Bonny and braw delights…

As the Jodel cruised towards Breighton, the radio came alive and we heard a slightly muffled voice announce, “Lancaster returning to base, turning 180.” Looking ahead we saw it, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Avro Lancaster, which was seemingly giving us our very own flypast. We knew right there, that the LAA Scottish Tour was off to a very good start. And so it proved…

After first discussing the idea for a tour and much planning since late 2019, due to the Covid pandemic, the last two years’ attempts were dashed. However, with Robert the Bruce’s famous words ringing in my head ‘Try, try and try again’, things finally fell into place in May of this year.

I teamed up with Devon Strut chairman David Millin with his Jodel D.117 to join in, departing Henstridge in Somerset on Sunday 22 May – a glorious morning. We headed north to Leicester with a tailwind and sun behind us, and not a ripple of turbulence, to refuel and grab a bite to eat, before heading to our first overnight stop at Breighton.

This tour had always been about aircraft and their owners being able to dip in and out of the route and its schedule. To begin with, 17 aircraft arrived and were looked after by Charles Sunter and his wonderful Breighton crew, which included a look around the hangars for all the tour participants. It was my first ever visit, and I was amazed at what a fantastic collection of vintage and classic aircraft they have.

While some of the visitors set up camp, others headed off to local accommodation for the night, and the following morning the group departed for Eshott Airfield via the coast of Sunderland and Newcastle. There, we met the great duo of Richard Pike and Sam Woodgate, the operators of the airfield, and subjects of the May LA issue’s Meet the Members feature. After another bacon sarnie (food played a big role in this tour) we routed via Alnwick Castle, passing over the lovely Northumberland beaches, and the River Tweed, before heading across

RV-builder and pilot Ian Corse is chairman of The Scottish Aero Club, and he and his fellow club members, plus those of the LAA Strathtay Strut provided a lovely welcome. By now the group numbered around 20 aircraft, including Kitfox, Taylorcraft and RV’s, plus about 35 pilots and crew.

The morning’s weather briefing indicated that conditions looked OK for Tuesday, but predicted increasing northerly winds from Wednesday onwards, so we decided to head for Glenforsa and not go via the Isle of Skye or Plockton as the clouds and high mountains looked a bit daunting for many. David and I navigated our way on a more southerly route, having initially looked at a more direct route to the Isle of Mull. The scenery was spectacular with lochs, towns and sea, plus some very remote hamlets (not too good for popping out for a pint of milk…) scattered around the mountains and hills. We even saw a Royal Navy Frigate moored in a loch. Routing via Oban we arrived at Glenforsa and met up with the other tourers for a great lunch at the beautiful Glenforsa Hotel run by Brendan and Allison Walsh. Some of us then went for a lovely walk along the coast, found a waterfall on the river, bluebells, and back through woodland to the hotel. Some tourers stayed overnight, while others headed back to Perth for the evening – and some going more direct, while both Charles Monsell (Piper Pacer) and Javad Rahman (Piper Archer) flew via The Great Glenn. Angus and Fiona Macaskill headed for The Isle of Skye to visit a centre dedicated to an earlier relative (who was once the world’s tallest man). Regular LA magazine contributor, Nigel Hitchman, and his mate

Top left First of the torers gather at Breighton.

Top right Sunderland harbour.

Middle left Eshott Airfield.

Middle right Firth of Forth.

Bottom left Arrival at Perth.

Bottom right East Scottish coast and Bass Rock.

Steve, took a trip up around the north of Scotland, flying over Scapa Flow and some of the outer isles. Good in a speedy RV, but a little too much for others in slower machines.

As forecast, the wind was too strong, gusting 30kt, for most on Wednesday, so a group of us headed via a taxi to Dundee for a day trip, where we looked around Captain Scott’s Royal Research Ship Discovery. Dundee was a good city to tour around with some grand buildings plus the new V&A museum, too. Brown and Blacks, a local pub, had a great menu at nearby Scone and was a perfect stop for an evening meal.

I had set up a WhatsApp group before the tour, which proved very useful in coordinating tour participants as they joined, and left, at various points on the tour, including matching people to hotel bookings where they became available. Plus it was a fun way to share photos, places to visit and provide a focal ‘check in’ for the group.

On Thursday, tourers split up for various land-based trips. One group headed to Edinburgh via bus, Tony Gibson hired a Transit van (cheaper than a car!) to go to Stirling, while David and I did a bit of fettling to the Jodel. Jodel work completed, in the afternoon Ian Corse kindly let me borrow his car, and we headed a few miles away from the airfield to Scone Palace. Being a palace it has a good budget and the gardens are fantastic. We saw the most spectacular yellow laburnum trees and brightly coloured rhododendrons – and there was also a superb arboretum with sequoia and spruce trees from California and Canada.

