Aircraft and flying

[philmayfield 6,144]

I’ve just been rereading it. It’s quite a hefty book of some 274 pages. I’m recalling the names of some of those I knew, no longer with us. Derek Truman, Derek Leatherland, Derrick Brooks, Frank Spencer of the Spencer School of Flying (Michael Crawford flew in once when he was learning to fly). Brian Wells (the present owner) is still with us but in his late 80’s. I spent many hours down there in the 70’s/80’s and was at one time a director of the Sherwood Flying Club. Four of us formed a syndicate and bought a PA28, Piper Cherokee from the flying club. A pair of us would go off at weekends and holidays to such exotic places as the Channel Islands, the Isle of White, Le Touquet, Skegness, Blackpool and many other airfields and farm strips around the country. I’ve even been as far as Karlsruhe in Germany and Quiberon in Brittany. We ended up crashing it and writing it off. I still bear the scars, but that’s another story! I sometimes go down there to view the activity but it’s not as busy as it was in its heyday. It’s the exorbitant cost of flying now I suppose.

[IAN FINN 809]

You must be like the bionic man phil held together with string and wire how many lives have you had so far?

[philmayfield 6,144]

I've only written off a car and an aeroplane. I've had some narrow escapes on the high seas but I've not written off a boat yet. People aren't keen to join my crew!  It could be my swansong!

[nonnaB 4,895]

25 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

I've only written off a car and an aeroplane. I've had some narrow escapes on the high seas but I've not written off a boat yet. People aren't keen to join my crew!  It could be my swansong!

Good job I didn’t crew for you then Phil

[philmayfield 6,144]

Always welcome. I need someone in the galley!

[Beekay 5,160]

Phil, do you need a good Harpooner? 'Er indoors used to work on a whaling fleet, out of Whitby. ( Before she worked for Fellows, Morton and Clayton, carrying pottery out of Stoke.) 

[nonnaB 4,895]

Enterprises didn’t have galleys  Phil but think you knew that My friend and I use to time keeping at Stoke B and at Beeston Sailing   Club but it was years ago and  can’t remember much about that . 
 

 

[MRS B 523]

21 hours ago, nonnaB said:

Good job I didn’t crew for you then Phil

It wasn’t me that wrote your roster either Phil.

[philmayfield 6,144]

It was my crew member that dropped the flap lever, God knows why! I was going to throw the landing away and go round again. I gunned the throttle but at that height I’d lost the lift and picked up a taught wire fence over the crest at the end of the farm strip. Straight towards a stone wall. I thought my end was in sight! We came to an abrupt halt, the twisted starboard wing was blocking the exit door and the ruptured fuel tank was dripping Avgas. I stood on the seat, unlatched the door and bent it open! We scrambled out relatively unscathed. When I went to report it at Melton Mowbray police station the sergeant said ‘It’s all happening here today, first a flasher and now an aeroplane crash!’ The site was at Park Farm, Kirby Bellars if you know the area. The insurers paid out less the excess and we’d recently upped the value for more than we paid for it so the group wasn’t out of pocket. I took a break for about three years but subsequently renewed my licence.

[IAN FINN 809]

I hope you were not phil the flasher Melton Mowbray certainly had their hands full did they call for backup?

[MRS B 523]

Phil, you made me laugh when you said that the insurance company paid up over the odds. Never mind the fact that you nearly killed yourself! 
In the face of adversity there’s always a bonus. We had an a/c go off the runway at Dinard once, apparently it was at the time one of the longest runways in France.

[philmayfield 6,144]

My first venture on to a really long runway was at EMA just after I qualified. I got clearance to enter the zone and was told to orbit over the power station and await a call to land. I came in on a right base and reported ‘finals’. When I was established on final approach I heard another aircraft report ‘finals’. I thought he was right up my backside so I threw away the landing and went round again to land. When I went to pay the landing fee the buggers charged me double for two landings!

I’ve been in many times since and did some of my ‘night rating’ there which almost like flying in daylight compared with Tollerton!

[philmayfield 6,144]

[Brew 5,422]

Tollerton and EMA are by far the easiest landings ever. My first lessons were as a member of Donair. Trickiest runway is Derby 23, nominal 547m with poplars and pylons across the approach. It certainly made for a tight sphincter doing a  deadstick. 

[philmayfield 6,144]

The short runway at Fenland is a tricky one. A friend of mine went through the hedge there. Netherthorpe near Worksop was out of bounds for club aircraft although I’ve been in with no problems. Some farm strips can be tricky. I never liked John Hardy’s strip on the hill at Lambley or Sibson near Peterborough where parachutists were dropping on both sides. Winthorpe at Newark was interesting as you didn’t know whether to fly over or under the electricity cables on the approach. I’ve done most of the big ones except Heathrow. The landing fee and the problems of finding a slot and a ground agent were off-putting. I’ve even flown a Chipmunk into Stanstead! I’ve done Luxembourg and Paris Le Bourget though. I’m prompted to get out my logbooks and relive the moments. I did a week’s gliding at Gt. Hucklow in Derbyshire but spent more hours on the tractor doing recoveries than in the air. You may have come across the famous Hector Taylor at EMA although I think he was at the East Midlands School. My last flight was in a microlite about 20 years ago. I was going to buy one but there was no hangarage available at the Knapthorpe (Caunton) strip.

This conversation could become more boring than the politics thread! 

[philmayfield 6,144]

8/11/81 Remembrance Sunday.

[Brew 5,422]

That planes OK it'll polish out with a bit of T cut...

[philmayfield 6,144]

The owner of the airstrip, John Knight, was a pilot himself. He bought the wreckage from the insurers and extracted what was salvageable. I helped him drag it back to the farm with his tractor. I must revisit the site and see how it’s changed over the years.

[Brew 5,422]

Derby airfield owner is restoring Amy Johnson's G-ACSP Black Magic, (DH88), not sure how far along they are with it now.

When I last saw it they were gluing the internal braces in the wing. Restoration is a slow process and I imagine he will have retired before it's finished. 

[philmayfield 6,144]

I've never flown into the present Derby airfield. Years ago my father dispatched me in his car (I had just passed my driving test) with a parcel to send to Dublin. This was when the airfield was at Burnaston. It was a bit of a Heath Robinson set-up. The parcel was weighed on a bathroom type scale and was handed up to the pilot of the Dakota!

 

[MRS B 523]

This is a Cessna bird dog that my friend and her partner lovingly completely renovated a couple of years ago. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it. Pictured at Bidford Gliding Club where we always have an annual reunion with fun things like target flour bombing.

 

[philmayfield 6,144]

It looks very similar to an Auster (built in Rearsby!) I was flying as a passenger in one from Hucknall. The engine started to cough so we attempted to land in Wollaton Park. It was a no-go so we limped back to Tollerton coming in very low over County Hall! A change of spark plugs cured the problem.

[Brew 5,422]

8 hours ago, MRS B said:

like target flour bombing.

 

Did similar during the National Hot air balloon championships at Studley Hall................ we came dead last but we wuz robbed!!... somebody nicked our 'bomb'