Colonel Steve M had commanded that we all be ready for departure at 12.00hrs and one by one we arrived at Andrewsfield. Richard was the last to arrive in a car worth more than my house but it made a change from waiting for Jane.

 
Richard's mortgage

This was followed by all the usual chaos at the fuel pump, and frantic heading and wind calculations in the clubhouse.

Jane announced that she had a spare seat in G-JM but there were no takers, in fact Adam was overheard saying he would rather have his genitals cut off, a bit extreme I thought.

My wife Debbie jumped in with Peter in G-SUD, good move I thought considering my future plan.

I rang Damyns Hall to announce our imminent departure to be greeted by only the screech of a fax machine. I then rang my mate at Damyns on his mobile who said a rather large thunderstorm had just passed but now the sun was out, undaunted we started engines.

Nick and Shane with ( I wanna fly helicopters  Sam) in the back departed first, followed by Jane in G-JM  followed closely I think by Steve M and Richard in G-XA, the rest followed in close formation.

XK, TL & UD - Damyns Hall

Rob and I were in G-TL abeam Chelmsford, I changed frequency to Hornchurch Radio on 119.25 just in time to hear Jane requesting joining instructions, silence, Jane called again, nothing. I called to be met with the same, but they had warned us radio maybe unmanned so we pressed on.

Sure enough bang on target the field was spotted just in time to admire Jane on final, I persisted with my position calls along with everybody else. Flew downwind, turned base then final when Rob trying to sound calm said and I quote, ‘PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE SEEN THOSE PYLONS’ I felt like saying what pylons but the turbulence was so heavy I though it better to concentrate and keep my navigator calm.  

A Pylon

Safely over the pylons, full flap not a bad landing, parked next to Nick and Shane and waited for the others.

Pre-flight check

When G-SUD was on final I then wondered if putting my wife in was such a good idea as Pete was plainly suffering with a high crosswind and made a wise decision to go around. Second attempt and the wind had calmed slightly and a good landing followed, Deb still looked reasonably calm when she exited the aircraft.

Uniform-Delta arrives

Off we all trotted to the BBQ when I remarked pity the radio wasn’t manned, followed by sniggers from Nick and Shane. As it turned out I had been given the wrong frequency, instead of 119.25 it should have been 119.55, well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I then asked the crew of G-XK how they knew and they said Stapleford had corrected them when they requested frequency change. I suggested to them it may have been a nice idea if perhaps they had informed the rest of us who were on the wrong frequency to be met once again with sniggers and couldn’t be bothered remarks.

Unoffended we all tucked in to our food and made polite chat with the other people at the BBQ

Food!

After eating too much and admiring a Stearman, Colonel Steve M suggested we head for Clacton; Jane wanted to go to Sudbury to spot an old airfield for her pupils. So we thanked the people at Damyns Hall and said we would see Jane back at A/F.

The Stearman

Checks all done and we departed for Clacton over the pylons.

Clacton appeared on the nose and this time because we were all on the correct frequency we all new where we were. Everybody completed a nice landing followed by the customary chit - chat and banter once down.  

After a while we decided to fly back to A/F and a beer. G-SUD had some spare seats so I asked Peter if a test drive was in order. Over the reservoir I thought a few steep turns would be nice, I warned the wife but she had not plugged in the headset and didn’t have a clue what we were doing, I thought she hadn’t said much, now I know why.

All landed safely at A/F with Richard and Steve commenting on those bloody pylons and G-XAs climb rate. That evening my colleague from work who organised the BBQ rang and said that G-XA had caused some alarm to the bystanders who thought at one stage they weren’t going to make it. I quickly explained that it was all part of the Heelan’s Flying Circus show and at no time were the pilots or members of the public at risk. Not sure he believed me, but thanked us for flying in and putting Damyns Hall on the map.

Overall it was another great day in the spirit of the circus with the normal good humour and cutting remarks which leave me laughing.

Roll on the next flyout.