| 27 May 2005 Biannual successfully completed and then a super flight to
Wellesbourne Mountford |
| Initially we flew to Popham landing on Runway
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Martin flew for an hour with an instructor to complete his
biannual. He demonstrated how he would land in a field in an emergency and
generally persuaded the instructor he was a competent pilot. Once this
flight was completed
successfully we celebrated with lunch. Our good friend Paul had arrived to
observe the flight and we all decided then to fly to Wellesbourne Mountford.
Martin and I had not visited that airfield before, so were keen to do so.
The temperature was rising but visibility still
very good as we took off on Runway 21 from Popham. The wind direction had
changed since we arrived. We flew up and over Newbury and leaving the
Didcot Power Station to our left. Smoke billowing from the six towers
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We passed Oxford and Silverstone, home of Formula One motor
racing. Then Turweston airfield and passed Banbury.
We saw Gaydon airfield, home of the
Heritage Motor Centre, what a massive airfield that used to be. Very sad.
We landed on Runway 18 at Wellesbourne Mountford and taxied around to the
Control Tower
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| Gosh it was still very warm, so a refreshing drink was
ordered while we waited to Paul to land in his Bulldog |
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We strolled around the airfield
viewing many interesting aeroplanes and what appeared to be bespoke home made
hangers. We all decided the Avro Vulcan was the most exciting. It
apparently can have it's engines started and can be taxied around the
airfield. Sadly not that day. It was such a lovely evening.
The Tower closed at 17:30, so when we
were ready to take off we alerted any possible Wellesbourne Mountford traffic on
the radio of our intentions. Watching and listening carefully for other
traffic we taxied to the threshold of Runway 18 and then took off. Just
South of Banbury we went passed the ex US Airforce base at Upper Heyford.
This once famous airfield is totally covered in unsold new Rover cars
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The homeward flight was very smooth
and visibility good until we got to Didcot when we saw some mist developing in
the valleys. We looked around for signs of smoke to give us some idea of wind
direction and speed before we circled the airfield to check the runway was clear
and available for us to land safely.
Both planes were washed, coffee and
stories of the day shared before we drove home very weary, but delighted to have
had such a wonderful day. We drove home and just as we left the A31
we saw a huge orange sun just setting.
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