RAF Leeming base visit - Cleveland Aviation Society Mon 10th August 2009 David Thompson
The largest and newest resident unit at RAF Leeming is No 90 Signals Unit whose new headquarters is being built on land close to the station main gate and directly behind the Javelin gate guard . At present they and their operational units , No’s 2,3 and 4 Field Communication Squadron’s , are based in the HAS area . Also based here are No 2 Force Protection Wing with No 34 Squadron RAF Regiment operating in an airfield defence role supported by No 10 Field Squadron , Royal Engineers . Also in non flying roles are No 609 (West Riding) Squadron RAuxAF and a Mountain Rescue Team .
The operational flying side of the station is led by No 100 Squadron whose Hawk aircraft are also used by the Joint Forward Air Control Training and Standards Unit . The Northumbrian Air University Air Squadron (NUAS) and No 11 Air Experience Flight (AEF) both fly the Grob Tutor and mostly at weekends .
XA634 Javelin FAW4 gate guard
XV499 Phantom FGR2 open storage
100 Squadron hangar
XX285 Hawk T1A F/L Jamieson , callsign Pirate 10 ,carries special 1917-2007 squadron 90th anniversary colour scheme with blue and yellow cheat lines from nose to tail .
XX203/CC ditto S/L Wright , c/s Pirate 05
XX198/CG ditto c/s Pirate 26
XX339/CK ditto F/L Grimsey , c/s Pirate 22
XX331/CP ditto F/L DM Jones F/L Dawson
G-BRVL Pitts S-1C dismantled under repair following an accident CofA expired 04/08 . Owned by Mark Pocock , a pilot with 100 Squadron .
At the time of our visit a new heating system was being installed in the hangar and only half of the hangar was in use , the south end , but work was due to be completed soon . All the Hawk maintenance is carried out under contract by BAe Systems technicians .
Aircraft callsigns and allocated pilots names are below the cockpit on the port side .
100 Squadron flight-line
XX246/CA Hawk T1A Some of these aircraft flew throughout our visit .
XX332/CD ditto
XX258/CE ditto c/s Pirate 02
XX202/CF ditto
XX222/CI ditto c/s Pirate 21
XX239/CJ ditto c/s Pirate 24
XX255/CL ditto
XX280/CM ditto c/s Javelin 94
XX318/CN ditto
XX289/CO ditto c/s Pirate 06
XX184/CQ ditto
XX314/CS ditto
Hangar 3 ; Depth Support Flight Headquarters and BAe Systems RTP Facility
(RTP ; Return To Produce)
ZE157/TY Tornado F3 43 Squadron whole
ZE288/HA ditto 111 Squadron whole
ZE808/HJ ditto 111 Squadron whole
ZE810/GG ditto 43 Squadron whole
ZE831/GN ditto 43 Squadron whole*
ZE941/KT ditto 43 Squadron in jig
ZE968 ditto 111 Squadron whole
* the squadron cockerel motif on the tailfin has been decapitated . No doubt a subtle comment on the aircraft’s fate !
There is only one RTP jig to hold the Tornado airframe whilst it is stripped down and each airframe undergoes a planned 18 day parts recovery programme with the work being done by BAe personnel under the supervision of an RAF NCO . At the time of our visit ZE941 was on Day 19 in the jig having entered on 27 July and due out on 20 August so there is obviously some slippage in the programme . The RTP Project aims to recover M£60 of spare parts of which 80% go to the Tornado GR4 fleet with the other 20% helping to keep the remaining Tornado F3’s airworthy . The Tornado’s have been arriving at the rate of one per week and at present there are 21 Tornado’s in storage at Leeming with the intention to increase that number to a maximum of 25 .
Close by in a transportable hangar are another 4 aircraft which all arrived by road ;
ZE250/TR Tornado F3 whole
ZE343/DZ ditto whole
ZE888/TC ditto whole
ZG780/XXV ditto whole , special 25 Squadron colour scheme. There are plans to try and preserve this aircraft .
Others
ZD347/14 Harrier GR9 PAN landing on 7 August after a double bird strike .
ZF210 Tucano T1 1 FTS , L-O-O , circuits . Has red , white and blue tail .
Z????/AJ Typhoon 16:30 hrs , 3 x overshoots before departing to the east . I suspect that this is actually T3 ZJ815/AY ?
Note
Two flights by Antonov An124’s are planned to fly into Leeming in October to bring back the 1435 Flt Tornado’s from RAF Mount Pleasant on the Falkland Islands . Because of their size , noise and possible disturbance to the local area the station plan to have a local media campaign to warn of their arrival ! The dates are , subject to confirmation ; arrive Friday 16 October and depart Saturday 17th and arrive Friday 30 October to depart Saturday 31st . Times are unknown at present - please don't bombard us with requests for times if and when we find out it will be posted on the front page.
DET 19-8-2009