Elblag - Poland 9.8.08

This was my first visit to Elblag airfield - Elblag is situated in the North East of Poland not far from the Baltic coast.

I arrived at 08.00 and was very lucky to find one person just opening up the main hanger - no problem with spotting once I'd introduced myself.



Outside the the hanger in excellent condition was An-2 SP-KBA - this aircraft is c/n 1G185-02 and was built in 1979.

The hanger itself contained 10 gliders and 13 aircraft including,



Two seat trainer SP-3523 a SZD 50-3 Puchacz built in 1989 and suspended from the ceiling to save hangar floor space.




SP-YBU is a Zenair CH 601 Zodiac first registered in 2004 - the "SP-Y....." registration block is used for "Special" aircraft mainly home & kit built aircraft and older aircraft without full type certificates.



SP-YUO is an example of the Polish built ultralight EOL-2 designed by Adam Kurbiel and built at Bielsko-Biala. This example has c/n EK-04-05 and was built in 1995 - it first flew as SP-PUO in 1995 ( the "SP-P...." series being used for prototypes / modified test aircraft etc ) before becoming SP-FUO in 1996. It was then re-registered to the newly introduce "SP-Y..........Special" category in 2003. Following the death of Mr Kurbiel in 2000 the design was accquired by a new company called 3xTrim in Poland and also to Remos in Germany.



Parked among the tall grass behind the hanger was An-2 SP-FDZ, the registration appears under the wing. This aircraft was previously used for "Loty Widokowe - Scene Flights" and is c/n 1G74-43, built back in 1967 and delivered to the Polish Air Force as "7443" - it became SP-FDZ in 1999.

Two other An-2 were on the far side of the airfield, SP-FDW painted yellow and SP-FMH painted red/white.

Two foreign registered aircraft were in the hangar here - D-EEUM TB-10 Tobago and F-JKDX Kappa KP-2U Sova.

Henstridge - Compton Abbas - Kingston Deverill - Wed 6.2.08

Wednesday 6th February 2008 was bright and sunny so I headed out to some of my local airfields.

Henstridge

First time I've been here for almost 5 years ! Thankfuly the cafe is still there and open. From here you get a very good view of the tarmac runway. Over on the farside were several new to me blue metal hangers with a couple more still being built.

New for me here was the Christen Eagle II G-NUTA


The owner of this aircraft was very happy to chat about his Eagle. He bought it from a Germany owner although the aircraft was based at the Vendee Air Park in France. G-NUTA was registered in the UK on 15.8.06 and was previously D-ECCA being built from kit in 1991.

Two Vans RV-9 aircraft departed whislt I was having a coffee - G-CCGU and G-RUVY, both taxied out from the new hanger area.

Compton Abbas

This lovely airfield is up on top of a hill, approx 10 miles East of Henstridge. I reckon it is one of the most scenic airfields in the UK - add in a good cafe and a large viewing area too it is an excellent place to visit, not that it was busy during my quick stop ! The grass strip looks a little bumpy in comparison with the tarmac at Henstridge.

The only activity was G-WARZ a based Pa-28-161 Warrior doing circuits and bumps. This aircraft was built in 1997. The photo below shows plenty of mud by the gear and underwing.

Kingston Deverill - The Park

Next stop was the gliding airfield at Kingston Deverill home of the Bath, Wilts and North Dorset GC. This strip in on top of large hill just north of Mere. Luckily there was some mid week activity - outside was the beautiful Glasflugel Libelle 201B G-DCLP wearing competition number "948".



This Libelle was built in 1971 and is the former BGA 1630 and took up its new G registration on 1.10.07.

The local club uses Piper Pa-25-235 Pawnee G-BUXY for air tows - this has a 4 bladed propellor to give it some more towing power.



This Pawnee as built back in 1963 and was imported from Canada before becoming G-BUXY on 18.3.93 - 45 years old.

There is one large hanger here and among the gliders present was SZD 50-3 Puchacz G-CKAN.



This Polish built glider was built in 1997 as c/n B-2106. It was originally delivered to the Netherlands as PH-1104 but sufferred a major accident in the summer of 1997. After a rebuild in Poland it arrived in the UK as BGA 4938 in 2001. It became G-CKAN on 26.11.07. Another Puchacz was in the hanger too - "FUY" BGA 3546.