So what got you into our fine hobby?

[GOOSE]

So what got you into our fine hobby?


There are many ways and triggers to get into our fine hobby.

Me, it was living under the flightpath into Binbrook for 17 years and therefore growing up with Lightnings?

What lit the fire for you?


I'd be interested to know and so too, I'm sure, would be your friends on Fighter Control

[HighlandSniper]

Well - I spent the early part of my childhood in south Oxfordshire, fairly close to RAF Abingdon and grew up with the sight/sound of Hastings, Beverly, Argosy and later on Hercules, Brittania, Belfast and Vc10 aircraft. My first air display was a Battle of Britain day at Abingdon in 1966 or 67, and remember well the RAF 50 years display at Abingdon in 1968. Then there was watching para-drops at Weston on the Green and Abingdon.

This, coupled with family holidays here in Moray, with memories of Shackletons at Kinloss, plus RN Vampires, Venoms, Hunters, Sea Prices, Gannets, piston Whirlwinds, Sea Vixens, Scimitars and Bucaneers etc. at Lossie.

Oh and there were occasional trips to Upper Heyford to see the F-100s and later F-4s and subsequently F-111s. Of course this always brought sightings of HH-43, C-54, C-118, T-29 and even C-124/C-133 etc.

Yes, I got hooked on military aircraft early on, it's not difficult to see why.

[onemac]

Not looking forward to going to school at the ripe old age of (almost) five, the male parent bribed me into going to the 1960 air day at HMS Fulmar Hooked from that age I've always kept my interest up although it did wane for a while. Family seemed to arrive before I expected it to coupled with the dslr explosion and I was right back in there. It's fair to say I'm now obsessed

Al

[RichC]

When i was three years old, a jet came over my house low level and scared the living daylights out of me, i ran inside crying my eyes out. Came out and cried again cause the jet had gone and i wanted to see it again. Since then, i was taken to airshows (Exeter mainly along with Chivenor and Yeovilton). Spiralled out of control since then i suppose.

[MacksAviation]

Well.....

Moved to Lincolnshire at the age of 11, school was located 150mtrs from the seafront and that seafront had these strange aircraft flying along it to the range at Donna Nook, prior to that living near Stansted (when it was little more than a flying club) I hadn't had any exposure to real aviation. Being in Lincolnshire and being inquisitive led to reading books about Bomber County and investigating what those aircraft were flying along the coast. I used to bike a 30 mile round trip to Donna Nook in the school holidays to watch the aircraft which turned out to be F-111's, A-10's and shed loads of RAF + NATO aircraft during exercises

Joined the ATC and started going to airshows (Finningley, Binbrook, Coningsby, Alconbury and Mildenhall) got into the classic spotting taking numbers etc but discovered photography and since then have only 'ticked' off numbers of aircraft I have actually photographed and are good enough to appear in an album !! Binbrook was our ATC squadrons parent station and that's where the love of Lightnings started and continues to this day. Miss the NATO exercises of the mid to late 80's in Lincolnshire that's for sure.

Bizarrely I am now back living near Stansted 30 years later and I'm sick of Ryan Air and Easyjet don't see too many Mili aircraft here hence you often find me at Mildenhall

[mr stihl]

The F-111s done the trick when i was a kid and my parents pushing me outside every time one flew over. Went to a few airshows/opendays (Sculthorpe/Lakenheath/Mildenhall). I remember seeing the F-111 which crashed at Binham in the early 90s i was only about 4 miles away it was definatly a strange thing to see as a 7 year old. Also used to spend alot of time up at Sculthorpe before it closed .

[viper3111]

I was brought up by my aunt and uncle as my parents split up when I was very young. It was my uncle that got me into aircraft as he was one of the first volunteers at duxford when it became a museum with the duxford aviation society. It was also him who got me into model building (so it all his fault ) My Dad used to work for marshals aerospace and did work on snoopy and various other types that popped in there. So Ive had aircaft in my life from a very young age. I then joined the ATC 104sqn city of cambridge and trained at CRC doing aero engineering.

Ive got some very good memories with aircraft so I just enjoy them

So thats about it

[Flyingmonster]

With me I have always been into them. My Grandad was in the Airforce and My Dad flew Helicopters in the Army. My Dad introduced me to Airshows at a very early age. I used to only get to the show at Leuchars but now I get to many more and love every second of them! All I have wanted to do in Life is fly Fast Jets and one day I hope to fly in the RAF. I love everything to do with aviation... Spotting, Photography, Scanners, Books, models! I am aslo a Corporal in the ATC which has added further levels to my love of Aviation. I will forever be looking skywards!!! This is the best Hobby in the world!! Not only the Planes but the people you meet!!! Onwards and Upwards!!

