Speke Aerodrome Heritage Group

[viscount]

Despite the number of Jetstream Club members, including their Chairman, who are members of this forum and the great deal of potential support for their activities from this pool of local aviation minded people, it is with some degree of incredulity that there has not been a whisper even on this forum of the information recently published in both the May edition of 'Airliner World' (page 87) and the June edition of 'FlyPast' (page 17). When I last looked there is no information of the name change on the website, the old name and logo in use throughout.

To provide the maximum amount of information, I'll type out the news items from both magazines in full. So you now know as much as I do.

.....from Airliner World.................

Jetstream Club Name Change

In order to better reflect their activities, The Jetstream Club, which has been based on the apron at the old Liverpool Airport in the UK since 2002, has changed its name to The Speke Aerodrome Heritage Group. It operates in the shadow of the 1930s Aro Deco Speke Airport Terminal Building, which has been converted into the aviation-themed Liverpool Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Originally formed to preserve and maintain the fourth prototype BAe Jetstream 41, G-JMAC, which was donated by British Aerospace, the volunteers have steadily increased and improved the collection by first creating a state of the art flight simulator system in its cockpit, and subsequently adding Grumman Yankee G-SEXY and Percival Prince G-AMLZ to the collection. Additionally, as part of the excellent relationship with the Crowne Plaza Hotel, all the care and maintenance of the replica DH Dragon Rapide displayed on the hotel forecourt is carried out by the group.


.....a similar piece from FlyPast.....................

Jetstream Club Revamp

In order to better reflect its current activities, the Liverpool-based Jetstream Club has changed its name to the Speke Aerodrome Heritage Group.

Operating in the shadow of the 1930s art deco Speke Airport terminal building, which has been converted into the aviation-themed Crowne Plaza Hotel, the group was originally formed to preserve the fourth prototype BAe Jetstream 41 G-JMAC.

It has since added Grumman Yankee G-SEXY and Percival Prince G-AMLZ. The later is believed to have been flown by legendry Battle of Britain 'ace' Sir Douglas Bader during the time it was used as a VIP transport for Shell Oil.

Volunteers are also restoring an aircraft tug and a baggage trolley tractor, diversification that has led to its new name.
www.jetstream-club.org


So we welcome onto the scene The Speke Aerodrome Heritage Group. Perhaps someone 'in the know' from SAHG might wish to share on this forum information of their plans and aspirations.

[SAHG]

" it is with some degree of incredulity that there has not been a whisper even on this forum"

The two high-profile magazine articles mentioned are a bit more than a whisper, and to a large extent explain the name change.

The "Jetstream Club" is rather singular in it's descriptiveness (sp?) and since our interests now encompass not only the J41 but the other aircraft plus the site itself and an interest in establishing a memorial of some sort to it's WWII RAF/NAS heritage - the new name seemed far more appropriate.

The name change was mooted back in 2009 but not officially sanctioned by the club members until January 2010. Since we are a registered charity this all had to be approved by the Charities Commission too. All of this takes time.

A new web site at www.spekeaero.org will be online soon now that we have officially been given the green light.

I do hope that clears things up for all concerned.

Roy Coates - Chairman, Speke Aerodrome Heritage Group.

[viscount]

On a national aviation forum, a post appeared from a hotel guest informing SAHG that the lights on their Jetstream 41 outside the Crowne Plaza hotel had been left on overnight and they would have a very flat battery come morning!. A reply quickly appeared that the lights were intended to be on and were mains powered.

I've been down earlier tonight, without tripod and taken some, far from wonderful, shots of some of the aircraft. Simply left my Canon on automatic with flash disabled - results would have been better using tripod and manual settings, as more light has been recorded than seen by the eye.

I've not 'fiddled' with these digitally, these essentially being the camera sensor's jpeg images - intended to give an appreciation of the scene, not win competitions!

In addition to the wing-tip lights and on/off tail beacon there apparently should be blue 'effect' lighting underneath - but that did not appear to be functioning. Neat idea making the Jetstream 41 appear 'live'.







While not a SAHG item, the nose of G-ORAL to me always looks as it should have blown over in the last good gale! Thank goodness it stays upright through wind, rain and snow. Note the mannequin in the pilot's seat. A faint glow, reflected from the instrument panel would match the lighting on the J.41 beside it.



Always intended to take a shot of the 'fairy lights' on the Dragon Rapide. Now I have! Do wish someone would put some air in the main tyres, or lift the axes using metal brackets. The outlining lighting effect is more pleasing to the eye than it records on a photograph.