Rossendale Aviation Society

"Serving aviation enthusiasts throughout the North West of England"

(Updated 25th July, 2010)

 

Travel with Rossendale Aviation Society to the 2010 Royal International Air Tattoo

Friendly, full-day at the show, all at a very competitive price

- Image Gallery -

About the Rossendale Aviation Society

The Rossendale Aviation Society is probably the largest and most active organisation for aviation enthusiasts in Lancashire, with nearly one hundred registered members from the Lancashire / Greater Manchester / Cheshire and Yorkshire areas of the United Kingdom.

Meetings are held fortnightly, usually on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at the Haslingden Cricket Club, Haslingden, Rossendale, Lancs., starting at 8 pm. The venue is within easy reach of the M60, M62, M65 and M66 motorways. (For details of how to find us, click here).

The society caters for a wide range of aviation interests, including:-

Lectures, Slide Shows and Film/Video Shows, by guest speakers and members;

Organised trips to Air Shows, Aircraft factories, Aviation Museums and Airports;

Aircraft recognition contests, Aviation knowledge quizzes, annual Photographic and Model competitions to sharpen your skills;

Both Civil and Military aviation interests are catered for;

Regular Newsletters, giving future programme details, trip reports, book reviews, airfield movements etc;

Regular 'E' newsletter (distributed by e-mail) 'RAS military updates, news and review';   

The Society maintains a forum on Yahoo for the benefit of members with Internet access.

Current Meetings Programme

The current meetings programme is as follows:

Next Meeting

4th August, 2010

 

 

‘An Evening with David Gibbings' - by David Gibbings

(please see below for further information)

   
Next fourteen meetings

 

6th January, 2010

 

‘Annual General Meeting' and 'Annual Photographic Competition - Prints', judged by Gordon Bartley

Meeting postponed (due snow) and subsequently re-arranged for the 20th January, 2010 (see below).

 

20th January, 2010 ‘Annual General Meeting' and 'Annual Photographic Competition - Prints', judged by Gordon Bartley

The AGM will take its usual form, with a pie and peas supper for all attendees. For further information (AGM), please contact the Society Secretary, Chris Wood.

This years competition will be judged by Gordon Bartley, with the winner receiving the Societies coveted trophy. For details of how to enter and competition rules, please click here.

 

3rd February, 2010 ‘Remembering the TSR-2', by Alan Mann

Given the anticipated driving conditions, tonight's speaker has re-arranged his presentation for the 17th February, 2010 (see below).

 

17th February, 2010

‘Remembering the TSR-2', by Alan Mann (re-scheduled from 3rd February)

Alan Mann had a long career in both the aviation industry and academia, and was a specialist in simulator design. He designed the simulator forTSR2 and has developed a major interest in that aircraft. Tonight he will present the results of his studies.

The planned 'internal' presentation by Martin Powell and Ivor Tamplin will be re-scheduled for a later date.

‘British Turbine-engined Transport Aircraft since World War ll', by Martin Powell and Ivor Tamplin

Martin and Ivor continue their review of Britain’s post war transport aircraft moving on to the turbo-props and jets.

 

3rd March, 2010

 

'Flight Testing the Jaguar', by Dave Ward

Dave Ward is a member of BAe Systems North West Heritage Group and was heavily involved in the flight test phase of the Jaguar. Tonight he will tell us of those times.

 

17th March, 2010

 

'2009 - a Busy Year', by Jim Newton

Our much travelled member Jim Newton had a busy year in 2009 visiting Hong Kong, China, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Switzerland, photographing as he went. For us to enjoy his images tonight.

 

7th April, 2010

 

'Jet Blast and Wings Past', by Gordon Bartley

Gordon has been looking through his slide collection and his show tonight will include RIATs from 2000 onwards, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster Air-to-Air, final Jaguars at Coltishall, final Canberras at Marham, the Bleriot Centennial at Dover, and some airliner shots from Heathrow.

