Early in February 2020 John took an enthusiastic group to explore the facilities and operation of the Barton Aerodrome in Manchester.
The day was beset with a very cold and strong westerly wind accompanied by snow flurries which meant that most of
their fixed wing aircraft were
snug and safe in their hangars, but we braved the exposed steps up to the control tower,
which proved to be a most interesting
aspect of our visit. With thanks to Bob and Jeremy for photos and video.
These are some of the interesting planes we spotted during our guided tour
A privately owned Pitts S-1S Special
A Piel CP301A Emeraude
Mudry CAP 231
John's investment was in for its 'MOT'
A CASA 1-131 Jungmann of 1957 vintage
An Ickarus C42 Microlite and a gaggle of open cockpit microlites.
In Mid June 2018 a small group of 12 members and friends enjoyed a tour of the Astra production lines at Vauxhalls local works in Ellesmere Port.
The personal touch is still very important, but sophisticated Robots can do the donkey work.
Early in February 2018, as a group 21 strong, we visited the Avro Heritage Museum at Woodford, Stockport.
Our guided tour proved to be most successful at every level and the Heritage team of professional fliers
made sure that our every question was answered and gave us the warmest of welcomes.
A Coffee on arrival followed by an overview of the displays.
First attempts to get airborne: The Roe 1 Triplane
An Avro Lancaster cockpit
and the DC10 nose section.
Tony and Brian as DC 10 Captain & Co-pilot
Chris ( our Chair) there for the ride!
Tony looks at
home!
We discovered more about the Avro 707 delta wing development project,
one third scale prototypes of the Vulcan design, this 707A is on display at the Manchester Museum of Scence and Industry.
We wandered around XM603, the last operational Vulcan to land at Woodford and
were blown away by the insights we learned from our guide, a Vulcan
Pilot of course.
January 2018 saw a small group of Falcons visiting the Queensway
Road Tunnel beneath the River Mersey to learn how every vehicle is under
scrutiny from the Control Room and how the enormous fans are capable of
extracting not only exhaust fumes, but occasionally , smoke from a
vehicle fire.
The group were permitted to see the roadway from a passenger refuge and
could also explore the undercroft, beneath the roadway. Then they
started the 400 odd steps back to street level, a fitness exercise in
itself.
In October 2017 we were joined by a number of friends to make the numbers up to a group of 20 and
were royally treated by Airbus Industries at Broughton where we enjoyed a guided tour of the
largely composite wing assembly line for the A350 XWB.
The Falcons Airside Tour of the Aviation Park at Harwarden Airport in January 2017
Just 4 of the Antanov AN2 radial engine biplanes hidden in a dusty Hangar
perhaps you can see the bird's nest in the lower air intake!
One of these 1000HP monsters bursting into life:-
and we also spotted a Mil helicopter or two in store
A beautiful Cessnr Citation with Chippies
-ready to go
The tour was 'interrupted' by the arrival of Beluga No 4, seen on finals and
at touchdown The Police Copter responded to an urgent call and you can see another Beluga
snugly sitting in its Airbus loading bay on the other side of the airfield.
As a postscript, Airbus send the enormous A380 wings by dedicated 'barge' down river to Mostyn Docks, for
onshipment to Toulouse. But the plan does not always come together ,the
vessel got caught by storm force winds in Feb 2013 and ended up stranded ( without
any reported damage) on a sandbank in the Dee estuary for several days. Oops!
A fascinating and much appreciated morning trip, thanks to John for making all
the arrangements.
Our guided tour of RAF Cosford Museum in November 2016
A winter excursion by Club members to the Airstream Club at Liverpool's old
Speke Airport apron where 12 of us enjoyed a 15 minute sortie in the left
hand seat of their Airstream flight simulator.
