RAF Woodbridge Open House 7th August 1976.

[MikeH]

A few scans from the open house at Woodbridge, the unmarked F-4Es were on delivery to units in West Germany:-

B-17G-Woodbridge-44-85784-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

CH-47C-Woodbridge-68-15868-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-4E-Woodbridge-74-1620-07AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-4E-Woodbridge-74-1622-3-07AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-4E-Woodbridge-74-1622-07AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-104G-Woodbridge-FX19-2-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-104G-Woodbridge-FX19-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F4E-Woodbridge-74-1061-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

HC-130N-Woodbridge-69-5826-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

HH-43F-Woodbridge-62-4518-62-4535-07AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

HH-43F-Woodbridge-62-4518-62-4535-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Mirage-5BD-Woodbridge-BD05-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Red-Arrows-Woodbridge-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Whirlwind-Woodbridge-XP394-07AU76 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-4E-Woodbridge-74-1622-4-07AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

Alouette-II-Bees-Woodbridge-07AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

F-4E-Woodbridge-74-1622-2-07AU76-2 by Michael Hall, on Flickr

[Stratocruiser]

GREAT, GREAT, GREAT!
What a fabulous selection of gems and a real blast from the glorious past.
Pics of those lovely 40 ARRS Huskies are not something one sees very often
A great post, so many thanks for sharing your absolutely fabulous captures

[3Greens]

Excellent set and superb scans Michael The TLC of your slides has certainly paid off.
My old mate and I had camped down at Bentwaters from 27th to 29th July in that hot summer of '76 (while making our way down to Greenham Common) and had a ride over to Woodbridge to note the new F-4E's.
We had an unusual experience in that we somehow found ourselves in a queue of cars (of based personnel) and then through a gate onto the base near an area next to one of the pans. A quick note of the F-4's then we made a hasty exit waving as we departed. After many years discussing this we still can't explain quite what happened but we enjoyed it.
We logged 01056, 01057, and 01058 at Bentwaters, with 01620, 01623, 01059, 01060, 01061 and 01062 at Woodbridge.

Bentwaters (at least) had been on a 'MaxEval' with a noticeboard near the engineering buildings on the peri track by the viewing area stating "86 missions Scheduled/Flown" ... jets had been been in and out constantly after refuelling and I guess crew swops.

Really enjoyed looking through these and getting my old note book out. These are all favourites, particularly the Huskies !!

Thanks again for posting
Keith (3Greens )

[Mustang531]

Thanks for sharing these with us, great shots. I never got to a Woodbridge show for some reason. Nice to see the Kaman Huskies, must have been wfu by this time. But 62-4535 still exists, displayed at the Midland Aircraft Museum at Baginton.

[3Greens]

Just a note for interest with regard to these new factory build F-4E. A Dutch publication I purchased in the early 80's ..'Vliegend voor de Vrede - De Amerikaanse luchtmacht in Europa" quotes :-
In 1976 the 32 TFS 'CR' based at Soesterburg, Holland received 23 brand new '74 fiscal batch jets. They were equipped with the Hughes ASX-1 TISEO pod, visible in the left wing root and containing a Vidicon TV camera with zoom lens for better identification of air and ground targets.

nicely visible on 01622

So now you know

3Greens

[herbert]

Fabulous images. The best I have seen of the stored F-4Es.

3Greens story reminded me of experience of my own. When camping from school in Rendlesham Forest as teenager I became hopelessly lost. I decided to climb over the then low fence and walked unchallenged through the base (not near any aircraft) and out the front gate where I knew where I was. I certainly could not have done that a year or two later.

Wasn’t the airshow in August 1976 rather than July? I didn’t go despite living near Woodbridge at the time. My parents probably thought Mildenhall that year was enough.

[MikeH]

Wasn’t the airshow in August 1976 rather than July?

Yes, I’ve now amended the title. I included the date in the filenames as well, so no excuses

[raptor9]

The B.17 in the first shot is, of course, our own 'Sally B'. From it's altitude, it must be Don Bullock flying it. Lost his and other peoples lives doing this.

[MikeH]

From it's altitude, it must be Don Bullock flying it.

I can remember at the time a few colleagues and myself referring to him as “Silly B” - not in affectionate way.

[paddyboy]

An absolutely stunning set of shots, Michael

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

[Knife 04]

Great post - lovely scans and subjects, particularly the HC-130N from the 67th and the Huskies

Thanks for sharing

[B58Hustler]

Take me back in time!
Thank you.

[Petepilot]

Great pics, those F-4s look almost new'ish.... Many thanks for sharing!

[SW Sky Blue]

Excellent set

[Petepilot]

I've already commended the poster for these great photos but, being a bit of an F-4 geek.....can anyone advise what the projections are underneath the forward wing root, both sides? A gun camera, perhaps (although the one near the TISEO doesn't appear to have a lens or some sort of aperture, as does the one under the starboard wing)?

[DanBeeden]

Fantastic set of images.

[MikeH]

...can anyone advise what the projections are underneath the forward wing root, both sides?

I believe they are strike camera pods. The starboard one housing a forward facing camera and the port, rearward facing.

[F3]

Superb selection Mike. Particularly liking the BAF 'Hooters' and the Bees heli display team which I've never even heard of before!

[Petepilot]

...can anyone advise what the projections are underneath the forward wing root, both sides?

I believe they are strike camera pods. The starboard one housing a forward facing camera and the port, rearward facing.

Thank you!

[herbert]

To add to MikeH’s comments the two boxes under the wings were combat documentation cameras, cine cameras that would record bombing footage. They were standard on F-4Es from Block 45 (69-7579) and retrofitted to about fifty earlier ones, mostly in PACAF. About 80 F-4Ds had them too, all retrofitted.

Another poster commented that the F-4Es looked new. They were exactly that.