The Lundy Team bring you ‘Lundy Sunday’ an event that is well supported by our local flyers as well as pilots from around the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands.
This event has been a regular feature for 24 years!
Lundy lies off the coast of North Devon, where the Atlantic ocean meets the Bristol Channel with nothing between it and America, a granite outcrop, three miles long and half a mile wide. In the hubbub of the modern world, it is a place apart, peaceful and unspoiled.
Although only three miles in length, and half-a-mile wide, the Island offers an amazingly diverse range of things to do for day-trippers. Its 4,000 years of human history comes to life through the 42 scheduled monuments and its clutch of listed buildings. Because of its isolation the habitat for wildlife is often compared to that of Galapagos. This is all set against a backdrop of stunning natural rugged beauty, making it a walker’s paradise.
PPR is essential from Pete White 01752 406660 or 07805 805679
Click here for the 2023 event poster
Previous event posters:
Photos of previous events: 2021 2016
2023 – Back to Lundy Island for Auster 5 TJ343 / G-AJXC Pete White
The 2023 Lundy Sunday Fly-in has a special guest aircraft booked in as it has a particular connection with Lundy because it was used in the 1950s to provide a charter service from Chivenor Airfield to Lundy, alongside Auster G-AJEA. ‘JEA was the aeroplane which had to ditch between Lundy and the mainland, fortunately without loss of life (see below). This will be the first time the Auster 5 G-AJXC has visited Lundy since it left Chivenor in about 1960. It is now owned by Robin Helliar-Symons who is looking forward to flying it back to the island looking very smart in its military marks as TJ343.
Back to the post war period and Maurice Looker ran North Devon Air Services t/a The Puffin Aero club/Devonair Ltd and he used to fly ad-hoc flights over to Lundy Island in G-AJXC, an Auster 5 with an Avco Lycoming (modified from an industrial engine).
On 20th August 1955 Maurice ditched another Auster, Autocrat G-AJEA into the Bristol Channel when the engine failed, both he and his passengers were picked up by a passing ship, one of the few people to land an Auster on water and survive by the way. The passengers were Mrs Nonie Ross and her son Peter. The ship’s next stop was Port Talbot.
Registration G-AJEA cancelled by the CAA on 21/11/1955 as “destroyed” see details below;
| Date: | 20-AUG-1955 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Auster J/1 Autocrat |
| Owner/operator: | Devonair Ltd |
| Registration: | G-AJEA |
| MSN: | 2324 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Bristol Channel off Hartland Point, Devon – United Kingdom |
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger – Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Chivenor, Devon |
| Destination airport: | Lundy Island |
| Confidence Rating: | Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
A Historical Note…
Both Lundy Island and the RAF Chivenor airfield sites had their aviation debuts in the 1930’s with aircraft operating between the two airfields. The mainland airfield, North Devon Airport, Barnstaple operated DH 60 Moths, Short Scions and DH 84 Dragon aircraft, amongst other types, under the name of Atlantic Coast Air Services. The RAF requisitioned the site in 1940 and it was swallowed up in the new RAF Chivenor operating predominantly Coastal Command aircraft. The Chivenor married quarters and accommodation blocks covered the pre war site but if you look today carefully at the industrial site adjacent to the Braunton Road you will see buildings and hangars from that time now in use by industry.
We do have a lot of aviation history in the West Country…perhaps more at a later date.
Pete White — Events Director, AEROCLUB & Events Organiser 01752 406660 — 07805 805679 — pete@aeronca.co.uk