Memory is a fantastic part of our make up

I was working in the garden on the Friday afternoon of the Sunderland Air Show. It was a warm, clear sunny afternoon and the sky was busy with the aircraft from the Show and the traffic in and out of Newcastle Airport. Then – a sound from the past. I knew before I searched for the aircraft in the sky what make and age it would be. There in its fantastic design was an aircraft special in my memory – a de Havilland vampire jet aircraft. I was fortunate over the weekend as the aircraft flew over Hebburn on a number of occasions and I was able to spot it a few times.

The connection with Ushaw Moor?

It was on another sunny afternoon when I was a lad at school that I first heard the sound of a jet aircraft. It was afternoon playtime and as usual I was in the school field of St. Joseph’s. The skies in those days were pretty busy with aircraft – mostly aircraft of the Royal Air Force. These aircraft were piston engined aircraft whose engines were familiar sounds to everyone. The sound that we heard was the roar of a jet engine for the first time , now a very familiar sound.

Everyone was talking and pointing at the aircraft as it engine with its unfamiliar sound hurtled across the sky faster than any aircraft we had ever seen. We had heard of jet aircraft which came into service with RAF in 1945. The other jet aircraft which soon became a familiar sight was the Gloster Meteor. These two aircraft were the backbone of the RAF for a number of years after the Second War. It was the design of the twin fuselages connecting the tail which made the Vampire special.

Brian Mc