LOG Scotland trip day 2 (8-9)

[patrick dirksen]

Hello all,

Time for day two. I got some positive replies on the placemarks I included, so I will continue to do so.
After a short night of sleep we drove to Addiston Mains again. We were very early, but this time the owner was present, looking like he was just getting ready for some running. The bad news was that the Gazelle wasn't there anymore! Apparently he had sold it two years ago, and it should now be living somewhere in the Ukraine or so. The helicopter we saw in the Hangar yesterday was a civilian EC.120. Too bad! After this bad start we drove to Kirknewton, where the Air Cadets were expecting us. We arrived just as their briefing started, so we listened in to this first. Then we were allowed to photograph the aircraft that were still near the hangar before we were taken to the runway. Some very nice shots, and all of the units aircraft were seen (apart from the one we saw at Portmoak yesterday).

Kirknewton (55º 52' 40" N, 3º 24' 39" W)

Viking TX.1, 661 VGS: ZE496/VB, ZE559/WG, ZE560/WH, ZE590/WT, ZE653/YE, ZE657/YJ

When we had the shots we wanted we went on to the next glider unit.

Arbroath (56º 34' 38" N, 2º 37' 10" W)

XE786 Cadet TX.3 (BGA4033), no mks
Viking TX.1, 662 VGS: ZE526/VN, ZE564/WN, ZE613/XM, ZE629/XT, ZE630/XU, ZE631/XV, ZE682/YS

The placemark is for the hangar of the Air Cadets. For the civvie spotters: in the small dark green hangar next to this lives a motorglider. Again a very friendly welcome, even when the unit had some people from Syerston over for the annual (?) evaluation of the instructors. We quickly photographed the aircraft and decided to let them concentrate on their tests and left. The Cadet is in the back of the hangar by the way; it's in a good condition but hasn't flown for some time apparently. The place is signposted, but as RM Condor; it is a Marines Barracks complex.
Our next stop was the museum in Montrose.

Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre (56º 43' 34" N, 2º 27' 44" W)

XE340/Z-131 Sea Hawk FGA.6 pr, which unit is this? (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0833530/M/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
XD542/N Vampire T.11 std, in parts
B5577 Camel pr, replica

This was a bit disappointing. The Heritage Centre itself is not too big, but has a lot of interesting stuff, but we had expected more aircraft than two.... I already knew their Sycamore XJ380 had left to Boscombe Down Museum, but Vampire XE874 had gone to a paintball place in or near Leeds and Whirlwind XJ723 apparently found a new home in the Newcastle area. If somebody knows more about their exact locations I'd be very interested! The heritage centre is expecting two new aircraft in the near future, a Buccaneer and a Meteor. In a closed shed we saw something which looked very much like a cockpit, maybe of a Vampire or so, but then a single seater. According to the guide there was only a Link trainer in here, but what we saw was definately something else. Health & Safety regulations denied us access however..... Anybody who knows more? The museum is on the grounds of the airfield by the way, and is signposted from the main road through the village (the A92).
In the area here is a guy who should be restoring a Prentice, so we decided to have a look. We did find his house, but nobody was home (there were a few bottles of milk standing in the sun....) and although some ex mil vehicles were in his garden we couldn't find the Prentice. There was a closed shed, but that looked rather small for an aircraft. Again, anybody with more info? I can't find anything on the web either!
Driving further North we got to the village Stonehaven. Here lives a guy who restored an Auster using spares from another aircraft. When I called him he said he was ready with the restoration, and the Auster had left. But when I asked for the other one he started laughing, saying there was almost nothing left. When I had convinced him that it was still enough for us we were very welcome to have a look!

Cheyne Farm, Stonehaven (56º 58' 24.5" N, 2º 15' 34" W)

(WE570) Auster T.7 std, frame only

This is stored in the back of the hangar up hill just west of Stonehaven. When coming from the South follow the A90, take the first exit after driving under the railroad, and go in the direction of Kirktown (so the opposite way of the village of Stonehaven). Take the first right, at the next Y-shape junction take the right fork, and after about half a kilometer go right again. There is a big building on your left hand side after a few hundred meters, and the hangar is uphill behind this. This all sounds rather complicated, but have a look at Streetmap.co.uk and/or Flashearth.com, and you'll see what I mean.
After this we drove straight on to the little airfield near Insch.

Insch Aerodrome

(44-79781) L-4H std (G-AISS), no mks
(G-BALK) SV.4C std, ex FAF 387

We arrived just in time as the "guy with the keys" was just about to leave. Luckily we had called in advance, so he was willing to show us all three hangars, and in the furthest one both ex-mil aircraft were found. You definately need the hangar to be open by the way, as you won't be able to see them otherwise. The Cub is hanging from the ceiling, while the Stampe is stored at the back of the hangar behind some other small aircraft fuselage.
Continuing our way up North we had a quick look at Aberdeen airport, but although it was very interesting for my fellow civil spotter nothing (ex)mil was seen. So we drove on towards Peterhead for the disappointment of the day... A new addition here should be Lightning XR749, preserved with a company called Score Energy Ltd. We did find the company at the place we thought it would be, but no sign of the Lightning. Then we asked around, and learned that they have another place at the nearby industrial estate. We also found this spot, but again no sign of a Lightning! The guard house here was unmanned (it was around 9 pm on a Saturday, so I can't blame them), but there was a phone connected to the security HQ. Unfortunately this was the only time during our trip that we had a very unfriendly reply from the locals. I tried to find out where the Lightning was, but the lady at the other side was not helpful at all. She didn't want to tell me if the aircraft was present, she didn't even want to tell me wether there were more locations of the company in town. "I can't tell you that, that information is only for customers of Score"..... I only asked where their HQ was, not really a state secret I would say! Anyway, as this didn't get us anywhere we decided to take our loss and start the journey towards our hotel in Inverness. Too bad this not found Lightning cost us some three hours of extra driving, but that's the risk of our hobby I guess. But as we still would like to get this Lightning one day I am really interested in more info about it obviously!
And that concludes day two of our trip.

As always additions and corrections are very welcome.
That's all folks!

Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
(please feel free to use, but with a credit)