​13th May 2025

Rod Dean – Flying The Hunter and Other Things –

Part 2

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Following on from last month, Rod Dean returns with part 2 of a look back at his 39 years (and nearly 3,000 flying hours) involvement with the magnificent Hawker Hunter, including his time flying the aircraft in Aden, as a very young 20 year old, Bahrain and Oman as well as at RAF Chivenor and Brawdy and, more recently, flying the civil registered aircraft.  Being in two parts allows Rod to look in depth at many of the highlights of this period of his flying life; most of which are quite light hearted and humorous

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10th June 2025

Neil Chattle - The History, Heritage and Engineering Excellence of Rolls-Royce

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Neil Chattle was formerly Head of Corporate Heritage and Chief Executive of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust (RRHT).  During his lecture tonight, Neil will summarise the major events in the design, development and manufacture of Rolls-Royce aero engines and applications over the past 118 years

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8th July 2025

Air Marshal 'Black' Robertson - 'Phew, That Was Close!'

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Air Marshal ‘Black’ Robertson tonight presents an evening of enthralling stories from Suez and the Cold War to the Falklands and the Balkans – the amazing experiences of both aircrew and groundcrew, from the highest to the lowest ranks, aircrew and groundcrew alike. It wasn’t just experiences in the air from which these individuals learnt lessons for life, it was the people with whom they worked, the places they served and the jobs they did. Their tales of derring-do offer a unique perspective on the RAF’s development and characters who formed its backbone

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12th August 2025

Captain Jim Passmore - Tales From the Flight Deck

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Captain Jim Passmore worked for BA for 35 years, starting as a co-pilot on the Trident and progressing to a senior management position.  Tonight he will recount some interesting, and sometimes tragic, aspects of aviation during his time.  This will include accounts of the early auto-land system, the Staines Trident and the Manchester 737 accidents

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9th September 2025

Captain John Tye - Flying Concorde Pilot

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John’s takes us behind the scenes to learn what it was like to fly the world’s only successful supersonic airliner.
Concorde first flew in March 1969 when John was at ‘junior school’. The first commercial Concorde flight was 7 years later, in January 1976, when John was still at ‘big school’. John would never have guessed that he would eventually go on to become one of only ever 134 pilots to fly Concorde for British Airways in the whole 27 years the aircraft was in service. John will tell us how that came to be.
He will take us through the extensive training course, the toughest in aviation, and then on a virtual flight from Heathrow to New York. He’ll explain some of the unique technical features of Concorde along the way. A few ‘celebrity stories’ and family involvement bring in the human element, before touching briefly upon the tragic accident in Paris in the summer of 2000. The successful ‘return to service programme’ and eventual retirement of Concorde in 2003 will bring the talk to a close.
The talk will be followed by a Q & A session and then the opportunity to purchase signed copies of John’s best-selling book, ‘Life Of A Concorde Pilot – From The Orphanage to The Edge of Space’

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14th October 2025

Gerry Manning – Pure Nostalgia!

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Well-travelled aviation photographer Gerry Manning tonight takes us back to the 1960’s and 70’s with a wealth of civil and military photographs from that era.  These were collected by Gerry from various airshows and airports during a time when aircraft had some character!

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11th November 2025

Robin Evans – In the Slipstream of Alcock and Brown

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Robin Evans is a professional pilot and tonight retraces their 1919 transatlantic crossing from primary sources. Rendering two modest men back into life as a professional descendant and uncovering the myths that have circulated over the years

 

9th December 2025

Professor Fiona Clark – Electronic Warfare in Today's Conflicts

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Professor Fiona Clark – Electronic Warfare in Today’s Conflicts

Professor Fiona Clark is Head of Capability, Electronic Warfare (EW) at Leonardo Electronics.  Tonight she describes for us the ability to use the electromagnetic spectrum to sense, analyse and identify enemy signals, as well as to disrupt, degrade or deny the adversaries' ability to benefit from use of the spectrum. The Ukraine conflict has demonstrated both sides’ reliance on EW equipment, and the need for rapidly changeable capability. This lecture will give an overview of the subject of EW:  why it’s needed, what it is, how it’s done and will leave the audience with thoughts for future developments

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