G-APIZ Turbulent

It was good to see Turbulent G-APIZ looking in excellent condition at RAF Shawbury on 19.3.09.

This small but elegant French designed Druine D.31 Turbulent aircraft was built by Rollason Aircraft and Engines Ltd ( RAE ) at the old Croydon airfield back in 1957. Altogether Rollason built approx 30 Turbulents. Note that Stark Flugzeugbau of Germany also built a version of this aircraft in the late 1950s.

I believe this is the oldest Turbulent still airworthy today in the UK. The aircraft has the PFA c/n PFA 478.

It is powered by a Volkswagen 1600 engine and has flown approx 225 hours by December 2007.

This aircraft was involved in a major accident in 1963 at West Clandon and was subsequently cancelled from the CAA register in 1965. It was restored to the register in 1987 after rebuild and was based at White Waltham during the 1990s.

Great to see this aircraft in such good shape.

Royal Navy Sea King HC 4 "Commando" helicopter T Shirt

This T Shirt features one of my original photo images of a Sea King HC4 in action - please click through on the T shirt above to view the range of size, style and colour options and order if you wish via RedBubble.

Bristol International Airport - Lulsgate 2.3.09

Ryaniar 737-800 EI-CTB departing runway 27 at Bristol on 2.3.09

A quick visit up to Lulsgate on a reasonable Spring day allowed me to catch up with some new Easyjet and Ryanair aircraft. Bristol is a Easyjet hub with approx 11 different aircraft based - Ryaniar are also operating more flights out of Bristol and most days you can see 4 or 5 of their aircraft too.

EI-DYO taking off - I like the red underbelly light reflection on the engine

XZ697 Royal Navy Lynx HMA 8 visits Wells Somerset 25.2.09

I often work from home and my morning peace and quiet was interrupted by the sound and welcome sight of a RN Lynx passing very low over my house in the descent.

A quick dash upstairs allowed me to follow the Lynx as it descended towards the Wells Cathedral School grounds.

The Lynx was on a visit the the schools student Combined Cadet Force ( CCF ). I managed to get down to the school in time to have a quick look at the Lynx before it departed back to its home base at RNAS Yeovilton.

The Lynx was serial XZ697 coded "641" of the training unit 702 NAS. It has been modified to HMA 8 standard. This Lynx was built by Westlands at Yeovil as construction number WA 145 and first fly back in January 1980 - so it's now 29 years old.

It appeared in the static park at the Farnborough aviation trade show in September 1988 as a mark HAS 3 coded "602" of 829 NAS. By 1998 it had been converted to HMA 8 standard and was seen operating with 815 NAS coded "308"

This original Lynx will be replaced by the new "Future Lynx" in the next few years.

The crew allowed the school students the opportunity to climb aboard and ask plenty of questions - good PR for the Royal Navy and a good opportunity for the students to learn too.

With thanks to Wells Cathedral School and Royal Navy 702 NAS.