Could you do this?


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Oh yes, I remember it well. That first jump on the parachute course from that tethered balloon raised to 900 ft. then singly from the door way, then 7 more  all different exits from the old 'Dakota's

We’re away in Dorset for a few days while the sun is shining and it’s unusually warm for this late in October.   While out for dinner this evening we were chatting to a couple from New Zealand wh

Two years ! I love my holidays and travelling, but I love to return to my own bed, pillows, shower, toilet paper, garden. Oh, £50M on the lottery...... Mmmmm, I might just manage come to think of

Jesus wept, that's a bloody low seam!! And I thought 36 inches weighted was low!!

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I worked with a geologist who had helped make a film about a mine in the Forest of Dean where they worked a 12" seam! They had to put the cameras in sideways and use a mirror to make the image upright!

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There's an Irish feller looking for an AB12 cutter to work a 14 inch seam in Eire on the Welsh Collieries Site. They have an AB15, but as it's one inch too high they are stuffed.

And just to add to that, I'd never get on a face that low, my not too overweight body wouldn't be able to get in that gap!!!

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  • 7 years later...

I’ve never done a parachute drop. I flew into Langar once and watched them doing practice jumps off of hay bales to learn how to land without injury. A friend of mine used to fly the Cessna Caravan jump plane and the technique was to land it as rapidly as possible to collect he next batch of jumpers. That involved some fairly hairy flying!

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We once had a parachutist in our balloon at the DFS meeting. As we gained altitude he climbed out of the basket and clung the side and said he would go at 2000 feet. He could see the altimeter and simply let go when we reached 2000. The problem was we were still climbing and with the sudden loss of weight the balloon rocketed skywards. The vario read to 1500 and it was off the clock, not a good thing to do in a balloon. I thought for a moment the envelope was going to deform and 'candlestick' but by heaving on the crown vents and dumping all the hot air we could we managed gained control. We nearly needed a change of underwear and words were said when we got back.

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They used to do military parachute drops from a tethered balloon at Weston on the Green near RAF Upper Heyford, the USAF station in Oxfordshire. We were always directed to keep well clear when flying in the area but it provided an interesting spectacle from a distance. I’ve never been up in a balloon myself but my son and his wife did last week. I remember when they had a balloon fest in Wollaton Park where they had an enormous tethered balloon which could lift about 20 people to around 50 feet in a giant wicker basket. There used to be a lot of balloons flying here along the Trent Valley but I’ve not seen one for ages.

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The balloon was 77,000 cu.ft and could safely carry four average adults. To lift 20...  that's a big envelope.

 

At the Red Rose meet at Bolton I've seen a balloon tethered to a CF Bedford van lift it completely clear of the ground, they are not things to mess with.

 

The biggest I've ever seen is the 'Lotta Bottle' balloon that was intended to make an attempt on the altitude record, I was a very junior part of the ground crew. 3am and the balloon is starting inflate whilst tethered to a Caterpillar D8 bulldozer. It was halfway inflated when a gust of wind barely perceptible caught envelope and it lifted. Per Lindstrand, designer and pilot, stupidly caught the guide line and sought to control it. One man trying hold a balloon that's dragging several tons of bulldozer around. The rope snapped and up he went, he finally let go when he was about thirty feet in the air. The balloon was torn to shreds, Per had a dislocated shoulder (he was lucky to survive) and the balloon was scrap.

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My oldest daughter did a 'tandem' drop from 12000 feet while in 'Oz'.  Respect!!

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Oh yes, I remember it well. That first jump on the parachute course from that tethered balloon raised to 900 ft. then singly from the door way, then 7 more  all different exits from the old 'Dakota's taking off from Upper Heyford and jumping at Weston on the Green. We were billeted at Middleton Stoney midway between the two and when marching to one or the other we sang songs of the ilk "they scraped him off the tarmac like a lump of strawberry jam" etc All for 2/6 per day!

                                                                                           img008.jpgcreate image url

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Yes Phil I lived to tell the tale, quite an experience but the "Fan" experience the previous week was worse! we'd heard this 'ZZzzz in the roof of the hanger and then it's our turn, climb up the ladder, enter one of several cubicles and be strapped in beside a very small fan connected by a very thin wire and then told to step out onto a 'door mat' 60 feet below!!! NO hesitation is permitted and, obviously, the fan does take your weight!

Incidently the balloon photo was sold to me by an RAF corporal for 6d, he 'guaranteed' it was me on the parachute & about 20 other bods as well! 

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Albert, we lived just north of Banbury in Mollington for a couple of years when we first married and our neighbour was an officer in the USAF based in Upper Heyford and then Croughton.  We used to go over to the bases regularly, I have good memories of those days 40+ years ago.   

 

At weekends we watched people doing parachute jumps across the valley that now has the M40 running through it.   One Sunday afternoon we saw a guy jump out of a little plane, drop down and down and his parachute never opened.  Just couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Something I would never expect to witness.  

 

A few years before that I decided to do a parachute jump at Hucknall Aerodrome, drove there and did a u-turn and drove straight back home, I was way too wimpy when it came to it! 

 

I’ve done a balloon trip over the Vale of Belvoir, more my cup of tea. Very calm and peaceful.  We started at Langar Hall and no idea where we ended up but I was looking over the side most of the time making sure my husband was following the balloon so he was where we landed to take me home again! 

 

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If anyone has ever been to Sedona, Arizona, you will know how spectacular it is. For our Silver Wedding we did a sunrise balloon ride over the area, with a champagne breakfast on landing. Worth getting up at 3am.

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1 hour ago, Brew said:

Popular saying among balloonists. "It's not a landing - it's an organised crash"!

Nottingham Building Society had a balloon many years ago which was designed to look like a little thatched cottage. It landed in a field nearby and I was passing and leaned over the gate to have a look. The pilot said “Could you give us a hand please?” “No” I replied. “When I wanted a mortgage from your lot you wouldn’t give me one - sort yourself out” and I went on my way. smile2

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There were many special shapes but I never flew in one. The cottage was by all accounts a bit a pig. Being square it tended to react to the breeze more than the usual shapes.

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14 minutes ago, Brew said:

There were many special shapes but I never flew in one. The cottage was by all accounts a bit a pig. Being square it tended to react to the breeze more than the usual shapes.

Yes, it floated passed me once when i was flying in the circuit at Tollerton. Rather surprised to see it. Sadly no camera 'phones back then.

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Not as surprised as two RAF Jaguars were when we took part in the UK Championships at Studley Castle. Someone forgot to liaise  with them and they got wee bit too close for comfort.

Most inappropriate language on 129.9...

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