Comments / Visitor book
Is this project going to affect you? Would you consider Tranwell Aerodrome as a base for your flying operations? Would you visit a museum on this site? Just want to show your support?
Please leave your comments here……..
Is this project going to affect you? Would you consider Tranwell Aerodrome as a base for your flying operations? Would you visit a museum on this site? Just want to show your support?
Please leave your comments here……..
tranwell
phantomphil
Neil Anderson replied:
Good to see another step taken
October 1, 2009 at 12:02. Permalink.
Dennis Hill replied:
Greetings from the Midlands. I have no idea how I came across this site, but well done and keep up the good work.
I am a vague relative of A E George and have been researching his life and work for about 5 years now. A great man in so many spheres. I doubt if I know any more about his aviation activities than you but I have got quite a bit about his motor racing feats (for which he was probably better known actually).
If I can be of any help, please let me know, and if you have any details of the man that are new to me, likewise.
Dennis Hill
November 18, 2009 at 20:06. Permalink.
Dennis Hill replied:
Should have added my blog to my last post.
http://aegeorge1875.spaces.live.com/?lc=1033
I tend to update this much more often than the website.
DH
November 18, 2009 at 20:49. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
Dennis, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve added your blog and website to our links page. The more people know about Messrs George and Jobling, the better. It will be some time before we are in a position to finally honour their position as aviation pioneers, but as we progress, we will add updates here. Many thanks.
JA
November 18, 2009 at 21:04. Permalink.
Niall Paterson replied:
Great to see all the great effort going into this project. I will be watching intently and wish all involved the best of luck. I look forward to testing what looks to have the makings of a great grass strip. The site would look great with a Viscount fuselage clubhouse/cafe! It would be great to have the opportunity at RAF Millom but the Windmills have put paid to all that! I don’t think the proximity of Eshott/Newcastle airport is an issue. Kirkbride is 10nm from Carlisle and they are both thriving. Besides, Tranwell would offer more than just a grass strip.
December 27, 2009 at 17:41. Permalink.
IAN PARKINSON replied:
I live in Morpeth and look foward to the airfield project taking of. As a owner of three aircraft, one a yak 52 it will be on my doorstep for future use. Best of luck to you all, lets hope the locals all support you with pride
December 31, 2009 at 15:57. Permalink.
Fred Purvis replied:
We all at eshott missed brunton enormously when it closed ! Great for fledgling trainee pilots to visit for a bacon sarnie. And easy to find !
If this comes to fruition , tranwell will be welcomed by all involved in general aviation, The Light Aircraft Association and the British Microlight Aircraft Association. Lets all stand together to encourage this venture in an enthusiastic and professional manner !!
Good on yer Tranwell !! and good luck !!
Freddie Pop Star !!
Robin Owner
Eshott Airfield.
January 3, 2010 at 16:45. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
Thanks guys – your comments certainly are appreciated. We do not want to take anything away from the activities at Eshott (just so that one is clear!). The initial plan was to form a museum at Eshott, and all was going well until we reached the stage where we let the neighbours know what we were doing….The surrounding land owners would not consider selling any of their land for aviation use, and the current airfield land was a little too small for what we wanted to do. A real shame since Eshott was the perfect location. Lets hope that the residents of Tranwell are more accomodating.
January 3, 2010 at 19:31. Permalink.
jeff brunt replied:
well this sounds like a great idea hope you guys succeed and nobody comes along and builds a car factory on it
January 5, 2010 at 23:58. Permalink.
Graeme Rendall replied:
I really want to add my support to this campaign: as the Assistant Editor of the “Air North” magazine, I’ve written fairly lengthy histories for several Northumberland airfields in the past, including Morpeth (we published a two-part article of some ten or so pages in length). I’ve also spent many hours walking around the old site, including the dispersed sites. The county does have a rich aviation history, albeit not one that’s really been trumpeted anywhere to effect, that I know of. The possibilities for tourism and GA abound, and can only be a good thing for the local economy. Hope it all comes to fruition!
I wish you well in your endeavours!
January 24, 2010 at 12:24. Permalink.
Ian Johnson replied:
A great website with a fantastic aim, as a trainee pilot at Eshott I think it will be absolutly brilliant to have another local airfield to fly into, even better to have some historic aircraft to look at while relaxing with a coffee.
Great work and I hope all comes to fruition
March 4, 2010 at 08:12. Permalink.
John Ellis replied:
What you plan on doing to Tranwell will be great, although I am not a pilot but I do love aircraft and I am a Sgt in the ATC at a local squadron and a director in Bunker 13. Michael Younger told me a little of your project and I wish you every success and when it is up and running I will probably never be away from the place. Stay in touch, would love to see more of your progress.
March 5, 2010 at 11:34. Permalink.
Dennis Hill replied:
As you know, I have been researching A E George and his activities for some time now. What I have never revealed before is what a George family member in my area is up to. Mainly because I didn’t think he would stick at the project (I should have more faith!).
Well, he is about 75% to completing a roughly 1/8th scale non flying model of the G & J biplane. The fuselage and wings are made from steel and brass tubing. Surface coverings are Egyptian 300g silk (don’t ask, I have no idea what it really is). The engine is scale externally but built around a 12v electric motor. The control column works all the control surfaces properly and the tail wheel steers. The undercarriage is sprung as per original. In short it is a pretty decent representation of a long gone plane.
Now I have to encourage him to push on and finish it. The builder is now in his 70′s but pretty healthy. He has never done any modelling before but, he is a retired cabinet maker and upholsterer from the days when such jobs were ‘proper’.
I will post some photos on my blog shortly (see the LINKS page).
May 7, 2010 at 13:51. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
That sounds pretty impressive!
May 10, 2010 at 12:21. Permalink.