The maze proved too tempting, and we made it to the centre in about six-seven minutes, snapping a photo of the nymph in the centre to prove we had done it! Yes, we managed to find our way out again too…

In the evening, instead of going out to a pub we ordered some pizzas and Chinese and had a really nice social evening in the airfield clubhouse, talking about past and planned future trips, while adventurous tourer Nigel Hitchman filled us in with places he has visited around the world. Nigel is a mine of information on aviation museums and airfields worldwide, plus all the associated places to stay and how to get there. Pick his brains if you are planning an epic trip – he’s probably been there!

Friday dawned, and was still too windy, so David and I took a walk to a local monument overlooking the vale where Perth City and the countryside is set, while others did Perth City and the palace. Although it was rather unfortunate that we lost three days flying, it did mean we made more of an effort to explore on the ground, and occasionally, just kick back and enjoy the moment, instead of flying each day from one airfield to the other, just going from café to café.

Saturday, while still breezy, was better for flying. At Perth, Keith Griggs and his team of The East of Scotland Strut (EOS) said there was hardly a breath at East Fortune, so we mounted up, and around seven aircraft headed for the museum located there. A few other flyers went up The Great Glen and over to Skye. EOS had a BBQ going, so another bacon sarnie and coffee was consumed, before we were loaned Keith’s car and drove to visit a new-build Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter that is nearing completion. This fantastic project has taken the local chaps 20 years so far, and it has recently had its first engine run.

Next up was a visit to the East Fortune Museum, which is set on the old airfield and still has many of the original mess huts and buildings from WWII. There is a wide variety of aircraft to see here, from civil, military, light, plus a British Airways Concorde.

Keith is in the process of raising money towards the fight against cancer this year (£300 was raised during the weekend of our visit alone), and is planning to fly around the UK mainland, visiting many airfields while giving flights for a donation to Cancer Research UK. If you’d like to support him, go to tinyurl.com/Keithgriggsfundraising and make a donation with your name and details, and Keith will contact you to arrange a flight. Keith plans to be at Popham for the LAA Grass Roots Fly-in, so please do say hello.

David and I routed back to Perth via St Andrews golf course, as it was somewhere I have always wanted to visit. Preparations were well underway for the 150th Open. I hadn’t realised quite how on the edge of a peninsula it is… No wonder they lose so many golf balls in the wind!

We managed to get back just in time for some stovies (a Scottish dish made from potatoes and often leftover meat, in this case it was hashed beef). Saturday at Perth had also been the Meet the LAA Day, which had been very successful, with flyers visiting to say hello. Steve Slater (LAA CEO), Eryl Smith (Chairman), Roger Hopkinson (President) and Ken Craigie (Chief Inspector) were in attendance, along with the LX Avionics and the LAA-branded exhibition trailer. The latter helps not only give the LAA a real presence at events, but shows interested aircraft builders and owners upgrading their aircraft panels, which is a good way to see and understand the various bits of instrumentation that are available. Pooleys was also there with its sales manager Stuart Bannister offering help and advice with flight equipment. Saturday evening we were entertained by a local ceilidh band in the big Perth hangar, with Scottish dancing (and, yes, more food) – and pie and peas afterwards. Our Scottish hosts looked after us very well all week, with Ian Corse and his team, including Elaine who does the food and logistics, providing everything we required, from the clubhouse being available all week, to food, tools and equipment on hand for maintenance when needed. A big thank you to all!

Sunday meant preparing for the journey home. David and I were delayed initially because of weather, and we made an overnight stop at Nottingham. This was made more memorable because Nottingham Forest had just been promoted to the FA Premiership that afternoon, so it was a bit loud in town to say the least! We finally got back to Henstridge at lunchtime on Monday, having dodged a few rain showers on the way. Having dropped me off, unfortunately David had to divert to Exeter due to bad weather, but made it back to Dunkeswell on Tuesday afternoon.

And so ended a very enjoyable LAA Scottish Tour. Everyone got on very well, made new friends, found out information and shared stories and enjoyed each other’s company. While we were a little sad we couldn’t make it to all the places planned, all those we had met at the places we did visit made the trip truly memorable.

I’d like to add my personal thanks to everyone who took part and those who helped me put the event together, including LAA board member Ian Sweetland, Ian Corse and his team, local strut leaders and members, personnel at NATS Scottish Information, local ATC (including RAF bases nearby) and the owners and operators of the airfields we visited.

The only question that remains is… where next? ■

Share your adventures!

If you’ve made a really memorable flight either solo or with friends, or visited a great destination be it in the UK or abroad, then there’s a good chance that LAA members would enjoy reading about it. So why not share your travel tales by contributing to the Light Aviation Flying Adventure feature slot?

A typical Adventure can range from 1,500 to 3,000 words. Include a selection of high-resolution photos of highlights, ideally 1mb or greater. Phone photos can be great for this, but pictures from a camera usually give the best results.

Got an idea in mind? Drop me a line! Email: ed.hicks@laa.uk.com