force from Newquay has been well documented, the remaining aircraft will form part of a new museum at Newquay. WT722 will be kept under cover along with the Harrier GR3 and another airframe in a HAS which will be open to visitors. The VC10, BAC111, Varsity, Canberra, Sea Devon etc will be parked on the disused runway. January, removal of old markings. All the old markings were measured and photographed prior to removal: Further preparation and application of primer was carried out in HAS5. Due to uncertainties with the future location of the museum we vacated HAS5 and moved back to 404 Hangar in April: April 28th, back in 404 Hangar and the first coat of Light Aircraft Grey: Masking: This is where we are at the moment, the fuselage roundels were masked and sprayed during the last couple of weeks. Wing roundels, codes, serials, stencils all planned for the next few weeks.

Not long to go now before these are retired so it was indeed a pleasure to see 4 x Sea Kings arrive at Newquay on Tuesday afternoon. They had been working on Bodmin Moor and came into Newquay for some fuel before returning to Yeovilton. For the number crunchers they are ZA299/D; ZA296/Q; ZF116/WP and ZF117/X.

On Wednesday I popped down to Classic Air Force with some paint brushes to do a touch-up on one of the exhibits but not long after I arrived I heard a strange noise in the distance. The cloud base was almost zero and I couldn't even see the control tower across the runway. The 'strange noise' passed somewhere over the top of us but came back 10 minutes later by which time the cloud base had lifted to a couple of hundred feet. The visitor turned out to be this Osprey, the first time I've seen or heard one. Fortunately it parked right outside the museum for a couple of hours.

One of the benefits of volunteering at Classic Air Force is the opportunity to photograph visiting aircraft as well as the museum residents. Here is a selection taken during the last few months. None of these were taken 'airside', they were taken from public areas often using my trusty stepladder.

Seeing Radleigh's DC-10 thread has prompted me to post a few from another recent DC-10 retirement. On the 11th April 2014 Netherlands Air Force DC-10 T-255 made its last flight from Eindhoven to Newquay Airport where it will be scrapped. Fortunately the DC-10 arrived and parked directly outside the Classic Air Force enclosure, unfortunately it only stayed there a couple of hours before it was towed away to its final resting place. A RNLAF C-130H accompanied the DC-10 to collect the crew and some equipment. Final landing at Newquay Crossing the Runway: Heading towards the CAF enclosre. Unloading equipment: C-130H arrives. Crew munch some sandwiches before the flight home: C-130H leaving: DC-10 is towed away to be scrapped:

Just back from my hols in Cornwall, and managed this time to call in at Classic Air Force at "Newquay Airport". This is the old Coventry mob, gradually settling in at their new location. Anyone familiar with RAF St Mawgan will know Hangar 404, the big one at the end of the line. This is where all but a few of the exhibits live. At the moment they have a Vampire trainer, a Venom (both ex-Swiss), a Percival, a Dakota, most of a Varsity, a Meteor NF.Mk.11, a Sea Devon, a Hunter T.Mk.8 and a GA.Mk.11, two Jet Provosts, and the old Qinetiq BAC 111 which has just arrived. Technically all but the Varsity, the Hunters and the Sea Devon are flyable, and the Vampire, Venom and Meteor and at least one JP have all flown recently. Not too sure how sustained this will be. Unfortunately the Hunters are in a bit of a state: the trainer is bent and full of water, and the fighter is being stripped for service as their gate guardian (although that should at least give you something to see along the A3059). There are cockpit tours of the Dakota and the 111, the latter including the best legroom of any airliner ever. Other exhibits are all admirably accessible, within tyre-kicking distance. A small bonus was being able to see the Vampire's engine being reinstalled with the help of a crane and five nervous fitters. Overall it's a promising start. The entry fee is a little steep but you get good talks from the volunteers and, as more exhibits gather, it should become better value. (A Lightning and a Harrier are possibilities, and they're thinking seriously about how to get the Nimrod down.) The concessions rate is a genuine reduction, too - a full third off. One welcome feature is that on entry you get a voucher equivalent to the price of admission, which you can redeem against the purchase of items from the gift shop, up to 50% of their total value. (I think! - it all got a bit complicated but I got excellent reductions on a couple of Aerofax books.) The actual stock is a bit hit and miss but there are good things in there - except the models, on which they could do with taking it a bit more seriously. Though they have taken care to lay on a stock of the paints that Airfix recommends. Not hugely impressed with the pasties, but at least they weren't Ginsters. NB: the hangar is vast and unheated, and they have to leave the doors open a lilttle. Bear this in mind on a claggy day. Pigsty's rating: 7/10, a fair way to spend a couple of hours if you'm down that way.