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RAF Leeming Family and Friends Day  12 September 2009  David Thompson

The station held its annual families day to raise funds for local and station charities and were hoping to beat last years turnout of over 1000 visitors raising £2000 in funds . With this years superb weather I suspect both figures will be smashed ! 

There was a small collection of aircraft forming a static display area on the ARP in front of the 100 Squadron hangar . They were ;

K2048                         Isaacs Fury II , really G-BZNW , f/t L-O-O its base .

W3850/PR-A              Spitfire V replica , Ripon RBL , recent re-spray

XX332/CD                  Hawk T1A , 100 Sqdn , F/L Dave Bridges , c/s Pirate 17

XX339/CK                  Hawk T1A , 100 Sqdn F/L Grimsey , c/s Pirate 22

ZE157/TY                    Tornado F3 , 43 Sqdn , RTP

ZE790/HC                   Tornado F3 , 111 Sqdn , RTP

ZE838/GH                   Tornado F3 , 43 Sqdn , RTP

ZF210/210                   Tucano T1 , 1 FTS , “1 FTS 1919-2009” markings on nose

ZR321                         Agusta A109 , 32 Squadron , nightstop 11/9 at DTVA

E-15                            Fokker S-II , really G-BIYU , f/t Bagby

146/30146                   P2 Kraguj , really G-BSXD , Yugoslav AF , f/t L-O-O its base .

G-HMCA                    EV97 TeamEurostar , RAF Microlight Flying Assoc.

G-MHJK                     DA42 Twinstar

G-SKYC                     T67M Firefly , f/t Bagby

PH-PIM                       C172

Parked out on the flightline ready for their display slot were 5 Hawks of

100 Squadron ;

XX203/CC                  Hawk T1A

XX222/CI                    ditto

XX280/CM                 ditto

XX331/CP                   ditto

XX285                         ditto     “1917-2007” 90^th anniversary colour scheme

Parked on the western side of the airfield was ;

G-KALS                      Challenger 300 , c/s Sparrowhawk 54R

Others ;

XA634                         Javelin FAW 4 , displayed near gate outside new 90 SU HQ 

XV499                         Phantom FGR 2 , parked amongst storage containers . Shame !

There was also a sporadic flying display using several aircraft in transit to or from the Leuchars BoB display . In order of flying ;

1)         Hawks x 5 of 100 squadron t/o

2)         ZJ926/QO-Y   Typhoon FGR4            3 Sqdn , S/L Scott Loughran

3)         4 ship Hawk display                             100 Sqdn , XX285 was one of them !

4)         XZ596/L          Sea King HAR3           E Flt , 202 Sqdn , winching demo

5)         G-FRAJ           ) Falcon 20                   FRA , flythrough en-route Teesside

            G-FRAT          )                                   to Leuchars                 

6)         Sea King depart after hot refuel

7)         Agusta depart to Catterick Garrison

8)         G-BYVV         ) Grob G115E Tutor     NUAS/11 AEF

            G-BYWH        ) 3 ship display

            G-BYYA         )

9)         G-KALS depart at 16:00 hrs

10)       PA474/HW-R  Lancaster B1                ) BoBMF en route Leuchars to

            PM631                        Spitfire PR XIX            ) Coningsby . Display and land .

            PZ865/JX-E     Hurricane IIc                )

11)       Typhoon depart to Leuchars……vertically on rotation !

12)       G-BSXD depart to Linton On Ouse

13)       G-SYKC depart to Bagby

14)       G-BIYU depart to Bagby

I left at 18:00 hrs and returned home via the chip shop in Osmotherley to help placate my family ! The BoBMF were still due to fly out to Coningsby and there may have been one or two more departures ; Fury replica and C172 ? The Spitfire left on a trailer towed by a Range Rover . Sorry , didn’t get its registration number !

Notes ;

HM Queen was at Catterick Garrison to inspect the Queens Royal Lancers and make presentations of The Elizabeth Cross .

Only Hangar 5 , 34 Sqdn RAF Regiment , was open to the public and in use for various displays . Internally the hangar has been halved ; one half for storage and the other as a garage . Most of the days activities and displays were centred around this area .

A planned Chinook display had to be scrubbed when the aircraft went u/s at

Leuchars . It was due to carry the Falcons parachute display team so they never appeared either ! 

The NUAS display was to be a 4 ship formation but G-BYWT is away in Germany .

The FRA Pilots were Rupert Dunn and Rick Offord , both ex-Tornado pilots at  Leeming .  

Both the Fury and the P2 Kraguj were flown in by their owner Simon Johnston although presumably not at the same time ? Simon is also OC 642 VGS at Linton where the aircraft are based and is a Falcon pilot with FRA in his day job . At present all five of 642’s Vigilant T1’s are u/s allowing Simon some time off !

Once the Lancaster , Spitfire and Hurricane were all parked up and chocked the public were allowed beyond the barriers for a closer look with a lucky few even getting inside the Lanc. So next year you need to be there…….

DET

13-9-2009     

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