Things That Used To Fly For 1000 Alex...
Comments
-
... remember, it all started with a couple of brothers and bicycles...
0 -
Doing field trials around East Anglia in the late 70's / early 80's we did a lot of casual plane watching. The improbably skinny U2 spy planes flew from Alconbury. A10's flew in pairs very low in some kind of choreographed zig-zag routine. Phantoms were always in the air and easily recognisable by their shape and the amount of muck they threw out. The A1 at Wittering there were always Harriers doing circuits over the road, ditto Tornadoes further North at Cottesmore. Once in a sugar beet field near Mildenhall we were stopped in our tracks as a Blackbird lumbered into the air and appeared over the trees; the ground was shaking, it was like something from Close Encounters. F-1-elevens flew from Lakenheath; the night they bombed Tripoli we were living near Felixstowe and the planes were going over all night. Our eldest son was born the following morning, so that's the headline on the newspaper we bought as a keepsake for him. Still occasionally park up at Lakenheath to watch the F-15's come and go, and we're often treated to the sight of the bizarre AWACS plane with it's revolving bed pan on top.
Also as a youngster in Yorkshire I used to see the Vulcans overhead all the time. Maybe they used the power stations as navigation points? North to Ferrybridge then east to Eggborough and Drax then on to bomb Moscow?0 -
Valkyrie!!
An awesome aircraft. Such shame some idiot went and invented the ICBM as we would have seen this incredible plane go into production.Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.0 -
Mr Goo wrote:Valkyrie!!
An awesome aircraft. Such shame some idiot went and invented the ICBM as we would have seen this incredible plane go into production.
... not so much the ICBM as a very limited mission envelope (high altitude, high speed bomb run)... which is what initially killed the B1.
... most of the original B1 mission envelope would have been similar to the XB-70 with the addition of standoff, fire and forget weaponry, but the plan was still to make that final run at high altitude and high speed. When the program was put back on track, the mission no longer relied on a supersonic dash, but included and preferred treetop penetration of Soviet airspace... course, we'd never ever penetrate Soviet airspace today... :roll:0 -
The B1 is a lovely looking thing.
It's interesting to note that when the envelope changed the British V-Bomber force was pushed into the low-level penetration role. The earliest, and by far more elegant of the trio - Valiant - literally fell apart under the stresses it wasn't designed for and was retired. The Victor was found far too unwieldy to be of much use at that height and began it's drift towards tanker duties. The flying triangle was found to be very good at taking the tops off trees, without too much apparent stress on the airframe.
The Red Flag legend has it that a very low flying Vulcan gouged a large gash out of the Nevada desert whilst banking, and still managed to penetrate the US AA/defence system. Further legend has it that some Buccaneers (which due to aerodynamic quirk will fly at exactly 18' off the deck all day long) flew under a low-level Vulcan on another Red Flag exercise.
Personally I don't care for seeing a green/black Vulcan thrown around on the deck, it just doesn't suit it somehow - along with the Victor and Valiant, it seems far more elegant and right in anti-flash white, up in the stratosphere, contrails... a tiny white reflective triangular tribute to opposable thumbs.0 -
Fantastic pics Akirasho, loved to see these up close, wow!0
-
Some great photos on here. I was in the RAF and was lucky enough to get a back seater in a Harrier in Germany. It was on a field deployment so we did a short take off and a vertical landing. Fighter pilot - best job in the world!
Loved seeing the Vulcan airborne but my favourite was the lightning. Take off on afterburners, wheels up straight away and then stand on it's tail and vertical ascent - awesome!
Dunno what it is but the modern fighters don't do it for me, give me the stuff on this post anyday.0 -
I worked with a guy who was waxing lyrical about the TSR2 (I think) and it being shelved for the Phantom.......blah blah. We were almost comatose until he mentioned the pilot switching on the 'afterbirth'. We fell about the place...the imagery!
But perhaps you had to have been there to find it funny.0 -
Canny lad wrote:Some great photos on here. I was in the RAF and was lucky enough to get a back seater in a Harrier in Germany. It was on a field deployment so we did a short take off and a vertical landing. Fighter pilot - best job in the world!
Loved seeing the Vulcan airborne but my favourite was the lightning. Take off on afterburners, wheels up straight away and then stand on it's tail and vertical ascent - awesome!
Dunno what it is but the modern fighters don't do it for me, give me the stuff on this post anyday.
Oh yes. Lightnings are quite possibly my favorite ever fighter. Mmmmm.....
Road - Dolan Preffisio
MTB - On-One Inbred
I have no idea what's going on here.0 -
... the C-141 that brought the first American POWs out of North Vietnam...
... B-36 Peacemaker... while the B-29/B-50 could make it to targets within the USSR, they might not have had the range for a return trip... this monster was the junction 'tween piston power and the jet...
... oh, and it's "Parasitic" escort that never made it into production...
