St. Mawgan International Air Day 1976. Picture heavy.

[MikeH]

I've never seen the static park to devoid of people - you must have got there very early!?

We were let in early for some reason and managed to rush around the aprons before the general public were admitted. Some aircraft were still arriving into the static such as the German Phantoms and the Paris. There were no barriers and the aircraft taxied past with just a few 'stewards' explaining where to be. Holding the show was in midweek was a good idea as the weekends would be compromised by 'change over' traffic causing more problems on the roads. I also went to shows in '75 & '77 but both were held under grey skies.

[roughcutter]

Absolutely fabulous.

[Supra]

Wow! The endless Summer of 76? So much sun, variety, colour & heartbreak!
Shackleton AEW Mk II WR965 would subsequently crash on 30 April 1990 this aircraft from # 8 Squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth crashed into Maodal (an 800-foot (240 m) high peak) near the village of Northton, Isle of Harris. All ten crew on board died in the crash, which included the Wing Commander OC. 8 Squadron at the time. As the Shackleton was in the final throes of its extended Service Life I had spent a long time in 1989 & 1990 on-base with 8 Sqn & personally knew of most all the crews there.
Gone, but not forgotten.........

Wing Commander Stephen Roncoroni
Wing Commander Chas Wrighton
Flying Officer Colin Burns
Squadron Leader Jerry Lane
Flight Lieutenant Al Campbell
Flight Lieutenant Keith Forbes
Master Air Electronics Operator Roger Scutt
Flight Sergeant Rick Ricketts
Sergeant Graham Miller
Corporal Stuart Bolton.

The traditional Wednesday show-day always attracted an eclectic mix of static & flying demo's as for most RAF, USAF & close-by Central European Air Forces, this was just another working day!
Multiple jet Airfield attacks & morning visitors from the FAF. & FN. were most welcome. These amazing photo's are a fantastic reminder of the greatest of times when arrivals day was as good or better than the show & non-standard departures with flyovers was encouraged! Any bad incidents or near misses?....Noooo, but we didn't live in such a manic risk averse litigious Society then!

[Petepilot]

Fantastic, quality scans from when it appears we had an airforce - many thanks for sharing!

Thanks also to Supra for the sad and poignant story about the demise of the Shack - RIP.

[MikeH]

Wow! The endless Summer of 76? So much sun, variety, colour & heartbreak!

Thanks for the comments, I thought it was about time I put them all together in one place. There's a few more as well, almost every photo I took that day was a 'keeper' but I tried not to duplicate too much.

Regarding the 'heartbreak', Nimrod XV239 was also lost with all crew:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Roya ... _MR2_crash

That's one of the interesting aspects of doing this sort of thing is seeing where individual airframes end up, whether in museums or scrapyards etc. Unfortunately, as in these cases some are involved in tragic accidents.

[Petepilot]

Fantastic, quality scans from when it appears we had an airforce - many thanks for sharing!

Thanks also to Supra for the sad and poignant story about the demise of the Shack - RIP.

Have now had the opportunity to look at the images again but this time on a decent sized screen, and....they are rather special!

[Steven]

Excellent set - magnificent.

Regarding the 'heartbreak', Nimrod XV239 was also lost with all crew:-

To continue this theme Jaguar XX750 was also lost on 07/02/1984 with the loss of the pilot.

The Sea King XV654 was also written off 21/07/1993 - although this time, thankfully without any loss of crew.

Seems a rather unlucky bunch of airframes present at St. Mawgan in 1976!

[MikeH]

Some of the 'also rans' and a bit of repetition, subject matter wise:-

P-3B-StMawgan-153414-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Etendard-IVM-StMawgan-51-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Paris-StMawgan-40-3-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Paris-StMawgan-40-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

C-131F-StMawgan-141023-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Nimrod-StMawgan-XV252-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Sandringham-StMawgan-VP-LVE-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Sandringham-StMawgan-VP-LVE-3-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Sandringham-StMawgan-VP-LVE-4-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Shackleton-StMawgan-WR965-3-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Vulcan-StMawgan-XL427-3-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Vulcan-StMawgan-XL427-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Vulcan-StMawgan-XL360-3-04AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Canberra-StMawgan-WK118-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

C-130-StMawgan-XV291-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Atlantic-StMawgan-258-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Buccaneer-StMawgan-XV342-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Buccaneer-StMawgan-XV334-2-04AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

[paulh]

Nothing repetitive about the 2nd batch of photos Michael!!
Another thank you for posting from a Golden Era.

Paul

[Petepilot]

The fluffy Bucc is a great shot!

[greatdog]

Great set of images and a wonderful step back in time.I served at St Mawgan as any Airframe Tech on Nimrods 1984-1991 so I remember the Air Days of the 80s and the buildings in the background!

[paddyboy]

Also rans

No way, Jose

Another cracking set, Michael

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post them

Paddyboy

[elderforest]

Great quality scans Mike. Looked a great show.

[F3]

Some superb pics there from back in the days of great airshows. Particularly liking the resident Canberra TT.18s, the Firebird Toom in original camo and that (almost) vertical Lightning which was the only a/c capable of a vertical departure before the F-15. Oh yes - and the fast pass by that Brick in the 2nd set! One of best Bucc shots I've ever seen.

[SW Sky Blue]

Brilliant set

[herbert]

Brilliant. They look like they could have been taken yesterday. With a DSLR!

[Supra]

Great to see these additions. Somehow missed the fact first time around that the 'old & new' MPA from Valkenberg were both represented by the Neptune & Atlantic together. Also, your reminder that Nimrod XV239 perished in the Lake Ontario incident had me scampering to find my Logbook to reveal it was XV235 that I had flown. That one was last noted as a preserved nose section at Woodford following an IFE that resulted in it being scrapped at Kinloss.
The 3-ship of Canberra's stirred memories too? I'm aware the 'Green Marrows' were a Wyton incarnation of 4 x Canberra's from circa 1984 through to 1989, but I have the vague recollection that a flight of 4 x 7 Sqn TT.18's did a display at the St Mawgan IAD one year. Can't seem to verify that isn't my imagination?

[capercaillie]

Wonderful stuff, all so clean and with proud squadron markings, colour and variation.

I must say though the toilet facilities behind the first German Gina shot are so much better than what is offered these days!

[Knife 04]

Great subject matter and scans Michael - thanks for posting

Can remember spending family holidays as a kid in Crantock across the bay and watching the Nimrod circuit bashing at St Mawgan!

[MikeH]

I must say though the toilet facilities behind the first German Gina shot are so much better than what is offered these days!

The Fire Station?