International Air Tattoo 1979 Greenham Common

International Air Tattoo 1979, held at R.A.F. Greenham Common between the 21st and the 24th of June.

 

The year's central show theme featured twenty-five Lockheed C-130 Hercules in an impressive lineup, having achieved twenty-five years of operational service around the globe.

A second theme that year was Alcock and Brown's historic transatlantic air crossing, celebrated with a specially marked Royal Air Force Phantom FGR2 XV424 from 56 SQN.

There was also a broad spectrum of mixed aircraft and airarms. 

      

As with some airforces, I also had a long-distance flight to visit this Tattoo, arriving at Southampton airport via Amsterdam from the Middle East. Sadly, the weather was very indifferent to the Middle East.

It would also be the first time I would use the Freinds of International Tattoo's enclosure; it may have been the first time they had one. I had been coming here to Greenham Common since 1976, and before that, the two shows were presented at North Weald Aerodrome in Essex.

The following photographs are my memories of this show and some aircraft I thought were worth sharing from that era.

67-14684 OV-10A 20th TASS USAF. 

 Arriving on Friday, the 21st of June, at Greenham Common Airbase.

209/V  SP-2H Neptune Royal Netherlands Navy.

Always good at attending the Greenham shows, Netherlands Navy Neptunes, 1979 saw 209/V

 SP-2H Neptune arriving on Friday. Sadly, it has now been scrapped.

   

61-2491 VC-140B 58th MAS USAF. 

Taxis into the static park on Friday. Status scrapped.

160418/AG-013 E-2C Hawkeye USN. Stored at St Augustine.

160564/AG-301 A-7E Corsair USN.Aircraft scrapped.

160121/AG-704 S-3A Viking USN. Transferred to the 309th AMARG.

159584/AG-602 EA-6B Prowler VAQ138 USN. Sadly, data backs and barriers are all sad for photographs. Aircraft is withdrawn from use.

FT29  T-33A 11sm Belgian Air Force. Aircraft status transferred to the Spadeadam range.

FT28 T-33A 11sm Belgian Air Force. This may have been their last visit to a Tattoo? FT28 was handed over to the Portuguese Air Force in 1992.

J-1074 Venom FB54 Flieger Staffel. Status was withdrawn from use.

1233 Canberra B82 FA Venezuela. Withdrawn from use, ex GBR G-27-302.

WR963/63 Shackleton AEW2 8 SQN Royal Air Force taxiing for departure. To Coventry as civil G-SKTN.

556/4-BB Mirage111E EC2/4 French airforce. Aircraft W/O on the 27th of June 1984.

M-071 SA318 of Esk 722. Transfer to civil as HB-XNZ.

67-14630 OV-10A 20th TASS USAF on the static park behind can be seen a CP-107 10735/35 415SQN RCAF and Nimrod MR1 XV262/62 from St Mawgan wing. 67-14630 itself was transferred to the Philippines as 630.

54-1640 C-130A  105th TAS Tenn ANG. Transferred to Fort Bragg as an instructional airframe.

57-0493 C-130D 139th TASS New York A.N.G. Aircraft stored at Tucson Pima. 

69-5827  HC-130N 67th ARRS USAF. Transferred to the 309th AMARG. 

A97-008 C-130H 36Sqn RAAF won the best-turned-out aircraft at the 79 show. It was on its delivery flight to the RAAF, so one might argue that it was a bit of cheating. The plane was stored in Richmond in September 2016 and allocated TNI-AU/A1338.

A-713 Twin Bonanza Transport flight Korps. Stored at Dübendorf in the storage hangar for the Flieger-Flab museum.

77-0081/CR F-15A 32nd TFS USAF. Aircraft scrapped.

68-0392/HR F-4E 50th TFW USAF. Transferred to South Korea as 80-392. 

C. 12-40  F-4C Phantom Ala 12 Spanish Air Force. This aircraft is currently stored at the Las Bardenas range in Northern Spain.

It's just an age thing! I had to include this. It's not because the Red Arrows are flying Folland Gnats. Just look at the cars?

One of the no less than 16 AH-1S of the 503rd AvCo. On detachment to R.A.F. Greenham Common.

There were also 8x OH-58C, 3x UH-1H from the 503rd and 3x CH-47C from the 295th AvCo taking part in the deployment.

The flagship of the 1979 International Air Tattoo was the C-5A Galaxy 68-0217 of the 436th MAW USAF. It was seen making one of its two low passes before departing on Monday following the show.

Celebrity Phantom FGR2 XV424 of 56Sqn getting Airbourne while carrying the distinctive Alcock and Brown red letter markings on Monday's departures.  

The second pass around with a high-power pullout! 

That was 79!

A modest Forty years ago?

 

USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) with CH-53Ds and CH-46Es visit to the UK 1978

'There when needed' was the motto of the third-built Iwo Jima class assault ship (helicopters), the U.S.S. Guadalcanal (LPH-7).
Stopping over at Southampton docks on the weekend of the 7/8th of October 1978 while positioning to the North Atlantic for their latest deployment.

