In September 1951 my father, Basil Appleyard, attended the 102 FRS Vampire course. This post shows some of images scanned rom Basil’s collection of negatives taken during 1951. The first image shows Basil in the cockpit of a Vampire FB5. RAF North Luffenham September 1951
Basil’s log books show that during 1951 he attended both a 4 VR Spitfire and a 4VR Vampire course with the 102 FRS unit at RAF North Luffenham. The image above and the ones immediately below are from the Vampire course that ran from the 3rd to the 20th September.
For completeness the following images were from the the Spitfire 22 course that Basil attended from the 14th to the 28th August. This was also held at North Luffenham.
And bringing it altogether a sketch of the offices attending. The artist appears to be A. Appleby who is sketched drawing himself front right:
Basil re-joined the RAF on 7th January 1952. His first posting was with 151 squadron at RAF Leuchars where he flew Vampires both FB5 and FB10.
Links relevant to this:
North Luffenham, England – 1951 – Daily Diary – National Archives of Canada (c-and-e-museum.org)
