Sandtoft airfield in North Lincolnshire was just a bit too far to drive the Jeep so I towed it to the show on Friday 13th, setting up camp mid afternoon. The airfield was home to an Operational Training Unit during World War 2 and there were a few features remaining around the airfield. One of those was this huge brick wall, which I think was the central core to the huge earth mound firing butts, used for testing aircraft machine guns. The hangar isn't the original wartime hangar, but it was built on the original hangar base. The door runners from the original hangar can still be seen in the concrete floor.
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It was a warm sunny afternoon that gave way to a nice orange glow of the Sunset. A little while later, I also caught the moon rise.
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It had been a very cold clear night and on Saturday morning, everything was heavily covered in dew. After giving the Jeep a wipe down, I went for a wander around the displays to get some pictures before returning to my tent to set up some of my model art pictures. There was a varied selection of military vehicles that turned up, plus several classic cars and a vintage fire engine.
The £2.00/person entry fee for the public resulted in lots of people in through
the gate.
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G-MASH, the Bell 47 based at Breighton flew in for the day, along with a colourful Gazelle helicopter which I didn't catch.
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During my morning wander, I caught some of the larger vehicles arrive in a convoy.
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There were several dioramas dotted around the site with the Northern WW2 group putting on a big static display, plus a firing display part way through the day. Several of the Sandtoft based aircraft were providing pleasure flights around the local area and several aircraft flew in for the day. The Breighton collection was missing due to most of the regulars being at a wedding!
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Here's a few more pictures of some of the resident and visiting aircraft. There was a stage at the far end of the hangar where there was entertainment by Miss Marina Mae.
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The classic cars were opposite the stage at the other end of the airfield to where I was parked. By late afternoon, people started packing up and the vehicles attending for the day started to drift away. Many of the re-enactors were staying another night.
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A few Jeeps and trucks remained when the Piper L-4 Grasshopper was brought across to the diorama area for some pictures with the re-enactors and vehicles.
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I took the opportunity to get some pictures of my own before the aircraft was taken back to the live side of the airfield for an evening flight.
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Prior to this flight, I followed the owner of the L-4 as he drove his Jeep up the airfield to his hangar so he had a vehicle to return in after putting the aircraft away. These other hangars are built on one of the wartime loop dispersals at the West end of the runway, what was originally the perimeter track. So while at that end of the airfield, I got a few pictures of the surviving dispersals before returning to my tent. There was another nice Sun set that night and thankfully, it was warmer overnight. I got everything packed away the following morning and set off for home at 11am, passing the wartime control tower ( now a house ) and crossing two of the wartime runways as I drove
away.
A two day event has been
confirmed for next year.
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