Senior Display Pilots

Don’t worry, you can probably run faster than Ray. He’s older than you. But then, he’s got access to some nifty fighters!

More seriously, as you said, ‘age is no barrier’, but the suits make the older ones do more work as they get older to keep their licences; hence the reticence. RA ‘Bob’ Hoover lost his US licence on medical grounds at one stage, but got an Aussie one so he could fly in a Tasmanian Air Race. (reported widely at the time).

I think he got his US licence back, but the spotlight is on then, and it’s togh to keep it.

So hush.

Dave you are trouble now, it’s like women – NEVER publish a pilot’s or a woman’s age, they get very embarrassed!

Uh-oh… I didn’t realise display pilots were like actors… Actually, I read his date of birth in a very well known and highly reputable book which is seemingly in every library in New Zealand (except mine I’m afraid) so it can hardly be a secret. The book is the excellent tome ‘Spitfire – The New Zealand Story’ by Gerald S. Morris. It covers practically every Kiwi who ever flew a Spitfire, from wartime combat through to modern day displays – hence the reason Ray is mentioned.

I hope I have not offended Ray Hanna or anyone else by repeating the date here. Sorry.

Dave

Freedom to pass among the crown unrecognised?

That must be Prince Michael, you are referring to.

Fear of frightening small children?

Small children are a problem. It’s the large ones they are concerned about.

Modesty?

Believe it or not, this could be the case.

I was lucky enough to fly with Mr. Jordan in his Stearman (01 May 1989 – he was about 64 then!!!). Fantastic man.
OAW

Maybe some of the pilots don’t want to be well known

Indeed, I KNOW several pilots don’t want to be ‘well known’ or profiled (I have the “No”s to treasure when I’ve asked!)

Question is, why not?

Freedom to pass among the crowd unrecognised?

Fear of being seen as a line shooter?

Modesty? (No, can’t be, it’s pilots we are talking about. 😀 )

Criminal records to hide?

Fear of frightening small children?

The profiles I’ve seen and the few I’ve done have been some of the most rewarding articles – way ahead of another article about an a/c. So it is a pity there are so few.

Cheers

Maybe some of the pilots don’t want to be well known.

Regarding John Jordan, I don’t believe he flies P1 any more.

JDK – good point, well made.

This came up at another FOD event where Smudge Smith (ARCo engineer) was the speaker. ARCo run apprenticeships and take on young people to work in their workshops. Smudge said it was dissapointing that other companies aren’t doing the same……

Dave you are trouble now, it’s like women – NEVER publish a pilot’s or a woman’s age, they get very embarrassed!

Most display pilots do not like to be publicised. There’s a number of reasons, but having done profiles of a few, and tried to do a few more, it is like getting blood from a stone to interview and publish.

As regards the ‘aging’ population, despite the perception, it’s not actually an issue. Generations are moving through, and there a plenty of qualified or qualifying pilots coming through. See Andy Sephton’s article in the current Aeroplane magazine on Shuttleworth’s very well thought out policy.

If you want something to worry about, try and count up where the qualified aero engineers are coming from. Piston and warbird qualified wrench turners are a lot fewer than pilots, and the job is also a lot less rewarding, so fewer go into it.

When a new a/c is under restoration the questions are ‘what colours?’, ‘when?’ and ‘who’s going to fly it?’ – all minor points if you think about it. I joke that finding pilot’s isn’t hard for an ‘interesting’ a/c; there’ll be a queue quite quickly when you are getting ready – but qualified engineers to rebuild it are a lot harder. We do get sucked into the glamour of the pilot’s job; but without Chris Morris and his team at Old Warden, for instance, the pilots would just be a bumch of spare parts.

Or to put it another way, the pilot’s job is not to break it. The engineer’s job is to repair it when the pilot fails! Who’s got the harder task?

Cheers

PS – no disrespect to the many fine pilots out there – but ‘many’ is the important word in the sentence.

various people who give up their time to display all these wonderful aircraft for US

Some of them have to dragged kicking and screaming and forcibly strapped in to their Spitfires 😀

The OFMC, HFL and TFC amongst others do have potted bios of (some of) their pilots on their websites.
mmitch.

A great idea – for next season, I would think though. There’s probably more than enough to fill the mags this year, and it will be a lot of work. Actually, it sounds as if there’s enough there (given the number of pilots) to do a regular series covering many years worth of magazines.

But isn’t there a similar thing anyway? – I’m thinking of those flying visits in another regular tome.

Nice idea Auster Fan. Usually apart from seeing a pilot’s name in print in passing, you only discover more about them in an obituary – which sadly seem all too regular in the UK magazines, often also signalling that along with them, a warbird has also been lost 🙁 .

Such profiles would be interesting, but of course some pilots will be rather modest, and others very private about their activities, despite how much the public may admire them.

John Jordan (Of Jordans Breakfast Cereals) may still be flying his Stearman G-AROY, which used to live at Old Warden. An ex ATA pilot with a striking distain for authority, he flew with the Barnstormers Display team, as well as doing movie work- remember the appalling Biggles film? (The flying bits were great, apart from the Jet Ranger….) He is at least 80, and, and as well as a flyer, was a keen racing driver until quite recently.

That will be Peter Teichman then, and how could you forget Rob Davies??? Rob has over the last year or so encouraged and coached a chap in his 20’s (with a good number of hours admitedly) to fly his Harvard with the result of a flypast DA being issued recently. Other pilots around and about are being encouraged by owners to build hours on more common types with the view to being able to ferry rarer aircraft to displays around the country which all helps to get the aircraft seen at different venues.

I was wondering about this after I heard Rod Dean speak at a Friends of Duxford event. He said something to the effect that he was a little concerned about the increasing age of warbird display pilots and how there wasn’t enough new blood.

But in the current situation of ever increasing operating costs and the resulting limits on hours available in the aircraft how can any newcomers ever break on to the scene?

That’s what makes programmes like Spitfire Ace even more valuable; TV money coming into the industry, allowing four youngsters to experience flight in a Tiger Moth, two of them to go on to fly the Spitfire, and one of those two to get some extremely good tuition and a not inconsiderable amount of time logged on a powerful warbird. If young Dave Mallon plays his cards right over the next decade or so, who knows?

We’ve also got the likes of Glenn Denney coming through the ranks, also the ex RAF lads; Andy Cubin and Charlie Brown are just two names that spring to mind.

New owners / operators have come into prominence in recent years too; Peter Teichelman (sp?), Maurice Hammond, the late Paul Morgan was assembling quite a collection, Glenn Lacey, Taff Smith. Not many of these names were active or widely known ten years ago. It all runs in cycles I guess.

Yak 11 Fan 😀

Who?????

I was wondering about this after I heard Rod Dean speak at a Friends of Duxford event. He said something to the effect that he was a little concerned about the increasing age of warbird display pilots and how there wasn’t enough new blood.

But in the current situation of ever increasing operating costs and the resulting limits on hours available in the aircraft how can any newcomers ever break on to the scene?

Who are the other, up & coming, superstars of the future??

Yak 11 Fan 😀

I could name a few but most of all experiance wise Few people never mention ” Old father time ” himself Dizzy Addicot

Sounds a good idea, Auster Fan. We all know the ‘famous’ ones, but what about all the not-so-well-known ones in the UK? There’s a surprising amount of Display Pilots in the UK (450 rings a bell, ISTR), yet only a fraction of who display at the mainline events.

Who are the other, up & coming, superstars of the future??