Kemble - 26.5.2010

Kemble airfield is home to a very diverse range of aircraft from microlights, to airliners to ex military jets.

EI-OZA Airbus A300F ex DHL at Kemble

At the moment the airfield has more than a dozen old airliners stored or being scrapped - among them is EI-OZA. This Airbus A300F is still painted in the distinctive colour scheme of its former operator DHL.

EI-OZA is c/n 148 and was originally built in 1981 and delivered to Olympic Airways  of Greece as SX-BEG. It was a regular sight at London Heathrow during the 1980s/90s.

In 1998 the aircraft was converted from a passenger airliner to a cargo aircraft - it  entered freight service as F-GOZA in 1999 and became EI-OZA in 2002. In 2007 it joined the DHL fleet as OO-TIF.  Finally after 28 years of service this aircraft arrived at Kemble in August 2009 for storage.

In Febuary 2010 the aircraft was re-registered again as EI-OZA ( although it still has "IF" on the nose wheel door from OO-TIF ) so maybe it will escape the scrapman  - however it is currently parked right next to the scrap area at Kemble.

In the photo above behind EI-OZA is Boeing 737-600 SU-MWC previously operated by Midwest.


Parked close to the Control Tower at Kemble ( near the AV8 cafe ) is former RAF Buccaneer S2B XX889. This aircraft is painted in the desert pink colour scheme ( ARTF ) it wore during the first Gulf War in 1991 and is coded "T".

XX889 was built in 1974 and originally served with RAF Germany at Laarbruch airbase before being re-allocated up to RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.

 During the Gulf War it operated from Bahrain coded "T" - the aircraft has 14 bombing mission marks on the starboard side of the cockpit.

The Buccaneer was retired from RAF service in 1994 and XX889 was flown to RAF St Athan in Wales for a period of storage. Since then it has spent time at Staverton before moving on to Kemble in 2007.

For more information about the service life of this Gulf War veteran see the excellent link below

http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/S2B_XX889_files/0_S2B_XX889.html


For more info on the preservation of this Buccaneer XX889 see link below


http://buccsociety.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=restorations&action=display&num=1166289875

Kemble is also home to a pair of ex RAF Canberra PR9 reconnaissance aircraft.  This photo shows XH134 which is currently registered as G-OMHD. This particular Canberra was built in 1959 by Short Brothers at Belfast NI, a total 23 PR9s were built. The PR9 version was operated by 39 sqd and 1 PRU was finally retired by the RAF in 2006.

The PR9 had operated in the sensitive reconnaissance role for many years, flying far and high looking over areas of interest.  These aircraft were home based at RAF Wyton ( 39 sqd then 1 PRU ) and latter RAF Marham ( 39 sqd ) but would often deploy overseas - for many years they flew out of Hong Kong before it was returned to China, in more recent times they operated over the Gulf and Afghanistan.

G-OMDH is currently owned by Midair SA but hasn't flown since arriving at Kemble in 2006. A second PR9 XH135 is adjacent to XH134.


 Steve

Old Sarum - 12th May 2010

A return visit to Old Sarum today found more interesting aircraft including the following

G-CGIX Rotorsport MTOsport autogyro - this aircraft is virtually brand new having been registered in March 2010 - the pilot told me it had flown just 8 flight hours so far. In recent weeks two gyros have been based at Old Sarum, this one and G-CDZZ and a poster in the cafe advertisies gyro flight training.

Click here for external LINK to MTOsport UK dealer web page

G-CFOG Ikarus C42 FB UK c/n PFA 322-14482 was a visitor and was built in 2006 - this is one of 33 examples currently registered as kit built C42s - another 100 factory built aircraft are also registered.

G-BJYK Jodel Wassmer D 120A Paris-Nice c/n 185 was a visitor today and is seen being hand re-fuelled at the AVGAS fuel pumps. This aircraft is now 50 years old having been built in 1960. It was originally registered as F-BJPK and took up a UK registration in May 1982.

G-ASVM is an early example of a Reims built Cessna F 172E c/n F172-0077 and was built in 1964 and originally imported by Westair Flying Services at Blackpool. Over the past 46 years this aircraft has had 15 registered owners and had flown over 3,850 flight hours by 12.09

G-BGWR Cessna U 206A Super Skywagon c/n U206-0653 operates as a parachute skydiving jump aircraft based at Old Sarum - note the fold up jump door. This aircraft was built in 1966 and operated in The Netherlands as PH-OTD before arriving in the UK in 1979 taking up registration G-BGWR.  In 1984 it was re-registered as G-DISC but reverted to G-BGWR in 1996. By 12.09 it had flown over 8,334 flight hours. 

N151CG Cirrus SR22 c/n 0344 was built in 2002 and I believe this is based at Old Sarum. This very popular aircraft is still in production with over 3,000 examples built.

Recently arrived at Old Sarum is this replica Royal Aircraft Factory BE2b bearing serial "2783". This full scale replica has been built at Boscombe Down by the members of the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection. It is a very impressive aircraft, I liked the large stitching binding the fuselage canvass together. I understand that "2783" represents the first aircraft to land at Boscombe Down back in 1917 . The BE2 served as a reconnaissance and light bomber during the early years of World War 1. There are no original surviving BE2 aircraft today in the UK - the RAF Museum at Hendon also exhibits a replica.

However a BE2f serial A1325 has recently returned to the air after a prolonged rebuild in New Zealand. The same company has also built a flying replica BE2c - more details on the very interesting website below

External Link to The Vintage Aviator Company of New Zealand

Steve