How Low Can You Go??

Some cracking stuff fellas. Certainly brightened my day. Always remember looking out of my window on the 5th floor of a Portugese hotel in ’89 and seeing a Nimrod pass below me (taking a German chap’s towel off his poolside lounger). Happy days!

Lewis Benjamin set this unfortunate precedent at Sywell in the 1970s.

It was a heck of an ending to a crazy flying act!

Apparently his nose recovered faster than the Tiger’s!

just don’t get too low….
Michel BERLIN during a meeting at Alger Maison Blanche in 1953… (some says it was in Oran)
The Stampe was writen off, but fortunately the pilot walked away unhurt (almost)
cheers,
Olivier

And to redress the historic balance. This is allegedly Blue Max’s dad enjoying himself somewhere near Sywell. More of the same on Saturday Bod?

Not all low flying is intentional. I know its not quite historic, but this guy at Barcelona very nearly became (briefly) famous!

Sorry I can’t credit this pic as it was sent to me some time ago, but check out the truck doing the emergency stop!

… … …

stewart1a – mind how you go, I offered to send someone that vid on this forum a couple of years back and got an email from the film maker accusing me of illegally distributing his film! Just thought I should let you know.

The re-opening of Wellington Airport in 1959 saw a 5 Sqn Sunderland (NZ4113?) scrape its keel on the runway.
A different way to touch and go!

The photo in a series call “How low can you go” showed debris falling from the keel while the aircraft was about 5 feet above the runway.

Happened right in front of me.

A great opening as it also had the Vulcan incident mentioned in Jets on grass thread.

How Low Do You Go When You Have To – In Real Life

Extract from “ADJIDAUMO – Tail in Air – The History of No.268 Squadron Royal Air Force 1940-1946” by Colin B Ford

January 22, 1944

F/L Brees in FD472 and F/O F Jenkins RCAF in FD563 F were tasked to carry out a photographic reconnaissance of Cambrai Epinoy airfield and took off from North Weald at 13.45 hrs. They made landfall at Point de St. Quentin, crossing the coast at 2000 ft. F/L Brees made the photographic run for the oblique photographs of the airfield at 2300 ft, with F/O F Jenkins RCAF following and also taking photographs. An airfield, believed to be Beauvoir was seen with much construction activity taking place and it was photographed. They encountered much accurate light and heavy flak from Cambrai and Frevant as they photographed these targets and to avoid this they dropped down to just above ground level to exit the area. About three miles south of Hesdin they were attacked by two Focke-Wulf FW-190s which dived in to attack them. The Mustangs split in different directions, one FW-190 attempting to attach itself to the tail of each Mustang. F/L Brees dived lower and started evasive manoeuvres and in doing so clipped a tree damaging his Mustang. The radiator cowling was torn off, the port wing was ripped open, the cannons in the port wing were bent upwards and the propeller was also bent. The FW-190 following him apparently did not avoid the trees as a large cloud of black smoke issued up and the FW-190 did not reappear. F/O F Jenkins RCAF who broke away in the other direction commenced flying very low, so low in fact that he bent the first few inches of his propeller tips back from impact with the ground and lost airspeed, so the pursuing FW-190 pilot overshot F/O F Jenkins’ aircraft and had to circle back to reacquire him. In this time F/O F Jenkins’ was able to climb up into the low cloud base above him, losing the pursuing FW-190 and set course for base within the cloud.

F/L Brees recalled the incident for the press not long after the event:

“We were flying very low when we were jumped by two F.W.190’s. We split in different directions, each with an F.W. on his tail. I did a steep turn between some trees, and on looking back to see the exact position of the Hun chasing me, I flew right through the top of a tree. I saw the F.W. disappear behind some other trees and a moment later there was a bright flash and black smoke shot up. He did not come up again. My engine began missing, so I made what height I could and prepared to bale out. Then the engine picked up again, and I set course for home, landing O.K. I take my hat off to the Mustang which kept going for another half hour.”

