obstacles were put in my way. The only
downside was a weather forecast of cloud
and rain.ARDUOUS JOURNEY
In those days, I didn’t drive and had to
rely on getting around by bicycle and train.
Peculiarities of the British Rail ticketing
system meant getting the cheapest price
wasn’t straightforward. This meant a ‘day
return’ from London King’s Cross station to
Huntingdon, a ‘saver’ ticket from Huntingdon
to Newark, a ‘day return’ onwards to Market
Rasen, via Lincoln, and then cycle the
9 miles (14km) to RAF Binbrook. Withsandwiches and drink prepared I left my
home in West Drayton, West London at 5am
and headed to the local railway station to
get a train to Paddington and then cycled to
King’s Cross. On arrival I discovered a large
section of the East Coast Main Line was
closed all weekend for engineering works.
Trains were not stopping at Newark. My
initial thought that this was a disaster but
it turned to delight when I discovered most
services were going instead via Lincoln,
which worked to my advantage. It didn’t
cost me any time and saved money on the
ticket to Market Rasen as I missed out the
journey from Newark to Lincoln.52 Aviation News incorporating Jets March 2017Lightning F.6 XR770 was the 5 Sqn CO’s aircraft
and took part in the ‘Diamond 9’ formation.The 53rd TFS/36th TFW sent two F-15Cs, one for the static
area and the other to perform in the ying display.An unforgettable sight at the airshow was
when 11 Lightnings took off in turn with
each coming back low over the air eld
and going into the vertical over the top of
another taking off below. Phil Bradshaw50-54_lightning_talesDC.mfDC.mf.indd 52 02/02/2017 18:18