... the "other" aircraft to drop a nuclear bomb in wartime...
0 -
-
Some really excellent photos, i was really into aircraft as a kid and was lucky enough to get a flight on Sally B when I was about 15.Life isnt like a box of chocolates, its like a bag of pic n mix.0
-
Some excellent plane pr0n!!!
RAF Leuchars is just a stone’s throw from here and I grew up in St Andrews in the 70’s and 80’s so during the Cold War it was a plane spotters dream. Especially when your house was under the flight line. I have some great memories of ridiculous hardware flying overhead. Standouts were:
A dozen low flying Luftwaffe F104’s belching out kerosene over the school football pitch.
The Luftwaffe (yes they came over quite a bit) CH-53’s that got a bit lost in the fog and almost crashed into the woods behind our house – they spent an age just hovering at about 20 ft from the treetops. I thought it was amazing – they probably didn’t!
Getting major chicken pox and being off school when a monster exercise was going off and ticking off the F1-Elevens, A-10s, F-15s and 16s, F-4Es (still my fave jet to this day).
Joining the ATC was a natural progression. Then it was time to get close to the hardware!
Sadly Leuchars is about to get mothballed (but Wee Eck recently said he might let the USAF have it if we get independence).0 -
More great pics. The B 36 is awesome. Is that an F 105 at the bottom?
Reminds me of days out at the museum at RAF Cosford, just down the road from where we lived as kids. Most of the exhibits you could climb into and over, including a Vulcan. They kept the TSR 2 roped off, though.Ecrasez l’infame0 -
BelgianBeerGeek wrote:More great pics. The B 36 is awesome. Is that an F 105 at the bottom?
Reminds me of days out at the museum at RAF Cosford, just down the road from where we lived as kids. Most of the exhibits you could climb into and over, including a Vulcan. They kept the TSR 2 roped off, though.
Looks like it.0 -
0 -
Me262 and what looks like the front end of a B1?
Got buzzed by two French Rafale jets on this morning's ride. No doubt on their way up to the North of Scotland to drop some live bombs for Excercise Joint Warrior.0 -
thegreatdivide wrote:Me262 and what looks like the front end of a B1?
Got buzzed by two French Rafale jets on this morning's ride. No doubt on their way up to the North of Scotland to drop some live bombs for Excercise Joint Warrior.
Yup, they're everywhere up here. Typhoons, Chinooks, Rafales, Tornados (though we have them all the time anyway), Merlins - the lot!
Road - Dolan Preffisio
MTB - On-One Inbred
I have no idea what's going on here.0 -
thegreatdivide wrote:Me262 and what looks like the front end of a B1?
... we were at the museum "celebrating" this...
... but the Goblets were being used elsewhere...
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2310526152001
... last year, we were fortunate enuff to see three of the last four survivors at that time at the base, along with 16 B-25s that were on static display, then flew over in formation for last year's celebration...0 -
-
Akirasho wrote:thegreatdivide wrote:Me262 and what looks like the front end of a B1?
... we were at the museum "celebrating" this...
... but the Goblets were being used elsewhere...
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2310526152001
... last year, we were fortunate enuff to see three of the last four survivors at that time at the base, along with 16 B-25s that were on static display, then flew over in formation for last year's celebration...
Nice!
I love the Bone. It can fly so fuxking low at crazy speeds!!!0 -
declan1 wrote:thegreatdivide wrote:Me262 and what looks like the front end of a B1?
Got buzzed by two French Rafale jets on this morning's ride. No doubt on their way up to the North of Scotland to drop some live bombs for Excercise Joint Warrior.
Yup, they're everywhere up here. Typhoons, Chinooks, Rafales, Tornados (though we have them all the time anyway), Merlins - the lot!
Splendid! The noise is constant down here. I’m going to detour past Leuchars on tomorrows ride to see if I can get a close look at a Hawkeye and a Super Etendard. Never seen them in the flesh before.0 -
thegreatdivide wrote:declan1 wrote:thegreatdivide wrote:Me262 and what looks like the front end of a B1?
Got buzzed by two French Rafale jets on this morning's ride. No doubt on their way up to the North of Scotland to drop some live bombs for Excercise Joint Warrior.
Yup, they're everywhere up here. Typhoons, Chinooks, Rafales, Tornados (though we have them all the time anyway), Merlins - the lot!
Splendid! The noise is constant down here. I’m going to detour past Leuchars on tomorrows ride to see if I can get a close look at a Hawkeye and a Super Etendard. Never seen them in the flesh before.
Me neither - I'd love to see a Super Etendard
Road - Dolan Preffisio
MTB - On-One Inbred
I have no idea what's going on here.0 -
Other classic military planes worth a mention.
F104 Starfighter.. one of the loudest jets I have ever had the pleasure to watch.
The best of them all.. in my opinion. Saw one do its famous wheels up, stick back, verticle ascent at RIAT many years ago.
Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.0 -
0
