a sad day and the end of an era - Finningley's last day as an airport

[andygolfer]

Today is a very sad day, Doncaster / RAF Finningley switches off it's runway lights for the last time as the airport closes with plans to convert it to a warehouse park. I first visited there in 1977 for the Queen's Silver Jubilee Review of the Royal Air Force although had passed it on my way to Beverley many times beforehand when I was land surveying for the Beverley by-pass (A1079) where I sometimes used to see a Vulcan overhead as it came out of Finningley. I visited a few times more recently, mostly in relation to the Vulcan XH558 / G-VLCN) and to see the An.225 in November 2015.
A sad day for all those viewtopic.php?f=169&t=44806 there too, hope they find other jobs quickly

So here are some of my memories of the airport - anyone got any to add to the theme?

1977 Royal Review when we had a far bigger air force:
VC.10 ( and look at the Nimrods in the background)
Finningley 1977 RAF review VC.10 XV106, 2 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Finningley 1977 RAF review Nimrod XV254 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Finningley 1977 RAF review Jaguars & Vulcan by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Finningley 1977 RAF review Jetstream, dominie & dove by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and then in 2011, Vulcan XH558 / G-VLCN and the team when I had a day there after I ran a fundraising photo competition and was able to take the winners there for a day watch the preparation for a display, take off and return - a grand day out!
the Vulcan team line up Doncaster 30-07-2011 2427 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

XH558 safely home Doncaster 30-07-2011 2743 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and then in November 2015 I spent 2 days there and also at nearby airfields when the An.225 visited to move some very large and heavy equipment.....
1064 An225 UR-82060 (1024x682) by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

1660 An225 UR-82060 & King Air (1024x683) by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

1988 An225 take off by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

1847 An225 take off by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

so anybody else got memories of Finningley to share here? (it will always be Finningley for me)
Andy

[waghorn41]

Great shots Andy. In the photo of the Jetstream, Dominie and Devon (almost certainly 207 Squadron) there is of course a Pembroke (60 Squadron) and a HS748 (207 squadron)

[Mike]

That's a very nice tribute to RAF Finningley/DSA, Andy, have spent many happy hours there when it was an RAF base (including the BoB airshow in September 1968) but have never visited when it became civil.