[PR9]

My uncle took me to Finningley as a nipper. After coming home with big red binocular shaped circles round my eyes I was hooked.
Remember him being excited at JP coming in (they were being phased out at the time) and then realising afterwards that he had forgotten to put film in his camera.

[Figure8]

Well I can remember as a young lad being enthralled by the many aircraft kits one could see in the model shops and Woolworths. I was originally given many completed ones by older boys in the neighbourhood and this really got me started in earnest.

I started bulding my own kits and read up about the planes in magazines and books. I was also given a little book called the Dumpy Pocket Book of Aircraft and a few other recognition books and I remember having an avid interest in all things aeronautical.

Eventually I started to become more interested in military aircraft especially post war and cold war jets and the appetite grew when I used to watch Hunters from Chivenor making their way into Wales over the hills near my home in Swansea. I also watched Vulcans which used to do mock raids on Port Talbot steelworks, Who wouldn't be impressed by that sort of experience?

I then started going to airshows, my first one at Swansea airport and then onto St Athan and Brawdy for the famous RAF "At Home" days. I have always maintained an interest despite this part of the world having a dearth of military airfields. I didn't get my first scanner until about 15 years ago but that was an eye opener and gave a whole new dimension to the hobby. I regularly go walking in the hills around these parts and used to see many low level sorties but these are getting fewer and far between, so my other regular haunt is Pembrey range where I can combine a bit of walking, cycling and spotting. I have never been a numbers man i just enjoy the thrill of seeing aircraft. I am 55yrs old now and I am still like a boy when it comes to aviation.

[hertsman]

Can't ever remember not being interested in aircraft. I'm guessing therefore that it was either triggered by being allowed, as a very small boy, to stay up late to watch a programme called 'War in the Air' or from early comics and books that had hero's such as 'Braddock, VC' or 'Biggles'.

The War in the Air programme was about WWII aerial fighting and bombing. It would have been the 1950's so WWII was still fresh in the memory of all adults then, including my father who had been in the army in Burma. Seeing film of sticks of bombs drop from aircraft, I was intrigued as to how the bombs were held inside the planes. My father told me they were held in by elastic bands. Too young to recognise a leg pull, I carried on believing that until... well it must have been only a couple of years ago when I looked in the bomb bay of the Vulcan at Duxford. It's too late to have it out with him now, but I guess, after some of the things he saw in Burma, I would probably cut him a bit of slack.

Just realised that my reminiscences would provoke an invasion by a whole posse of social services and enforcement agencies were it to happen today. Still it never did me any harm, as most of my therapists of would probably confirm.

A rambling way of saying 'a life-long enthusiast, but don't remember how it started'.

hertsman

[Blackcat1]

I dont remember a time when i wasnt interested in aviation. My grandfather who is sadly no longer with us was a mechanical engineer in the RAF and worked on the Concorde and always had interesting stories to tell. My dad was in the RAF, i spent the first few years of my life living at the end of the runway at RAF St Athan, i remember Vulcans and Lightnings flying over my house at 100 feet ah nostalgia! But it was my uncle who got me into aircraft taking me to the St Athan air day since i was about 2-3 years old. Of course my interest in aircraft grew, so started to travel further, to Fairford, Mildenhall, Lakenheath, Coningsby, Waddington for ACMI, Coltishall and even France a few years ago. Always wanted to be a fast jet pilot but that wasnt to be, i know its not the same by any means! but i started to take flying lessons when i was in my late teens in the old Piper Tomahawk, got 15 hours on that type but taht got too expensive so i had to give it up sadly.

As i got older my hobby turned to obsession lol, taking down logs, serials etc all thanks to my mate Mervyn Thomas, im sure some of you know him, he used to be well known in the spotting community.

I visit the Usk valley in my local low fly area once a week and seeing a Tornado GR4 or Harrier fly at 250 feet and 500 mph never ceases to amaze me . it's a great hobby and you get to meet many good people in pursuing it.

Long may it continue!!

[vix]

My dad was into photography and my mum into scanners, so a lot of my early memories are of sitting in our 1958 Landrover at various airports and bases. I grew up in Wakefield, West yorks so used to frequent 'Leeds Bradford' airport - when you used to be able to park on this mass expanse of wasteland overlooking the runway - I bet that's all industrial estate or something now! Used to go see Concorde every time it visited.

We used to plan our holidays around air bases, Coltishall was our favourite, as we could visit the Hall and the Heath too.

I sort of lost interest in my teenage years (it's not a particularly accepted thing to be a female spotter) but since not caring what people think, I've been back into it for a while! The man I'm now married to lives in Norfolk, so I moved here 5 years ago, shame Coltishall is shut, but fortunately I live on an active Eagle flightpath and not so far from the USAF bases. I love the way the F15s make me grin every time they take off or land, and the smoke trails out the back of a C130 - another frequent visitor to the top of my house!

