Continuing south, I was headed to Biggin Hill. The last time I was here was for the 1980 Biggin Hill Airshow. On that day, the 9 RAF Red Arrows took off and flew down to do a display at Brighton. As usual, we counted them back, but this time only 8 returned. One had clipped the top of a yacht mast during the display and the pilot ejected safely.
I spent the morning in the Cafe here, watching as a variety of jets came and went. A Turkish Learjet Air Ambulance, a Polish Hawker 400, another Air -X CRJ200 and a UAE registered Bombardier Global.
Biggin Hill is also the base for a company that restores Spitfires. They also offer flights in a two seat Spitfire.
Next stop was Gatwick Airport. I found a place to park just east of the airport. Historically Gatwick hosted airlines that didn't have slots at Heathrow, and whilst this is still the case, it has also expanded into the low cost market. It was very hazy and humid to start, but soon cleared into a lovely day. Less common airliners here were an EnterAir Boeing 737, An Air Baltic Airbus A220 in the Lithuanian Flag colour scheme and a Norwegian Boeing 737 with the humid air clearly showing the vortices coming off it's flaps.
Gatwick is also unusual in that a number of British airlines have aircraft based here using registration sequences rarely seen at other UK airports. For example, this easyJet Airbus A320 has not only a different registration sequence, but also a colour scheme I hadn't seen anywhere else. This British Airways example is from a batch that have a specific Gatwick registration sequence
Other interesting aircraft were a Norse Boeing 787, a colourful ITA Airways A320, a Volotea A320 and a Sky Express A321
The following morning I had arranged an airfield tour at Shoreham. There was an airshow at Eastbourne that weekend so a couple of displaying aircraft were parked here including this Stearman and two Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters
In the hangars were another Enstrom Helicopter and a Cessna 152 that had been converted to a taildragger.
In the afternoon I called in to the Gatwick Aviation Museum. Amongst the aircraft displayed inside were a Seahawk and a Gloster Meteor while outside were a rather sorry looking Buccaneer, a Shackleton and a Devon which was in pieces awaiting re-assembly.
Another airfield I had been meaning to visit was Turweston near Banbury. I called in one morning and was not disappointed. Everyone here was very friendly and I was allowed in a couple of hangers. There is also a lovely Cafe here. Great hot chocolate and homemade cakes! Interesting planes here were the first production Beagle Pup, a lovely Glasair GS2, A Yak-18, a 1931 DH-60 Moth, a Stampe SV-4 and a Bucker Jungmeister.
I'll finish off with a shot of the view from the tail mounted camera on the Turkish Airlines Airbus A350 just as we were landing in Kuala Lumpur.
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