Sunday 24 November 2013

A saturday adventure with some VERY noisy friends!

What a lovely bright sunny day yesterday was! So nice when you get a winter day like that - and i was determined to make good use of it. We popped over to the Airfield Market in the morning - got our bits of shopping and then repaired to the cafe for a well needed cuppa. As we were drinking and chatting I heard the distinctive sound of a jet engine starting up and popped outside to see one of their resident Hawker Hunters getting ready to go out...


We finished our tea and headed home as MrEH was off to rugby - and after not very much thought I made up a flask with more tea, grabbed a quick bite to eat, picked up my mini-stepladder to assist with seeing over the runway fence, and headed back over to the airfield.

First to make an appearance was the Hertfordshire Air Ambulance - based at North Weald and recently back from it's annual overhaul, I presume it was just arriving back from a shout -


- nice as it is to see it airborne there is always the knowledge that it usually means that someone's life has been in danger somewhere. Fairly soon after that the Hunter went out again - having got the nice shot of the back in the morning I was perfectly positioned to get a head-on view this time as it made its way to the main runway...


...before taking off into the Essex skies...


Beautiful isn't she - sleek, graceful, and if I look HALF that good when I reach 58 years old I'll be happy! Next up was one half of the Gnat Display team - always a pleasure to see these up and about and we're lucky to have them based locally.


This one had apparently been undergoing maintenance for the past few days and wasn't originally planned to be flying today. She streamed her 'chute on landing, as did the Hunter when she made her return...


Last out for the day was one of the several Jet Provosts based over at the airfield - the pilot of this one gave a cheery wave as he set off...


...and after all that lot I retired happily to the car, drank my tea and thawed out! Lovely to have somewhere so close by to keep my "eye in" through the winter months with aviation stuff!

Robyn

4 comments:

dreamer said...

Great photo's as always. Had a chuckle at the thought of you lugging your step ladder around like a paparazzi :)

Robyn said...

I'm very attached to my paparazzi-style stepladder I'll have you know, and the car boot is exactly the right width to fit it too, so that must be its purpose, right?! Comes in handy for changing lightbulbs too - who knew?! :-D

Wendy said...

Terrific photos. I love the image of you on the stepladder taking the pics. I've never been to the airfield; I must make a visit one day.

Robyn said...

North Weald is a good one for a saturday on a nice bright day as the market is good for a wander about, and then there's the planes to watch as well. There are also TWO cafes over there now - the nearer of the two, Wings, is particularly good!