 

21st April, 2010

 

'Aviation Brain of Rossendale 2010',  presented by Martin Powell and the '2010 Annual Model Competition'

Two competitions on the same night with our annual members quiz the Aviation Brain of Rossendale and the 2009 Annual Model Competition delayed from the 20th  January.

The 'Aviation Brain of Rossendale 2010' was won by Harry Holmes.

The result of the annual model competition are as follows (a full photo report will be published in due course): -

  1. David Draycott - P-51B

  2. Colin Duckworth - Aichi M6A-1 Seiran

  3. David Draycott - F-104C

 

5th May, 2010

'British Secret Projects - Supersonic Fighters', by Tony Buttler

We welcome the well respected aviation author Tony Buttler to the Society who will give us a presentation on ‘British Secret Projects –Supersonic Fighter’ which is the subject of one of his very successful books

 

 

 

 

 

19th May, 2010

'Gulf War One 'Desert Storm' - images', by Tom Gibbons

Tonight we give a warm welcome to Tom Gibbons, who will give a presentation on images he took during the Gulf War 'Desert Storm' of 1991.

An evening not to be missed.

 

2nd June, 2010

 

'RAF Lakenheath', by Gary Loveday

Our guest, Gary Loveday, spent several years as the only civilian working in Airfield Management at RAF Lakenheath, the home of the USAF’s 48th Fighter Wing.  Fortunately he took his camera to work and tonight we will see a selection of those images – it promises to be another interesting evening.

16th June, 2010

 

'British Turbine Engined Transport Aircraft' - by Ivor Tamplin and Martin Powell

Tonight Martin and Ivor continue their look at post war British Transport Aircraft with the look at the turbine-engined variety.  There will be plenty of images of a variety of types, many successful and some less so.

7th July, 2010

 

'Austrian Experiences' - by Martin Powell and Chris Wood

Last year Martin holidayed in Austria and apart from mountains, cakes and palaces, saw quite a few aircraft. Chris also visited Austria but his lens was focussed on trains. He has also photographed trains elsewhere in Europe and we have allowed him to share his enthusiasm with us.

 

21st July, 2010

'Planes, Names and Dames' - by Colin Duckworth

A collection of images of nose art and other interesting markings on military aircraft over the last 25 years.  Colin is a keen modeller and photographer and he will show the meeting a selection of the images collected over the last 25 years.

 

 

4th August, 2010

'An Evening with David Gibbings' - by David Gibbings

David is a former Flight Test Engineer with Westland Helicopters, a member of the Westland Helicopter Archive Team and, aviation author and artist. Tonight David will dip into and tell us about his various aspects of life and times.

In 2002, David was diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease. Although the illness has slowed him down, it has not seriously affected the standard of his work. Anything he has painted since 2000 is classified as 'In the Parkinson's period. David is undeterred by his affliction, stating "sorry Mr Parkinson, I'm too busy. Sod off!"

David is a truly remarkable guy and it's an honour to welcome him to the Society this evening. An evening not to be missed.

 

Archive of historical evenings and presentations

                 
         

 

All Society meetings are held at Haslingden Cricket Club, starting at 20:00 hours. Please try to arrive by about 19:45 hours, so that you can visit the bar and help set-up the room. Meetings normally finish by about 22:30 hours.

For articles and reports of some previous meetings and trips, click here

Trips

The Society operates an extensive 'visits' programme, to a range of sites of interest in the UK throughout the year, including air bases, aircraft factories, airports, air displays, historic aircraft collections, visiting naval ships and museums. These trips are normally restricted to members of the Society and are notified at meetings and also via the Society's bi-monthly Newsletter.

Trip logs are only (except public museums) circulated to those participating in the visit and are not published for public view.

