Planes (again)

The Wrong Trousers – we saw it yesterday but couldn’t see a reg.

A few I took at the Scottish airshow a few years ago, I don’t think I’ll need to name them… 😀

Scottish Airshow Weekend-210.jpg by Gavin Belton[/url], on Flickr

Scottish Airshow Weekend-183.jpg by Gavin Belton[/url], on Flickr

Scottish Airshow Weekend-145.jpg by Gavin Belton[/url], on Flickr

Scottish Airshow Weekend-161.jpg by Gavin Belton[/url], on Flickr

Scottish Airshow Weekend-094.jpg by Gavin Belton[/url], on Flickr

Further to the U2 story already posted:

This is the aircraft that intercepted the “uninterceptible” U2 and almost caused an international incident. To RAF Lightnings DIVED on a U2 which was at maximum altitude over Britain on the way to spy on the Russians; frightened the bejeezuz out of the U2 pilot apparently, who was at 80,000 feet and didn’t expect fighters to be within 20,000 feet of him, let alone attacking from above. Apparently they spotted the American jet, lit up their afterburners to generate absolute maximum speed, then zoom climbed to getting close to 90,000 feet to dive on the poor unsuspecting guy…

The story has it that they came up on his radio making machine gun noises in his headphones and calling the obligatory “tally ho!” as they screamed by on each side. It was hushed up for a long time because the performance of the P1 was classified….

it’s a bit “pub fact”, but made me laugh

Ellipticals!

silence twister
tempest 2
He 112 (couldn’t find the right angle!)

one for the geeks….

Fouga CM88, used for engine tests.

F7F Tigercat

F82 Twin Mustang?

Rockwell OV-10 Bronco – I want to fly in this.

F82 Twin Mustang

Was hoping the perspective would confuse things a bit.

I was quite pleased with this one.

A pair of F18s just (an hour or so ago) flew over my house (Gower)….noisy gits

Sorry, no pics ?

Planes are awesome. My dad was in the RAF for 13 years as an airframe technician and worked on lightnings, vulcans (for a short time), harriers and a few other smaller aircraft.

The lightning was always the one he had stories about – probably because it was in a time before pilots and planes could be followed absoloutely everywhere (just guessing)

He was also in Guttersloh as mentioned on the first page, from 77 to 80 iirc, then Leeming where he finished his RAF days before going to Saudi for BAE.

On a different note, we too had a fast jet scream past our office in Leicester on Monday. Sounded very close and going some but couldn’t see it due to low cloud and being in an office.

This was favourite when I was a kid!

Agreed, inbred456

Actually, real my fav will always be the Tornado..

Firefox?

Yep, looks a bit more advanced than the real Mig-31

Douglas Skyraider

I always thought that these were purposefully ugly.

British jets from the 50s rule

Vulcan
Lightening
Venom
Viper
Bucaneer

I’ve also a soft spot for canard wingers

British jets from the 50s rule

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m85vv

Assume you’ve seen this. Some glorious footage.

“…like a homesick angel…..”

The Lightning will always be special to me, because my dad designed bits of it.

All through the 1980s, we went to airshows around East Anglia and I never saw a Lightning in the air. One sunny afternoon in the summer of 1985, I was in our school playing field at lunchtime when I heard a loud noise, and saw a formation of four swing wing jets fly over (Tornadoes). Following behind were four more swing wing jets (F-111s I think) and finally, bringing up the rear were four Lightnings, by far the noisiest. They were low enough that I could see that they were all F2A/F6 jets.

Pretty much made my summer, that did.

Love these plane threads! This has been a particularly good one focused on the military ones of my youth. All great bit of kit, though I believe many retrospectively were a pain in the neck to keep in the air, to keep safe (ish) or pretty mixed at delivering on their spec/requirement. The Russian kit often impressive but I’d think twice before boarding one. The 60s, 70s US and Brit kit just so evocative of an age. Flashy, I know the Strikemaster might be the most normal here but it’s still then one might get a chance to fly and may be even have a share in! And it’s a proper warbird jet.
Just finished The Sled Driver, can’t recommend it enough.
Thanks for the thread, one of the few that has enthusiasm and not degenerating to something else. Any on here that are in Devon, or can get to it, that fancy a ‘go’ let me know, We can usually get my hands on something a little more interesting than a spam can.