[Sparts99]

For me it was my dad who flew in the RAF during WWII, North Africa and Italy in Baltimores and Bostons, the stories he told me were by turn fascinating, funny, tragic, and outrageous. He used to take me to Biggin Hill Air Fairs and BoB at Home days until I was old enough to go on my own. His last flight in the RAF was in a Mosquito, 1946 from Aden, T3 RR299 that BAe displayed until it was lost at Barton. Coupled with that an older brother who still has the bug and has a notable collection of artifacts including a Javelin nose section. My favourite part of aviation is british military from about 1941 to the mid seventies.

[Blackcat1]

Vix nothing wrong with ladies being interested in aircraft, there was a young blonde woman at Fairford departures, she had a bigger camera lens than her boyfriend!! lol

[sjnovis]

For me it began because my friends dad was a Plane enthusiast and he took us to the Farnborough Airshow, it would have been in the mid 70s.
I do not remember a huge amount about it, but I am sure there was a SR71 black bird, I remember nearly getting lost because as we were walking through the crowds, I was looking up at the flyers, rather than where we were going and lost track of our party.
Nothing changes, I am forever bumping into people if I here a plane when walking in the street, I find it impossible not to look for it.

[Jez]

The hot chicks obviously. Oh hang on....that doesn't seem right. No idea then.

[BennyBoy]

I was a very late starter at 46yrs old......Had no interest whatsoever in aircraft until a couple of years ago....

In 2008 we took the kids to Woodhall Spa for an holiday....While there someone suggested the BBMF Museum
So off we went and had a good time.... ...
Afterwards we drove up Dogdyke lane and saw the burger van in the car-park, So we stopped off for a snack....
A Tornado taxied along to the runway (we went to the fence for a closer look)....

AND THEN IT HAPPENED....... IT TOOK OFF
It was the most awe inspiring display of power that I had ever seen - I was shaking with excitement like little kid at christmas

That was it ... I was well and truly hooked
I now have a vast amount of books / magazines / DVD's... 4 sets of binoculars / a scanner.... and lots of other aviation items

But what makes my wife smile the most is...Whenever I hear an aircraft....I immediately run outside to see what it is (Usually it is only a dot in the sky...but that doesnt matter)

But I can tell you something....I love every minute of this hobby...it is great
And so are all the other enthusiasts I have met so far


Regards

Bennyboy

(Going to Lakenheath & Mildenhall for the 1st time in a couple of weeks.... cant wait )

[Newcastle_Paul]

This is an interesting thread!

I've had my interest for as long as I can remember because my father served in the RAF. I always planned to join up so spent my teenage years in ATC, building models (I did my work experience at Portprince models in Newark) and some time helping out at NAM. Me and my mate went to as many airshows as our parents would ferry us to.

After failing aircrew selection and realising that there wasn't a jet sat waiting with my name on it, like I'd always assumed, my interest waned. I didn't even turn up to receive a promotion at ATC.

Although I still bought the odd magazine it was another 20 years before my current interest returned. I love standing at the wire watching the activity on an airfield, it really takes me back to my childhood.

I also appreciate how lucky I was growing up in Lincolnshire and just looking up to see so many different aircraft flying over. There's not many better days to be had than sitting at Donna Nook watching A10s.

[Cherokee Rose]

"I also watched Vulcans which used to do mock raids on Port Talbot steelworks, Who wouldn't be impressed by that sort of experience?!" - Wow Figure8 I'm impressed.

Port Talbot is where I grew up and yes I do remember the Vulcan's low level over the Steelworks. Also remember during the late seventies when the B-52's deployed over here during the summer they did the same. Man they were awesome times.

Along with Vix I'm another lady spotter and my background is all down to my Dad and his interest in aviation. He's ex Army and his interest stemmed from there. So from being a small toddler going to Cardiff Airport/St Athan and Swansea Airport airshows and spotting regularly at Cardiff/Saint's, it all developed from there. Started to go to IAT in 1981 been going ever since, add to it the likes of Waddo etc.

I was a member of 499 (Port Talbot) Sqn ATC in 1989 and there I was involved in taking part in aircraft recognition competitions, where I won the Sqn competition and later came third in the National Finals at Hendon.

Now I've moved away from my homeland, due to my job. I live under the approach to Birmingham Airport and Lichfield Corridor (which is great for F-15's transitting through ), with my fiance, Big Windy , who fortunately is into aircraft as well , and is as mad as I am about it all.

Do a little bit of civil spotting now and again, sometimes at Heathrow, Luton or Manchester, but my love will always be with military aircraft. Anything grey/green or has afterburners etc. Nothing beats it.

Also do a bit of aircraft modelling 1:72 scale when I find the time. Helps keep my interest up as I don't get to go spotting as often as I would like.