Paul J Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Decided to attempt scanning my slides in date sequence where poss. The ones below were taken around the June time of summer of 1975 on one fine Sunday with a couple mates. We did this sort of thing frequently all year round but this particular day was fun and I hope you all enjoy a trip back..... First, Upper Heyford..... A couple 17 Squadron Phantoms made it worthwhile. One was XV467. Then on to Brize..... Among the Brits I logged this day were XL638,657, XM496, 516. Among the Belfast and VC s were XR808 and XV103( not those in the above pic!) for the 10s and XR365 Belfast. A few miles drive took us to Lyneham.... Comet C.4 XR398,399,396 and another. All ending up with Dan Air!!! Meteor T.7 WF825 Above and below, around the other side of the airfield... Other herks logged were,XV183,188,203,207,215,291,294,296,301, 302, 304, 307. Note the slight variations in the way the camo was applied! With one of two Iranian Herk visitors. The other was 5-129 ..and this USAF one passing overhead. This Varsity(WJ889) with a flat looking nose too. I think this was at Brize. The nasty flare in the pic was due to the camera back opening I think. It was a nuisance as it happened several times while I had the Zenit E!!! Which got replaced by a Nikon FM in 1978/79. On our way home we stopped by Farnborough to get this Hastings WD480 parked out on the North side if I recall right. Cheers for now many more goodies to come... 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Very nostalgic, I only wish I was around then seeing all those lovely aircraft and colour schemes. That Hastings looks interesting, any other info on it ? Thanks for posting Paul and look forward to the next instalment. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem01 Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Fantastic photos - wonder if we'll ever see days like that again - not with airframe types but maybe resurrected squadrons?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Brilliant Paul - thats the Air Force I had the pleasure in joining back in the 70s 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Wonderful pictures! Martian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Nice :). I had summer camp at Brize in 1973 and a 5 hour trip in XN404 BZZ-MAN-PIK-BZZ, including 1.5 hours circuit bashing at BZZ on return..... A few were a bit green after that 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share Posted February 15, 2017 10 hours ago, RidgeRunner said: Nice :). I had summer camp at Brize in 1973 and a 5 hour trip in XN404 BZZ-MAN-PIK-BZZ, including 1.5 hours circuit bashing at BZZ on return..... A few were a bit green after that Sounds a bit like my ATC camp at nearby Bicester. We were taken to Brize for some flying and I got 3 hours circuit bashing in Belfast XR367. Other groups during the week got trips in the Brit and VC10 jammy so and so's However am glad I have entertained you all. As mentioned I have many more to come. Thanks for comments and looking in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Fantastic peak over the fence Paul. I find the "quality " of photo lends itself to the nostalgic feel of the time,a little like black and white images from many years ago. Keep up the good work. I will try and join in with some myself later if I may. The potential to peek into other people's photo albums is amazing isn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammy da fish Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Thank you for sharing your excellent selection of photographs. If only we could see such diversity of subjects these days. Instead we have very little to be cheerful about. Oh those halcyon days of old. We can only but dream off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinback Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Wow - Thanks for sharing Paul The Hercs bring back many memories. I was a forces kid at RAF Colerne in 75 living virtually slap bang on the airfield. Then it was onto Lyneham. Its also great to see Britannias , Belfasts and Comets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLC1966 Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Great Photo's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Great photos of a bygone era. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bradley Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I started out with a Zenit as well - and had the same issues..... Switched to a Praktica later, not that it was much better.... But it was all I could afford at the time. Saved up my pennies when I started working for real to invest in an Olympus in around 1983/4 and never looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 (edited) 39 minutes ago, Paul Bradley said: I started out with a Zenit as well - and had the same issues..... Switched to a Praktica later, not that it was much better.... Me too!! Zenit E, then a Praktica LTL? and then Olympus OM1N. I found that the Zenit always left a slight lighter shadow on each frame. My dad said it was a fault in the design of the shutter. For the time and for the budget they were okay and certainly the Praktica served me well. The