363 TRW Visit to Alconbury 08/1979

[sschofield11]

I was lucky enough to go on the Photo Call for the visit to Alconbury of the 363TRW RF-4C's in August 1979. Great event they even had a cherry picker available for general use to get higher shots. The event also attracted a few visiting aircraft. Ive put quite a few shots from the day below but all my shots are on my Flickr site address below unfortunately the dreaded mold has gotten to some. Hope you enjoy, pure nostalgia.

363TRW, Alconbury, RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

363TRW, Alconbury, RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

71-0254, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

71-0254, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979-6 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

71-0254, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979-4 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

67-0461, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

67-0449, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

66-0476, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

66-0465, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

66-0453, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

66-0408, 363TRW, Alconbury RF-4C, 18-08-1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

50TFW, 74-1636, Alconbury F-4E 18-08-79 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

32TFS, 77-0087, F-15A, Alconbury August 18th, 1979 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

226OCU, Alconbury, XX754 18-08-79 by Steven Schofield, on Flickr

[XPLUMBER]

WOW!

Thanks for all those memories!

[Malcolm]

A bit different to a few years later (1988?) when 18 turned up on the Friday before the airshow and they hid them all away in shelters far side with not a single one on static.

[3Greens]

Absolutely brilliant Steven My favourite F4. Brings back the memory of a model of an RF4C I did in 'JO' colours - I remodelled the nose profile to the more streamline design rather than the earlier 'chisel' profile - everyone in the Model Club wondered what I was up to . Your pics clearly show the two profiles on airframes 453 and 408

Just highlights was a fantastic base Alconbury was
Thanks very much for posting,

3Greens

[slogen51]

Wow again!

Slightly better view than from outside

[The Phantom]

WOW

Pure Phantom Porn

Fist shot is amazing

[Gus0898uk]

Excellent, thanks for taking the time to post them, they will have made a lot of BMs have a warm fuzzy.

[fox4g]

Remember them well used to get a lot of F4 visitors to Alconbury in the good old days. Used to love watching them going in smoking like good ones. 1 question memory is going and can't remember where JO were from.

[slogen51]

JO were from Shaw AFB

[Ridge Runner]

Oh yes, those shots take me back. Memories, memories

Martin

[Knife 04]

Excellent post Steven - great to see these again

I would bet my last dollar Mr Luxton was not a million miles away

Thanks for taking the time to scan and post - I know how long it takes

Cheers

Darren

[Nighthawke]

Phabulous, phantastic post!

[graham luxton]

A bit different to a few years later (1988?) when 18 turned up on the Friday before the airshow and they hid them all away in shelters far side with not a single one on static.

That was 1986 Malcolm - I was there when they arrived on the Thursday evening, SW's from Shaw (JO's were recoded SW in the 80's). Think it was up to the deployment commander as to whether any of his a/c appeared in the show - it certainly disappointed a lot of people. They had a Photo Call in their shelter area on Thurs afternoon 14 Aug when 8 taxied out and flew plus 2 on static. Also that afternoon an SR-71 did an overshoot.

I think this is a great reminder of how good Alconbury was and I remember 6 deployments there by the 67/363TRW's, each comprising of 18 a/c. There were also smaller deployments as well by the ANG. Can't heap enough praise on Alconbury Public Affairs for organising those Photo Calls to keep us happy. I particularly like those cherry picker shots - back in the days when the 10TRW operated 3 squadrons of RF-4C's, that ramp was full of 32TRS a/c. Couldn't make that Photo Call so its interesting to see what was on offer. However, saw them all depart back to Shaw on Thurs 24 Aug and then it was on to Waddington to see the 18 South Dakota/Iowa A-7's of Coronet Stallion plus 4 Italian Starfighters at Wittering.

Great times!

[Ridge Runner]

If I recall I saw this detachment while in Stevenage for the "last" Led Zepplin gig at Knebworth!

Fantastic all round.

Martin

[Blue Diamond]

That's a lot of Phantoms.

[eagle driver]

The 363rd wing commanders wife,s name was JO hence the tail code ,there were a few other instances of this occurring at the time.
Remember the day well ,thanks for posting.

[Punkrunner62]

Thanks Again.Remember Alconbury used to be our first stop on our long trips down from Aberdeen to East Anglia.Great Days,Great Base.
Cheers.

[steved]

Fantastic shots, just fantastic.

[fox4g]

JO were from Shaw AFB

Cheers for that.

[ST24]

Now that's a Photo call!!! Glory days indeed, Hahn Phantoms never that common..