Yakovlev Yak-130 (Mitten)

Spend a large portion of my day peering out over Payer Lebar airbase, there’s F15s, the occasional F5, Fokker 50, KC 135 and the odd helicopter landing/flying about all day.

Then behind me there’s everything from AH-64 to 777 being refitted/repainted. Would love to take pictures but I’d get escorted offsite by people with shooty things.

Up until the airport lost it’s contracts with Ryanair/Easyjet etc’, Blackpool airport was often a stop over for the Red’s and other visiting airshow aircraft. We, along with our fellow plane geeks, would often go and stand on the dunes at then end of the runway to watch them take off and land in formation. The Red’s in particular were always spectacular, they knew there’d be people watching so always put on a show.

Red Arrow take off

Lancaster take off

British jets from the 50s rule

In the 50s and 60s, the UK and US were the top of the game. Consequently, that statement is 100% certifiable fact. UK jets were more awesome than anything else.

Worldwide we still have the second largest aviation sector, we just don’t do that much airframing (if you discount joint ventures like Typhoon and the Buses) – lots and lots of places doing parts of planes, we might have somewhere that makes jet engines, etc. etc.

can usually get my hands on something a little more interesting than a spam can.

I can’t get to Devon, but what do you have local that you can take up?

In the more interesting category – WW2 AOPs Brit and US, poss a French one..

Still think the B2 is the most awe inspiring aircraft Ive seen fly over at low altitude.

If there is anything close to resembling and sounding like a sci fi space plane – its the B2.

I would also love to fly in the Bronco.
Got one for Prepar3d and because you sit quite high in that cockpit you got an amazing view.

Is the Tigercat picture from Duxford?
I was gutted when I learned they used to have one but sold it.
would have been awesome to see that fly together with the Bearcat

I sort of missed the true heyday of the Lightnings, they were already being phased out (replaced by initially Phantoms, then the early Tornado F3).

My grandparents lived in Lincolnshire, close to numerous airfields and were regularly overflown by all sorts of aircraft but Lightnings had pretty much gone altogether by the time I was 10. I remmber lying in their garden looking up at what back then used to be more or less continuous fast jets passing overhead.

If anyone should get the chance these are wonderful days out.

http://www.aviationmuseum.net/

Home

Not as polished as Cosford but full of brilliant stuff and at the Cornwall one you can get inside a lot of the cockpits. The Harrier was a very cramped and busy place to sit and the Sea Devon was extremely tight. The Canberra and VC10 were much more to my liking.

The Norfolk one has loads of 60s and 70s stuff: Sea Vixen, Javelin, Lightning, Hunter and Sharky Ward’s Falklands Sea Harrier.

I thought the Newquay one had shut up shop. Certainly appeared that way when I was working there a couple of years ago.

Re opened last year.

I love this pic of a Silence Twister under construction; it puts the kit into it, resembling an airfix model…

For the Tornado fans this book is a must. After reading it you start to realise why having the most maneuverable fighter no longer matters;

I’ve stayed close to the Cornwall museum a couple of times but have never had time to visit. I’ll have to do it one day (I don’t even live all that far away for a day trip).

I may have posted these before, can’t remember:

There’s a ladder stuffed down the tail of this, the owners are trying to get their hand on an engine for it for flight line fast taxiing runs.
It needs a lot of looking after, the metalwork corrodes like there’s no tomorrow!
It’ll never fly again, so that’s not so much of an issue.

The two Lancs:

These two speak for themselves:

As does this:

And this was the subject of a recent thread about planes people would like to own:

In a fairly appropriate environment, although the tide was out as usual…

On my Dad’s old ship (not my photo):