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( Click on Heading to go to news item) Hurricane "meet" 25th October 09 F16 fighters of the Royal Norwegian Air Force visited North Weald on 13th September 09 TV Show Britain's Greatest Machines Grand Prix helicopter feeder site 14th June 09 AERO EXPO 2009 at Wycombe Air Park 12th - 14th June 09 Squadron Marshallers/Fuellers Donation Aerostars practice at North Weald 18th May 09 Test & Tune Motorcycle Fire 10th May 09 Tom Turner Takes fire crew for flight over airfield Royal Aero Club races at North Weald. Gary Successfully completes a Low Cat Junior Fire Officers Course at Teeside Herts Air Ambulance Fire Training North Weald Bassett Parish Council Remembrance Sunday Service 08 AERO EXPO 2008 at Wycombe Air Park 13th - 15th June 08
North Weald Bassett Parish Council Remembrance Sunday Service 2009 This year saw another good turn out of people showing their respect for our fallen heroes.
Gary, Eddie & Steve attended the service on behalf of NWFR. Whilst there Eddie laid our wreath on the Airfield Memorial.
Hurricane "meet" 25th October 09 (Fire Cover Provided by NWFR)
On the 25th October the skies above North Weald again reverberated to the sound of Merlin engines for the Hurricane "meet" that took place, actually a book-signing event. This was the largest collection of Hurricanes to be seen at North Weald since 1942!
F16 fighters of the Royal Norwegian Air Force visited North Weald on 13th September 09 (Fire Cover Provided by NWFR)
F16 fighters of 132 Wing Royal Norwegian Air Force visited North Weald from their home base of Bodø, which is north of the Arctic Circle, over the weekend of the 13th September.
The Norwegians were based at North Weald for over 2 years during WW2, their sacrifices being commemorated on the stone memorial at the original main gate. Accompanying the aircraft were Norwegian military personnel along with civic representatives from Bodø plus more importantly 5 Norwegian veterans who had flown from North weald during the war. A number of other aircraft flew in over the weekend including a Tucano from 72 Sqn RAF.
Audley End Picnic Concerts 09
During the months of July & August NWFR provided fire cover for the 5 Picnic concerts at Audley End House in Saffron Walden. We mainly protected the house making sure there were no problems during and after the firework displays at the end of each concert.
TV Show Britain's Greatest Machines (Fire Cover & wetting down Provided by NWFR)
Chris Barrie filmed part of this documentary at North Weald, this was regarding the old route master bus. (Steve our founder is the only one of us old enough who can remember them!!!)
They asked us for help in wetting down the surface of the skid pan so they could demonstrate the skidding ability of this all time great. As you can see the monitor made light work of the task
21st June Grand Prix helicopter feeder site (Fire Cover Provided by NWFR)
This was a great day, the site was very busy and thankfully there were no incidents to report. The crew were very well looked after so much so they didn’t want to leave.
Whilst there Dave & Steve found a solution to the high fuel cost. This is now a new addition to our appliances (The only problem is they still haven’t arrived at North Weald yet!!)
AERO EXPO 2009 at Wycombe Air Park (NWFR assisted with Fire Cover) What another great year at Wycombe air park. It was great to meet all the staff again and like always they made us feel very welcome.
The event went well and luckily there were no incidents to report. Whilst there we had a recruitment drive.
We are just hoping they all sign up!!!
Bonanza Club meet on the 6th & 7th JuneNorth Weald Squadron Marshallers/Fuellers Donation(Fire Cover Provided by NWFR)
Nigel (Squadron) - Gary & Simon- Jeff (Squadron) A Big Thank you to the Squadron's Marshallers/Fuellers who helped at the Bonanza Club meet on the 6th & 7th June they donated over £75.00 to NWFR which they raised over the weekend by charging £1 a time to take spotters/photographers out onto the flight line.
18th May Aerostars at North Weald(Fire Cover Provided by NWFR) On Monday 18th May the Aerostars carried out practice displays at North Weald prior to leaving for Belgium. The gusty conditions prevented a full afternoon of flying but it was good to see them back.
Their 2009 display routine will be further improved from the displays flown by the team throughout the UK and Europe in 2008. Their display commences with a series of full formation aerobatic figures starting from behind the crowd AeroStars are the only display team in the UK authorised to do this by the CAA. The Aerostars remain the largest civilian team in the UK and the 6 aircraft aerobatics are not matched by any other team in the UK or most probably the World! Their display also features aerobatics by smaller elements of the team. Complex vertical aerobatics, opposition passes and figures, and gyroscopic manoeuvres will be flown by 3 and 2 aircraft formations. In addition, their soloist demonstrates the power, grace and vertical abilities of the Yak 50.
Motorcycle in blaze of glory(Fire Cover Provided by NWFR) 10 th May was the first Motor Sport Test & Tune day. This was a HOT day in more ways than one, especially for one unlucky motorcycle rider. He stopped to get his lap time printout and realised his bike had caught fire. Naturally he dropped the bike causing the petrol to spill out, you can see the result from the photo’s. Believe it or not due to our quick response the only damage was melted plastic fairings and damaged seat.
