Day 2 saw a very wet morning and very hazy light. I even had to buy a coat as the weather was less than pleasant.
No blurb this time but hopefully some higher quality photos.
As always thank you for reading
x
Till next time
Neil 😉
Well that’s my September treat past and sadly there will be no more airshows at this historic airfield. Air Officer Scotland, Air Commodore Gerry Mayhew, who is the Leuchars Station Commander, took the time to come and meet us to tell us personally what the future would (or would not) hold for the airshow. He also confirmed that although 1 and 6 Squadron were moving to Lossie, the air show would not be as the local infrastructure and the A9 could not handle the influx of visitors.
It was genuinely appreciated by us all that he took the time to come and see us and, in my opinion, he is a real gentleman. Nothing was too much trouble and he fielded awkward questions well and without hesitation.
Anyway, to the show. Friday was not blessed by photographic friendly light so some of my pictures are disappointing. We knew what was happening as we were given a timetable of aircraft expected landing times.
The Catalina, BBMF and a few others were already on site but there were regular aircraft arrivals as you will see in my photos. As always our RAF hosts looked after us as if we were VIP’s.
Anway enjoy some of the day 1 photos, too many highlights to mention but a number of firsts for me. Danish F16’s, T28 Fennec and the awesome Voyager which is based on the Airbus A330 and is the largest aircraft ever in the Royal Air Force.
There are lots more which I will pop on my Flickr page but hope you like these.
As always thanks for reading and part 2 will be posted shortly.
Best wishes
Neil 😉
Hello
Less than a week to go until the start of the Leuchars Air Show, it’s amazing how time flies and I realise I have hardly taken any photographs, but the ones I have taken are in this post.
The dreich weather has meant all sorts of unexpected visitors and a record month for Kirkwall Airport with over 19000 passengers through KOI in July.
Anyway the first picture is a new aircraft in my library, I had never seen a Voyager before and it was worth the wait.
And the inside
At the same time a BE200 was diverted prior to leaving for Iceland
We rarely see the Royal Air Force at KOI anymore but we have had a couple of aircraft from other Air Forces. First a Twin Otter from France
And a Citation from the Swiss Air Force
Finally a couple of different helicopters, a nearly new S92 and an S76
I was very sad when I heard the news regarding the recent accident in Sumburgh. My sincere condolences go out to the families who lost a loved one.
Finally, to Leuchars, where the entries listed look like making a tremendous event. If you have not seen the link click here www.airshow.co.uk .
There will be a number of first for me and I am looking forward to taking my usual ridiculous number of photos in the hope that one or two are special.
As always I will post them up when I return so, as always, thanks for taking the time to read.
All the best
Neil 😉
I got the chance to take a few pics at Frankfurt Airport between flights. I won’t write a story but Frankfurt is a seriously busy airport and had the most expensive mineral water I have ever seen. 5l in Portugal was about a pound, 0.75l in Frankfurt was 8 Euros 30, Eight quid!
Anyway enjoy the pics:
Did you notice the state of the Air China Airbus? Pretty grim.
Anyway, as always, thanks for reading.
All the best
Neil 😉
Hello
Just have time to post up a few pics before I head off on my holidays at the end of the week. We had a visit from ZE396 which is a very pretty HS125 from 32 Sqn.
Dropped off a few VIP’s for a few hours and thanks to the very helpful crew I got a few pictures for the scrap book.
Lovely lines for a thirty something year old aircraft. And the inside:
That would do me fine, but as I haven’t won the lottery yet, it will be Lufthansa next weekend. We also had a visit from the first of the Bristow S92’s which have taken over the Coastguard contract.
No doubt we will be seeing a lot more of these, this was quickly followed by a Citation from Air Charter Scotland:
And finally a couple of military pics. First of all ZH873, an extremely quiet Hercules and an unidentified Tornado which made a lot of noise. Although I did not get a good view of the aircraft, I am well chuffed that I seem to have sussed framing fast jsts and getting them in focus. 11 weeks till Leuchars so time will tell.
So that’s it for just now, as always, thanks for taking the time to visit and read. Very much appreciated.
All the best
Neil 😉
Unusual for me to post twice in the same day but due to the circumstances, very necessary. Tomorrow sees the retiral of Captain Stuart Linklater who is the senior pilot for the Loganair Inter Island Service.
The facts and figures are astonishing.
1.3 million miles
Up to 50,000 landings
10000 hours flying
25 years service, 20 as Senior pilot.
These achievements could not go past unnoticed and as he landed this morning a guard of honour was waiting for him.
Many members of staff, friends and public were waiting in the terminal building for his arrival. The new Senior pilot, Orcadian Dave Miller, said a few appropriate words followed by an impromptu speech by Stuart.
Refreshments had been arranged by Station Manager, Jackie Delaney which everyone tucked into after Stuart opened a number of gifts from the Staff at Kirkwall Airport.
The picture, taken in North Ronaldsay, was taken by Premysl Fojtu who works for the Inter Island service and the cake says it all.
Not forgetting the other member of the team, his wife Hilda who was presented with a gift of flowers.
So that’s it for Kirkwall but Stuart is not the type of person to take things easy in retirement, therefore, 3 days after retirement, he will be joining the rota to fly Twin Otters for Loganair between Glasgow and Barra.
On top of everything else Stuart is a genuine nice person and will be sadly missed at Kirkwall. I and everyone else wish him every success in his new role and we look forward to seeing him pass through the terminal.
As always thanks for taking the time to read.
All the best
Neil 😉
But at least we have a few new visitors when it’s sunny. WE had our first visit from Tango Bravo which was in doing pilot training. Pretty strange without windows but this aircraft is used for cargo.
