Amberley Airshow, 1955, Nostalgia

[Wynnum]

Gents,
Operation Handclasp (I or II, not sure). 1955.
A real Globemaster - "Old Shakey"
The Murricans flew F-84s down from Japan with air refuellers.
Those were the days - an airshow every year at Amberley.

Who remembers - way back, 82 Wing Canberras did a round-world trip - RAAF hired an Old-Shakey as support aircraft.

Cheers, Wynnum.

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[Wynnum]

Gents,
Old Shakey didn't make it into the first post -here goes.
Wynnum.

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[Rod Farquhar]

That is certainly an early Globemaster, it hasn't got the Mickey Mouse radome on the nose. I have a number of pics of them at Sale in the early 60s when the U2s were here.
Rod.

[Wynnum]

Group,
More Lincolns than Canberras those days.
Wynnum

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[Wynnum]

Group,
Don't know which unit owned the Vampire! A couple usually turned up at airshows, and did their thing buzzing a Lincoln.
Wynnum.

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[Wynnum]

Group,
I think there were four Thunderjet F-84.
Wynnum.

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[Wynnum]

Group,
The General's private plane.
Wynnum

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[Wynnum]

Group,
Valiants at Amberley, Sep55, different time from the American visit. I had to chase some data, Doug Revell says :-


"The first clue came from the BARG Valiant History, which recounted
that two 138 Squadron Valiants went on a Training and Flag Waving
exercise, on 5 Sept 55, but no other detail in either the main text ,
or the individual histories. WP209, was the a/c which went to Woomera.

The Exact details are in'V-Force, Britain's Airborne Nuclear Deterrent,
by Robert Jackson'. Page 43 records that WP206 and WP207, left for
Australia via High Street China, including: Habbaniya, Sharjah,
Celoyon, Karachi, Singapore.

A side trip to NZ took place after displays at Sydney, Melbourtne,
Canberra, Hobart and Tasmania. The NZ leg covered Christchurch and
Wellington. They returnned to Australia to display at Brisbane and
Amberley.

They began the return to UK 02Oct55.

I have a soft spot for the old Vickers Vagrant, as it was the first
operational a/c I worked on, being involved with 7 and 138 Squadrons.

Hope this helps. Regards, Doug Revell, 11482. "

Cheers, Wynnum
PS Sorry about the picture quality - cant do any better.



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[Wynnum]

Group,
Hastings accompanied the two Valiants.
Again, sorry on poor quality - I'm scanning from photo proofs, about 1 inch square.

Cheers, Wynnum.

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[Wynnum]

Group,
Amberley 1955 The young and the old.
The old, Wirraway doing engine run-up.
Wynnum

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[Wynnum]

Group,
Amberley 1955 The young and the old.
The young - Canberras not long off the production line.
Wynnum.

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[Wynnum]

Group,
Not to forget 3 Aircraft Depot. 1955 saw their Anson just about ready to be scrapped.
Wynnum

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[Wynnum]

Group,
Amberley 1955 -3 Aircarft Depot already had their Dakota to replace the Anson

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[Wynnum]

Group,
In late 1955, 23 Sqn moved from Archerfield to Amberley, as they were about to replace Mustangs with Meteors.
They still had a Mustang or two into at least 1956.
Wynnum.

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[Wynnum]

Group,
23 Sqn pride and joy - Meteors at Amberley, late 1955.

My last photo for that year. Cheers, Wynnum.

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