Latvia and Longleat September
2019 Richard Bowater.
If you have
flown with any airline and booked online you will probably be
like me and get swamped with special offers. I received a very
interesting rate for Riga Latvia but the flight times from
Doncaster are just no good. With Riga in mind Ryanair came up
with just as good an offer from Leeds. As usual before any trip
the aviation side of things had to be investigated along with
the scenic side.
September is also the time of year
for one of the largest balloon events in the UK. The Longleat
Sky Safari, unfortunately the dates ran on from each other only
giving a day’s break between trips and converting from hotel
dwelling to tent!
The morning of the trip soon arrived
and we were sat waiting for our flight to be called from the
Leeds Bradford departure area. The windows gave views of
numerous Jet 2 737, 757 and the bonus A320 ES-SAP leased in for
the season. The only other aircraft of interest was Challenger
9H-VFA which was sat on the Multiflight ramp. We departed on
737-800 EI-EFH of Ryanair.
I missed out on arrival at Riga due
to the price of a window seat going to double the price of the
trip, no photos but from various sites I managed to spy and
identify P4-AFK 737 BBJ which was parked at the FBO. The
Southside of the airport has a large hangar and a number of ex
military parking spurs between some trees. For some time now
Canadair CRJs have been stored here along with BAe 125s of
various marks there is also a Challenger minus engines thus
defying identification. The six CRJs consisted of three Rusline
examples VQ-BNL,Y and VP-BNI. Two IrAero VP-BAO, VQ-BMK and the
sixth N888AU ex Jetasia, not sure if any will fly again.
One of the main aviation attractions
is the aircraft museum at the airport. You have to ring the bell
to gain entry to the museum, Victor or one of his mates should
come along to take your money, it’s a must for seven Euros if
you like soviet era military and civil aircraft.
The first exhibit is a mil 4 and a
huge mil 6 with stumpy wings under the rota head after that. A
mil 1 and a Kamov 26 was also a first for me. The museum has
about ten helicopters in total.
09 Red Mil 6A 17 Yellow Mil 1M 21 Red Mil 2 CCCP-24057 KA-26 CCCP-31449 Mil 4
The fighter
jets are in various states of preservation, which must be a hard
task with them all being outside and open to the hot summer and
cold winters. The collection is quite large and varied with
numerous Mig 21, 23, 25, 27 and a single Mig 29. They have a
line up of four L-29s and a smaller number of Sukhoi fighters.
22 Red Yak-28R 34 Red Mig-25RBS 52 Blue Mig-29UB 60 Red Mig-27
Civil airliners
are represented by a complete Antonov 24 and Antonov 2, then a
sad line of flight Latviadecks examples of Tupolev 104A, 124V,
134B and a further Antonov 24. The museum also had two more
AN-2s which were just about consumed by a hedge and undergrowth.
01 Red AN-14 CCCP-42328 TU-104A CCCP-45052 TU-124V CCCP-65698 TU-134A YL-LCD AN-24B
There are a few
light aircraft including crop sprayers, gliders and a Yak 18
which have been collected over a number of years. For reasons
unknown to me two of the more interesting exhibits are stored on
the South side of the airfield an ex Aeroflot TU-134 RA65717
which I last saw at Heathrow and a Tu 22M bomber. Probably no
one has seen the full extent of what is stored about the site.
No speaking much of the local language and Victor and his mates
seemed to be concentrating on cooking Sunday dinner.
The museum is next to the airport so
a steady flow of Air Baltic Airbus A220s, DHC-8s and occasional
737. There isn’t much variety of visitors but if you go at the
right time you can see a few aircraft from the Soviet and former
Soviet states. Aeroflot, UT Air and Russline with a CRJ-200.
Bellavia also appear at some time during the day. Wide body
aircraft seem to be rare after a brief view of the arrivals
board.
The hotel was in the centre of town
which was easily accessed from the airport by bus, the city has
an excellent bus and tram system. The hotel was surrounded by
bars, restaurants and numerous historic buildings, our booked
room had a broken sink so we were asked if we would accept an
upgrade to an apartment. The remainder of the day was spent in
the city taking in the sites and some Latvian beer.
The plan for the Monday was to see
the city sites and aviation visits. First stop was the excellent
railway museum and then further out of the city by bus to Spilve
airfield the former city main airport. At first you would think
it was closed, the terminal building is complete but looks un
cared for, we nosed through a window in the stately home looking
building only to be nosed back by a group from a photo shoot!
