The 'Introduce yourself' Thread

Hi, my name is Doug and I'm a repat from Essex. I've just found this most interesting site and look forward to learning from, and encouraging you all in your endevours.

Being ex RAF, I am somewhat dismayed at the number of airfields being closed down, so it was up-lifting to find a team(s) of people, capturing and rebuilding history of past days. Keep up the good works. I will post in the relevent places any news/history that I might remember(something that gets harder as time passes....unfortunately)

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a healthy and hopefully, a prosperous new year. I hope your current snow storms don't spoil the celebrations. Unfortunately, here in South Australia (Adelaide) we're having to endure the usual warm to very hot weather. God, it's a tough life:-D

Hi,

Having been a regular visitor to the AIX for quite a while I thought it time to 'join up'. I now live in Teesdale, Victoria, Australia having emigrated with my Aussie wife in 2007. Prior to that I served for 33 years in the RAF and was honoured to be the last CRO at RAF Coltishall prior to the sad closure of the station. Naturally my interest revolves around Coltishall and Norfolk, however, the history of the many hundreds of airfields throughout the world deserves equal attention. I look forward to being an active member of AIX.

Regards

Mick (Yallembee)

Welcome Yalembee, your service experience should help answer some of the many queries that I arise on AiX.

G'day Deskpilot,

welcome to AiX and Seasons Greetings to you.

Hi,

Its taken me a shockingly long time to join this forum, considering how interested I am in the subject matter. :shock:

I've been interested in aviation for as long as I can remember and have fond memories of various airfields where I either attended airshows when growing up (e.g. Yeovilton, Middle Wallop, Boscombe Down etc., and of course Fairford) or flew from in the ATC and University Air Squadron (Abingdon, Benson, Brawdy, Culdrose, Upper Heyford etc.). I've always had a particular interest in the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and Army Air Corps (AAC).

I got into PC Flight Simulation (I now fly FSX), with a desire to fly from these same airfields, for nostalgic purposes. This in turn sparked in interest in the layout and buildings on the airfields, an interest which has grown ever since. Soon afterwards I joined MoD working in the Salisbury Plain area and loved nothing more than being sent to visit various airfields around and about! It was around this time that I bought books by Paul Francis and Graham Buchan Innes. I'm also now collecting Ken Delve's series, but somehow Action Stations has mostly passed me by ??:

I've been a member of the Society of Friends of the Fleet Air Arm Museum (SoFFAAM) for several years now and love attending their evening talks and spending time in the museum archives.

I now teach and research Geography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I do a lot of work with aerial photography and satellite imagery, as well as new and old mapping. This has all been a great source of data for airfields...!!

I live in Dorset and it would be great to hear from other members nearby, as well as others interested in aspects of FAA or AAC airfields.

Happy New Year!

Andy

Welcome to the forum Mick. Hope you find it useful, I'm sure there is plenty on here to keep you busy!

Cheers

Welcome Doug! Enjoy the forum, I'll look forward to hearing your stories!

All the best from a mildly chilly England!