So what got you into our fine hobby?

[Bucky P]

I grew up in Abingdon and was taken to the airshow from a very young age, I think my first show was the 1968 Royal Review but don't remember it! I was always looking at aircraft flying around and could see Brize approach from my bedroom window! I suppose I just kind of grew up with aircraft around me and took an interest in them!

[NAM Updater]

A life long interest in aviation stemmed from my early school days in Newark and was firmly established when I became a member of the Newark Air Museum in 1973. I have been trustee at the museum for nearly 30 years.

Long gone are the days of going out to help dismantle and move aircraft; although I did remove a few panels on the Viggen!

A couple of my museum highlights [so far] would be back in 1983 helping to arrange the Vulcan delivery – the largest aircraft flown into Winthorpe and the only one at the time to go into a non-licensed airfield; plus helping to secure a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £453,000 for the second display hangar on the Southfield Site.

Since February 2003 I have been working on a self employed basis in marketing and promotions trading as Down To Earth Promotions; (I was working at Farnborough last week). During this time I have done some freelance aviation writing with a range of articles and photographs published around the world.

[Mike]

I did a tracing of an aircraft, when I was very young. It was a Lockheed XF90, I'm sure.. I thought how beautiful it was, and was fascinated about the whys and wherefores of all aspects of flying ever since. My Father was a Submariner, but it was always the air for me. The ATC, then Gliding, Skydiving, PPL, world travel to video Lightnings etc... Being a lot older than most of you [68 nearly] there was much to see, more so than now, but it was that first tracing that did it.!
Hi to everybody who was with the old FC .

It's really nice to hear from you again and welcome back from us all.

[GlennP]

Hi,

For me, and a bit like Goose, we lived right under the flightpath to Binbrook so always had Lightnings and everything else that went into there come over the house.

I can remember sat in the house and glancing out the front window when the F-111's were on their way in as their lights were so bright (even brighter when they were in pairs!) and also the drone of the Shackletons as they went over ( you could here them coming for miles).

Sometimes, when the wind was right, you could hear a distant rumble then about 2-3 mins later the Lightnings used to fly over really high on their way out over the coast

My late grandad used to take me to Binbrook on the back of his motorbike in the school holidays and sometimes after school. I can remember the first time he took me and it was when the 1st Lightnings were going into the new lighter grey colour schemes, one looked so clean ( XR770) that i thought that it was new!
It was these 2 things that really got me into aircraft i guess

When you think back its regrettable that things like that were taken for granted as you thought then that the place would never close and that the noise you heard outside in the sky "was just another pair of Lightnings".........it did seem strange when the place did shut, so quiet apart from the sound of the choppers out of Humberside going to and from the rigs........

Interesting topic

Regards

Glenn

[Sheff]

I blame my obsession squarely on my older brother. His assortment of Airfix and Frog kits and the odd picture on the bedroom wall got me interested and the annual pilgrimage to Finningley's air show was enough to get me hooked. First time I went I was still in a pram! The four-Vulcan scramble was always the highlight of my year when I was a kid. We also spent our annual holidays at Mablethorpe back then (this is about 1970) so I became accustomed to seeing Varsities lumbering overhead on their way into Strubby, and various combat types running-in over the sea front towards the bombing range at Theddlethorpe (which I visited two days ago oddly enough - nothing left but sand, sadly). Then one year my father graciously drove us up to Strubby to watch the Varsities and Dominies pounding the circuit. If you've ever seen and heard a Varsity chugging and squealing along a perimeter track you'll know what a seminal experience that can be! The Macaws aerobatic team (from nearby Manby) were an added bonus. So that was it - I was hooked before I even became a teenager.

I started taking photographs fairly seriously in the late 1970's when I finally saved enough cash for a Practica camera, and then I bought my first Canon (AE-1) in 1979 when I left school. By that time we'd started holidaying at Tregurrian, right under St.Mawgan's approach. They were the best times of my life, just sat there all day, watching the planes come and go. Everyone else was off to the beach or out in cars but I was happy just sitting there surrounded by Nimrods and Canberras, plus the countless visitors. Funny how in those days you could get really annoyed if nothing happened for more than ten minutes - these days you'd be happy if anything happened over a whole day!