Geoff Garrett replied:
Goodnews for North East the proposed plans for Morpeth,
June 14, 2010 at 19:16. Permalink.
5458comms replied:
I live locally and would like to get involved- but can’t find an email or phone contact anywhere on the site. Can you pls post best contact details? Thanks.
August 4, 2010 at 16:34. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
The best e-mail is johngt6 (at) yahoo.co.uk, which is my personal mail box.
John
August 4, 2010 at 21:44. Permalink.
Geoff Brown replied:
Good luck with the project. I shall be following progress with great interest and, living in Seahouses, will be one of the first through your doors! As a Biggles fan, I found your site while browsing for WE Johns connections with the NE. As you probably know, Cramlington features prominently in the 1935 book “Biggles and the Black Peril”.
August 6, 2010 at 11:05. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
I too am a massive Biggles fan – Ginger was found to the east of Ashington, as I recall… Biggles and the Black Peril features in our literature as something we would like to promote since it has quite deep NE roots. One of John’s artists is buried in Newcastle too.
Thanks for the support, and as I have said on the news page we are attempting to re-locate to another airfield site and things are looking promising. We will have an announcement on the status of our proposed memorial in the next couple of months.
August 6, 2010 at 17:36. Permalink.
Doug Harrison replied:
Just gone through the whole of your site, excellant very informative, spent some time with my father in law, looking at the site. He was stationed at RAF Morpeth during the war.I myself spent 22 years in the RAF and retired in 1991. I am now branch chairman for Morpeth RAFA. I wish you the best with this project.
September 17, 2010 at 13:39. Permalink.
Mike Foster replied:
I am a keen amateur photographer, fascinated by the old RAF airfields dotted around the region.
Some of you may be interested to see pictures of the (very) scant remains of RAF Morpeth/Tranwell Airfield from a visit I made last autumn –
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fozstar/sets/72157625031871873/with/5078100695/
Thanks for looking!!
Mike
January 23, 2011 at 12:01. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
It would appear that dispite our best effort over the last four years, certain residents of Tranwell Woods and Gubeon Plantation would rather see this airfield reclaimed by nature, than have it preserved and restored. Sadly the Tranwell idea is 99% dead, but we have rescued something from the ashes of this project…. stay tuned! The photographs on this site and those linked to here stand as testament to the airfield. Keep recording its decay….
January 23, 2011 at 22:16. Permalink.
John Ellis replied:
I seriously hope that you can achieve your goals. Tranwell Airfield is a historic airfield and Bunker 13 has visited a couple of times. I, personally find it intriging, just cannot imagine what it was like during WW2.
If you can get it up and running it will be fantastic for future WW2 events. We, for one would attend everytime.
Good Luck
John (Bunker13)
January 30, 2011 at 13:00. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
Thanks John, I’ll keep you guys in the frame for the new direction…. its on your doorstep.
January 31, 2011 at 00:47. Permalink.
John Ellis replied:
Yes by all means keep us in the frame. It could mean so much to many people to have this on there door step. E-mail us sometime to tell us where you at and we will do the same. You never know we might open upat the same time haha.
January 31, 2011 at 09:23. Permalink.
Larry replied:
Very much enjoyed the piece on Morpeth. My late father – an RCAF pilot – was stationed there between May 8 & Sept 21, 1944. The separation of the sexes must not have been too stringent. It was here that my father met my mother – from Staindrop Co. Durham and serving in the WAAF. They married shortly after VE Day but it was not until April 1946 that she was able to join him in Canada. Lastly – you mention the death of one pilot in an Anson. In father’s Pilot’s Flying Log Book there’s an entry for Sept 6 1944 that he was 1st pilot in Master “A” and that the second pilot was a F/S Tranmer. Above this entry my dad wrote “He bought it October 6 in Anson 1.” From further research I’ve found this to be Eric William Tranmer of Harrogate, Yorks.
November 10, 2011 at 22:47. Permalink.
tranwell replied:
Larry, Thank you for having a look through the site. We would dearly like to see a copy of your Father’s log book, or any photographs you may have relating to his time in the North East of England, but sadly we have no means of storage. If I may be so bold as to ask whether you would consider sending a copy to the North East Aircraft Museum (Sunderland) ? We have strong links to that museum and have joined its number in a bid to help them develop further. In the future, the core of the Wings Over Northumberland project could appear there!
In case you don’t know, the Wings Over Northumberland idea is on long-term hold due to the aggressive reaction by certain residents of Tranwell Woods, and with our departure from Tranwell the local council has almost approved plans for a windfarm development to be built on the old airfield. Whilst this will deeply annoy the local residents (they were warned by us a few years ago..), the development should preserve what is left. Where these sites occur, they tend to allow the vast majority of the landscape remain intact, so RAF Morpeth will be around for a while yet before nature reclaims it.
I will maintain this site until such time as we can move forwards, so feel free to add photographs, stories, etc. Thanks again.
November 11, 2011 at 12:54. Permalink.
Larry replied:
If you give me an email address for both yourself and the North East Aircraft Museum I’ll see if I can scan the pages that pertain to #4 AGS and send them along. (As you probably know the Log Book is bound, about 1/2″ thick. In the case of my father’s Log the entries run to 100+ pages covering 1943-45. The Log itself is not in the best of shape – as you can understand I’m a bit apprehensive about breaking the spine repeatedly placing it on a scanning bed.) Frankly there’s a lot of repetition in the entries – my dad did a lot of drogue towing! He did spend some time at Watchfield training Oxfords.There are also several entries where he flew to Acklington or Eshott. The names of the second pilots or passengers might also be of interest. So if you pass along email address(s) I’ll scan what I can and also scan some of the photos that we included in the Log. Cheers.
November 16, 2011 at 16:00. Permalink.