Could almost be on an op!

A great JD photo he does love a cloud in the background and this has worked very well

Lovely!

Thanks for the info Skeeler. I also expect, as with so many aircraft these days, they make use of Sat Navs ?

steve611

Maybe this schematic, showing oil/coolant heating as marked 38 and 39? – http://www.enginehistory.org/Accessories/HxFuelSys/HxFuelSys05/Fig049.jpg

Steve.

I once asked Ray Hanna about carb icing on the Merlins and never got a good answer, although I did get about an hour of great chat. I have since found a schematic that suggests that hot oil is circulated through the body of a Merlin carburettor, so effectively the metal inner surface of the throttle body would have carb icing on all the time.

Giving the appearance of a continuous cloud layer when viewed from the right angle, as maybe the case here?

This appears to be using the common occurence of cloud streets, you can see a gap behind.

Alan,

Good point – looking at all that cloud in the picture again, maybe you’re right and it is a ‘composite’ after all? That said, I found this post from 2016 on the PPRUNE site in discussion about the BBMF and IFR :-

“Neither the BBMF Lanc nor Dak have any ‘additional’ flight instrumentation added to their main instrument panels, i.e. they are both ‘original’. The Dak does therefore have its twin V/UHF radios in addition to ADF, VOR/DME and ILS, the Lanc only having a VOR then TACAN mounted at the Nav’s station but with no bearing readout visible to either pilot.

Both aircraft do have a modern mode-S transponder fitted.

Therefore, from an IMC piloting perspective, in addition to an altimeter, ASI and VSI, both cockpits rely on just an artificial horizon, Turn-&-Slip, Compass/DI. Not much to fly IMC safely in this day and age. That said, both aircraft are permitted to be ‘flown through shallow cloud layers that do not constitute any icing risk.’; therefore flown IMC. This requirement being added to help avoid the possibility of getting trapped by an ever-deteriorating weather situation. Notwithstanding any desire not to press on into poor weather, if the ‘safest’ option remaining is to go up through the weather it is at least theoretically sanctioned.

The idea is to attempt to maintain wings-level flight while climbing straight ahead, not turning. Both the Lanc and the Dak have have made use of this clearance, but the debate about ‘shallow layer’ continued long after landing! I know of one occasion where the Lanc came out on-top with a quite considerable heading change from when it initiated the climb! With only one artificial horizon fitted there is no redundancy. The Canberra T4 was probably the last RAF aircraft where partial-panel IMC flying was taught!

Despite the warmer conditions expected in the summer display months, engine/airframe icing is the main danger of taking the Lanc or Dak IMC. Whilst the Dak does have carb heating controls, the Lanc doesn’t. Neither airframe has any wing anti-ice system, the leading edge boots on the Dak having been painted on following a ground incident many moons ago.”

Steve.

I didn’t realized that BBMF aircraft were allowed to be flown IFR (?)

As it’s by John Dibbs, it won’t be a composite. Probably taken in daylight using a neutral density filter? Here are links to his website and facebook site where you can see more examples of his brilliant work – http://planepicture.com

https://www.facebook.com/theplanepicture/

Steve.

Hi All,
~Alan~ – It appears not! have highlighted the photographer for others which I should have done earlier…;)

Geoff.

Nice picture. A composite I assume ?