Duxford 08

[firbeck 860]

Keep em coming!!

Out of interest, as you haven't been to Duxford for a few years, what do you think of the museum. Presumably you haven't seen the American Air Museum, the Tank Hall and the enlarged main hangar before.

Quite a few people don't like the arrangement very much, miserable sods, me, I love it.

AAM is a bit crammed but a fantastic building, you could spend hours in there, there's so much to see, not just the aircraft. Last Rememberance Sunday it was full of USAF pilots from Mildenhall and Lakenheath who had taken part in the service, all in their dress uniforms and wandering about in wonder, really nice people. My only grouse is the fact that the glass front has to be dismantled with great difficulty to get anything in and out, the last a/c to go in was the B-24, what a nightmare that was. When they eventually get round to restoring the F-105 Thunderchief I don't know how the hell they'll fit it in there.

I love the low lighting in the Tank hall but people moan about that, but it makes it very atmospheric.

I think that the arrangement of some of the a/c in the main building is a bit strange and I wish that the Mossie wasn't hung from the roof so we could admire it in it's full glory on the ground, but never mind, it's there and thats what counts.

What they need to do is build another frigging great hangar and get the airliners undercover, they tend to be somewhat neglected in the scheme of British aviation preservation, the cull at Cosford last year was unforgiveable.

[Beefsteak 305]

I found the main hall facinating , lots more hands on stuff to play with . We didn't get to the tanks , maybe next time.

[Beefsteak 305]

Whilst we were all watching the Trojans taxiing to the right, this came screaming in from the left.

F16

It only did a couple of passes which was dissapointing but they said it may be back later if the weather improved.

(The weather and light is still not favourable for fast jets)

The Trojans did a great display, the last couple were enhanced , the weather didn't suddenly improve!!

Whilst the "Black Cats " Lynx pair fired up we escaped for a quick brew and thaw out.

The Lynx did a great slow pass to finish and waved to all as they slowly flew above the WW2 fighters

More

[Beefsteak 305]

Signing off

(The weather is getting a bit better)

Next up , a "Dragon Rapide" which did a great display, considering the age of her, and the weather.

Then the annoying part of the day. The headliners (The Patrouille de France ) did a pass from left to right , then turned back, and did a pass from right to left and were gone !!!

Talking to a steward after and she told us that they did a full display in their rehearsal slot on the Saturday in far worse weather!!

I don't care what anybody says , they could, and should, have done much better ,(The cheese eating surrender monkeys , no wonder they're cr*p at fighting !!!)

Alpha Jets

Then in came beauty, class and aggressiveness all in one .

I am positive that it did a larger display than normal, so it more than made up for the Pat de France

Typhoon

A bit blured (The weather ) but I liked this shot

[Beefsteak 305]

Well after the brilliant display by the Typhoon any thing else would be an anticlimax,,, wouldn't it ?

These little ladies fired up one after another and got air bourne. They held off while we were treated to a great airobatic display from the Extra 300

P40 Kittyhawk

Airocobra

Extra 300, Did a great display for a good 10 minutes, all the time others were firing up!!!

The exitement built up on the ground , well it did where we were concened any way !! as first this beauty

and then this one , fired up.

They taxied off whilst the Extra continued. Great display (Again) Well done to Mark Jefferies.

Spit and Mustang did a great display too

All of them did actually , and then to end the day this came to start pulling them in off of the flight line , named after SWMBO

[Beefsteak 305]

Plenty more pics if anyone want's to see them

once again ,great conversation, great company, great aviation, great day .

Thanks Rog

[Beefsteak 305]

I know you like your "Nose Art" Rog

And your Lancasters

And as you know , I like her

Her

And of course her !!

Tornado

Harrier

Me being arty farty with another of my favourites "The Gloucester Javelin"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROG

[Beefsteak 305]

Here's a few for Eric

Your "Super Gun"

F111 'Swing Wing'

And her "Nose art"

Work this one out !!

Clue It's the one behind the Phantom!!

Answer "Super Sabre"

Liberator

Tell them the tale regarding "Hawg Wild" Roger

Me being arty farty 'again' Sea Venom (with the strange 'off set' cock pit)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC

[Frank 13]

Qantas After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the

next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour.

Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.

S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.

S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in ****pit.

S: Something tightened in ****pit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.

S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per

minute descent.

S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.

S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.

S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.

S: That's what they're for.

P: IFF inoperative.

S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.

S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.

S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.

S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.

S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in ****pit.

S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..................

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a

midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget

[plantfit 7,660]

Ayup all,

If you want any interesting info about Hawg Wild check out

www.twinbeech.com/B-29HawgWild_htm

full of info, I do remember though reading about the pilot who flew it on it's last epic trip, a few weeks after landing the thing at Duxford he was killed in a light aircraft accident, very sad story

Rog

[firbeck 860]

Quite right, I think he may have had some of the other crew members with him as well.

We were very fortunate to see it land, in the days before the internet, you never knew what was happening, but luckily the day before, the story was on BBC East News as it had landed at Mildenhall for an overnight stop.

In those days Duxford had no barriers and we were able to stand on the hardstanding when it came in. How it got here I don't know, the engines were smoking and streaked with oil, I doubt whether it would have got much further.

There weren't that many people there that day and when she had done a flyby and taxied in and shut down the engines for the last time, we were able to stand around the cockpit and greet the crew when they climbed out, amazing stuff.

Sorry but my pictures of the event are all on slides, even if Photobucket would be co-operative which it continues to refuse to do.

When the B-52 landed, I had obviously missed BBC East the night before and we never knew until after the event, pity, that would have been a sight to remember, it must have been a close call.

[Frank 13]

Anyone remember this in the early eighties at Stanstead? - sorry about the quality

[plantfit 7,660]

Ayup Frank,

Impressive set of pictures thanks for sharing, was this just a PR exercise or was there more to it?

Rog

[Frank 13]

If I remember correctly, the shuttle had just come into service and it did a world tour.

It landed at Stanstead which is where I took the pictures. Amazing sight and a little piece of history.

Found another one in my little box in B & W

Here's a couple of write up's I found http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/2311179764/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/conte...e_feature.shtml

[Beefsteak 305]

I had totaly forgotten that Frank , thanks for the memory jog.

[firbeck 860]

Blimey Frank, what were you doing down our neck of the woods.

I was working at Dunmow, just a few miles down the road at the time. On the saturday evening we decided to go and have a look. In those days, the A120 was just a two lane road, we got as far as Takeley and ground to a halt, it seemed that everyone in Essex wanted to see this amazing thing.

We had to dump the car at the side of the road and walk, in those days, the main entrance to Stansted was via a tiny road past the still camoflaged Kearsley Airways building. It was like an evening out at Blackpool, a two mile walk amongst crowds of people. Lovely to see all floodlit at night, fortunately I took my tripod and I have some cool colour slides, but computer says no....

When it took off, I was able to get away from the office and arrived at Stansted at the appropriate moment, the access road crossed the end of the runway and was controlled by traffic lights, I was lucky enough to be near the front and took pictures of it taking of, it was an almighty struggle I can tell you. Wierd thing to see wasn't it, especially in flight.

Beefy, look at the Vulcan thread with regard to Red Bull and your Spitty.