#white waltham airfield

[opelman]

Harvard by Treflyn Lloyd-Roberts Via Flickr: Built in 1942 by Noorduyn for the Royal Canadian Air Force, FE511 takes to the air for a pleasure flight from White Waltham Airfield. An hour or so later, this was my photoship for an air-to-air sortie with Hurricane R4118. Aircraft: Noorduyn AT-16 Harvard IIb G-CIUW/FE511. Location: White Waltham Airfield, near Maidenhead, Berkshire.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Archived Link

An onlooker at the Berkshire airfield said: “He loved it. It’s the right time to start.” The Prince and Princess of Wales watched their son soar into the air and come back to land safely just under an hour later. The treat came on the final day of George’s school summer holiday last week. William and Kate, both 42, had turned up in a three-car convoy at White Waltham Airfield near Maidenhead, Berks, a ten-mile, 20-minute drive from their Windsor home. Wills, Kate and George also relaxed at the airfield’s teeming clubhouse, home to the West London Aero Club. One person at the airfield said: “There were probably 30 or 40 people in the clubhouse. “Catherine and William watched George take off. But they were relaxed about it. All three of them had been pretty chilled in the clubhouse.”

The law in the UK allows anyone at any age to take flying lessons; however, you have to be at least 14 before you can start counting time for training hours to qualify for your pilot's license. (The Sun's article has a quick explainer.)

[houseofbrat]

Guess the kids suddenly don’t need privacy when their activities need to be leaked to distract from the negative reception to Mummy and Daddy’s pharmaceutical commercial 🙄

Interesting in that so many people were hailing Kate's video as heralding some "normalcy" or "celebration" or whatever, and George has been taking flying lessons all summer.

Yes, the kids' privacy suddenly isn't so important when the headlines aren't so glowing for the parents.

Also, flying planes at the age of 11 is so, so, sooooo relatable!

I don't know why more 11-year-olds aren't flying!!

[usafphantom2]

Topside Tuesday’

The Navy Wings Supermarine Seafire Mk. XVII SX336 doing what it says on the tin at the West London Aero Club Members Day at White Waltham Airfield last September…@WLACFlying #spitfire #rjmitchell #supermarine #vickers #warbirdphoto #warbirdpics

@Shutterbug_WGC via X

[danglovely]

Taskmaster Location Task Settings

Series 11: White Waltham Airfield White Waltham, Berkshire

[floydmtalbert]

“endless” and “return” from this prompts list, requested by @mercurygray ‘for your newest-to-you fandom!’

Okay, so we all said we wouldn’t come up with OCs for MotA before the show even came out, but, well. Meet Rosie Clifton, ATA pilot, who strolled into my head before I could tell her to wait her turn.

Twice a week she is put on taxi duty, flying the Anson from airfield to airfield to ferry the pilots to their next delivery. In the bluish half-light of dawn she taxies out and takes off, feeling the familiar and still-thrilling swoop in her stomach as the machine finally lifts into the air. She is kept busy through the day, and in the evening she makes the rounds again, picking up the pilots close enough to the pool to bring back; the others are fated for an overnight stay somewhere, or a nighttime journey by rail, sitting on their flight bags in the corridor of a cramped and stuffy train.

It is the end of a glorious day in late summer. This is the time she loves the most, the image to hold on to in the depths of winter, shivering in some draughty dispersal hut: the sun slipping beneath the clouds and gilding their edges, the sea still, today, and shining like beaten copper, the fields and waterways of the Fens and Broads stretching out beneath her, seemingly endless, disappearing into the golden haze along the horizon. Trees and churches and windpumps cast long shadows; she catches sight of the shadow of the Anson, too, rippling across salt marsh and grassy farmland, across rivers and woods.

Behind her, along the length of the fuselage, her passengers are shouting to each other, trying to make conversation over the roar of the engines. Rosie is quite content in her solitude. She could fly on and on like this, chasing the lowering sun forever westwards.

She follows the curve of the coast, flying low, glimpsing a train, billowing steam, cars on the roads, the white sails of small boats on the rivers. The sun glints off something in the far distance: barrage balloons around London. She crosses the Deben, the Orwell, the Stour, and turns the aeroplane inland, skirting the smoke over the city.

They return home by following the edge of the Chilterns, and Rosie lands back at White Waltham in the gathering dusk almost in a daze, her legs adjusting to the ordinariness of walking and her head still in the clouds, sunlit and perfect.

