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I remember when Soonderloond was a grass airstrip, not a jap car factory. A vicious upward hump in the runway I remember. I almost came a cropper there, taking off in a very heavily overloaded ancient 172 (the type that had no rear window and had a hand-cranked flap handle) and a decrepit engine which had failed its last cylinder pressure test. Silly me.

If it wasn't for Good Lady Luck, and some tricky tweaking on the elevators, I might have become a legendary flying leg end.

Yes, I have fond memories of Sunderland. Several trips in and out in an Aztec in the 80's.

I had my preferred place to stand.
On at least one occasion I was soaked by the spray from a Harrier hovering so close - magic!

The following year they moved further offshore (part of the dumbing-down)