Rainy RAF Newton Tribute
Time goes quickly. Make the most of it.
Half a century ago, as an air cadet of Number 422 (Corby) squadron, I used to travel with the lads up to RAF Newton with the intentions of flying in Chipmunks of 7 AEF. Typical of the English midlands, it was often overcast or raining, but knowing how many times that could change in a day, we'd get on the bus anyway, and set off with high hopes.
Alas, despite those best intentions, there were all too many "no flying" days. We'd sit in the ready room and hope for a change in conditions, or we'd brave the elements and look at the aircraft getting wet, wondering if the airmen would pull them back into the shelter of the hangers. There were times we went off to the canteen, marching in formation even as we got soaked, and there were occasions when we'd wander off to a maintenance hanger which was full of old airframes for training purposes. That was always fun, and I recall seeing my first Javelin there.
Fifty years ago... How the heck did that happen?
Well, the Chippy has long retired from the service (except a couple on strength with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight for tailwheel training), and so has its replacement the Bulldog. RAF Newton was de-commissioned decades ago, and is mostly now a housing estate. And as for me? no longer the young kid in England, but a senior citizen in Canada, even if I am starting a new phase of my writing career regardless!
But, while time moves on, and the experiences of old are consigned to memory, with MSFS we have the opportunity to re-live bygone days virtually. And so, for some reason, I re-created those rainy days at Newton on this autumnal day on the Canadian prairie.
The scenery is my own. I started messing with the SDK about a year and a half ago with the thought of re-creating Newton. Because I aliased assets that were already on my computer, I was able to cobble together a reasonable reproduction of the station, but was unable to distribute the resulting file. I also stopped working on it, and thus it was never completed. It will therefore remain a private work-in-progress, although I hope someone else will eventually do a better (and distributable) job instead of this.
In the meantime, with these screenshots, I give you a rainy day in Newton, and dedicate it to all the other former cadets who knew what it was like to watch the gathering clouds in disappointment!
(Ps.. If the moderators allow it, I will add a couple of pictures from 50 years ago!! - Not very good quality, but all I have from those Newton days)
- Kenneth
Bunker 2 by retnavycpo, on Flickr
Bunker rainbow by retnavycpo, on Flickr
Bunker by retnavycpo, on Flickr
Lightning 1 by retnavycpo, on Flickr
Lightning 2 by retnavycpo, on Flickr
Takeoff by retnavycpo, on Flickr
Screenshot (7126) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
Screenshot (7125) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
Screenshot (7130) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