The flying bug started sometime around 1980 when a friend saw pleasure flights being advertised at Humberside airport. The aircraft was a C-47 (G-AMPO which is now on display at Lyneham) and that was my first flight - a real thrill. I started sending-off photos to Aircraft Illustrated and they published a few in the airshow section now and again, and this encouraged me to start contributing to magazines and things just developed from there. Next thing I knew, I was getting rides in all the lovely aircraft which I'd admired for years, so I count myself very lucky not only for the opportunities, but also for being the right age to have been around at the same time as all the great aircraft. I got bored with the photography business when all the "real" aircraft disappeared and the internet flourished. With so many outstanding pictures available on the web (quite a few of them on this site!) I concluded that I was just as happy looking at other people's pictures without having to go take them all myself. Having said that it's still great fun to see and hear aircraft up close, although I rarely see any these days. I was particularly pleased to enjoy breakfast at my inlaws' house on Wednesday, perched next to the coast just north of Mablethorpe. The USAF kindly turned-up with four F-15E's (using Donna Nook) which proceeded to entertain me for some time. First decent planes I'd seen in more than a year so that was nice!

[vix]

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

Lucky girl, I have to drag my husband kicking and screaming! Fortunately I can send him off to work at the moment and then merrily go where I want

[MKR]

It started when i made my first model kit [ a Hunter ], aged about 7 ,then about 1974 i started buying Airfix magazine and found the articles on the real aircraft as interesting as the modelling ones .In the hot summer of 1976 I went to my first airshow at Paull near Hull ,the first aircraft I saw was the Beverley in which the public were allowed inside.The highlight of the flying display for me was the Lightning ,the noise was unbelieveable and the climb at the end was amazing.Then I started going to more displays such as Church Fenton,Coningsby ,Waddington and so on.I have also been to a few foreign shows [ Cambrai,Nancy-Ochey ,Stans ,Dijon] but nowadays I just get to Waddington ,occasional airfield and museum trips.I still have to go outside when I hear an aircraft noise ,much to the amusement of my wife and two children
Mike

[andyxh558]

In 1976 I was 4, and my Auntie worked for BA and BEA before they merged with boac. the had an open day at the BA hangar at Manchester airport, I was hooked!!! and then a week later I used to go to the back of the airport to see the aircraft and a Vulcan landed, and an hour later another one landed!!! I was facinated by them and was a vulcan addict from that day on. The rest as they say is history!!!

[TankBuster]

For me the hobby started with a trip to Mildenhall Air Fete in the mid 80's. My Dad took me for a day out on a coach trip & I have been hooked ever since. Shortly after that visit Airfix started to get a lot of business out of my pocket money!

I'm glad my aviation interest started in the 1980's as I was fortunate enough to enjoy the sights & sounds of the classic cold war aircraft that are no longer operational in the UK, such as the Lightnings, Phantoms, Buccaneers, SR-71, Shackleton, F-111, Victor etc, all these aircraft were at that very first Air Fete (I even got to see an F-14 display at one Air Fete too, so I consider myself very fortunate to have seen that).

Following my Air Fete visits I also visited the local airshows at Bentwaters, Wattisham & Lakeheath & also started to take a deep interest in the history of the USAFE units in England, in particular the cold war era & the history of the 81st TFW at Bentwaters & Woodbridge (which I am completely fascinated by). I like visiting the now closed USAF bases in East Anglia & often find myself staring into the distance with the rose tited spectacles.

Times have certainly changed, and I make the most of enjoying the military aircraft which are based in the UK today, as one day they too will be confined to the history books.

TankBuster

[M.M.I.2006]

I spose for me it was my dads best friend who was in the Fleet Air Arm back in the late 70,s early 80,s.He,s since retired after making the rank of Fleet Chief and was in his later career Based in Cornwall,Redruth or Helston i cant quite remember which.Anyways it all started when i was about 12 years old when he sneaked me onboard HMS Ark Royal for a look around and got sit in a Harrier while they tested the radio.Was hooked on military aircraft ever since.Only recently have begun to get into the photography side of this hobby but i,m makin more and more time to practise these days.

Paul.

[flyingslug_0]

I've been a fan since I was a small boy. we moved out of London and lived in , Farnborough I remember starting infants school in September I was 4ish (1970) and the airshow was on, I remember being told off for looking out the window during class and my teacher telling me to decide what was more important the class or the aeroplanes, so I turned my chair towards the window Been hooked ever since

[HighlandSniper]

I remember being told off for looking out the window during class and my teacher telling me to decide what was more important the class or the aeroplanes, so I turned my chair towards the window Been hooked ever since

Priceless! I've got the feeling that wouldn't have gone down too well with the teacher.