The Society made a visit to the Imperial War Museum on Saturday, 16th May, 2009. For a trip report, please click here to view the PDF

In addition the Society organises an annual coach trip to the Royal International Air Tattoo which is also open to members of the public. This trip picks up at a number of locations in East Lancashire and Greater Manchester on the Friday evening, traveling overnight and arriving at the venue early Saturday morning for a full day at the Tattoo. As the Society normally only aims to cover its costs on this trip, it is a particularly cost effective way of attending RIAT for enthusiasts in the NW area of England. To make a reservation on this years trip, please click on the link below and complete the application form.

The next coach trip to the Royal International Air Tattoo will be advertised and available for bookings in Spring 2010. For further information, please click here.

Articles and Reports

Nimrod Mark 4 Update

Drew Steel reports on progress with the Nimrod Mark 4 programme at BA Systems, Warton.

 

Preserved Mustangs in Europe

Martin Powell undertakes here to compile a list of all surviving Mustangs in Europe. This list will be updated as more information becomes available to him.

The Douglas Thor in Royal Air Force Service

In this article Martin Powell traces the history of the Douglas Thor ICBM in service with the RAF from 1958 to 1963

Hangar Doors Open

Tom Dugdale’s flying career in the RAF commenced in WWII and continued until his retirement from the service in 1960. In this period he flew a considerable number of aircraft, ranging from the DH Tiger Moth biplane to Vickers Valiant jet bombers and Gloster Javelin delta wing fighters. This meeting report summarises his talk to the Society.

   

Society Notices, Events and Functions

 

Bob Fairclough - 1941 - 2009

Obituary by Martin Powell

   
 

Photo report from the 2010 members annual dinner

How to join

Membership is invited from Aviation enthusiasts in NW England. Please download, print off and complete the Membership Subscription Form and return it with the appropriate subscription to the address stated on the form, or just bring it along to any of our meetings and contact our Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer.

Annual subscription rates:

Senior members £18

Junior members £15 (Under 18 - Parental permission is required)

Links

RAS Member's Sites

Tony Hopkinson

Tony's website contains photos taken at a number of UK air events in the 50s, 80s, 1990 and 2000.

Enthusiast Sites

  Aircraftprofiles.dk A spook approved resource for US Naval Aviation
  Airlineroute.net Airline route updates

The AirNet Link site

The UK's most extensive aviation links site

Air Britain (Manchester)

The Manchester Branch of Air Britain

  Air Radio UK The web-site of Air Radio UK
  Air Transport Data Bank Online aircraft production list

Air Yorkshire

The Air Yorkshire Aviation Society (meeting at Leeds/Bradford International Airport)

The Assault Glider Trust The web site of the RAF Shawbury - Assault Glider Trust
Avro Lancashire The web-site of Avro Lancashire
  BMAL British Military Aviation List
British Aircraft Preservation Council The web-site of the British Aircraft Preservation Council
  British Military Aircraft Designations British military aircraft designation systems - Wikipedia
Buccaneer Andy Brook's Buccaneer pages
  European Airline Scene European Airline Scene - weekly updates
  International F-104 Society International F-104 Society
Flight History This site is dedicated to capturing aviation history and feature a growing collection of photographs, stories, aircraft specifications and aviation artwork.
Flighline UK UK Airshow Information and Photography
  Flight Radar 24 Flightradar24.com
  Fly-by.nl Military aviation photography
  FRADU Hunters The FRADU Hunters web-site
  ICAO Type Designations ICAO - Aircraft Type Designators
JetPhotos.Net Online aircraft photo database
  Jethro's Jethro's - UK and Ireland Airline Fleet Listings
Lancashire Aircraft Investigation Team The Lancashire Aircraft Investigation Team
  Libhomeradar Easy collect aircraft information
Lowdown How to get information on the UK low flying areas, vantage viewing points, scanner frequencies, etc
Lowfly.net Home for the low flying photographer
  LowFlyMedia.net Home of LowFlyMedia
Manchester TMA Over-flights Group Manchester TMA over-flights group - everything you need to know about over-flights
Milavia Military Aviation Photography and Journalism
  Milscanners Online home of Milscanners (including frequency listings)
  NATS Aerodrome information (including aircraft parking charts)
Pacific Wings Pacific Wings Magazine
  P-3 Orion Research Group Lockheed P-3 Orion Research Group
  Radarvirtuel.com European virtual radar (five minute delay)
  Reporting Points (Air Traffic) Nick Locke's Reporting Points
  Rotorspot Rotorcraft Registrations Database
Royal Air Force Squadron Histories Royal Air Force Squadron Histories - Official Mod/RAF Site
  Rzjets Online aircraft production list

