Blog and Fun Pictures 2022 onwards

Blog & Fun pictures

In date order with the newest post first. This page runs from 2022 onwards. The Previous Blog p[age runs from 2016-to the end of 2021. Scroll down the page to see more posts.

July 2022

Tiffenden Airfield is now on Microsoft Flight Simulator

This made us smile. Tiffenden Airfield is now on Microsoft Flight Simulator and you can now virtually land. The picture on the right is a screen grab from FS. Interestingly you can see Aircraft parked up by the indoor riding arena on the right. Aircraft parked there when we had our Woodchurch RDA Carriage Driving Barn opening by disabled pilot and TV presenter Arthur Williams. Aircraft parking is adjacent Runway 27 mid way down and also by the hangar.

Regular Visitors

Tiffenden Airfield gets many regular visitors. In this instance a Robin DR400 dropping in from Spilstead for a picnic. The airfield is a very peaceful place for a spot of lunch. There is a small picnic table and bench that seats 4.

Woodchurch Carriage Driving for the Disabled is based at Tiffenden Airfield and uses the on site equestrian facilities . You can visit them here. The carriage driving can often been seen in action in the 3 arenas. Tiffenden Airfield has recently donated 2 benches for carers and spectators to use. They can be seen on the right and below.

Most airfields charge a landing fee. No such fees are charged at Tiffenden Airfield. What we suggest is that any pilot wanting too pay a landing fee makes a donation to Woodchurch Carriage Driving for the Disabled instead. This has worked well and the generosity of the pilots has made a real difference.

May 2022

A few landings already with 2 visiting aircraft from Headcorn. Overhead we have had Spitfires, Harvards and a Stearman.

Runway Maintenance

The finishing mower decks rely on the cuttings being mulched down. Sometimes they are just too heavy and leave huge clumps. The fix is to remove them with a tractor mounted tine rake. Build up there cuttings in rows then build them into piles for collection. Takes a long time.

Fixing the runway holes

On New Year's Day we had 2 horses belt down the wet runway leaving deep holes in the runway surface. Each hole has to be filled, compacted, seeded and rolled by hand.

The flags only show a fraction of the damaged areas and the track taken by a single horse. we estimate a weeks work, 8 cubic yards of top soil, 2 bags of seed.

Every flag is a hole caused by horses hooves. You wouldn't want your tailwheel in one of those.

April 2022

The ground is fairly hard for this time of year. This is due to the lack of rain compared to previous years. As the ground has dried out it means we have been able to cut the grass early. The airfield sign had a spruce up as the paint had faded and cracked due to sun damage. It know has a perspex cover with a small gap so it can breathe and hopefully water will not get trapped. We'll see.

Eurofox on Tundra tyres lands at Tiffenden. Tiffenden was made for aircraft like this. Grass roots flying at its best. The Eurofox is a very capable aircraft with amazing short field performance. Click any picture to see a larger one.

Balloon landing - first of the year. We very rarely get a balloon landing at Tiffenden. Click any picture to see a larger one. When the airfield first started operating about 14 years ago, balloons used to lift from the fields. Now, we just get the occasional landing and the airfield is mainly used by fixed wing aircraft and helicopters with the odd microlight.

Funeral for ex RAF Aero Engineer.

A lifetime dedicated to aviation and a last dying wish to have his funeral on an airfield. Tiffenden Airfield were more than happy to help out and provided the venue for 30 people from Belgium, Luxembourg and the UK. A marquee went up and aviation vehicles belonging to the airfield we used to dress the occasion. Sadly, we could not get an aircraft in the vicinity on the day.

August - Olympics balloon G-GBGT
drops in on a Sunday morning

You don't often hear balloons landing if they don't need to use their burners so much. We slept right through this one. The balloon is an ex-TeamGB balloon.

G-AYGE now flight testing

The Stampe that is based at Tiffenden Airfield durning the summer months is out of 10 months maintenance is now being flight tested. Soon to be seen overhead and surrounding airfields.

On the right you can see the Eurofox at the start of a foggy day. We have had some very warm weather and then it rained for the first time in weeks resulting in an early morning fog that was burned off by 10:00 in the morning. Makes for great pictures.

Eurofox at home - a foggy Fox.

Another balloon drops in.

The cooler air of October is brilliant for balloon flying. The predominant wind direction has meant that Tiffenden is on the balloon flight path and a perfect landing location.

Stampes Fly-In to Tiffenden

Stampe biplanes are a regular sight at Tiffenden Airfield. We are so privileged to be able to host them and enjoy the fantastic displays when they fly in formation. Check out the Stampe Formation Team here. https://stampe-formation-team.co.ukstampe-formation-team.co.uk

Bad weather sees the hangar in use

We have had some pretty bad weather in late September and October equally matched with good weather. The high winds and storms have made it prudent to put the aircraft away for the evening in the hangar.

Our 1940 David Brown Aircraft Support Unit has a new home.

We were running out of space so we decided to let a few vehicles go including our 1940s David Brown Tractor Tug. This tug was based at Boscombe Down until 2005. Click on any image to see a much larger one. The Tug has gone to White Waltham.