[graham luxton]

The first aircraft I can remember seeing is a Boeing Stratocruiser in the mid fifties. My class at junior school had a tour of BOAC at Heathrow and looking over the "Strat" was the highlight of the visit.
At the age of ten I started to notice shiny six jet bombers trailing parachutes flying low over the house which I discovered were B-47's on approach to Greenham Common. In 1959 a family trip to the base got me started on my spotting career and obsession with USAF aircraft when I noted 6 B-47's on alert.
During Greenham's SAC years I lived in Reading which was under the approach path to its Runway 29. I frequently got into trouble at school for looking out of the class window at various types on approach rather than paying attention to what was being taught! From Greenham things snowballed, Brize, Heyford, Fairford, Alconbury ....... we were spoilt for choice in those days.

Here's an example of a good day at Greenham:
Tues 16 April '63 Rwy 29 in use
B-47E 20258/r ex 305BW derelict West end, arr May'59 and salvaged early '64.
32134/g ex 307BW derelict South side,crashed here 5 Feb'63 and salvaged early '64.
31843, 31845, 31905, 31906, 31911, 31958, 32353, 32416, 34227, 34236, 36244 + one. All with a green horizontal fin stripe, 307BW Lincoln, Nebr. 3 of these arrived. The 307BW maintained an alert force of 9 B-47's here with each bomber normally scheduled for 21 days ground alert then rotation.
3 B-47's normally arrived from Lincoln on a Tuesday, were then placed on alert which allowed the 3 aircraft they were replacing to return to Lincoln the following morning.
* Dayglo areas
B-47E 20448/448 3920CSG multiple overshoots
KC-97G 30285/g * 100BW 100 AREFS "Start Team" alert
KC-135A 71483 * 11SAW arrived, 10305 19BW, named "Southern Oasis", arrived
C-124C 0-20975 * 3079 Air Depot Wing 19 LSS AFLC arrived
C-130A 50017/017 317 ABG 322 AD departed
C-54D 0-72488 * 3918CSG multiple overshoots and t/go's
C-54G 0-50560 3918CSG multiple overshoots and t/go's
F-101 X 2 81TFW multiple pairs overshoots

A good reason to continue spotting I think !
Graham.

[DaveChapman]

Living under Binbrooks flightpath seems to have got a few of us into this hobby,the constant stream of aircraft in and out the base,3 ship of lightnings bringing in a starfighter,Those F111s,Vulcans,an endless list .With my dad having an interest we used to go as kids and sit on the end of the runways at Binbrook,Scampton etc and also get taken to airshows at Binbrook,Kirmington and others also always a highlight of any school holidays was nipping down to Donna and watching those A10s,once youve heard that gun go you never forget it .We were spoilt.

[Typhoon73]

Red arrows once at RAF LoO, we popped down there and there they were AMAZING!

[MELVYN]

Like others looking out of the classroom window at Vincent Thompson school in Exeter in the mid to late 50s,watching Balliols and Mosquitoes of 3CAACU.School was only a couple of miles from the airport.

[Sheff]

Speaking of schools and teachers, I fondly remember a school report in which one teacher wrote "Tim would fare much better if he spent less time talking and thinking about the RAF." Instinctively, I always wanted to laugh at this but I suppose in reality he was probably right. If I'd spent more time thinking about other subjects I'd probably have a decent bank balance by now!

airshows at Binbrook,Kirmington

Blimey, I'd forgotten all about the shows at Kirmington, that was a long time ago! I seem to recall a Torrejon F-16 in the flying display...

[MacksAviation]

"Tim would fare much better if he spent less time talking and thinking about the RAF."

Did you join the RAF after all that ?

[neilf92]

Growing up in Yorkshire near Driffield -late forties early fifties - hearing an all white Spitfire roar just over our bungalow - dropping into view through the bay window , ruffling the ripe corn as he levelled out and flew away.
My Dad pointing out the new jets and hearing that funny hooning noise in the sky . Then a move to Scotland and low level F100's , F101's , RB66's , Scimitars , Hunters and high overhead the contrails of Leuchars Javelins running PI curve pursuits . A steady trail of Vulcans and Victors heading North at altitude interspersed with the occasional Oxford and regular Ansons droning past .
Great days and I was hooked from about age four .

[sjnovis]

Speaking of Schools also, I remeber being in Junior School; in Eastbourne; and one luch time the Red Arrows were displaying somewhere in the town.

This was when they were flying the Gnat, the school wasn't directly near the dispaly but we had many positioning passes and I remember them being very fast and very low.

I remember that once they had gone, we were all running around with our arms swept back like wings, being red arrows.

34 years later and I still feel like doing it