[valkyries-things]

LETTICE CURTIS // AVIATOR

“She was an English aviator, flight test engineer, air racing pilot, and sportswoman. In early July 1940 she became one of the first women pilots to join the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), remaining with the ATA until 30 November 1945, when the organisation was closed down. She commenced her ATA career by delivering primary training aircraft such as the Tiger Moth, progressing to the Miles Master and North American Harvard advanced trainers. During her ATA service she graduated to fly all categories of wartime aircraft and was one of the first dozen women to qualify to fly four-engined heavy bombers. She was the first woman pilot to deliver an Avro Lancaster bomber and also flew 222 Handley Page Halifaxes and 109 Short Stirlings. She flew continually during World War II from various Ferry Pool locations delivering all types through all weather to various destinations. In October 1942, she was introduced to US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as the first woman pilot to be trained on four engined bombers, during Roosevelt's visit to the ATA at White Waltham Airfield in Maidenhead. Postwar, she became a technician and flight test observer at the A&AEE military aircraft test establishment at Boscombe Down, moving later to Fairey Aviation where she was a senior flight development engineer. She took an active part in British air racing, flying various aircraft including her Wicko and a Spitfire XI owned by the American air attaché in London. She was a founding member of the British Women Pilots' Association. She qualified to fly helicopters in October 1992 and continued to fly aircraft until voluntarily "grounding" herself in 1995. With the nationalisation of the aircraft industry in the sixties she left Fairey for the Ministry of Aviation, working for a number of years on the initial planning of the joint civil/RAF Air Traffic Control Centre at West Drayton. Later under the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, she worked for the Flight Operations Directorate. Retiring from the CAA in 1976, she took a job with a firm supplying contractors to the Sperry Corporation at Bracknell. She died in 2014 at the age of 99.”

[weehughie]

Throwback Thursday… about to depart Nottingham back to home base White Waltham… • • #dehavilland #chipmunk #dehavillandchipmunk #dhc1 #dhc1chipmunk #nottingham #nottinghamairport #tollerton #throwback #aerodrome #airfield #gapyg #wb619 #tailwheel #taildragger #throwbackthursday #avgeek #throwback #pilot #privatepilot #flying #instapilot #redandwhite #vintage #classic #aviation #retro (at Nottingham City Airport) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpRwqxXo5dP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mastersoftheair]

edward ashley as lieutenant colonel john b. kidd (@carninator-blog recognized them on set from the Beginning, like the first few photos on set back in early spring!)

sam haygarth as (possibly) captain ralph d. kelley. (there was no ralph kelley in the 100th. the only kelleys are a dwight and joseph and neither of them have "ralph" as a middle name or something. what makes this theory make sense to me is that capt. kelley was in the 95th, similar to how dan o'donnell was in the 95th. i may still be wrong about that, but these guys were not in the 100th but people with their names were in the 95th. anyway, we'll see what happens!)

there's also tiyanyi kiy, an actress playing a party guest in an anna boden directed episode. her role by itself probably isn't major since she's playing someone with no actual name. but her cv mentions White Waltham Airfield, and that's probably a new filming location for us!

[royally-obsessed]

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021) and his instructor Royal Air Force (RAF) Flight Lieutenant Caryl Ramsay Gordon look in to the cockpit of the de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk two seat trainer aircraft in which the duke will learn to fly, at White Waltham Airfield near Maidenhead in Berkshire, England on 12th November 1952.

[opelman]

Ready for Action by Treflyn Lloyd-Roberts Via Flickr: Battle of Britain veteran Hurricane R4118 stands outside the hanger at White Waltham. Aircraft: RAF Hawker Hurricane Mk.I R4118. Location: White Waltham Airfield, near Maidenhead, Berkshire.

[grandmaster-anne]

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh at White Waltham airfield in Berkshire when he made his last three flights before qualifying for his Royal Air Force wings.

[houseofbrat]

Nothing says overprivileged parents with too much money when an 11-year-old boy is taking flying lessons.

The Prince and Princess of Wales watched their son soar into the air and come back to land safely just under an hour later. The treat came on the final day of George’s school summer holiday last week. An onlooker said: “George is only 11 years old but it is the right time to start. [...] Wills, Kate and George also relaxed at the airfield’s teeming clubhouse, home to the West London Aero Club. One person at the airfield said: “There were probably 30 or 40 people in the clubhouse. “Catherine and William watched George take off. “But they were relaxed about it. All three of them had been pretty chilled in the clubhouse.” [...] George’s great grandad Prince Philip was 31 when he began his flying training at White Waltham in November 1952. [...] William and Harry were both in the Army Cadet Corps at Eton College and did not get flying lessons until they were in the military.

[usafphantom2]

‘Swordfish Sunday’

The Navy Wings Fairey Swordfish W5856 during a display at West London Aero Club Members Day at White Waltham Airfield in early September 2023…@WLACFlying @NavyWingsUK

@ShutterbugWGC via X

[master-john-uk]

4th May 1953 - The Duke of Edinburgh was awarded his RAF pilot’s wings in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Earlier that day The Duke had been observed by his flight instructor and an RAF examining unit as he completed three solo circuits and landings at White Waltham Airfield, Berkshire. RAF examiners described his flying as, "thoughtful with a sense of safety and airmanship above average.”

The Duke of Edinburgh went on to earn his helicopter wings in 1956, and his Private Pilot’s Licence in 1959.

Prince Philip did not hang up his aviator goggles until 1997, having accumulated 5,986 hours flying in 59 various types of aircraft.