Author Archives: Rob

Photographing Ferries – Is It the Pandemic Again??

During the pandemic, I did spend a bit of time checking out the various ferry services in Washington. Now I am back in the UK and taking a trip to the Isle of Wight, I did get some sunny conditions on one of the Wightlink ferries, Victoria of Wight. We took this ferry across to the Island but came back on a different boat. We were on an earlier ferry than planned so this would have been our ride if we had stuck to our schedule. Anyway, some nice sun on this ferry as it made its regular crossing from Portsmouth to Fishbourne.

A Visiting Spit While We Wait

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During the Buccaneer event that I went to at Kemble, we spent some time in an enclosure out near the taxiway. This would be good for the first part of the event, but I was out there quite a while before things were due to kick off. While hanging around, the purr of a Rolls Royce Merlin came to my ears and, downwind there was a Spitfire. It flew a nice curving approach and touched down before taxiing in quite close to where I was standing. It was a two-seat example and presumably had come to provide rides for some enthusiasts. I didn’t see it head back out, so I don’t know whether it was a brief visit or whether it did some rides and then left. Interesting markings on it, though.

The New Forest Will Need to be a Regular Feature

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A sunny Saturday afternoon and we had some time with my mum and headed down to the New Forest for a stroll. I had thought that it would be very busy down there given that it was a lovely weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised just how quiet it was once we got there. It wasn’t a long walk – just a nice wander through the woods and over some of the open grounds. It was a super place to be, and you can see why old monarchs will have liked to keep it for hunting grounds although I understand it was not good agricultural land and was better for common grazing.

Here are a few shots from our stroll across the countryside. It is about half an hour from our home and so I think we shall be making more trips down there in the coming months. The selection of good pubs for lunch is certainly not going to hurt that idea!

A Hot Air Balloon Near My Evening Stroll

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One evening while wandering through the fields near our house, I saw a hot air balloon in the distance. When we lived in Woodinville, the balloons were a regular feature of the summer months. Morning and evening flights were common. I didn’t know that flights around Winchester were a thing and, given the proximity to Southampton Airport, I thought it might not be practical but apparently, I was wrong. I was hoping that they would continue to drift in my direction, and I would get a closer look. Then I noticed that they were dropping out of sight quite quickly, so I headed through a tree line to see them drop behind some trees off in the distance. The vent on the top of the balloon briefly opened as they touched down but then closed up almost as quickly. I guess they weren’t in a rush to rapidly deflate. I wonder whether I shall catch any more flights in the future.

Putting All of Your Stuff in Someone Else’s Hands

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The process of getting yourself from one part of the world to another is not terribly complex. Get a plane ticket, pack some bags and off you go. However, airlines are quite fussy about how much you take with you on a plane and don’t want to include all of your possessions in your luggage allowance. To fully move 5,000 miles and across an ocean, you need an alternative. That means loading all of your stuff up in a shipping container, sending it across the ocean and hoping it doesn’t drop off a ship on the way. The first step is having the shipping company come and pack everything up. Our street was not suitable for bringing in a 40’ ISO container so they loaded a couple of trucks up to take everything to their site for transfer to the container.

The smaller trucks came on the first day when the crew showed up with the packing material to get everything packed up ready to go. The second day was the loading and packing any remaining items. The bigger trucks were needed for the loading. They were really efficient about packing the items into the truck to minimise space used. Quite a game of Tetris, I imagine. Then the doors get closed, and a truck drives off with almost all of your belongings in it. Fingers crossed you see it all again!

Bournemouth Aviation Museum

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I posted some shots of the Chichester Miles Leopard in another post and some of the Vulcan cockpit – both exhibits at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. I haven’t shared some more general shots of the museum, though. I stopped over there late one afternoon. They weren’t due to be open for too much longer, but I did have some time to wander around. Being the end of the day meant it was quiet, so I was able to have a bit of freedom taking shots of the planes on display.

There is an interesting mix of types on show will military and civilian types to see. Some are full aircraft while others are fuselage sections that have been saved when the whole plane was being disposed of. The cockpits of many were accessible. Planes like the Jaguar have a soft spot for me so I liked taking a look at them. Others were less of interest but still worth a peak. I did like seeing a Cri-Cri – the world’s smallest twin (at least when it came out in the 80s).