There was an aircraft inside the building that looked like a UK
Flying flea.
The rear of the building looked more
promising as a number of aircraft could be seen parked out and
there was activity around the hangars. Possibly by luck we
happened to find the airport owner/director and permission to
wander was granted. We decided to visit the furthest hangar
first and work our way back, at this point another guy appeared
and we thought a telling off was to come but no he worked there
and decided to come and join us for the walk, we had an
interesting chat about his work in the UK.
We headed for the furthest hangar as
the remains of an AN-2 58 Blue an unidentified Wilga and a
Cessna 206 LN-HON which seemed to have been stripped for some
time could be seen. A guy was sat outside with a sieve, sieving
dirt. I asked and found out he was extracting Second World War
aircraft metal from the dirt. The guy said it was German and
they had dug it up in a forest. There were steel parts which
could possibly be identified but the aluminium bits were no
bigger than a hand. These he was stacking on a pallet.
Unfortunately the hangar didn’t contain anything of interest.
There were a
number of other lockup type hangars which were unfortunately
closed. A few Cessna types were parked out here. The area around
the large hangar produced, RA-02543 an MBB Bo-105, N91ES Rc 680
and the stored/preserved AN-2 YL-CCF. Access was granted to the
large hangar which contained one Yak 18 YL-CBL, RA-04046 an
AS-350B and YL-BAB a Bowers Fly Baby and four other light
aircraft were also inside.
L.jpg)
58 Blue AN-2 N91ES (RA-07831)RC680FLP YL-BAB Bowers Fly Baby YL-CCF AN-2 YL-VAA DA-42 Twin Star
YL-ABG VEF Irbitis 1-12 YL-LHC Mil-2
Wednesday our last day in Latvia soon
arrived. The plan for the day was to collect a hire car and then
drive to Tukums airfield, visit the coast, take photos from the
back of the airport and then fly to Leeds.
The new owners have build an
impressive terminal building and made the airfield operational,
how many years it will take to get the first commercial flight
in is anyone’s guess. The owners have a collection of soviet
aircraft but unfortunately they have called the collection “the
air zoo” and are busy painting out the airframe colours to make
the aircraft resemble animals, the reason for the visit.
The latest arrival at Tukums is IL62M
UP-16209 previously owned by Trust Air whose colours it still
wears. It was parked remotely from the terminal. Included in the
tour is full access, the flight deck is complete just like it
was when the crew landed the aircraft, whilst the cabin is
converted for cargo with just a few rows of seats a galley and a
toilet.
The terminal ramp is the main parking
area for the collections fighters and Mil 24D helicopter. A long
term parked Yak 40 UR-DAP also rest besides the exhibits its
exec paint scheme hasn’t been altered unlike the other resident
Yak 40 LY-AAC which has been painted up with Zebra stripes.
There are two more airliners IL-18 3X-GGU which was masked off
to become another creature and Let 410 YL-KAE painted as a
mouse.
3X-GUU Ilyushin IL-18D 18 Mig-21UM 115 Mil-24D 2001 PZL Mielec TS-11 3910 Sukhoi SU-22M4 Fitter K
5531 Mig-21BIS Fishbed LY-AAC Yak-40 YL-KAE LET-410 UVP UP-16029 Ilyushin IL-62M UP-16029 Ilyushin IL-62M
The Baltic Bees display team is based at the airfield. They operate 9 L39C Albatross aircraft in the European and world display circuit. I had got prior permission to enter their hangar to photograph the aircraft. Outside there was another L39C which I wasn’t allowed to photograph 433143 previously UR-ALV which wore a camouflage scheme with a red star. YL-KSD Hawker 850 was also inside the hangar but photography of that wasn’t allowed
.
YL-KSZ L-39C Albatros YL-PAF Diamond DA-40NG Star
Da 40 YL-PAF
was the only aircraft movement whilst we were there. Our next
visit was a trip to the coastal resort of Jurmala an interesting
place with miles of white sandy beaches. After tea it was time
to return to the airport to try and photograph the Air Baltic
aircraft and a few visitors. On route we stopped to photograph a
preserved IL 28 Blue 38 outside a block of flats at Skule a
former military town behind the airport.
The viewing
area has a good view across the runway you can see the FBO on
the right and then the terminal and ramp to the left.