Olympus was great. I still have it. It did fail me at least once. It was my first day of a 2 week US trip and the cap holding the winder fell off. For the trip I had to hold it in place with a finger when I wanted to wind on! :(...... "Wind on" I hear the youngsters say, what was that! M Edited February 15, 2017 by RidgeRunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaselden Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 53 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said: The Olympus was great. I still have it. It did fail me at least once. It was my first day of a 2 week US trip and the cap holding the winder fell off. For the trip I had to hold it in place with a finger when I wanted to wind on! :(...... "Wind on" I hear the youngsters say, what was that! M Hmmm...I had an Olympus OM10 that suffered exactly the same problem when I was on deployment in Africa. My problem was that the winder disappeared. Managed to find an old guy in a shack of a workshop in Mombasa who made a new winder out of a piece of metal and then attached it with a new screw. Still have the camera, with the mod intact, to this day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Again, it sounds like me! When I got home my dad spun a new cap on his lathe. It is still on the camera - functioning perfectly after 30 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Those were the days. REAL planes, and in quantity. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I do like pictures of home. I'm not on any ! I was on Base 3s then in Base Hangar in Summer '75. Upper Heyford once a week in the NCO or Airmen's clubs Roughly within 12 months of your visit the Brits & Belfs were gone, 99 and 511 Sqns disbanded in June 76 and 53 SQN Belfasts September 76. Replaced by JATE, No1 PTS,TCW and 115 SQN Argosys and Andovers..Those Comets were out of service in summer 75 so either already dead or just about to be. How (if you can remember!) did you get that photo of VC10 XR806 down by ESG with Bampton Church in the background? From the Main Gate (Gate 2) ? Great photos, even greater memories woken up,thanks very much for showing them, brilliant. Pictures of when we had an Air Force. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share Posted February 15, 2017 2 hours ago, bzn20 said: How (if you can remember!) did you get that photo of VC10 XR806 down by ESG with Bampton Church in the background? From the Main Gate (Gate 2) ? Great photos, even greater memories woken up,thanks very much for showing them, brilliant. Pictures of when we had an Air Force. Hi. Re the pic of the VC10, I really don't recall. But possibly as you mentioned. We drove around all these bases to find suitable photographic points. The Herk tail line up was from the deadend lane by Lyneham near a place called 'New Zealand'. But also back then security isn't like it is now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Very nostalgic, great shots - and I take my hat off to you for using the Zenit E - mine is still lurking somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbbusybee Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Wonderful to see all of these, thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covjets13 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Great photos, thanks for sharing Si Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 Brilliant pics,.......these were my old stomping grounds only 10 years later but things had changed so much,.......no Belfast`s, Briiannia`s or Comet`s anymore (apart from the Lyneham gate guard!) and the Herks were wearing grey and green camo,....... I`d have loved to have been serving in the 70`s. Cheers Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayprit Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 On 15/02/2017 at 7:54 PM, Paul J said: Hi. Re the pic of the VC10, I really don't recall. But possibly as you mentioned. We drove around all these bases to find suitable photographic points. The Herk tail line up was from the deadend lane by Lyneham near a place called 'New Zealand'. But also back then security isn't like it is now. Security at Upper Heyford in the 60s was very high. I stood at the fence photographing B47 Stratojets on the flightline through the mesh wire, when after 5 minutes, 2 american security pick ups converged on me inside the fence. At the same time 2 security pick ups turned up alongside me on the outside of the fence. I was placed in one of the pick ups and taken back to the guard room. Never forget the guys name, Sgt McClusky took my camera from me, opened the back up and pulled the film out, unrolled all the film so the daylight hit it, then gave me back my camera. He told me I was taking unauthorised photographs of the flightline...................You have to remember, although I was ignorant of it at the time, this was a SAC(Strategic Air Command) base and security was extremely high. Its only as I grew older I began to find out just how high SACs security is and the reason for it. After they gave me a cup of coffee I was sent on my way, well, I was only 15 at the time....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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