March 11, 1971. Laarbruch

[Keflavik69]

Early 1971 I went together with the late Hans de Ree to Laarbruch to see if we could photograph the aircraft during a very cold winterday. It turned out to be a very narrow, limited view in the westwind approach. All in all a difficult airfield for photographing because on the other side of the base the presence of photographers was not appreciated at all as you were very close to the Bloodhound missiles.

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra WJ768 51sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra WJ879 fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra WT341 16sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra WT346 fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra WT347 3sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra XH583 fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra XM244 3 sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra XM262 16sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra XM263 16sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra XM264 fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Canberra XM277 3sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Buccaneer XW527 15sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Buccaneer XW528 15sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

Laarbruch 11 March 1971. Buccaneer XW530 15sqdn fc by arnold booy, on Flickr

I hope you found these pictures of interest.
Kind regards,
Arnold

[Precinct7]

thanks you Arnold, a wonderful set of Canberra shot,s
a great looking aircraft, the German based aircraft were never a common sight in the UK

[Punkrunner62]

Great to see a selection of Canberra images and all high quality black and white, always a fine medium in my opinion, thanks Arnold.
Cheers.

[roughcutter]

the presence of photographers was not appreciated at all as you were very close to the Bloodhound missiles.

Er, there was a cold war going on Arnold But all credit to you bud, Fortune favours the bold! Fantastic set of images, thanks for sharing them with us.

[Rick]

Wow, look at those gorgeous Canberras. Super quality

[F3]

Excellent, as always, Arnold; esp liking WT347 in 3 Sqn mks. Those with the black fuselage band will be 16 Sqn. Also those must be the first Buccs to arrive @ Laarbruch.

[Vulcanone]

Excellent shots Arnold, more please...

By the end of 1972 they had all gone...

All initally stored at St Athan, some were purchased by Marshalls of Cambridge however. And refurbished for onward sale to Peru.

Some may even survive out there today, although after a long time use as decoys, they scrapped a fair number a few years back.

[teeonefixer]

Fantastic shots Arnold!

[paddyboy]

What a fabulous set, Arnold

Made all the better for being b/w, imho

Always loved the Canberra displays back in the 60’s and 70’s (far too few)

Got to be the B(I)8 shots for me

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

[Mustang531]

Thanks Arnold, Canberra Heaven, I've really enjoyed looking at this wonderful selection of shots. Living near Biggin Hill, we really only had the At Home Day each September to see a good selection of RAF types. I do remember seeing a Canberra B(I).8 in the static display a couple of times. After retirement, WT346 was allocated to the RAF Museum and arrived at Colerne for display there, before later moving to Cosford. Then later sold off and shipped out to New Zealand. I believe it's still in deep storage there. The last one in the UK was WT339, which lingered on the dump at Barkston Heath, but had expired a few years ago. But at least there's still one in Germany. Thanks for sharing these with us.

[ridgmeister]

Another great selection!
Thank you for sharing your images, I really enjoy seeing them.
Cheers,
Paul

[Vulcanone]

Mustang531 The RNZAF museum has loaned the B(I).8 out to another museum in NZ, its inside, and slowly being restored. As for WT339... Its still there!

As for other B(I).8s WT333 at Bruntingthorpe still is technically a B(I).8 ! Despite the RAE Nose job

[Rick]

Mustang531 The RNZAF museum has loaned the B(I).8 out to another museum in NZ, its inside, and slowly being restored. As for WT339... Its still there!

As for other B(I).8s WT333 at Bruntingthorpe still is technically a B(I).8 ! Despite the RAE Nose job

.

Sorry to hijack this thread but some great progress has been made on WT346 in New Zealand https://nzwarbirds.org.nz/association/c ... storation/

[Blue Diamond]

Thanks for sharing all those lovely Canberras.

[32FIS]

Very nice Arnold,
Groeten Ton van Schaik

[xkekeith]

Another excellent post, WJ768 was a B.6(mod) and served with 51 Squadron, who operated detachments at Laarbruch.

[Vulcanone]

Mustang531 The RNZAF museum has loaned the B(I).8 out to another museum in NZ, its inside, and slowly being restored. As for WT339... Its still there!

As for other B(I).8s WT333 at Bruntingthorpe still is technically a B(I).8 ! Despite the RAE Nose job

.

Sorry to hijack this thread but some great progress has been made on WT346 in New Zealand https://nzwarbirds.org.nz/association/c ... storation/

Thanks Rick, Its finally getting some TLC.

[Petepilot]

Brilliant post Arnold, as we have come to expect (I get excited on seeing your posts, even before I have opened them! )
Many thanks for sharing, and as always, more please!

[Sparts99]

I was at ATC camp there a few years later when XV and 16 Sqns had Buccaneers, 2 Sqn Jaguars. One evening we went for a walk to look at the decoy Canberras, that didn't go down well.