G_ELUN was in for a short visit. IT is a Robin DR400 and in my opinion is one of the prettiest small aircraft to visit us.
And the inside!
G-FJET passed through for a short time. Cessna Citation Jets are a regular feature at Kirkwall now and Citations in their various guises seem to be the main choice for private operators.
Kirkwall also seems to be a popular choice for crew changes and we get regular visits from Jetstream 41’s, in this case G-MAJK operated by Eastern.
On Friday, I heard an S92 from the terminal and had a look through the windows to see which one it was. I saw the letters NHS written on the side and thought it was just a duel role helicopter for the National Health Service 🙂 In actual fact it was a norwegian helicopter in for refuel operated by Norsk Helikopter Service.
Shortly after I was aware that there were strange sounding engines buzzing about and went out to look. This pretty 1958 Piper Apache was doing a practice approach and popped in to say hello.
And the inside! Note the updated glass dash. Not bad for an old girl!
And finally we had a visit from another Citation, in this case, an Excel, which is here for a few days and you will see it parked at the end of the disused runway near the main road.
That’s it for just now, I will try and post regularly as and when something new comes into Kirkwall. I am in the process of setting up a new bulletin board which will allow visitors of this blog to upload their pictures. I am regularly asked for details of visitors and at http://orkneyaviation.createaforum.com hopefully we will build up a database of pictures and have a place for all enthusiasts to chat about all things Kirkwall and elsewhere. Hope to see you there.
As always, thanks for taking the time to visit
All the best
Neil 😉
Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the “Dambusters”, using a specially developed “bouncing bomb” invented and developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley, while the Sorpe dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric powerplants were destroyed and several more were damaged. Factories and mines were also either damaged or destroyed.
The Lancaster is/was one of the most graceful aircraft ever to fly and I thought I would add some of my pictures of PA474 in Phantom of the Ruhr Livery.
To all who gave so much, you will never be forgotten.
Thank you
Hello All
Tuesday 23rd April saw a first for me with a very kind invitation from RAF Lossiemouth to attend an enthusiasts day. As you know I have had an affinity with RAF Kinloss and had regular photographs of Nimrod MR2‘s as they did their regular low approaches at Kirkwall. I also have atteneded numerous events at Leuchars but for some reason I have not had the chance to visit RAF Lossie. What a loss it seems as the visit was excellent and we were treated like lords.
A couple of months ago, a notice came out asking for notifications of interest to attend this event. Applications were well in excess of the number of places available and we all went into a lottery to see who would get the invite. Lady Luck was smiling and although it was a hectic two days going there and back again, I have some (in my opinion) excellent photos and some nice memories.
RAF Lossiemouth is the home of 15, 12 and 617 Squadrons all operating the Tornado GR4 and 202 Squadron who operate Sea Kings in the SAR role. There is currently a large exercise taking place called Joint Warrior with aircraft and crew attending from many countries and is one of the largest military exercises held in peacetime.
When I look back at some of my photos, I realised that Lossie GR4’s are a familiar visitor to Orkney but they travel so fast I rarely get a decent picture. The other thing I noticed is Lossie is very spotter friendly with loads of places for the keen or not so keen spotter to watch the goings on and to enjoy the experience.
Anyway, here are the pictures, it may seem that there are duplications but I was trying out settings on my new camera and I have to say the change has been worthwhile. I will never be a professional but I am a happy snapper and proud of it.
So all in all, a very good day with excellent hosts which I am genuinely grateful for. The next time I am in Moray, I feel another visit is on the cards.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and, as always, thanks for taking the time to read.
All the best
Neil 😉
Hello
And apologies for not posting sooner. We have been very busy at the airport with cold weather which has resulted in a number of delays over the last while but the sun is peeping throuch the clouds and we have had a period of settled weather for a few weeks now.
So what has happened since I last updated the blog. One of our ex Security Agents, Gary Scott, at Kirkwall disappeared some time ago to Malaysia to utilise his CPL and I am delighted to let those that know him know he has been promoted to Captain. Excellent news and congratulations.
In March we had a short visit from an unusual aircraft operated by the Swiss Air Force. I always thought a Beech 1900 was a small uglyish aircraft. In the flesh it is much bigger and quite elegant.
One of the most common complaints at the airport over the years has been the space for car parking or the lack of. In the 11 years I have been there, the car park has increased in size by around 85 spaces. The good news is, a further 40 spaces have been added on the left as you come in the main entrance, which should be open to the public shortly.
Here are a couple of pics showing the changes:
Last week we had a couple of new aircraft in and a new airline for me. The first was G-EXAM, a Piper Arrow IV piloted by Captain Hugh Urquhart who I remember was the pilot on my first flight in a BAE 146. He is now based in Glasgow with Jet 2. G-OINV was once a flagship aircraft in the BA fleet and is now sitting cannibalised at Exeter Airport.
And here is the link to G-OINV, which as you will see, is looking very sorry for itself
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000468574L.html
Finally, last friday we had a visit from an Air Iceland F50 with a group of people who were here for a meeting on friday night reurning saturday.
Since my last post, I have upgraded my camera from my trusty Leica to a Pentax K-R which I hope will improve my standard of photography as I get used to it. You will see 2 small marks on the upper left of my last 2 photographs which is annoying as I cannot work out if they are on the sensor or the mirror but will get it sorted shortly.
I also received an invite from RAF Lossiemouth to attend an enthusiasts day on the 23rd April when Exercise Joint Warrior takes place so I hope to have a lot of photos on that day.
Anyway, as always, thanks for taking the time to read my notes.
All the very best
Neil
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