Some of the types have a connection to the flight testing that this part of the country is associated with. Bournemouth is not far from Boscombe Down which has been the centre of UK military flight test for many decades. The BAC 1-11 is an ex-Boscombe asset. Others are just interesting types. If you are in the area and like planes, do swing by. Don’t make a significant detour specifically for it but do check it out if nearby.

A Few Trains in York

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Work took me to York for the day. York is one of the parts of the UK rail network that was absolutely instrumental in the development of the nation’s railways, and it is still a major intersection. Trains between London and Scotland come through but it also has services across the Pennines to the west and to many local destinations.

After my meetings had finished, I headed back to catch my train to London. I was a little early for it so walked around the station to see what else was there. The Hitachi trains are now a big part of service with the LNER Azumas, the Lumo services and some Transpennine Express services. Then there are other types to be seen too. A lot has changed since I was last working in the industry in the UK, so it was interesting for me to see what is now in use and what is still around!

KC-10s Are Consigned to History

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The retirement of the KC-10 Extender by the USAF caught a lot of attention when it happened. I was intending to write something then but got distracted by other things. I won’t put much together to be honest. Our team at Global Aviation Resource made a better effort of that so check that out if you are interested. Instead, I am just going to post some of my favourite images of the Gucci tanker. Strange to think it has gone given how effective it can be.

Bembridge Windmill

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Sunday morning in Bembridge and the sun was out so, after a stop at a great local café – great job Lagom – it was time to stretch the legs (and try and offset that rather large toasted sandwich I had for breakfast). We wandered up to the windmill. It is owned by the National Trust, and we are members so we could have gone inside. They had only just opened for the season, but it was a possibility. However, we were more interested in the walk, so we didn’t go in.

That didn’t mean we didn’t have a look around outside. The evening before, as we had been driving out to dinner, the evening sun had been on the front of the windmill, and it would have made a lovely shot. I missed that opportunity, sadly. Even so, the morning light wasn’t a bad second best and the only remaining windmill on the Island looked very nice. It is only a few years since they replaced the sweeps (which is the right term for the sails apparently) so it is good that they are investing in keeping this icon of the village going.

Buccaneer Event at Kemble

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The Buccaneer Aviation Group has charge of a couple of retired Blackburn Buccaneers that it looks after at Cotswold Airport at Kemble in Gloucestershire. They held an open day in April that included some taxiing of one of the jets and I decided this would be a good way to spend a spring Saturday. They were going to start up the jet, taxi it around on the ramp, run through a sequence of tests on the airframe and then go out to the runway for a fast run before returning to the ramp to shut down.

There would then be a break while they repositioned everything to their ramp where everyone would be able to spend some time up close with the planes and get pictures as required. The jet that was going to be taxied was one of the last Buccaneers built and is painted up in retro Royal Navy colours as worn by 809 Sqn jets when serving on Ark Royal before the carrier was retired. I don’t think this jet actually had any RN pedigree but that isn’t a big deal.

The second jet that they have is in the process of being prepped for painting in the standard RAF camouflage. Currently it is stripped back ready for paint, and I have to admit I found it rather cool looking with the random patterns that are visible. This will show in another post. The two jets were lined up together in front of the hangar to allow everyone to get their photos.

I was one of the first cars allowed through the gate to the second part of the day which meant I was able to get some images before everyone else showed up and it started getting busy. However, they did have a good level of organisation to it all so, after giving everyone some time to get up close, they pulled everyone back a bit to leave it unobscured for photos. I did notice some steps off to one side of the ramp and asked I they might be moved in to get a higher angle on things, fully assuming that wouldn’t be possible. I was wrong. They were more than happy to bring them in which made for a better angle on the shots.

The day had started out with some damp and windy conditions. It did rain a bit during the taxi section of the day. This was quite handy in that it made the grey paint look like it would on a carrier at sea, i.e. wet! It also showed up the blowing of the wing when they carried that out and resulted in a cool vortex in the inlet being visible. As the day progressed, the weather got a lot better. It was quite sunny by the time we were on the ramp with the jets.

The team were in no hurry to kick us out and, as the afternoon wore on, the number of people thinned out and the light got nicer. I hung around with a guy called Matt that I had met, and we were able to pass the time talking about planes, cameras and places. Finally, we were the only ones around and the crew started putting the jets away. The steps were still out so I was able to get a high angle as they pulled a jet beneath me. It was a tight fit, but it all worked out well. A top day out and many thanks to the tea baggers at TBAG.