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IAT 1979 the Hercules at 25


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Hello

 

Since there is a bit of an IAT retrospective going on, here are my photos of some of the Herkybirds at the 1979 meeting. These are iPhone copies of colour prints, so no guarantee of fidelity! Original pics taken with a Fujica ST605N financed from one of my first pay days!
 

It may be my memory, but I recall the Israeli and Saudi machines (at the beginning) being parked next to each other. I believe they were separated, even though on a personal level the crew were swapping arm patches etc!

 

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I remember it took ages to walk down that line. Judging by some of the photos, I must have got wet at one point. I may be conflating memories, but I recall taking refuge under the wing of a Nimrod and also having a stare into its bomb bay.

 

Trevor 

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Gosh, yes, did it rain!!! I went with my dad and brother and it hammered it down. We spent most of the show inside the car looking out at shapes in the rain. But I remember the Israeli Herk and the rest of that incredible line up; that was also the year of the Alcock and Brown(e) Phantom. taken with my dad's Zenit:

 

49891776511_4b7523163f_b.jpggc79-04 by paulbradley109, on Flickr

 

 

49891776846_bc4001303d_b.jpggc79-01 by paulbradley109, on Flickr

 

 

Could we have imagined that the 25th Anniversary of the Herk was barely the beginning?! Imagine a show today with 66 Herks to celebrate the 66th anniversary...? 

Edited by Paul Bradley
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10 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

The parked the Israeli Herk next to the Jordanian one. A little bit of tension there.

I think someone was having a bit of a laugh. By all accounts the crews were ok with each other, but ‘politics’ prevailed and they were separated.

 

Trevor

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My first Greenham and I went with some of guys from IPMS Sheffield. It rained when we got there and then brightened up. First time I saw a Tomcat. 

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Some great nostalgia going on here that offers some reflection on how good airshows were back in the 70s and 80s in terms of overall numbers, variety of types, and before the advent of all grey aircraft! I'd forgotten how odd also the USAF C-130A looked with the Roman nose.  Keep 'em coming, these virtual airshows will likely be all we will see this year due to the pandemic!

 

Mark

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Bit of a red face moment with the Hunters.

They borrowed WB188 from Tangmere to display 'front and centre' in the line up. When they craned it off the truck, they dropped it, damaging the underside.

There was much midnight oil burnt repairing and repainting the airframe to have it on display on the Saturday morning.

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Thanks for the photos. I was there on the Sunday with my mum,sister and younger brother. The week before l begged my mother to take us, my dad was not interested in aircraft. So we got the train from London Paddington which included admission to the airshow. As l said in another thread l remember getting very wet on that day and mum buying me the Matchbox F-16A/B.

 

Regards

Robert

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12 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Yes - also the first and last time I saw an airworthy ANG KC-97 :(

Ah, you didn’t get to the 1974 show, then. That was smaller but great variety - C-97, C-121, C-118, T-29, etc :). There was a great, weathered Danish F-104G too :)

 

Martin 

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12 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

No unfortunately, 79 was my first visit. Got any photos?

 

Trevor

Yep. I just need to scan some ;). Give me a short while ;)

 

Martin

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