Doncaster 1979/1980

[richlear]

Hi all, I am new here and thought these may be of interest. They were all taken in 1979/1980 at Doncaster airport where I worked for a little while.


visiting Piper Aztec - visitors like these normally came in for St Ledger (horse race) days


Bell 47


Rockwell Commander fresh out of the paint shop


Maule - in for the race day I think. This airframe was destroyed by fire in 1988


DH 104 Dove


Stampe SV4C flown as an aerobatic show by Richard Goode. Came in for fuel


Foxtrot Echo was one of the club trainers. Owned by Pete Skinner I think.


Kilo Uniform flown over Doncaster by owner Sam Ward


The beautiful Falco F8L. Owner Mike Shield is in the left seat, I am in the right.







Remains of the Falco and other airframes after a hangar fire.



ST10 Diplomate owner by meg & Dave Orriss

More to follow

cheers

rich

[JAWS]

Nice bit of nostalgia there Rich. Shame about the Falco , I can remember seeing that around and it was a good looking plane. Great to see G-OODE again , I have cleaned so much mud and Cow S**t of the bottom of those wings when it used to fly into Rushett Farm where I used to work as a kid , great times. I must try and find all my pic's from those days and scan them. By the way I think you'll find that G-ARLD is actually a Helio Courier and not a Maule , the farmer at Rushett Farm used to have one and I got to fly in that a few times. Thanks for posting Rich.

[JAWS]

Nice bit of nostalgia there Rich. Shame about the Falco , I can remember seeing that around and it was a good looking plane. Great to see G-OODE again , I have cleaned so much mud and Cow S**t of the bottom of those wings when it used to fly into Rushett Farm where I used to work as a kid , great times. I must try and find all my pic's from those days and scan them. By the way I think you'll find that G-ARLD is actually a Helio Courier and not a Maule , the farmer at Rushett Farm used to have one and I got to fly in that a few times. Thanks for posting Rich.

[The Cameraman]

Hi RichLear,

I reckon the Rockwell Commander looks more like a Ted Smith Aerostar to me.

Regards

Reggie

[richlear]

Cameraman - you are right - it is an Aerostar - and Jaws - I also think you are correct about the Helio - I googled G-ARLD and got "Helio H-395 Super Courier"

Cheers

rich

[richlear]

Some more shots from Doncaster

One more of the Falco


G-BCIM - one of the club Grumman Trainers. Rog Wills doing a trial flight.



This next few are of the Shield Xyla. The owner/builder, George Shield is swinging the prop, Dickie Adams flying.






The club GR7 Cougar



Auster


Cheers

rich

[Mike]

Some lovely memories there Rich,thanks for posting them.

[biglamp]

great to see......................!!

at least a small part of the field is kept for aviation !

[monkeytennis]

Some great nostalgia there, thanks very much for posting. Good to see the floodlights of Belle Vue and the young looking Poplar trees near the edge of the field,

Strange to think it's now houses, ASDA and a leisure centre!

[Lowfly11]

fifth from last photo...the school behind is where i went 1975-1977 (Ellers High School)..used to spend most break times if weather was good watching aircraft..to the right you can just make out the glider hangar..where the aero club hangars were is now Asda!!..wouldn't think an airport was ever there..and the photo's are stunning...takes me back..also the Goodyear airship used to visit in the 1970's..think it was based in Italy...the gliding club had a converted bus used as a winch..when they were launching you couldn't see it for exhaust fumes.

[beech19a]

Nice classic photos

[Stug]

Some nice pictures there, brilliant. Did my first solo in G-BFFE (a few years after this was taken). Would love to see more Doncaster photo's especially ones after they moved to the south side. I have some Goodyear airship footage on cine that I want to put on DVD so I can watch it. Many happy time to be had on the airfield when i was younger!

[Lowfly11]

Remember Doncaster Airport having a lot of trouble with gypsy horses roaming around the airfield as well!!

[brianw999]

Just to let you know that G-OODE is alive and well and living at Headcorn in Kent now.....

[merlin45]

Remember Doncaster Airport having a lot of trouble with gypsy horses roaming around the airfield as well!!

They certainly did when I learned to fly there in 1971.

Many thanks for reminding me of great times.

Has anyone got any photos of the Condor days at Doncaster ?

Thanks

[Oxnop]

Our first aircraft was G-ARGI , the Auster 6A which was used as the glider tug prior to 1971. Does anyone have any pictures when this was in service at the gliding club ?