Monday, 28 September 2009

What a Fabulous Day

We live not far from RAF Shawbury and every year they have a Landowner’s Day. This is a special day  thank the owners of the land over which they fly the helicopters. Now we don’t own the land we live on but we do live in a house that is on land over which they fly so this year we were lucky enough to be invited to attend.

We had a briefing by the new Group Captain, Warren James, Station Commander before making our way to another briefing by a helicopter navigator who has recently been serving in Afghanistan. It was a fantastic briefing and we saw pictures of the land that you don’t normally see on TV etc. It is so barren and desolate yet the people still manage to farm it. I take my hats off the those very hardworking people. There are virtually no roads, very little water and hardly any greenery.

Next off we went for a 30 minute ride in a Squirrel helicopter. In this helicopter there was just the pilot, Richard, myself and my hubby. I got to sit in the front with Richard and wear a silly hat, OK flying helmet. And just in case you might be wondering – there are no photos of me in a flying helmet. We flew over our house several times and Richard would have been quite happy to have landed the helicopter in the field next to the house but they were classifying cows in the yard so we decided against it. We didn’t want a stampede on our hands. Next we flew over to Telford, not actually the prettiest of places to fly over and in hindsight we should have gone somewhere else but we did fly over my dad and stepmom’s house. Things look so different from 1000ft.

Next we were treated to a display by the Red Arrows. They are just so fantastic. I never tire of watching them.

Monday 28 September

1030 – Reds depart SCAMPTON

1046 – Reds arrive SHAWBURY

1236 – Reds depart SHAWBURY

1240 – Reds display SHAWBURY (Closed Military Event) That’s Us

1308 – Reds recover SHAWBURY

1450 – Reds depart SHAWBURY

1505 – Reds flypast ARELWAS RAFA

1523 – Reds arrive FILTON

After we watched the Red arrows do their thing we then went for lunch in the Officer’s Mess and had a gorgeous 3 course meal and I managed to polish off the best part of a bottle of red wine. I glowed all the way home. :-)

Below are some photographs of our fabulous day.

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Ian having his headset adjusted. The guy with Ian wasn’t our pilot by the way. He was already strapped into his helicopter.

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Just hovering above the ground.

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Cor! All those dials and knobs.

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Up, up and away.

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Our house!

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Sansaw Hall

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Clive Church and the fields below Grinshill.

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The Wrekin!

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Dawley Church.

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My dad and stepmom’s bungalow, bottom right corner.

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Rowan Avenue.

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Moreton Corbett Castle

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The helicopter we flew in.

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All lined up and ready to go.

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A briefing and running commentary by Graeme Bagnall, one of the Red Arrow pilots.DSCF5170

Nice scenery.

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The cloud did break during the display and I managed to capture this. 

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The Red Arrow pilots. They are so young as well. Sign I’m nearly 23.

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The Officer’s Mess

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Din dins in the Officer’s Mess.

THE END

What a brilliant day!

4 comments:

Croap Queen said...

I'm not remotely jealous madam, much.
Very nice scenery too, and the countryside isn't back either. Teehee.

Nope, I'm not at all jealous. Hmph.

Lululiz said...

Oh yes, very nice, ermmm, scenery! Ah, and the pics taken from the helicopter are great, too. Wouldn't get me up in one of those though, shudder shudder.

MariaChiquinha said...

I'm far from you but i like very much your photosw, and your house. Tanks . I'm whathing you , or link you .

Anonymous said...

Absolutely fabulous, glorious scenery and to get a free flight. Just wonderful stuff and to be treated to dinner as well in the officers mess. You are one spoilt and lucky chickie. Bet the food was yummo. What a great day thanks for sharing.

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