This Burmese Spitfire business has been annoying me, so as a distraction I have started going through some black and white negatives to see what I could dig up. Setting aside my usual principle of no airshow pictures in view of the age, here are a couple of starters. There is more to follow when I get round to it with hopefully the next batch being Skyfame in 1964 if I can get something useful out of some very underexposed negatives.
Here we are at Farnborough c.1962 sitting on a grassy bank in the late summer enjoying the hazy sunshine. Suddenly there is an almightly noise, you can feel it on your body and the ground seems to shake. A Vulcan is taking off. This is a real Vulcan take-off. A long full-throttle climb out as the aircraft claws its way into the distance. A memorable scene and one of the first photos I took myself.
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It is Wolverhampton Aerodrome 26/6/1965 on a typical Summers day. A small airshow is due later, but for now pleasure flights are available at 7/6d a go. I was very tempted but 7/6 was as much as my Dad and me had on us at the time.
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By: HP111 - 22nd September 2014 at 09:18
In the interests of historical accuracy:
I had a thought about this thread and my claim that a flight in ‘DDI was 7/6d. I suspect that that is wrong and that the actual price was something like 11/6d, based on my recollection of a chalked notice at the ticket table. Where the 7/6d figure came from, I don’t know.
By: BRIAN C D - 1st July 2013 at 20:30
iN JULY 1953 I FLEW FOR HALF AN HOUR IN TIGER MOTH G-ADWL AT THE YORKSHIRE AEROPLANE CLUB AT SHERBURN IN ELMETFOR 7/6D IT WAS USUALLY TEN TO FIFTEEN MINUTES IN ONE OF THE AUSTERS BUT ON THIS DAY THEY WERE ALL OUT, THEC.F.I. FRANK MORGAN ACTUALLY ASKED ME IF I MINDED GOING UP IN A TIGER!
I RECENTLY HAD A NICE FLIGHT OVER THE INDIAN OCEAN IN SOUTH AFRICA IN A STEARMAN BI PLANE BUT I DID NOT NEED THE LEATHER JACKET AND GOGGLES THAT I WORE FOR MY FLIGHT IN 1953
BRIAN C D ( WAKEFIELD)
By: HP111 - 30th June 2013 at 22:30
http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php?year_source=1965&amount=0.375&year_result=2013
That would be quite a bargain flight today!
Yes it makes it look very cheap. The website figures while no doubt accurate in themselves, don’t seem quite right in context. My personal unit of price inflation is the “Airfix Kit” in which 7/6 at the mid 60s would be over £30 today. I suspect real aviation has got disproportionately even more expensive, leading to the £100 pleasure flight today. Those were the days as they say.
By: mike currill - 30th June 2013 at 20:44
That photo of Farnborough reminds me of the year my mum and I went (Dad being an agricultural labourer was busy at that time as you can imagine) when 111 Sqn ran in en masse from behind the crowd. There were a lot of covered ears then I can tell you. A squadron’s worth of Lightnings tended to be a little on the loud side. That would have been the same show or the one previous.
By: Mothminor - 30th June 2013 at 20:36
http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php?year_source=1965&amount=0.375&year_result=2013
That would be quite a bargain flight today!
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June 30, 2013 at 6:43 pm