nikp Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 Hello, Does anyone know whether anyone offers flights over the Somme. I have seen one or two advertised but the details are very sketchy. Cheers, Nick P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 Hi Nik Steve7 is the man to ask. Check out this post and hover over his name (no pun intended) and click on find content to see his other contributions. Jeremy Banning has also posted some helicopter shots and has a section on his website devoted to them. Both Steve and Jeremy's photos are excellent. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Banning Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 et voila.... http://jeremybanning.co.uk/gallery/nggallery/images/somme-aerials Mine are a mixture of microlight and helicopter images. I still have quite a few north of the Ancre to add but am yet to get around to it. I flew in the microlight from La Boisselle. Good luck, JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 et voila.... http://jeremybanning.co.uk/gallery/nggallery/images/somme-aerials Mine are a mixture of microlight and helicopter images. I still have quite a few north of the Ancre to add but am yet to get around to it. I flew in the microlight from La Boisselle. Good luck, JB Jeremy, you are not claustrophobic and you have a head for heights, I am envious. Just the thought of being under or over La Boisselle makes me want to lie down. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Banning Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 My head for heights is not great Pete! I can't say it enjoyed it immensely, but do enjoy the results. Ironically, I was better at 2000ft than I am on a ladder. As for underground at La Boisselle, that was altogether a different experience. And one I'll be chatting about at the GWF Conference on 2 April if you're interested... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 My head for heights is not great Pete! I can't say it enjoyed it immensely, but do enjoy the results. Ironically, I was better at 2000ft than I am on a ladder. As for underground at La Boisselle, that was altogether a different experience. And one I'll be chatting about at the GWF Conference on 2 April if you're interested... I'm looking forward too it. I'll be the one with my hands over my eyes however....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 21 March , 2016 Share Posted 21 March , 2016 My head for heights is not great Pete! I can't say it enjoyed it immensely, but do enjoy the results. Ironically, I was better at 2000ft than I am on a ladder. As for underground at La Boisselle, that was altogether a different experience. And one I'll be chatting about at the GWF Conference on 2 April if you're interested... I'm digressing from the original request, sorry Nic, Jeremy, how do you get in contact with the guy with the microlight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikp Posted 22 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 22 March , 2016 Thanks for all the info. Some fantastic shots there. I am after possibly a light aircraft tour for 3 . Thanks, Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Banning Posted 22 March , 2016 Share Posted 22 March , 2016 Hi Nick (& Pete), I am unsure how you could get the microlight from La Boisselle. The guy who owns it lives next door to the site so when we were working there we saw a lot of him. He offered us a flight... Steve7 may be able to advise more. The helicopter shots were taken from a friend's helicopter. As for Nick's request for a flight for 3, best try the airport at Meaulte to see if there are any light aircraft there. Good luck, JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frajohn Posted 22 March , 2016 Share Posted 22 March , 2016 The aerodrome at Glisy (Amiens) has planes for charter which will fly over your chosen sites. You can email them from the contact page of their website. They have no problem with communication in English. Below is a link to their website, have patience it tends to run slowly! Kind regards John http://www.aeroclub-picardie-amiens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikp Posted 23 March , 2016 Author Share Posted 23 March , 2016 Thanks all. Waiting for a reply from the Aero club. Ta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 23 March , 2016 Share Posted 23 March , 2016 Nik, let us know how it goes. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazala Posted 23 March , 2016 Share Posted 23 March , 2016 Jeremy, just been looking at your photographs. They are stunning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Banning Posted 23 March , 2016 Share Posted 23 March , 2016 Thanks very much! JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dah Posted 29 March , 2016 Share Posted 29 March , 2016 Jeremy, I also enjoyed the Somme aerial photos, including seeing if I could identify the various cemeteries/locations from the picture alone (Could be a fun icebreaker at the GWF Birmingham event, especially cos of its strong Somme theme, to flash a few of these on the screen and ask the audience to shout out the 'answers'). Happy to recognise Quarry Cemetery, also a favourite of mine.....not just for the shelter it affords to cyclists on a rainy (or sunny) day. Particularly dwelt on the photo (page 3) showing the Ulster Division's line of attack (subtitled 'The Allied View') from Thiepval Wood towards the Schwaben Redoubt and Grandcourt. The field lines seem (to me) to evoke the paths/footsteps and objectives of the 36th Division on 1st July. Some of them made it all the way. A powerful picture! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Banning Posted 30 March , 2016 Share Posted 30 March , 2016 Thanks David, glad you enjoyed looking at them. Agree, that photo (below) is one of my favourites too. JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dah Posted 31 March , 2016 Share Posted 31 March , 2016 Jeremy, Many thanks for posting your excellent picture showing the 36th Div 1st July battlefield. Are there any clever 'Photoshoppers' who could superimpose the German trench lines & Schwaben Redoubt position on that view ?. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 31 March , 2016 Share Posted 31 March , 2016 Hi David I'm sure some of the photo geniuses on here can do that for you but in the interim you might want to check out this post by Norman (Seadog). The first link is to Nick Stone's Flickr account and includes two which do most of what you want as far as I can see. The Schwaben Redoubt is roughly on the road that separates the yellow field from the green north of Mill Road cemetery at the top of Jeremy's photo. I love then and now pictures and I really like Nick's work. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Banning Posted 31 March , 2016 Share Posted 31 March , 2016 Yes, Nick's work is great. He is a very talented photographer. I found a file on my PC a couple of night's ago with some more aerial shots. Here's one of Caterpillar Valley Cemetery & the New Zealand National Memorial at Longueval. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 31 March , 2016 Share Posted 31 March , 2016 Another cracking picture Jeremy. I did a double take for a second as Caterpillar Valley is one of my favourite places on the Somme and I'm very familiar with it, yet it looks so much bigger from the air. One of my footballers is named on the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing and I always think that it dominates the cemetery, yet this photograph changes the perspective completely, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 31 March , 2016 Share Posted 31 March , 2016 I would contend that Nick Stone's placing of the Schwaben Redoubt is incorrect, and that he falls into the same trap as many have done before, placing it on the front line a few yards to the south-east of Mill Road Cemetery. There is certainly a rich maze of trenches visible there on his aerial overlay, a redoubt surely, but it is not the Schwaben. Pete accurately locates the redoubt, or at least the apex of it, at the point where the flowering rapeseed field, its green neighbour, and the track from the communal cemetery to St.Pierre Divion meet. Nicks' overlay includes the western third or so of the Schwaben, which extended eastwards to the farm labourer's cottages on the Grandcourt road, the course of which it followed roughly to the limit of the large farm, before turning back westwards to rejoin the works visible on the overlay. Its location becomes all the more obvious when walking the ground, because it lies on the highest point of the ridge, itself the westernmost extent of the Pozieres - Thiepval ridge before it falls down into the Ancre Valley. Set back from the front lines, with clear views - and fields of fire - down onto Thiepval and Thiepval Wood, back along the Pozieres ridge, and even to Grandcourt to its rear, it is a formidable defensive position. My photograph below shows the view looking up along the track from the communal cemetery. The narrow shadow running left to right along the recently drilled field, a fortuitous play of sunlight and cloud upon the field, almost exactly follows the line of the Schwaben's trench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 Good spot Toby. Because I'm familiar with the aerial photo and can spot the Schwaben Redoubt on it I didn't even read the description. At least Nick didn't say that the Ulster Tower is built on the site of the redoubt, which is also something I have read. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horrocks Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 Indeed Pete, or Mill Road Cemetery, which is in fact amongst the German front line trench system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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