Newton Families Day Sept. '93

[F3]

In 1993 I had the pleasure of attending RAF Newton's annual Families Day, which was probably the last one as the Station's closure was announced in a subsequent round of Defence cuts. Having worked my attendance by manning a stall this somewhat restricted the photo - opportunities available to the aircraft static and flight lines before the start of the event and a brief sneak out to catch the Auster/Prentice duo display before leaving. The weather worsened throughout the day so on the conclusion of business I made an early departure and therefore missed the drama of F/L Rob Lea in the Harrier nearly getting bogged down on the soft ground before his display, this being the last operational RAF grass airfield. I understand that there are now plans afoot for a housing development on the site, the buildings having been converted to the usual commercial uses.

Newton Families Day '93 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton- Auster TW951 Families Day '93 (1) by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - Families Day Flightline '93 (1) by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - Families Day Flightline '93 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - Percival Prentice VS610 Families Day '93 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - Wessex XR516 Families Day '93 (3) by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - Wessex XR516 Families Day '93 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - EMUAS Bulldogs Families Day '93 (1) by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - EMUAS Bulldog M Families Day '94 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

Newton - Auster Families Day '93 by Michael Britton, on Flickr

[glyn]

Hi
I now live in one of those houses built on former married quarters.Half of the proposed sight has been built on.Nice to see these shots as i never got here whilst operational. It used to be the home of the missile museum also.In fact i have seen photos of a high ranking person being escorted off base riding a missile which was the done thing apparently on leaving the post for the last time.
PS I too am an x Rotherham boy.
Come on you Millers
Glyn

[F3]

Hi
I now live in one of those houses built on former married quarters.Half of the proposed sight has been built on.Nice to see these shots as i never got here whilst operational. It used to be the home of the missile museum also.In fact i have seen photos of a high ranking person being escorted off base riding a missile which was the done thing apparently on leaving the post for the last time.
PS I too am an x Rotherham boy.
Come on you Millers
Glyn

Interesting Glyn. Good job you're living in a new build and not the old Officers Mess which is reputedly haunted. Feel free to download any of the pics which take your fancy. I expect that the missile riding officer would have been a former CO as they often leave by unconventional means, esp when its become a tradition. Actually I'm a Leeds fan but as my grandson supports Rotherham I can see myself having divided loyalties this season as they are a great community club and I have been known to watch them on occasion so Up the Millers (except v Leeds).

[roadstar1845]

Looking at the angle of the EMUAS Bulldogs, they had moved hangars in to what once the old air museum
circa 1970 I saw the Shackleton land there, how they managed to land the Vulcan, i'll leave it to the imagination!
An old Bloodhound Missile was visible from the shelford road outside the MT hangar
The harriers reputably had it earmarked as a dispersal/diversion field.
the grass around the entrance to the hard pans was reinforced with meshing, in the winter it was boggy to say the least
never knew the mess to be haunted probably long gone now.

[paddyboy]

Hi Michael

Yet more delightful memories

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

[warthog56]

Spent several happy families days at the airfield as I live in Nottingham. It used to also be home to the RAF Police training school and their dogs could often be heard barking whilst in their kennels. Seem to recall that a Varsity was at the field at some stage and was used for drugs/bomb searches by the dogs. Remember seeing the Lightning T5 (the REAL one) in the hangar which was used as part of the weapons loading school - didn't this end up with Mike Beachy-Head in South Africa?. Most of the aircraft taking part in the flying programme were departures from the previous days BoB show at Finningley (Newton families day was always on a Sunday). Best recollection of a participant was an F111 which did its flypast over Langar whilst para-dropping was in progress! Don't know whether its crew was reprimanded or sent on a map-reading course!

[Nighthawke]

WL627 was the Varsity.

[F3]

Spent several happy families days at the airfield as I live in Nottingham. It used to also be home to the RAF Police training school and their dogs could often be heard barking whilst in their kennels. Seem to recall that a Varsity was at the field at some stage and was used for drugs/bomb searches by the dogs. Remember seeing the Lightning T5 (the REAL one) in the hangar which was used as part of the weapons loading school - didn't this end up with Mike Beachy-Head in South Africa?. Most of the aircraft taking part in the flying programme were departures from the previous days BoB show at Finningley (Newton families day was always on a Sunday). Best recollection of a participant was an F111 which did its flypast over Langar whilst para-dropping was in progress! Don't know whether its crew was reprimanded or sent on a map-reading course!

One could write a book on examples of bad USAF navigation. I recall a Finningley show in the '70s when the F111 three ship did a perfect flypast @ Lindholme roughly 8 mls down the road. Expect they thought it must have been a very poor show for the place to be deserted - or maybe they just thought they'd got the wrong date.

[roadstar1845]

Another one to add to the list, Culdrose late 70's treble ones again nice display but wrong place.
on the subject of Newton, also a white Canberra out the back through the old Saxondale village and a JP on the fire dump off the edge of Oatfield lane
happily stood one day outside the tower watching the Vikings go through their routine at Tollerton not forgetting the ee frightening that woke the place up!

[F3]

Another one to add to the list, Culdrose late 70's treble ones again nice display but wrong place.
on the subject of Newton, also a white Canberra out the back through the old Saxondale village and a JP on the fire dump off the edge of Oatfield lane
happily stood one day outside the tower watching the Vikings go through their routine at Tollerton not forgetting the ee frightening that woke the place up!

Would have loved to have seen that Lightning @ Newton. Like a Ferrari on a go -cart track!