I've just text my mate who is (was) a Harrier pilot on 1 Sqn as I thought this pilots mug looked a bit familiar and it's him. What are the chances. This aircraft's last ever flight
I was unfortunately there when the last one went down, beautiful plane. http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5297&Itemid=350
they have some classic stuff at Bruntingthorpe (you may have spotted some at GTI int) will have to take a few pics next time i'm running the race car around. I was there once when they had a group of aviation enthusiast there and they fired up some old jet that obviously hadn't flow in years.....what a noise, i thought the race car was loud
i build Avon engines two of them sat on top of one another is a scary thing not too many aircraft can do Mach 2 nowadays the one i build are for power generation so not that intresting
all the buccaneer aircraft during the gulf war were named after whisky's as all the crews and aircraft were based at lossiemouth. shame they scrapped them all. the only place you can see them flying is in south africa. there is a group trying to get a lightning back in the air similar style to the vulcan. i think it's a shame that our raf aircraft heritage isn't being preserved as well as it could. the US have a number of their old aircraft in flying condition. http://www.lightnings.org.uk/
Buccaneers were built in the 60's and in 1967 bombing the Torrey Canyon , think they did well to last till 1990 Gulf War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrey_Canyon
Not that interesting but they are mega reliable............... 30,000 hrs between overhaul. Compare this to car which does about 4000 hrs and its ready for the scrap yard
With you folks on the A 10 love affair. This is the one I'd buy: YA 10B Night Fighter. I'm a big aircraft fan, and have lots of books on the subject, mainly WW I and WW II. Night Fighters are of especial interest. A bit like Rallying I supose? The navigator gets you to the start of the stage, then sits back while you do your job! PS. The Germans developed the electric Gattling gun in WW II, Mauser MG 213C. Hate to thing what carnage that would have wrought on, British Bombers, in the front of a two seater Me 262B or an Arado 234C, or on tanks, in the front of a P.1099? The British stole the design and built the Aden Cannon. The Yanks brought it to perfection with the GAU-8Avenger! Check this site: http://ww2drawings.jexiste.fr/Files/2-Airplanes/Axis/1-Germany/German-Airplanes.htm
i some do last more than 30,000 hours and some are more than 30 to 40 years old even if you have a avrage of 20 to 25,000 hours ever 3 years between overhauls thats a lot of hours over 30 years packs a lot of power for it size and weight they still make new one's to this day not bad for a engine with its design's in the late 40's
night planes it has to be the F117 or the B2. used to see many AWACs and a couple of NASA planes in the late 80's in Wiltshire.
my favourite aircraft of all time has to be a De Haviland Mosquito fighter from WW2, fantastic looking and very good design raelly fast for its time and a stupid bomb load for its size..... also did a few 'special' editions......
Even better, to my mind, the single seater DH 103 Hornet, derived from the Mossie. It was designed to fight in the Pacific. Laminar flow aerofoils. Slim-Line, contra-rotating, Merlins. My favorite being the NF21 Night Fighter, with the extra seat, in the rear of the fuselage. I'd paint mine black though! Of interest, I hope, the 'Redux' adhesive, used to bond the plywood skin, onto the Mossie airframe, was used by Laycocks, to bond the friction clutch material onto the Overdrive annuli. I borrowed some to sick vynil tiles down. Worked a treat!
No way! My Dad was based at Laarbruch! We lived in Weeze till I was about 2, so I don`t really remember it. He did aerial photography (spy stuff) with Buccaneers and Vulcans as camera carriers. He also had loads of pictures of all sorts of aircraft that came and went, including an SR 71. There all at my Mum`s somewhere so can`t post them up...
