Ulster Aviation Society Day Trip

News |

Saturday 14th November 2015

Six boys and three officers from 2nd Ahoghill Company Section toured the hangars of the Ulster Aviation Society, during a visit on Saturday afternoon.

We met in full uniform at the church hall before travelling to the former World War 2 airfield, on the outskirts of Lisburn. We arrived at the hangar around 2:00pm and were greeted by Des Regan, membership secretary of the Ulster Aviation Society.

We began our tour in the main hangar, which housed a wide selection of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft – including several jet fighter/bombers, such as the Blackburn Buccaneer, De Havilland Vampire, Harrier Seahawk and English Electric Camberra.

The Camberra on display was actually the last to be flown by the RAF, completing its last deployment in Afghanistan in 2006.

Another notable member of the collection was a World War 2 era Grumman Wildcat fighter, which had been recovered and restored after crashing near Lough Neagh during a training exercise on Christmas Eve 1944.

Aero Engine Collection

About half way down the hangar, we entered a small room containing various engines that had been restored for display, including the inline piston engine from a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, which had been recovered from the Irish Sea in the mid-nineties.

Fred Jennings Radio Room

We made our way to a corridor on the other side of the main hangar, viewing the remaining aircraft as we went along. After entering a small room on the left hand side, we found ourselves surrounded by a vast array of World War 2 era radio equipment. The room was named after Fred Jennings, a 93 year old veteran who flew in the Royal Air Force as a radar/radio specialist onboard Mitchell B-25 Bombers.

Royal Observer Corps

The neighbouring rooms were focused on the Royal Observer Corps. An organisation originally founded to monitor enemy aircraft, but later assigned the task of detecting and reporting nuclear explosions during the Cold War. Former member, Paddy Malone, explained his role in the corps and shared his tales of paranoia. The display included a mock underground monitoring post, which was set up to mirror the 58 real posts still scattered around Northern Ireland.

F-4 Phantom

As the tour drew to a close, we moved across to the neighbouring hangar; where a number of volunteers were busy restoring the various aircraft scattered around. However it was the massive fuselage of the newly acquired F-4 Phantom jet fighter that drew the eye. The US-built Phantom was used by the western nations during the Cold War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and had been acquired by the Ulster Aviation Society in July of this year.

Meeting Fred Jennings

Before leaving we had the privilege of meeting Fred Jennings himself, his knowledge and passion was clear as he explained how the equipment worked and shared stories of his experiences during the war.

Our time eventually came to an end, and after a quick stop at the gift shop we made our way back to the cars and travelled home.