Any Battle of Britain enthusiasts?

[woodbloke]

I was at the Farnborough air show one year Mark when the pilot looped the damn thing! Impressive? I'll say!

Roy.

here's it doing a roll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4r0Kk-xX4o

I used to work with a guy in the 70's who ejected from one of those things at zero feet as it was landing. The ejector seat came down with him...smashed his back up so he had a permanent hump in his back and walked with a limp - Rob

 

[Digit]

I've forgotten the name of the chap Rob but was he the official tester who then walked away complete with broken back rather than let on to the watching 'brass' what had happened?

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

I know it isn't a military aircraft, but there's only one 'Big Beautiful Bird', and that's Concord.

All the others saved our bacon, and give me goose pimples on my goose pimples whenever I see or hear them.

But Big Beautiful Bird belongs to Concord! And it's gone.

John :wink:

 

[Digit]

There's a comment in the aviation industry John that states, 'if it looks right it will fly right!'

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

There's a comment in the aviation industry John that states, 'if it looks right it will fly right!'

Roy.

As long as no one leaves any debris on the runway! Mind you, that was whilst taking off, IIRC. Another aviation 'maxim' is that taking off and landing are the most dangerous aspects of flight.

As for me, I prefer to look at them and don't go in them unless it's absolutely necessary!


John

 

[Digit]

I've been in some I would have preferred not to! :lol:

Roy.

 

[John. B]

I think the most impressive I've ever seen at Farnborough in the mid sixty's was when they were using the Vulcan as a flying test bed for the concorde's engines.

It had one of the Concorde olympus engines slung under the fuselage, and as it flew past it lit the Concorde Olympus up switched off the other 4 and went vertical. Truly awesome! The sound was unbelievable.

Mind you, when I was in the RAF in the late fiftys I did get a ride in a Handley Page Victor just after it was introduced, which I thought was pretty cool at the time. 8)

John. B

 

[Digit]

I helped make the lower radome for the Vulkcan years ago and the comments from some of the RAF personnel about the aircraft were not always complementary.
For some reason only the pilot and co-pilot had ejector seats, the rest of the crew had to take their chance!

Roy.

 

[rileytoolworks]

The Vulcan's flying out of Sywell airfield today. Unfortunately can't get over to see it.
I did spy a DeHavilland Vampire doing a display though!

Adam.

 

[Digit]

Ah the Vampire! AKA the 'Spider Crab', I wonder who thought that up?
Did you know that they were built partly of wood?

Roy.

 

[woodbloke]

I know it isn't a military aircraft, but there's only one 'Big Beautiful Bird', and that's Concord.

Agree John, it's a nice looking aircraft, but remember Wedgie Benn stuck an 'e' on the end...Concorde :wink: :lol: - Rob

 

[Benchwayze]

I wasn't 100% sure so I did a google. See first two images!

http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/searc ... ord&sz=all

So we can't always trust Google!

Nothing to say about Wedgie-Wotsit!

John

 

[Digit]

Anthony Wedgwood Benn was the minister in charge at the time, the E was added to show solidarity with the French.

Roy.

 

[devonwoody]

Digit, perhaps the reason for only the pilot and co pilot having ejector seats was because they would be expected to be the last men aboard and other occupants had already bailed out on instructions.

 

[Benchwayze]

Anthony Wedgwood Benn was the minister in charge at the time, the E was added to show solidarity with the French.

Roy.

That sounds about right for Wedgie...

Our Dictionary has the word 'concord' as agreement, peaceful co-existence et al, so maybe we took the word from the French and dropped the 'e'. So he either didn't know what Concord meant (unlikely) or he was just being flash! Either way he wasn't thinking quite straight; nothing unusual for him.

The French re-named the Place de la Concorde, as a gesture of reconciliation, because that's where 'Madame Guillotine' resided during their revolution, so it could be they pinched the word from us, and added the 'e'. But I doubt it!

You will gather I don't much like Wedgie Benn, but for reasons other than his polly-tickies.

But Concorde is still a Big Beautiful Bird!
As is the Gannet... But what a gluttonous creature it is.

John :wink:

 

[Digit]

That was the 'official' view DW, in practise it rarely worked out like that. No pilot was likely to eject if he still had control, if he didn't the 'gee' forces usually made it impossible for the other crew members to escape.
They had the same problem with some versions of the Canberra.

Roy.

 

[Vormulac]

But Concorde is still a Big Beautiful Bird!
As is the Gannet... But what a gluttonous creature it is.

John :wink:

MY Dad used to have a Gannet in his unit at Lympne aerodrome, it was brand new and still in crates, I was only about 12 at the time and my friends and I had a wonderful time playing in it, camping out in the bomb bays etc
My favourite was his Sea Fury though, sitting in the cockpit peering through the armoured screen pretending to dogfight - funnily enough I've grown up with a deep and abiding love of aircraft!

 

[Benchwayze]

When I first saw a Fairy Gannet I thought it had been designed to flap its wings!

Lovely Aircraft though.

When I was at Culdrose, the rumour was that a Gannet overshot the runway on landing and zoomed between two lines of Caravans (Married Quarters), chopping the caravans in half! Apparently no one in any of the 'vans.

The other version of the story was that once on the ground, the pilot had the presence of mind to fold up the wings so he could taxi between the caravans in safety.

Either way it sounds like a 'local myth', especially as I don't know what is possible or otherwise about those stories. But they sounded colourful enough for me.

:lol:

 

[RogerS]

Anthony Wedgwood Benn was the minister in charge at the time, the E was added to show solidarity with the French.

Roy.

I'm not sure of the truth behind this. The one book I have on Concorde focuses on the technical aspects. I did have an excellent book that covered the political shenanigans in particular around its' demise but I lent it to someone and I can't remember who.

One thing I do remember was that the Wilson Govt did not trust the French and thought that they(the French) might renege on the joint deal to fund Concorde and so a water-tight agreement was drawn up between the two countries. Ironically in later years as Wilson was busily bankrupting the country, the UK Govt itself wanted to renege on the deal to save money and, because of the agreement, could not.

There was also an interesting programme on the TV that looked at the commercial/political aspects of the plane in particular the impact of the sonic boom. There was one Englishman (now dead) who almost single-handedly took it on himself to go round the world telling Govts about the sonic boom (the *******) which resulted in many countries banning its' overflight.

 

[Digit]

The effects of a sonic boom were greatly over stated Rog, those of us of a certain age remember them from before they were banned over land.
One female MP even argued that they would increase the birth rate as a man might lose control whilst performing!
I kid you not!

Roy.