RAF Leeming Friends of Leeming Aviation Group base visit

13:00 – 16:00 : 14 June 2016  - David Thompson

 

The sun shone throughout the day on what was our first visit of the year to our host station and as ever ‘Meds’ provided us with a full programme including the now obligatory visit to the flight-line but it was just a pity that the Hawks were a little further away from us than usual !

 One of the squadron pilots is F/L Chris Lyndon-Smith who in a previous life flew a tour with The Red Arrows , as well as being a GR4 pilot and a Hawk A2 QFI , and he gave us an in depth illustrated talk on his time with the Reds including a good insight into what goes on behind the scenes and the side of the Reds the general public do not see . Over the years I have become quite blasé about the Reds and their aerobatic display and would often not watch them at

all ‘having seen it all before’ but having not seen them for a few years I took the opportunity at this years Teesside Airshow the previous month to actually stand and watch them throughout the display and although restrictions may have been placed upon them post-Shoreham I thought they were superb and judging from the reaction of the other 17,999 people there – I think they did

too ! What was particularly interesting was Chris’s explanation of how they deal with any mid-air emergency which might occur during their routine and how it is normally dealt with by

a ‘sitting on your hands’ approach and flying it through and only in the highest of emergencies would they break formation and then in a very regimented and pre-planned maneuver to release the jet with the problem . The biggest worry for the pilots would appear to be not selecting your smoke correctly as this would occur a financial penalty and at the seasons end the defaulters kitty can be quite full !  

Gate

The Tornado now sits on the gate ‘proper’ after it’s moved from outside of the 90 SUHQ over the previous weekend , 11-12 June . The aircraft is situated on a gravel hard-standing alongside the guardroom and outside of the base perimeter but it may still be advisable to seek permission for photography before doing so ?

Tornado F3                 carries the insignia of 11 , 23 and 25 Sqdns on its tail , all  former resident F3 squadrons .

 RTP

ZA600             Tornado GR4              fuselage hulk dumped outside of RTP hangar amongst  several wing and tail sections . All were unmarked except for the 40^th Anniversary special tail from GR4 ZD788 .

 

100 Squadron

The usual squadron flightline apron is currently undergoing some maintenance work and the Hawks are using the VAS apron outside of the old control tower . Noted parked out and/or flying were ;

XX332/CD     Hawk T1A

XX321/CI      

XX329/CJ      

XX255/CL     

XX230/CM    

XX256                                                208 special tail

 

Hangar

XX203/CC      Hawk T1A

XX258/CE     

XX284/CN    

XX200/CO    

XX265/CP     

XX239/239     Hawk T1W

 

11AEF/NUAS

G-BYUF         Tutor T1                      circuits

G-BYWP        ditto                            ditto

 

Visitors

ZA541/034      Tornado GR4              c/s Lossie 08 . Full stop landing for RTP !

ZA602/XV-F  ditto                                c/s Baton 22 , circuits , 15 special tail , large XV in red       

 

With thanks to Meds , Smythy and Colin Fawcett .

 

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