RAF Sculthorpe May 8th 1976.

[MikeH]

In May 1976 the USAF held a small 'open house' at RAF Sculthorpe to enable enthusiasts and locals to see the F-100s that had recently arrived on base from France which were returned as part of the 'Lend Lease' agreement. Most of the airframes ended up in museums but a few were scrapped.

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42128-2-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42128-3-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42128-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42146-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42152-2-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42152-3-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42152-4-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42152-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42165-2-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42165-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42169-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42212-2-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42212-3-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42212-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42248-2-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42248-3-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42248-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42249-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42254-2-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42254-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42254-Line-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42272-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-100D-Sculthorpe-42272-Tail-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

[Nighthawke]

Fabulous post. I lived within sight of Sculthorpe but know nothing about this when I was growing up. Just before i started taking a real interest in aircraft. Great to see and really good quality too. Many thanks for posting.

[david14]

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting

[Fibrous Freddie]

Fabulous, just fabulous... I'd just passed my driving test and this was one of my first solo expeditions... (only from Norwich!)
Sculthorpe certainly had its moments.
These are such good images.
I have no photos so these are provoking splendid memories.
Thanks so much.
Freddie

[Tanker Ray]

Wow, what a great post! Those F-100s look well used and the detail is fabulous for modellers. Considering these images are getting on for 50 years old they are great quality and the scanning is exceptional. Out of interest what scanner and/or post processing do you use?

TR

[roughcutter]

What a fantastic post, excellent scans of great subject at a very rarely covered location (did the T-33's also end up at Sculthorpe?). Thanks for sharing them with us.

[Mustang531]

Thanks for sharing these, very interesting to see them. I note the one that went to Duxford, believe it was the first one to escape, but no idea where it is now. I note the sprayed on figures on one example, I was told that this represented the number of airframe hours left. Can anyone confirm if this was correct?

[MikeH]

Out of interest what scanner and/or post processing do you use?

These were scanned years ago (1998!) on a Nikon Coolscan 500 and 'resurrected' using the latest version of Photoshop. They could do with a re-scan as the latest scanning software using the Plustek 8200 I purchased gives noticeably better results.(The Coolscan isn't compatible with a modern Mac, being SCSI, )
This lone Mystere IVA was also there but was subsequently scrapped.

Mystere-IVA-Sculthorpe-295-08MY76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

[dragonchaser]

What an excellent post from this pretty much gone but not forgotten base.

[Weazel69]

Nice One's Michael - A LUVVLY Collection

[F3]

The Sculthorpe park of returned airframes was legendary among aircraft enthusiasts. I only ever got to see them at a distance, from the boundary, so great to see them in close up at last.

[f-4]

I was there! No camera though and just a spotty 14 year old. Thanks to my late father who took me.

[binbrook87]

They're fantastic shots! But boy the French didn't look after those airframes did they?

[Ridge Runner]

Fabulous. Most of us, I guess, remember these. A wonderful set of images! . We just need some shots of the Norwegian F-104s

Martin

[SW Sky Blue]

Excellent

[eLaReF]

I wasn't at this particular open-day, but had several visits between '76 & '78
I won't hijack this post with mine, but see https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaref/al ... 249447254/
P.S. I stayed with B&W for a long time, so those were from my B&W period and it is good to see them in colour on a bright day!

[MikeH]

I wasn't at this particular open-day, but had several visits between '76 & '78

I only made the one visit but looks like you managed a bit more variety.

[Vulture 01]

Sculthorpe hosted a lot of old MDAP airframes in the later '70's. Rumour at the time was that USAF pilots refused to fly them as they were so 'well used', as you can see from the pictures.
Superb images and a goodly mix of colour schemes too. Whilst most are French European, I think at least one or two had ben in Djibouti, hence the severe weathering of the paint.

They also processed T33's as well. Some of these, and, I think, the F100's went to Turkey (?) All the Mystere 4's you see in UK museums came from here.

[Ridge Runner]

Sculthorpe hosted a lot of old MDAP airframes in the later '70's. Rumour at the time was that USAF pilots refused to fly them as they were so 'well used', as you can see from the pictures.
Superb images and a goodly mix of colour schemes too. Whilst most are French European, I think at least one or two had ben in Djibouti, hence the severe weathering of the paint.

They also processed T33's as well. Some of these, and, I think, the F100's went to Turkey (?) All the Mystere 4's you see in UK museums came from here.

I think - and happy to be corrected - the F-100s that went to Turkey were ex-Danish. They went to Turkey from Sculthorpe via Aviano. These French machines went on to litter a number of UK "museums", as did some of the T-33s and Mystere IVAs. The other Turkey bound group were the ex-Norwegian F-104s that also staged through Sculthorpe. I remember being on the JFK in the Solent in October 1976 and the rumour then was that there was a batch of Skyraiders due through Sculthorpe but, of course, that was just wishful thinking .

Martin

[3Greens]

Great set Michael
I remember the day very well. It was great to see these 'exotic' jets and I got to sit in the 42169 11-EH - thankfully not a soul around it at the time.
I had noted a few weeks before on 25th April 1976 42203 11-MW in camo was already in the fire training area at Alconbury, and I also have a note that 42269 11-ER went to Lakenheath. It was lined up to be the gate guardian repainted in USAF 48th TFW marks
Thanks very much for posting thoroughly enjoyed seeing these again.
Hope you don't mind I've added these shots





thanks again
Keith (3Greens)