RAF Northolt (March 2009)

Once again we continued on The Battle of Britain Heritage Trail with our visit to RAF Northolt.

Unfortunately we were not permitted to fly in, so we all arrived by various cars and met at the guardroom. To our surprise we were then picked up by a coach which was to be our transport for the tour.

Our first stop was at the hangars which housed the aircraft of No 32 (Royal) Squadron, who operate the BAe HS125 CC3, BAe146 and Agusta 109E. We were lucky enough to be able to wander all around the BAe 125 as we pleased. Just as we were about to move on, an Agusta 109 landed and the Wing Commander who had just flown it gave us a very informative impromptu talk about it.

Next stop the control tower. Here we were split into two smaller groups so we were able to visit the radar room and the tower itself. Quite fascinating to see how the traffic from Northolt is fitted in amongst Heathrow's traffic. As we moved on by coach we realised we were two club members short (mentioning no names!), so we had another journey back to the control tower, they had obviously decided on a change of career.

Finally we visited the Movements Lounge, where we were allowed into the VVIP lounge frequented by the Queen and the likes of Gordon Brown. Some of us even sat in the Queen's favourite seat!

Again we were given another impromptu talk on the work of a freelance business jet pilot by a friend of one of our members and who had just landed.

It was an excellent morning and made all the more enjoyable by the Flight Lieutenant from the station education section who guided our tour.