On Sunday afternoon, they held an open flight deck for aircraft, ship enthusiasts and locals alike.

Travelling home by train from Suffolk, where I had been visiting the R.A.F. bases of Mildenhall and Bentwaters and, of course, losing my car to thieves, hence the train, and as it pulled into Southampton central, I could glimpse the flat top ship and the vast Stars and Stripes flag flowing in the breeze. Leaving the train with a suitcase and camera box, I was straight down to the Dock entrance just as they opened up.

  

A very pleased and happy crew even looked after my suitcase. Imagine that happening today?
154010 HMM-162/YS-02 CH-46E USS Guadalcanal viewable in the hanger 

156963 CH-53D USS Guadalcanal 

155313 HMM-162/YS-1 CH-46E USS Guadalcanal 

160827 HH-1N USS Guadalcanal

156951 HMH-461/CJ-3 CH-53D USS Guadalcanal

154846 HMM-162/YS-6 CH-46E USS Guadalcanal

154003 HMM-162/YS-5 CH-46E USS Guadalcanal 

153965 HMM-162/YS-8 CH-46E USS Guadalcanal

Back in 1971, the U.S.S. Guadalcanal was the first U.S. ship to operate the AV-8A in a training capacity,
Sadly, there were no AV-8As on that Sunday. However, it was a very welcome visit with some very smart helicopters.
As for her fate, she was sunk as a target ship.

As to my fate, I bumped into friends and got a lift home. All in all, an excellent day. 

Happy Days!

USAF Bentwaters, F4D Phantoms, F104 Starfighters, September 1978.

My days at Mildenhall were behind me as I headed towards the East Coast of Suffolk. Take the train route down to Ipswich and back up another line to Woodbridge, an attractive town on the River Deben and its tide mill. Woodbridge was served by the Ipswich-Lowestoft Suffolk line. From there, I managed a taxi to the airbase at Bentwaters.

As revealed earlier, my cherished car was stolen, making life a little awkward in this rural area of East Anglia. I was dropped at the lane that leads up to St John's church, positioned South of the airbase and imparting the best view of taxiing aircraft and landing shots. There used to be an old Oak tree that was great for shade on a hot summer day (sadly, in later years, it was cut down).

Like Mildenhall, I would not pass this way again for a good few years. Lucky for me, the weather was good. After my day of photographing, I would walk and hitch (easy in those days) to the nearby village of Tunstall. I had a B&B booked for the night, with a pie and a pint at the Green Man public house. Some years later, I would sit in that same pub discussing Holloman and Bergstrom Phantoms parked below on Bentwaters visitor's ramp, one of those three visitors still wearing Vietnam mission marks. They were participating in 'Coronet' exercises in the Netherlands and Germany.

Back in 1978, some photographs could have been better, but they are history and memories. The Phantoms finally left the following year.

66-7694 F-4D-31-MC Phantom 81st TFW USAFE recovers to RAF Bentwaters. Status: to AMARC for storing. 

66-7759 F-4D-31-MC Phantom 81st TFW USAFE, pre-flight checks at RAF Bentwaters, September 1978. Status: AMARC for storing.

66-7759 F-4D-31-MC Phantom 81st TFW USAFE taxis for taking off.

66-7759 F-4D Phantom final checks.

66-7759 F-4D-31-MC Phantom 81st TFW USAFE burners on.

133393/393 T-33 RCAF was seen landing at Bentwaters in September 1978 from its base at Solingen, West Germany. Status stored Mountainview AFB.

104634/634 F-104D RCAF lunch stopping at RAF Bentwaters. Status, to the Czech Republic, for a  museum? 

69-5820 MC-130P  67th ARRS USAFE carries out a low approach flying from Bentwaters sister base RAF Woodbridge.  

D-8062 and D-6700 F-104Gs 312SQN Volkel RNethAF lunch stopping at Bentwaters.

D-6700 F-104G 312SQN Volkel RNethAF seen landing at Bentwaters. D-6700 passed to the Hellenic Air Force as 6700.

20+74 F-104G Jabog 33 WGAF  flew for the Turkish Air Force as 62-2087 at Diyarbakir AB. 

20+81 F-104G Jabog 33 WGAF This aircraft became 23+81 when preserved on a pole at Schleswig-Jagel Naval Airbase.

20+74 F-104G Jabog 33 WGAF sits in the heat haze of 20+81 F-104G of the same unit as it gives way in the take-off order.

24+28 F-104G WGM made a high-level approach at RAF Bentwaters in September 1978.

By the time of this visit, the Phantom's days here were numbered. August 1978 saw the arrival of the first three A-10s for familiarisation with the maintenance units. The following year in January would see the coming of fourteen A-10s at Bentwaters, with more to follow. Along with the demise of the Phantom, I think they also lost many of the NATO lunchtime visitors we had recorded through the years and witnessed here on that September day out. 

PART THREE See part two here:-https://legendarymilavia.blogspot.com/2019/04/usaf-mildenhall-aircraft-enthusiasts.html