Dunkeswell - 9th April 2010

Dunkeswell airfield in Devon is between Wellington and Honiton along many small twisty country roads - take a good map !

The airfield is home to a good variety of aircraft types microlights, ultralights, general aviation, homebuilts, motorised gliders, vintage Tigers and a large para jumping Cessna 208.

Among the many aircraft over by the Somerset Microlights hangers on the North West side were

G-MZGV Pegasus Quantum 15 c/n 7339 wearing the titles of "Somerset Microlights" was built in 1997 and has flown over 1050 hours by Dec 2008.

G-CDYO Ikarus C42 FB80 c/n 6810 - this example was built in 2006

G-CDSA Pegasus Quik 912S c/n 8144 was built in 2005 and may have been a visitor from the Portsmouth area


G-CBAZ Rans S6 ES Coyote c/n PFA 204-13596 was built in 2001 was originally owned in Lancashire then Yorkshire before arriving in Devon in late 2009.


G-BZAK X'Air with c/n BMAA/HB/114 was built in 2000 and arrived in Devon in 2009 after many years in the Bedford area.

G-SPDY X'Air Hawk c/n PFA 340-14678 was built in 2007 - this design appears to have a very short engine cowling ( Jabiru 2200A ) making it look almost like a beak ! Currently there are just 15 examples of this aircraft registered in the UK


External Link to a flight test review of the X'Air Hawk




G-MTNU Thruster TST MK1 c/n 897-TST-035 is an old microlight design but looking in excellent condition - this aircraft was built in 1987 and there are approx 70 examples still on the UK register.




Dunkeswell has many small lockup hangers and aircraft outside on this lovely April day included

G-BFEH SAN Jodel D117A c/n 828 - this aircraft is now 52 years old and was built in 1958 at the SAN factory at Bernay - St Martin in Normandy as F-BITG before being registered in the UK in October 1977.

G-CGHS DG-808C Competition a fantastic sleek modern German built glider with an 18 metre span. This example is almost brand new and was registered in November 2009 with c/n 8-413B312X73. It has a pop up Solo enginefor self launching and a solar panel just behind the canopy to trickle charge the electronics - a very impressive machine.



Dunkeswell is also an active sky diving centre and currently based for parachute jumping is all white 1997 vintage Cessan 208B Caravan N208AD c/n 208B0637


This Caravan became N208AD in late 2009 over in Costa Rica - it had served there with local regional carrier Sansa as TI-AZU


Photo Link to image of this same aircraft as TI-AZU


Steve

Old Sarum - 18th March 2010

Old Sarum airfield is just to the north of the cathedral city of Salisbury in Wiltshire. This is a very old airfield dating from 1917 and some examples of the pre WW2 hangers are still in use today.

I logged over 40 aircraft during my visit including,



G-AZTV a rare example of a Stolp SA 500 Starlet - this home built aircraft was registered back in May 1972 and by the end of 2008 had flown just 348 hours. I don't think I've seen this aircraft before. It is currently the only example registered with the UK CAA.




G-WSSX Ikarus C42 inside one of the old hangers - just look at the roof construction. This example was built in 2006 and first registered in October 2006 - in comparision to the above Starlet this aircraft had flown over 600 hours by December 2008. I logged 7 examples of the C42 at Old Sarum today.



G-CPXC a beautiful Cap 10C c/n 301 - this acrobatic aircraft looks great in its white and red colour scheme. It was first registered in December 2001.



G-CFSB Tecnam P2002 Sierra RG - this Italian designed retractable gear aircraft is virtually brand new having first flown on 19th Dec 2009 at Hinton in the Hedges - it was built from a factory supplied kit and has c/n LAA 333A-14864 - it is shown here in the CFM hanger.

The UK CAA register currently shows 18 examples of the P2002 Sierra registered in the UK as at March 2010 - of these 2 are factory built, the other 16 being factory supplied kit built aircraft - G-CFSB shown above is just 1 of 2 retractable gear ( RG ) versions in the UK.

More info on the Tecnam P2002 Sierra can be found below

http://www.tecnam.co.uk/p2002_sierra.html



The airfield has an excellent cafe open to the public so enjoy your visit.


For more information about Old Sarum airfield visit their comprehensive website - lots of historical info on there too.


http://oldsarumairfield.co.uk/

Popham - 7th and 9th May 2008

Popham airfield is located next to the A303 a few miles south of Basingstoke. With its cafe it makes a good place to take a break and provides good views of the many aircraft.

Arriving in Feb 2008 was former RAF Jet Provest T5 XW311. This aircraft was built in 1970 and served for many years with 6 FTS at RAF Finningley near Doncaster coded as "W".


After being withdrawn from service it went on to RAF Cosford to act as a ground and technical trainer for 1 SOTT with the maintenance serial of 9180M. Local code "MF" was applied here - the aircraft also wears a DCAE Cosford badge on the intake. I understand it is here temporarily and is en route to a car dealer in Hampshire

Parked around the back at Popham was wingless Auster J1N Alpha G-AGXN


This aircraft was built in 1946 and had flown over 3,770 hours by the end of 2004 - let's hope it's back in the skies soon.


I stopped at Popham again two days later on the 9th May 2008 and found the following aircraft parked by the visitors ramp ( next to the cafe area ).



G-JFLO Aerospool Dynamic WT9 is an attractive modern Slovak design. This example was built in 2007 and is powered by the Rotax 912UL.


Representing an altogether older design is G-AYKT a SAN Jodel D117. This aircraft was built in 1957 and imported into the UK in 1970 and has flown over 2,600 hours by the end of 2006.


Two classic biplanes together - G-ADKM is an example of the pre WW2 De Havilland DH 87B Hornet Moth an elegant enclosed touring aircraft. G-ADKM was built in 1935 and was impressed into service with the RAF as W5751 during World War 2. In the background is Antonov 2 HA-MKF - this aircraft was built at the PZL Mielec factory in Poland in 1985.

Popham is home to at least 6 examples of the Comco Ikarus C42 ultralight aircraft designed in Germany. This example G-CDRO was built in 2005 is used for basic flight training and is kept very busy - other based here include G-CDMS, G-CDVI, G-CDHR and G-CCYR.



Arriving just before I departed was DHC 1 Chipmunk 22 G-BDDD - this aircraft is operated by the RAE Aero Club based at Farnborough and wears the normal RAE "Raspberry Ripple" type colour scheme. This example was built in 1951 and served with the RAF as WD387 as a basic flight trainer for many years until being sold to the civil marked in 1975. By the end of 2006 this aircraft had flown over 11,000 flight hours.