anyone remember the RAF st athan open days ?

they used to be around september every year ?

the thread about the forces day in cardiff reminded me of this

used to love them , seeing all the old planes flying over

my fathers brother died in world war two , he was a gunner in the old sterlings ,like lancaster bombers but smaller

crash landed near stoke on trent

so as a nipper I was always taken to the open days

the forces day will see some fly overs down the bay so will be going to see that

Yeah, used to love those days.

The one thing that stood out for me was the noise of the Vulcan Bomber.
Epic it was.

Great days Sludge. Loved the planes and probably the main reason I joined the RAF back in the late 80's. Feel for our troops now. Hard times, a lot less of them to do much more dangerous work.

too right , it was like a thunderstorm over your head

and those troop carriers ..hercules ?

Great days Sludge. Loved the planes and probably the main reason I joined the RAF back in the late 80's. Feel for our troops now. Hard times, a lot less of them to do much more dangerous work.

I always give to the troops

there were a few of them collecting on the day of the ridsdale march , they had heavy buckets by the end

its a mix of paras and raf down at st athan now ?

alos an interesting bit on the rehabiltaion unit down there yesterday , apparently a lot of those returning from service or injured in training over here prefer to be trated locally than going to headley court

I lived in the village during those days. My bedroom looked right onto the threshold of the runway.

Open days were awesome. My street use to get packed with parked cars, only time of the year. It was a quiet village but that one day of the year it felt like the whole of Wales invaded us.

The Vulcan bomber use to have its periodic servicing done at St.Athan. For those not familiar with that term periodic servicing its equivalent to having a service/MOT on your car. It was practically an everyday occurance to see the Vulcan take off from my bedroom view. The wing span view of the aircraft was impressive. Doubt we will see the Delta shape again.

The Vulcan bomber got an extended lease on its life within the RAF thanks to the Falklands war. I was in the RAF and ended up being posted to the home base of the Vulcan. I got to know a few of the pilots including the one that dropped the bombs on Port Stanley. Some of the stories these days told me were difficult to believe but I had no doubt to believe that they would lie the guys. One claimed that he was on a sortie where they rolled the aircraft. Can you imagine that, rolling the Vulcan? Most modern day pilots will tell you that aircrew bullshit but I just have this feeling there is an element of truth in that.

I have a picture of myself sitting in a plane at St. Athan. Must have been about 8! I loved those open days although I remember the traffic was awful.

they used to be around september every year ?

the thread about the forces day in cardiff reminded me of this

used to love them , seeing all the old planes flying over

my fathers brother died in world war two , he was a gunner in the old sterlings ,like lancaster bombers but smaller

crash landed near stoke on trent

so as a nipper I was always taken to the open days

the forces day will see some fly overs down the bay so will be going to see that

This post takes me back to one Sunny day in Barry a few years back. I looked up into the sky and saw two jigsaw like shapes in the Sky. I was wondering what the f**k these mysterious shapes in the sky were.

The shapes circled in the sKy for about 10 mins. People were looking sky-wards and wondering the same as me.
Then I regognised what they were - Two Stealth Bombers which I presume were from the U.S Air Force.

I wondered what they were doing over Barry, (I know its rough in parts but I didnt expect the Vale Of Glamorgan Council to call in an air strike).

I got home to see if they was any reports on the news, and low and behold, they were on display at at the Fairfield air show in Gloucestershire.

A truly amazing sight in my opinion.

Apperently, In the Iraq War, they used to fly from Edmunson air base in the U.S, straight to Iraq, drop their payload and fly back home in one sortie.

I used to go to the airshow at St Athan when I was a kid.

some amazing engineering goes into those planes

I remember going about 1975/6 ago, great day, especially for kids. Why did they stop?

I used to love going to the open day, it was a great family day out. I think it was stopped because of the cost of running it

i went there as a proud boys brigade boy, we played football in the barn, didnt see any planes

THEY SHOULD BRING THEM BACK , SUPERB DAYS IN THE LATE SUMMER SUN

In those days RAF St. Athan was a huge training camp so therefore had enough resource to hold the event. The camp was split into 2, East and West. East was the training side while West was the operational part. It was perhaps the largst camp in the British Isles.

The camp has been downgraded over the last couple of decades and has become more civilised as in pushing away from a military setup to a more civilian role. This is perhaps why it cannot afford to run the open days which is a real shame.

If you like st athen ,get to Fairford .Awesome

THEY SHOULD BRING THEM BACK , SUPERB DAYS IN THE LATE SUMMER SUN

those were indeed the days paul you could leave your front door open and your set of esso 1966 world cup coins would still be on the table when you came home
jumpers for goalposts.
you try and tell the kids of today that and they wont believe you

God yes.

Mainly used to watch them from the back garden.

Used to love the Red arrows.

The abiding memory is that during my first year in Llantwit I got taken along and won the grand raffle.My prizw was a holiday for two in Majorca. The trouble was that with 5 in the family and forgien holidays not being cheap it cost my old man a fortune.

To add insult to injury my grandfather died whilst we were out there.

Not sure I have ever biught a raffle ticket since.

it used to be packed , 20000 people there


talking of air displays , does anyone remember that russian fighter pilot who managed to eject from his plane at a german air display seconds before it hit the ground

cool as a cucumber he just dusts himself down whilst everyone is cheering !

brave ?


too bloody right

Sludge,

My parents took me every year to the St Athan at Home shows and they were superb. This was the highlight of my year every year. I used to live near Cowbridge and me and my mates liked to cycle down to St Athan once a month to see if there was any aircraft movements. Dont know if you ever saw them but for years there were loads of the V bombers lined up on the edge of the airfield (mothballed). There were Vulcans, Victors and Valiants.

One weekend we took our brownie 127 cameras down there and hopped over fence to take pics. We were picked up by military police and to put the wind up us locked us up in the guard house, We were only about 8/9 at the time and we shit ourselves.

One of the places that used to complain about the air days was Cardiff Airport because passengers couldnt get to airport on time because of the number of cars going to St Athan. Bit ironic really.