Just seen a great sight and sound

john-e-big-guns

Supermarine Spitfire...just flew over my house at 1000ft aprox....great sound of the Merlin engine...and the distintive shape of a truely great aircraft

priory

I once was talking to someone in an office in a chemical factory when I stopped , said ''spitfire'' and trotted to the front door to see the spit do a couple of really low passes over the car park.
There is nothing quite like that engine .
terryJ

Bunneh

The Spit was the first model I made. Sheeds of balsa wood, cut into shames, wings carved from large pieces. Fantastic aircraft, something I would love to fly.

Chip \'oyler

Check this mad Aussie who spent years fitting a Merlin engine into a 55 Chevy!

Starting the engine is a doddle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIj2GVfua84

Splottboy

Seen 3 over N.Wales in the last few years.

Distinct "gutteral/throaty" hum and roar combined.

Beautiful.

My Dad used to watch them being raced over the Solent before the War.
Course, they weren't actually Spitfires as such then.

This was the Schneider Trophy races.

Lagavulin

Only one thing better than the beautiful sound of a Merlin powered Hurricane or Sptifire... a Lanc'.
Four Merlins in harmony is a sight and sound to treasure.

Frank the tank

Iconic.

The Spitfire is a superb aircraft, it's lines are so smoothe and the merlin engine is so distinctive.

I don't know how true the story is but when Rolls-Royce went into liquidation in 1971 the company Spitfire (which was based at Hucknall) was dismantled and secreted so the liquidator couldn't get their hands on it.

Love the Lanc aswell, a beautiful looking aircraft.

rake

ive seen the lancaster running here.
http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/
its a fearsome sound. the rolls royce engine is even more impressive inside, thers a cutaway exhibit at duxford museum. overhead valves and everything.its a real monster.
the american dakota is a beautiful aircraft as well.

stage_fright

My little lad is fascinated by aircraft - spots the smallest speck in the sky and points at it and yells 'ariplane'! Impressive at 20-months and we don't know who even taught him the word. Never seen him as excited as when the Lanc from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made two low-ish passes over us in Southampton a while ago, so now I am taking him to the airshow at Bournemouth this Friday, just praying the weather is good.

If he liked the Lancaster, hoping a Typhoon and F16 will make quite an impression, and as for the Red Arrows...

john-e-big-guns

Stage Fright wrote:

My little lad is fascinated by aircraft - spots the smallest speck in the sky and points at it and yells 'ariplane'! Impressive at 20-months and we don't know who even taught him the word. Never seen him as excited as when the Lanc from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made two low-ish passes over us in Southampton a while ago, so now I am taking him to the airshow at Bournemouth this Friday, just praying the weather is good.

If he liked the Lancaster, hoping a Typhoon and F16 will make quite an impression, and as for the Red Arrows...

My grandson is the same ,he's the same age..its v/quite where we live and he hear's all the high flying p/jets as we live on the main air space routes north to south..yesterday out walking he spot's what he thought was a ariplane only for it to be a helicopter..now say helihopter...kids aye great fun

Euro fighters passes over regular as Warton is not far away

timb64

Ah-the sound of Freedom!
I live quite near Bentwaters where the Grace Spitfire is maintained-if you have any interest in Spitfires the story of this two seater is incredible- more info here:


http://www.ml407.co.uk/pages/index.html

Stewie Griffin

We seems to be under the flight path for anything that flies over Buckingham Palace. Prop aircraft sound lovely, when a Typhoon flies over your house you check for cracks in the walls :shock: . They could wake the dead.

northernneil

I love duxford - greatest museum in the UK

stage_fright

I enjoyed Duxford, thinking of going to Hendon sometiems as have not been there for 20 years plus.

Need my son to be a litle older and then try the Bovington tank museum as well. When i went there as a kid i recall being able to clamber over talnks on the principle that how could a kid damage a tank (though shinnying up the barrel was frowned on). Sadly - I suspect that these days such tings are banned on the premise that falling off a tank could damage the child.

How times change....

Corporate Camper

timb64 wrote:

Ah-the sound of Freedom!
I live quite near Bentwaters where the Grace Spitfire is maintained-if you have any interest in Spitfires the story of this two seater is incredible- more info here:


http://www.ml407.co.uk/pages/index.html

Do you know the link between that, and this very Forum?

keef66

I had exactly the same experience yesterday morning as I was eating my breakfast outside in the sunshine. Unmistakable throaty roar, then the thing appeared over the house roof. One of the ones with the wingtips chopped off. I'm assuming it was on it's way to Duxford.

bill57

Seen this .....................?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmDMRSLZqNU

Verbal

I went to the Shoreham airshow last year with my Dad for a bit of father/son bonding (he's in his 70's, I'm in my mid 30's) and we sat in deck chairs in the beautful sunshine, cold beers in our hands, like a pair of excited kids, watching some of these fantastic machines grace the skies. It was a good, good day.

MattC59

This guy put together a V12 powered care some years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIZ_LeaTCDw&feature=related
I think it's the meteor engine, the same as the Merlin, but without the super charger (can anyone confirm ?)

I remember back in about 2003 when I started building kit cars, I saw someone at a show with a Merlin powered car, it was an absolute monster, and lo and behold, it sounded like a Spitfire going down the main straight