F/O F Jenkins RCAF recalled his escape:

“I flew so low trying to shake off my opponent that I hit the ground with my propeller. At once I lost a lot of speed, but still managed to climb up into cloud and, after a struggle, touched down in the nearest airfield in the south of England.”

Making their escape they exited the French Coast near Pointe Haut Blanc and landed at Friston. Both aircraft were damaged and classified as Cat AC, but neither pilot was hurt in the incident. Mustang FD472 would undergo significant repairs and would return to service with the Squadron later in 1944.

In this case, reality proves that in combat, you fly as low as you need to, and then some!!

There is also newsreel film taken in late 1942 of the Squadron CO at the time W/C AF Anderson DSO DFC making a demonstration low firing pass at some targets. He dives down behind the trees around the target area, pops up over them and dives towards the ground, literally cutting the grass on the other side as he fires and then pulls up and away over the targets. I also have a photograph of one of the Squadron’s Mustangs crossing the North Sea in mid-1943. Very, very, very low.

Regards,

Colin Ford
Canberra
Australia
No.268 Squadron RAF Historian by Appointment
(by the surviving Squadron personnel)

C130 buzzing the RAE Bedford on its day of closure.

I do know of French fighter pilot who forced a truck off the road with a Mirage III and another that had to pull up to avoid a tractor.

Sounds like the scene in (I think) Catch 22, where the guy gets hit by an aircraft (Cub?) and gets slightly minced! 😮

Probably already posted (Don’t have time to read the whole thread) But saw a video clip of a reporter at an airshow clipped on the head by a US Army Cub spotter!

I think I mentioned it on here before:
’89 or ’90 (?) at Duxford, Mark Hanna was in the T33 giving a tuna ride (yanno what they are don’t ya?) & was spoken to after the flight for a “near miss”..

…..The guy who complained about the fly-by was taxiing a Piper Tomahawk across the end of the field. Dunno what all the fuss was about, he missed him by at least 3ft :diablo:

Be carefull, my computer detected a virus on the file.

Then you best check your computer as there’s nothing wrong with that file… :rolleyes:

The video is available here

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/ohmygodSpitfire%20pass.wmv

Be carefull, my computer detected a virus on the file.

Hehehe bad man 🙂 Great story!

Jules,
Hooligan……………….!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You probably frightened the s**t out of the A-rab so much he was left with a burning hatred of all things western and founded Hamas, the Taliban and Al Quaeda……………………and now look where we are. Or perhaps he is now head of ICAO and responsible for the turgid mass of regulations that apply internationally. Especially the ones on low flying.
Cheers,
Trapper 69 (alias Sheik Yasser Verifat)

ha ha, great story, Jules !!
Thanks

TNZ

During my tour in Tunis, N.Africa in 1943, I had to slow time a plane that had an engine change. I had a ground officer who wanted a ride, so he, a copilot and I took off to put in some time on the engine. Prior to this flight I found a British air base about 30 miles away with a straight 3 mile road, with traffic. I said to myself that this was a perfect buzzing target.

Today was the day. I had the copilot check to see that the ball turret guns were in a horizontal position, my virgin passenger was in the nose, the scene was set. To this day I can recall the incident.

I dove down from about 2000 ft and got to several feet above the road, I came up behind an Arab riding atop of load of hay. I saw a bucking mule take off running across an open field with a capsized wagon. Then there was a British lorry with soldiers in the back, going in my direction. The driver didn’t see or hear me when I came up on the lorry, I had to rise a little , otherwise I would have hit it. As I came close I saw the soldiers jump out of the moving vehicle, it was a sight to see. I then took off like a scared deer and went back to my base. About a week later another B17 was in the general area at a normal altitude, a Spitfire came up alongside of him and ecorted him out of the area, after identifying him. Later I heard that a British General lodged a complaint with an American General, I never knew what happened to the U.S. pilot. Actually I was lower then I intended to be, but I’m sure that my passenger had the ride of his life.