At 09:00 on Sunday 25 May 2014, the gates at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground/Aerodrome opened to the public for the first of two open days in 2014 of the Cold War Jets Museum. The weather was near perfect and although a light shower was forecast it never materialised throughout the day. With an ever increasing number of aircraft in or being returned to running condition, this unique museum has become the jet equivalent of Duxford, albeit none of the aircraft are airworthy. But that does not detract from its popularity.
Visiting Aircraft
During the morning several visiting aircraft arrived, which included amongst others an L-4 Cub and an Auster, a Fox Month and a couple of ex-military aircraft, a UK registered SIAI-Marchetti SF-260 in Italian Air Force colours and a German registered Piaggio P-160.
In addition over a dozen other light aircraft arrived.
Also arriving at the western end of the airfield were a brace of Gazelle helicopters.
They remained anonymous till they departed, when they flew along the length of the runway at low level before making an abrupt 180 turn to depart.
A visitor seen before at these open days was a Jet Provost T4, arriving from North Weald, which was followed by a Jet Proost T5 in little while later. Both aircraft performed flypasts before landing and after taking off at the end of the day.
The Performers
Most of the aircraft performing fast taxi runs have been seen before, but there was one notably return to the running fold, Buccaneer XX900, which had been "laid up" for a few years following a problem. Although not painted yet, it was back to full running order thanks to its new owners, Denis and Lee Parker. The other aircraft that made its debut was Vickers VC-10 ZD241, which in the hands of Andy "Tonks" Townshend, closed the show and unfortunately, as it taxied back to the head of the runway, suffered a tyre deflation due to a brake unit binding slightly causing it to get a bit hotter than the others. Fortunately the problem is rectifiable without difficulty.
Follow are a few images of the running aircraft.
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| Canberra starting up |
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| Nimrod MR2 spools up its Speys |
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| Victor K2 at full power.....no flight this time though! |
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| VC10 ZD241 returns after its blast down the runway |
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| L-29 Delfin returns from its noisy run |
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| Jet Provost T3 accompanied the Delfin on its run |
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| One gorgeous looking Buccaneer, wings folded and airbrake open being shown off |
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| A welcome return of Buccaneer XX900, with electrical and hydraulic problems sorted |
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| Lightning XR728 being "flown" by John Ward |
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Unfortunately Geoffrey Poole's Hunter T7 developed a problem with the Avpin starter unit and didn't run.
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| Mid-afternoon BBMF Spitfire XIX PM631, resplendent in D-Day stripes, made a few low level passes in the hands of BBMF boss Duncan Mason |
On the side-lines
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| Pat Fitzgerald's baby Tristar C1 ZE705 on display. Its future and the other four Tristars is rumoured to be as air tankers fighting forest fires in the US after conversion |
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This Sea Vixen has had a few problems, but should be joining the "runners" in the not too distant future. Just imagine a Sea Vixen and Buccaneer in Royal Navy colours running together. The latter is already a runner, but had brake problem this time around and since stopping is rather important after a high speed taxi she remained on the "flightline". A raspberry-ripple Tornade GR1 is being rebuilt to running condition by a team from RAF Marham, so watch this space.
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Ever since the first open days in the nineties these events have grown in popularity and every years sees increases in crowd numbers, which is not surprising when the number and variety of aircraft have increased. More will be added as time goes bye, a Hunter GA11 is not far off and there is a German F-104G Starfighter, that needs work and an engine.
The next scheduled event at Bruntingthorpe are:
July 27, 2014 Lighting Preservation Group - Double Q-Shed Scramble, ticket via the website: http://www.lightnings.org.uk/
August 24, 2014 Cold War Jets Museum Open Day 2
website: http://www.bruntingthorpeaviation.com/open-days/
30 May 2014
Theo Claassen
