RAF St Mawgan 1976 *Updated*

[Rivet Chegg]

Here are some shots of the USMC and US Navy routing through St Mawgan during 1976. These shots are being posted on behalf of the late Fred Wearne and were provided by Keith Wallis.













Cheers, Rich

[Arthur Tee]

They're all great - but shot 3 is fantastic!

Arthur

[bigcrow]

Great shots, I presume the taxiway shots are from the crash-gate down the 30 end?

[Twinpin]

Excellent quality post. I have previously posted some VMFA122 F4s at Leuchars about 10 years after yours were taken. Would love to see some more!

[Seahawk 11]

Waw just great, I have not seen any photos for ages of this event, I was lucky enough to have been down there at the time, it was a fantastic few days with Hercules coming and going plus all the others as well,
many thanks for posting these and bringing back some great memories,
Rob

[EGDGZTCW]

Fantastic shots! ...many thanks.

[bertieb]

Thanks for posting these photos. I was 16 then and pleaded with my Dad to drive me up to St Mawgan from Helston on the Saturday afternoon (23.10.76). The weather was pretty murky but I saw my first USMC aircraft, the only Skywarriors I have ever seen, and some 34 visiting aircraft (12 x A6E, 4 x EA6A, 5 x KC3B, 2 x KC130F & 11 F4J) + 6 x 7 Sqdn Canberras and 7 x Nimrods. Amazing - I still reckon this as one of my best days spotting.

[BringBackEGDG]

Hi

Thanks for posting these images, I remember Monday 25th October 1976 as probably one of the highlights of a my 45 years spotting. To witness three waves depart from St Mawgan's runway 31 (St Mawgan's runway 13/31 was 300 foot wide). Waves 1 and 2 consisted of a KA-3B Skywarrior and 4 F-4J Phantom's, Wave 3 consisted of the 3rd KA-3B and the 3 remaining F-4J's. I with many others watched this spectacle from the 13 (Watergate Bay) end. The KA-3B's being fully loaded with fuel seemingly struggled to get airborne and gain any height as they turned left for Lands End leaving a trail of black smoke that hung in the air for what seemed like an age. I remember on a later date being shown photograph's of this spectacle taken by the late Denby Parkin, They where nothing short of brilliant and I can't help but wonder what became of his collection.

My log for that day consisted of:- 3 x KA-3B Skywarrior (USN), 11 x F-4J Phantom II (USMC), 2 x KC-130F Hercules (USMC), 7 x Jaguar GR1, 4 x Hercules C1, CP-107 Argus 2 (Canadian), C-135F Stratotanker (French), Argosy E1, VC-10 C1, Phantom FGR2 and a Hunter T8.

Would love to see more from this deployment if there are any out there?

Steve

[The Phantom]

Excellent Navy action What a difference back then

[airman4207]

Unfortunately being 12 at the time I missed this deployment, but in September 1980 KA-3 "613" returned to St Mawgan, diverting in with another plus 2x DW coded Marine F-4's and a Marine A-6 callsign "Bengal 08" on their way back home from that years Autumn deployment to Europe. St Mawgan also hosted a number of "BH" KC-130's over the same period from VMGR-252. Unfortunately I didn't own a camera at the time but if anyone has photos of that event I love to see them!

[SW Sky Blue]

Nice

[Nick.M]

Great collection!!

Thanks Keith, hope you're well?

[rattler]

RIP Barry Cole - a great contributer to South West Aviation News back in the good times.

Mick F (ex Editor).

[Rivet Chegg]

As requested by some FC members here are some more shots taken by the late Fred Wearne and provided by Keith Wallis, of the US navy and USMC at St Mawgan.

Cheers Rich.

















Cheers Rich

[MarkS]

Thanks for posting Rich , these are great .
I always wondered what happened to Freds photos. He was a super bloke greatly missed .
My uncle (Jeremy Lethbridge ) also has some fantatic shots from this event .I'll have to persuade him to let me scan them !
Cheers,
Mark