Unfortunately you cannot see any of the CRJ storage areas. We
had planned a couple of hours before check-in. As expected you
get a steady procession of Air Baltic DHC-8 400s and Airbus 220s
with two of the three special scheme aircraft appearing between
the flow of green and white. A few of the old fleet of 733 and
735s also appeared.
9H-OJO BD700 Global 6000 ES-ACJ CRJ-900 OH-ATN ATR-72 YL-BAY DHC-8 YL-BBD Boeing 737-53S
YL-BBY Boeing 737-36Q YL-CSC Airbus A220 YL-CSJ Airbus A220 VP-BKY Airbus A320
The FBO
produced a few interesting bizz mainly of the Gulf 6 / BD-700
size, M-CCCP with a red star on the tail being the most
interesting but to distant and in a haze to get a decent photo.
After this it was time to return the car, check in and return to
Leeds with Ryanair. Before our departure VP-BKY A320 Aeroflot
and VQ-BJO 735 UT Air appeared on the Moscow flight. We had
forgotten to visit the terminal side storage area and only
realised as you can see it from the departure lounge. Three more
CRJs were seen and identified via the net, VQ-BFB, VP-BVD and
T7-OAM were sat with Gulf 4 T7-ZZZ.
It wasn’t worth driving home only to
turn around and drive South in the morning, so we stayed at the
Travel lodge at Leeds Bradford. We were just too late for
Murgatroyds so the kebab shop had to do.
We had
previously been to the Longleat balloon safari in 2018 for the
first time so 2019 was a re-visit. 2018 we visited Enstone on
the way home and it wasn’t all open. This time it was a Thursday
but we didn’t have much time due to the distance to travel
after.
The new hangar was complete at Enstone and full of interesting residents including a Waco and a recently registered Beech 17S stagger wing which is in need of a rebuild after an accident in America. The main attraction which was shut last time the Boeing Stearman facility, was open and access allowed. It was full with an impressive array of Stearman in barn fresh condition to mint flying examples
. 
G-BAVO Boeing PT17 Stearman G-FRDM Boeing 75 Stearman G-LBRT Beech 17S NC12467 Waco UEC
Teesside’s ex G-EORG Pa
38 looks fit and healthy again, 2018 it only looked fit for
scrap. With time limited we had to miss the Mk 26 Spitfire
hangar so that we could arrive at the new campsite before dark.
The pleasure of camping, portaloos or eco toilets with straw,
upside they had a marquee with an electric socket so the travel
kettle came in handy.
The Balloon Safari is run
on the Longleat estate but unfortunately the camp site is a
twenty minute drive along a dodgy country lane. We were with
balloons G-SATL and SATI special shape spheres built by Camerons
of Bristol. Impressive balloons but unfortunately the envelopes
weigh in at 180kg each and then you have the basket, burner and
tanks. Our first flight was on the Friday morning and I was
invited for a ride. Longleat has commissioned a number of
balloon special shapes so we were in a line up with Roger the
Panther G-PAWW, a lion Simbaloo or G-LEAT, Adelaide a Koala
G-DAAY to name three. Wess the wolf was also about and a Guinea
pig.
G-SATL & G-SATC Cameron SS D-OBBT Brandenburg Gate G-NORG Airship GEFA-Flug Night Glow Longleat House
The weekend also produced Alfred the
Carpenter D-OFVC, the Brandenburg gate and a forklift truck to
name a few. Saturday saw the flight of a hot air airship a rare
occasion in the UK. Then the evening night glow was supposedly
the UKs largest ever glow of balloons.
The Sunday was declared
windy so the camp was dismantled and the journey home began.
First stop was a new to me Oaksey Park where we were met by a
Stearman departing on a pleasure flight. Nothing else flew. The
hangars contained an interesting selection of residents.
G-ADNE DH87 Hornet Moth G-IIIF Xttremair XA41 G-ISDN Boeing Stearman Kaydet
Kemble is just down the
road two new arrivals were noted in the shape of ex Qatar
Airways A340-600s and for me to catch up with the remainder of
the Boeing 717s. The planned lunch at the AV8 had to be scrubbed
as they had stopped serving. This marked the end of the trip
only leaving the long drive home.
G-VMSC (M-FTOH) Boeing 727 T7-KEN Cirrus SR-22L
Hopefully not the last trip for a
long time.