Scramble

The most comprehensive European Military Aviation information database and news service

  Search and Rescue Types, bases and radio call-sign
  SkyStefs Aviation Page Contrail pictures of airliners
  Spyflight The Spyflight website

TAS

The Aviation Society (Manchester)

  Thunder and Lightning's UK Airfield Viewing Guides
UK Military Serial Numbers UK military aircraft serial numbers - WA - WZ, XA - XY and ZA - ZZ
USAF/US Army Serial Numbers Joseph Baugher excellent USAF/US Army serial listings - 1908 to date
US Navy /US Marine Corps Serial Numbers Joseph Baugher excellent US Navy / US Marine Corps bureau number listing - 1911 to date
  US Coast Guard Serial Numbers Joseph Baugher excellent US Coast Guard bureau number listing - 1927 - to date
  Valley Aviation Society The web-site of Valley Aviation Society
  Warplane.co.uk The original and best low-level photography site in the UK

Museums / Airfields / Airports etc.

Manchester Airport plc

Our local mecca for civil enthusiasts

Abingdon Air Fayre

Information on the Abingdon Air Fayre 2006

RAF Valley

Our 'almost' local mecca for military enthusiasts

IWM Duxford

The Imperial War museum Airfield at Duxford, Cambridgeshire

RAF Museums

The RAF Museum home page provides links to the RAF Museums at Hendon and Cosford

Yorkshire Air Museum

The Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, York

Bruntingthorpe

The famous UK 'Cold War' Jets collection

Vulcan XH558 Club site

Site dedicated to returning XH 558 to flying status

Vulcan XL426 Restoration Trust

Southend Air Museums Vulcan

Commercial

Javiation Scanners

Scanners, Air Band Frequency lists etc.

Flying-Art Flying Art Digital Illustrations - by Andrew Hay
  Flying Tigers Flying Tigers - The Aeroplane People

FlyMagic

The Aviation Voucher Specialist - Visit this site if you're interested in any type of aerial activities, from Ballooning to flying Fast Jets!

Collectors Aircraft Models

The World's No.1 supplier of Aviation Models

Aeroplane Monthly

The monthly UK Aviation magazine

Rossendale online Rossendale Online Website
UK-Airport-News.Info UK Airport News
Others (of interest)
  Airport Hotels A 'blog' about airports and airport accommodation
  East Lancashire Railway Web site of our local railway preservation group
  Imperial War Museum North The official web-site of the Imperial War Museum North
  Irish Sea Shipping Irish Sea Shipping - to keep you updated on Irish Sea shipping activities
  Museum of Science and Industry Web site of the fabulous Museum of Science and Industry - Manchester
  Museum of Transport - Manchester Web site of our local transport museum
  National Collection of Aerial Photography Aerial images from around the world
  National Weather Service Internet Weather Source
  Port Arrivals Worldwide Port Arrivals
  Railway Herald Railway Herald Organisation
  RNLI Royal National Lifeboat Institute
  Shipfoto Quality maritime photography
  Ships AIS Watching the ships go by
  Shipspotting.com The worlds largest ship photo community
  Ships of the Mersey Ships of the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal
  Vessel Tracker Vesseltracker.com
  World Navies Today Details of all the worlds navies

Do you know of any UK aviation enthusiast WWW sites to add to the list? If so please Email details to RAS Webmaster