Royal Navy Historic Flight Fly-In
From Michelle at Compton Abbas airfield...
"I am ex Navy and my husband is still serving and a member of FAAOA and I wondered if you would be interested for you magazine an event we held at my workplace Compton Abbas Airfield to raise money for Royal Navy Historic Flight.
We held a Fly-In on Saturday the 9th of May and all landing fees were donated to Historic Flight and the Airfield Manager Emma Hughes and myself Michelle Yelland followed this weekend with a Wing Walk each to raise money for Historic Flight.
I have attached a little write up that we sent to our members and a couple of photos of us wing walking on Saturday 16th May to give you an idea of what the event was all about.
Two great days were had and for a small private airfield the 2000 visitors that passed through over the two Saturdays now have a greater awareness of what the Trust is all about."
The write-up of the day...
"Having constantly watched the weather all week, Saturday the 9th of May did not bode well for our Royal Navy Historic Flight Fly-In. High winds and rain forecast throughout the week looked like it was going to be a wash out.
Our Wing Walking was cancelled due to winds but we decided to go ahead with the planned itinary.
The day started with the arrival of ZZ397 Royal Navy Wildcat from RNAS Yeovilton crewed by LT CDR Nick Bance & LT Rob Gleave. This was followed in short succession by the arrival of an Ex Royal Navy Wasp XT787 flown by DR. Terry Martin.
XT787 Westland Wasp HAS1 is a first generation jet engine helicopter that was built for the Royal Navy. In her Royal Navy career (as 476) she operated on frigates HMS Leander, HMS Rhyl and later on 703 Sqdn RNAS Portland. After being retired in 1981, the Royal Navy Wasp helicopters were offered a final swansong during the Falklands campaign. RN Wasps were brought out of storage for deployment on Leander, Tribal & Rothesay class frigates that were to small to carry the Wasps replacement, the Lynx. Not long after the cessation of hostilities in the Falkland Islands, she was struck off charge from the Royal Navy because of her excellent condition and low hours. XT787 was then transferred to New Zealand where she took part in many operations in the South Pacific.
Members of the public were given the chance to look around both aircraft and chat to the crew.
The RNHF promotional wagon was parked on the terrace with lots of goodies onboard but its main aim was to raise awareness of Historic Flight. The stand attracted a lot of the older generation who have vast experience of flying aircraft and mechanics, stories all soon to be lost. One in particular a gentleman who was now over 90 yrs old, he was a reservoir of stories and photographs of his time in Malta at the end of the war. The aircraft worked hard, as were the engineers. He told of stories the CAA would have kittens if the goings on were happening today.
The day was rounded of by the arrival at 15.20 of G-KAMY a AT-6D Havard flown by John Beattie and G-BARS and DH Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk 22 flown by LT CDR Chris Gotke. They performed a graceful display for all our spectators on the terrace before they departed back to RNAS Yeovilton.
It was a beautiful end to the day and we hope we have managed to not only raise a significant amount of monies for RNHF but have raised a greater awareness of their charity."