Sunderland / Usworth 1966 - 1990

[acklington]

A bit off the beaten track and now long gone, but it was one of my regular haunts. I've been uploading my photos on to Flickr, and won't repeat them all here, but here are some of the more interesting ones;

G-AJSL (NR713), Sunderland, 13 Nov 71 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ANRF (T5850), G-ATEW, G-APZK, G-AREH, Sunderland, 2 July 66 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AOXI (KJ829, G-37-2), ex Dart Dakota, Sunderland, 15 April 66 (1) by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-APBO, Usworth, 8 April 80 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-APNT, Sunderland, 13 Nov 71 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AREH (G-APYV, 6746M, DE241), Sunderland, 2 July 66 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ARLG, Usworth, 17 April 77 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ARLZ, G-AYVT, G-APNT, G-ASAI, Usworth, 6 Dec 75 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ARTL - T7281, Sunderland, 8 April 80 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ASAI, Sunderland, 6 Dec 75 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ASHJ (XS683), plus Ian Pain, Sunderland, 13 Nov 71 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ASUI (VF628), Sunderland, 8 April 80 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ATCI, Sunderland, 23 March 69 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ATKC, G-ANRF, Sunderland, 2 July 66 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-ATSJ, Sunderland, 17 April 77 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AVIZ, Sunderland, 13 Nov 11 (1) by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AVNE, Sunderland, 16 Aug 69 (0) by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AVVM, Sunderland, 6 Dec 75 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AYVT, Sunderland, c 1974 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AWPA, VX577, Sunderland, 2 Jan 71 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AYEC, G-ATKI, Sunderland, 2 Jan 71 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-AYKV, G-AXTA, Sunderland, 6 Dec 75 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-BANV, Sunderland, 6 Dec 75 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-BAVL, Sunderland, 8 April 80 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
G-BCYH (XA297), Sunderland, 6 Dec 75 (3) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
N2A, Sunderland, 4 July 76 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VX577, Sunderland, 16 Aug 69 (9) by Philip Pain, on Flickr
VX577, Sunderland, 23 March 69 (1) by Philip Pain, on Flickr

The glorious hangar was a rare Lamella design dating from 1932, the original home of 607 (County of Durham) Squadron RAuxAF and RAF Usworth until 1960. The subsequent civil airport was owned by Sunderland Council but never covered its costs, so they were happy to let Nissan have the whole site for a car factory. Nissan said they were happy to keep the runway so they could fly in and out, but the Council wanted shot of it. The Lamella hangar survived a few years longer being used by Nissan as a covered car park, but was eventually demolished. The embryonic Air Museum started off collecting airframes on the airport, but was moved across the road to the site they still occupy today.

I've created a Flickr album of all my photos, and if anyone wants a look its here www.flickr.com/photos/158479744@N04/albums/72157718847263222

I still have some more photos to add, and I'll post a few more on this thread as well.

[plug]

Thanks for posting these excellent photos. I was a regular visitor to Usworth during the 1970s and most of these airframes are familiar. Dragon Rapide G-AJSL was a particular favourite. I can also recall the 'Moth Marathon' on 30 June 1979 involving around 50 Moths of various types and nationalities calling in for fuel on their way from Hatfield to (I think) Strathallan. I wonder how many Moths could be mustered now? It was a shame they closed the airfield, although the Nissan plant did bring much-needed work to the area.

[ian531]

Great set of images
Ian

[ikarus]

The quality of these images are superb - are they scans ? What equipment are you using......thanks for posting

[acklington]

Many thanks for the comments. I use an Epson 4490 flatbed scanner to scan the negatives and slides, all done with a high resolution before doing copies (reduced resolution) for posting. Using various programs (corel paintshop; digital photo professional; microsoft photos; and NoiseNinja) each scan is cleaned of spots and scratches, the colour is restored, light levels evened out; and I'm not adverse to removing unwanted objects. Each slide takes about 15 to 20 minutes on average from start to finish, but bad ones can take up to 2 hours.

Anyway, here are a few more Usworth photos, some of them the Museum exhibits before they moved across the road, and even before that when the museum first started in the grounds of nearby Lambton Castle, Durham.

WA577 (7718M, G-ALST), Sunderland, 16 Aug 90 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WB964, launched by WG465, 641 GS, Sunderland, 2 July 66 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WD889, AS.5, Sunderland, 16 Aug 90 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WD889, WN516, VT409, Usworth, 16 Aug 90 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WL181, Lambton Castle, 26 July 76 (2) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WL181, incl WM234, Sunderland, 2 Sept 78 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WL787, T, 210 Sqdn, Sunderland, 2 July 66 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WN516, Sunderland, 16 Aug 90 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XG518 (8009M), Sunderland, 16 Aug 90 (1) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XP661 (7819M), WL181, Lambton Castle Durham, 26 July 76 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR143, 267 Sqdn, Sunderland, 2 July 66 (1) by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR143, 267 Sqdn, Sunderland, 2 July 66 (2) by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XT422, 326, HMS Arrow launch day, Sunderland, 26 July 76 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XW331, stbd XP618, port XP674, Lambton Castle, 26 July 76 w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

The rest of the Usworth images I have added to the Flickr album, link as per my post above.

Thanks for looking and that's it for Sunderland/Usworth.

[ikarus]

Those are incredible scans - well done

[davecalveley]

Really enjoying these and appreciate the way you post them in regisration order as well .....some great nostalgic pictures ...thanks for posting

[Deleted]

Excellent Acklington. I think it must have been one of the few airfields in the the UK that I never visited. I did go there once on business when the Nissan plant was in full swing, but it was unrecognisable as a former airfield. I remember there was a pub nearby called Wearside Farm Dining & Carvery, which was known locally as the Nip Inn

[ronturner]

Excellent. I was there once in about the year 1970.
Many of those registrations I remember from various times at various places. Great stuff.

[planemike]

Similar to you Ron, think I managed a couple of visits before Mr Nissan arrived...!!
Acklington, thank you for posting, so many from my era of spotting. Well remember the ""Famous Grouse Rally"" (FGR).
I went to Huckall (also now but a memory) to watch the Moths pass through......

""I wonder how many Moths could be mustered now?"".. plug, think you might be surprised !! Would guess that a
substantial proportion of the FGR participants are still around.... will get the list out and have a look.
Have not been through every registration "line by line" but there are two where the a/c has been destroyed
in an accident. There are a couple of "sales abroad", suspect the a/c are still extant. All this over a
period of over 40 years. My guess is there are likely more airworthy Moths in UK now than there were in 1979.
Much of this down to the deH Moth Club (formed in 1975 by Stuart McKay) and de Havilland Support.

Perhaps more to the point is the sad fact the FGR or anything similar could not be staged today. Sadly a host
of insurmountable problems would confront anyone who tried: witness the passing of the Woburn Rallies.
All very sad!!