A long overdue awesome aeroplanes thread!

hawker hind

dh 88 comet

“now gently pull back on the stick..”

Went to see the latest(last?) Studio Ghibli movie on Sunday, a biopic of Horikoshi, the designer of the Mitsubishi Zero, very reminiscent of the RJ Mitchell story. Anyway, a big inspiration of his was the Italian, Caproni, who tried all sorts of weird and wonderful experimental designs, some of which worked.

But not this one.

“You can run, but you’ll just die tired”

[/url]jherc by danthomassw13[/url], on Flickr[/img]

C-130-J (soft spot as I flew them!!)

Ah yes, the spooky 2. A scary aircraft indeed. Mainly ‘cos it can do this:

I always liked these. I think because they were named after my father’s home town.

4 pages of (mostly) toy aircraft, and now we’re getting to the decent ones!

The C130J is about as good as they come!

Beverley! Always reminds me of this picture!

How about a Skyvan in Oman?

Used for bombing runs sometimes. Just open the door and drop one out!

And, nice Beaver….!

FW-190D

CFH long shot but…..you weren’t an IL2 player once were you?

I feel a disturbance in the force, one that I ha…..

IL2?

That’s a no, by the way! 🙂

The poor man’s Catalina – the Walrus

Getting an image on here seems beyond me, but had to mention the A380. The smoothest take offs, landings and flights I’ve been on. Just a pity the airline companies still squeeze as many passengers on as possible instead of giving a little extra leg room.

Perhaps someone else can get an image on for me.

Not too shabby for 1939.

Miles M.52 – Very interesting back story and the developement of the all moving tailplane required for supersonic flight. Cancelled and then the USA go on to break the sound barrier.
Wikipedia entry

My third picture (page 1) was a PA48 Enforcer – basically a turbo prop Mustang!

Had a good look at a Staggerwing when I saw one at Popham Airfield a few years ago. Beautiful thing.

Stringbag

Sleek machine from certain view points, fat bat from some others.

Julian, would that be the yellow one?

Always love seeing this beast at Popham, an Antonov AN2

Sadly don’t get to see it flying over the village as much as I’d like.

My view of the Stringbag is rather coloured by the fact that it was all that Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde VC and others had to try to attack Scharnhorst, Gniesenau and Prinz Eugen. There is a story that his VC was recommended by a German admiral, but Wikipedia doesn’t mention it, so now I’m not so sure.

Have you lot spent all day looking at cool planes?

I feel this thread needs some more Jaguar appreciation.

@ CFH – yes, it would be. The Antonov’s still there as far as I know – I’ll check next time I drive past or look in. Amazing thing! There are some nice YAKs (or similar) at Popham too.

Fairey Delta 2:

Bristol Type 188:

The awesome(ly ugly) Fairey Gannet:

mmannerr’s picture is of a Saab Draken, by the way.

Saab Viggen:

Sukhoi S-37 Berkut:

Yes, the Antonov is certainly still there, as of earlier today!

That low Jaguar pass is making me feel all funny!

For kjcc25:

Perhaps someone else can get an image on for me.

😉

I always enjoy the fly-ins at Popham, too. Some nice aircraft to be seen there, plus when a bike or car meet is on there are some good things to see.

As an aside, it’s worth Googling ‘The vodka burner is rolling’ and watching the video…

Excellent thread, loving some of the stories as much as the pics.

Cool short film about a Spitfire pilot.

I’d recommend trying to get hold of the Chuck Yeager biography too if you can, total legend!

@JulianA – my Uncle Matt was the gunner in a Swordfish, he and my Dad could argue for hours about planes – Fleet Air Arm vs RAF I would much rather have flown the Hurricane than the Swordfish, it was an antique before the war started.

Catalina

Thank you Duffer, though I was thinking more BA, Singapore or Emirates!

There’s a few planes that stick out from when we lived in America:

We went to Wright-Patterson AFB few times and this was outside. I think it shaped my paper airplane making for years to come. I think it’s a Valkyrie.

Went on board the Ark Royal (in Norfolk, Virginia I think) and it was populated with Phantoms (it helped to have a Dad who worked for the MOD).

Hanging in the Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: One of my favourite places in the world.

That Spitfire pilot video is fascinating.

I had the great privilege to go to a D-Day memorial show at Duxford with an ex-PR Mosquito and Spitfire pilot. Lovely, lovely guy with some fascinating stories to tell. I only wish I had had more time to hear them before he died.

If anyone is interested, RJ Mitchell’s grave can be found in Stoneham Cemetery near Mansbridge in Southampton – I know there are few people on here living not too far away from there.

The Antonov isn’t flying at the minute according to my dad. I’ll let him know the nice comments that have been made about his yellow staggering 😉

I’m going to be cheeky and ask if anyone can post pics of these (I am too technophobe to do it)!

Best looking jet by far: Hawker Hunter

Forerunner to the A10 warthog: Henschel HS129 (with the big **** off cannon)

One for the orient: Mitsubishi Zero

Civvies: VC10 (although also used as a military transport)

Ed Force One