Also a big thank you to Nicolas Chakir Dahmani the photographer on the day for sending us the photo’s
72 Squadron Annual Reunion(Fire Cover Provided by NWFR)
Over the weekend of the 8 th and 9 th May “The Squadron” at North Weald hosted the annual 72 Squadron reunion. 72 have the unique honour of having served for longer than any other RAF Squadron in operational theatres. After the First World War 72 was disbanded in Baghdad in 1919. In 1937 it was reformed at Tangmere with Gloster Gladiators after B flight of 1 Squadron had been increased to squadron strength. Spitfires were delivered in 1939 and in September 1940, 72 moved to southern England to assist the hard pressed fighter squadrons during the Battle of Britain. Post war 72 remained a fighter squadron until re equipped with helicopters which were flown until Easter 2002 when 72 was again disbanded at Aldergrove. The squadron number was then re assigned as a reserve squadron at RAF Linton on Ouse where they currently serve as a training unit.
The two photos above are Toucanos that flew in for the reunion.
Tom Turner takes fire crew for flight over airfieldTom an Airfields operations officer and pilot at North Weald took two of our fire crew for a short flight over North Weald and the airfield. Peter & Gary were taken up in the Cessna G-BGMP. Peter stated " I've been with NWFR for just over a year now and this is the first time I have been up in a small plane, it was a great experience and also helped me with the topography of the airfield. It also made me realise how safe and experienced the pilots are that use the airfield. Thanks Tom"
3rd May Damn Yankees American Car Club" Summer Slam"(Fire Cover Provided by NWFR) This was a good day had by all. Gary Hall of the Damn Yankees American Car Club organised a great day with loads of competitors turning up to show off their vehicles. NWFR provided the fire cover and I'm glad to say it went off without any problems, like all the other events organised by the Damn Yankees. Here are some vehicle that attended on 3rd May.
DON'T miss their Summer Slam on 23rd August. This is a car show for those who love their cars BIG and American, you also get the chance to see them race down the drag strip. NOT TO BE MISSED!! Royal Aero Club races at North Weald. (Fire Cover Provided by NWFR)
On Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th April the Squadron, based at North Weald, hosted the Royal Aero Club for part of their racing season. A varied collection of aircraft attended with more competitors being able to take part on the Saturday. We would like to thank the Royal Aero Club for their support as during Sundays race briefing one of their members kindly took the NWFR donation box and passed it around those taking part. The total raised paid for most of the weekends fuel bill for the fire trucks.
As is usual at North Weald the races were safely completed, the event being professionally organised by the Royal Aero Club and Alan Crouchman at the Squadron.
The official dedication ceremony of the New Gate Guardian at North Weald took place today.
The Gate Guardian was first unveiled to the public on 18 May 2008 at the Spirit of North Weald Airfield Open day and Fly-in, an event commemorating the 90th Anniversary of the birth of the RAF. Today was the dedication ceremony of the North Weald Gate Guardian, a full sized replica of a Hawker Hurricane.
Low Cat Junior Fire Officers Course at Teeside
Gary one of our fire officers, recently attended the Low Cat Junior Fire Officers week long course at Teeside International Fire Training School. This he thoroughly enjoyed. He stated the food was excellent but it was a shame about the weather. They had heavy snow showers on the Wednesday and plummeting temperatures at night, consequently the fire ground was very very slippery but they still managed to complete 10 exercises each one was a surprise, 7 of which Gary was fortunate enough to participate in. . The week culminated in a practical exam on the Thursday and a written exam on the Friday. As you can see from the picture there were 7 of them on the course. Gary is seated front row second from the left directly behind him is Damien from Black Bush, in the nice blue shirt is Oleg from Battersea Heliport and the two lads front row far left and far right are Alan and John from BAE Systems (Barrow) As a result of this course Gary won the Junior Officer of the Year Award 2008.
Well DONE!!
Herts Air Ambulance Fire Training
The Herts Air Ambulance is now stationed at North Weald Airfield. After talking to the crew it became apparent that a refresher course in fire extinguisher training would be beneficial to them, so we felt obliged to assist. Here are some photo’s. It looked like they enjoyed the day and also learned how effective the foam & powder extinguishers are.
Photo 1 Safety talk by Steve. Photo 2 Just a small fire for them to tackle. Photo 3 Them foam extinguishers work well.
Photo 4 Another small fire for them to tackle. Photo 5 They used the Powder extinguishers. Photo 6 This also worked very well.
Photo 7 Place the cursor over this photo to see how well the powder extinguisher worked.
North Weald Bassett Parish Council Remembrance Sunday Service 2008 This was one of the best attendances there has been for a few years. The welcome to the service was given by the President of the Royal British Legion, North Weald Branch - Mr Derek Tringham. Followed by the act of Remembrance by The Chaplain, Rev Michael Gibbs. Steve, Gary & Peter attended the service on behalf of NWFR. Whilst there Steve laid our wreath on the Airfield Memorial.
13th - 15th June AERO EXPO 2008 at Wycombe Air Park (NWFR assisted with Fire Cover) This was a great weekend starting on the Friday and finishing on Sunday. We assisted the crew already based at Wycombe Air Park, what a great bunch of lads. They made us very welcome and showed off their appliances.   The event was very busy for visitors but quiet for us. We did have a couple of incidents, a smoldering bin fire and a young lady at one of the stands that had dropped a bottle of aircraft polish. This was quickly washed away but we used the opportunity to get a free sample. As a result Eddie & Peter decided to give the MK10E a good going over.
Sunday was quite hot so ice creams all round. The MK10 was looking a bit dull in the left hand picture and as you can see a great improvement after Eddie & Peter gave it a polish. It took them over three hours so Eddie deserved his rest. We were so impressed with the polish we bought some more and would highly recommend it, we only used half a 250ml bottle to do the whole engine.
Before using the polish and After, you can even see Eddie taking the photo in the after shot. We are hoping to be asked back next year and are already looking forward to AERO EXPO in 2009.
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