| 6 October - VAC flyin to Sackville Farm |
| Determined to get into the air and always
please to attend the VAC flyin at Sackville Farm we headed off to the
airfield in good spirits but rather murky conditions. We arrived at
the airfield with fingers crossed and got the plane ready. On climb
out we realised the visibility was going to make the flight difficult but
not impossible. Heading North and passing Newbury we looked for
Didcot Power Station our usual landmark. Frequently this is visible
for many tens of miles but today we were quite close before it appeared in
the murk. Continuing North we passed abeam Oakley but the next part of the
journey to overhead Buckingham produced the worst visibility. At
Buckingham we changed
heading and travelled in an Easterly direction as visibility slowly
improved. Passing overhead Olney it was reassuring to see the church
and the meandering river that crossed our track in several places, giving
good navigation confidence. Podington soon came into view,
fortunately in the right place allowing us to head directly towards
Sackville Farm. The very sad looking airfield at Bedford gave us
final positioning to locate Sackville. As we descended through the
overhead Jan in her excitement to take a good picture lost the battery
from her camera which ended up on the floor out of reach, so no good
overhead pictures - sorry. |
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| On landing parked next to John Steiner and his
Cessna 140 and were swiftly joined by one of the owners of the Cessna 180
G-BTSM. It is not often you see three good examples of the Cessna
family together. |
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| We then walked towards the clubhouse and
impressed to see Richard Webber in his Chryslea Skyjeep G-AKVR.
Richard is based at Eggesford and to have flown that distance in the
conditions would have been incredible. It tuned out he had flown
into Enstone the day before and camped overnight and travelled on to
Sackville this morning. |
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| Planes from all directions were now coming in
fast, the weather improving by the minute. We headed for the
clubhouse to sign in and enjoy a welcome coffee. Soon we were
invited to partake of the excellent BBQ always a good one at
Sackville. |
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This gave us plenty of time to chat and exchange stories
and helping walking the food off by reviewing all the parked planes,
before some started to head for home. |
| One very interesting plane built and owned by
Barbara Schlussler an Evans VP-1 Series 2 G-BGLF was one of the early
leavers |
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| Cathie and Veronica set off later |
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| The two Tigers G-ANFM and G-AYPJ often meet at
airfields |
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| We understand nearly forty planes had attended
this enjoyable event. Sadly we also had to head for home, better
visibility, and very calm. A great day and always a bonus this late
in the year. |
