Pic of the day

Wanderer

Wanderer

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4,130
Silvercat said:
I used to work at the factory ( Warton, Preston) where they used to build these amazing machines, for 16 years. They have one of the first Lightning's as a 'gate guardian' on site. Lots of aviation history. Now build the Eurofighter Typhoon. I used to manage a procurement team who bought all of the Avionic systems for the Eurofighter aircraft- a fascinating job.)
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Amazeballs.....
 
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Manc5

Junior Member
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54
Silvercat said:
The Avro Lancaster for me given that I worked at the factory (Woodford, Stockport) for 15 years where they used to make these fantastic machines back in the day and then the Vulcan Bomber in the 1950'-60's. Sadly like so much of our aviation history the place has been turned in to a housing estate now and not a trace left of the old hangars.
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I live in Woodford just up the road from the old entrance, it is a shame. only the Avro Museum left.. replaced with mock arts and crafts cookie cutter houses now... I used to love seeing some of the kit that landed there, the huge Antonov back in '99 was my favourite.. sadly the only thing landing there now is middle managers in BMW 5 series and one chap in a bright yellow Urus... which looks awful.

A year or two back we had a Lancaster circling overhead for some celebration at the Avro museum and that was truly breathtaking, was flying quite low and banking ..
 
Silvercat

Silvercat

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813
Manc5 said:
I live in Woodford just up the road from the old entrance, it is a shame. only the Avro Museum left.. replaced with mock arts and crafts cookie cutter houses now... I used to love seeing some of the kit that landed there, the huge Antonov back in '99 was my favourite.. sadly the only thing landing there now is middle managers in BMW 5 series and one chap in a bright yellow Urus... which looks awful.

A year or two back we had a Lancaster circling overhead for some celebration at the Avro museum and that was truly breathtaking, was flying quite low and banking ..
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Did you ever go to any of the Woodford Airshows? They were a fantastic day out. Had a family day there once in the 1990's and the Avro Lancaster made a special appearance. I stood literally 10ft from it on the old perry track. An incredible day I will never forget. Wonder what happened to the old 'Club House' (farm) next to the Avro 504 hangar on the Southside of the site? I remember spending many an evening quafing beer and whisky down the club house surrounded by some amazing aviation history. Happy days...
 
BennyD

BennyD

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I went to the Woodford air show many times during my formative years and Roger Nichols, a squadron mate of mine, flew the BBMF Lanc for several years including when the Canadian Lanc came over to pair up. I’ve been in said Lanc several times over the years but, sadly, never when airborne. The late lamented Thomas Cook used the sim on the far side of the runway for many years and I’ve ripped up the runway in the Maser several times as well. I have a long history with Woodford and I really don’t want to go back and see what it has become since was last there.
 
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Manc5

Junior Member
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54
Yeah, i attended a few airshows there and at Barton from around '77 onwards.. they were great, some really good kit showed up !. Later my wife worked at BAE back in 99 so i got to have a look at the Antanov from about 30 feet away.. stunning. The Avro Golf club is still there down on old hall lane, a few hangers remain some are derelict and some have small businesses in them. All else that is left now is the runway and the Avro Heritage Museum .. which has a Vulcan next to it and that still looks loud even stood still.
Can still remember one doing a low pass over the Barton Airshow in the early 80's on a rainy day, it flew low over the runway then opened the taps lit up it's burners and climbed straight up into the clouds.. every car and house alarm went off around the airstrip !
We saw a few Vulcans over the years and a few of the Nimrods, ah happy days !
 
Wanderer

Wanderer

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4,130
Manc5 said:
Yeah, i attended a few airshows there and at Barton from around '77 onwards.. they were great, some really good kit showed up !. Later my wife worked at BAE back in 99 so i got to have a look at the Antanov from about 30 feet away.. stunning. The Avro Golf club is still there down on old hall lane, a few hangers remain some are derelict and some have small businesses in them. All else that is left now is the runway and the Avro Heritage Museum .. which has a Vulcan next to it and that still looks loud even stood still.
Can still remember one doing a low pass over the Barton Airshow in the early 80's on a rainy day, it flew low over the runway then opened the taps lit up it's burners and climbed straight up into the clouds.. every car and house alarm went off around the airstrip !
We saw a few Vulcans over the years and a few of the Nimrods, ah happy days !
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Which Antanov? The single huge one or it's smaller brother? Ant 225 I think, Mriya?

Used to carry Buran, the Soviet Space Shuttle which looked as alike to the US one as did the Tupolev Tu-144 to Concorde....
 
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Manc5

Junior Member
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54
BennyD said:
I went to the Woodford air show many times during my formative years and Roger Nichols, a squadron mate of mine, flew the BBMF Lanc for several years including when the Canadian Lanc came over to pair up. I’ve been in said Lanc several times over the years but, sadly, never when airborne. The late lamented Thomas Cook used the sim on the far side of the runway for many years and I’ve ripped up the runway in the Maser several times as well. I have a long history with Woodford and I really don’t want to go back and see what it has become since was last there.
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Nope. it looks awful now.... i mean BAE was not pretty but it meant something... newbuilds instead nah...
 
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Manc5

Junior Member
Messages
54
Wanderer said:
Which Antanov? The single huge one or it's smaller brother? Ant 225 I think, Miriya?
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It was the AN124 delivering parts at the time.. my wife rang me at work to tell me it was coming.. i hot footed it to see it land, got there about 5 mins before it arrived.. what a beast.
 
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Scaf

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2,122
mjheathcote said:
Trying to find a rust free one in the UK is difficult, and when they do turn up they sell for silly money.
There appears to be plenty in Italy though if you go on autoscout, don't mind LHD, and can handle the export/import.
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I have seen one in the Amalfi coast being used as a tractor, watching it cling to hillside was something else.
 
safrane

safrane

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13,054
For ballance... and in case the GF ever comes this way.

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