Skywatch. BBC 1974

I was there, just by the inflatable hangar. The Harrier got out just before the thing collapsed when one of our mechs bounced a sharp flint off the side.
John

It didn’t come with a ‘Kit, Repair, Puncture’ then?

I was there, just by the inflatable hangar. The Harrier got out just before the thing collapsed when one of our mechs bounced a sharp flint off the side.
John

Raymond Baxter

I watched this last night for the first time ever, And ill be watching it again! It was brilliant! Those were the days when we had an Air force, and R.Bs narrative took me back to those holiday air and Farnborough shows which were on TV when i was young. What is also good is that R.B was ex RAF which is much sweeter than Fern Brittain or some ex B.A capt twittering on! Yep thoroughly captivating, whilst on the subject some time back in the early/mid eighties the RAF buzzed Bridgnorth in shropshire all day low level with Phantoms and Buccs, and i eagerly watched from the riverbank with a picnic and my ma and pa. any idea what that operation was called or why Bridgnorth was chosen?

Where are they now?

I managed to identify the recce Phantom as XV470, still extant (as a wreck) in Cyprus. Can anyone spot any more and know their fates??

C6

PS thanks for posting, I miss RB’s voice.

Saw it back then.
Often wondered about it and still enjoyed it tonight.
Brilliant–Thanks.
A.

Here, here……….love those Lightnings as well !

Err hmm – & I’m just wondering if scrambled these days whether they are still allowed to take off in such tight pairs ?:rolleyes:

That’s fabulous!

And what a contrast Raymond Baxter makes to the modern 24-hour-rolling news-rentagobs too: A commentator who so obviously knows his stuff inside out and is loving every second of the action.

Hear hear.

Raymond
Baxter was the best person available to commentate on this subject.

Whilst he was an ideal (in my books) commentator for outside broadcasts such as Airshows, dear old Raymond was not perfect. In some ways he was like Murray Walker, you watched the programme in anticipation of the errors.

I can remember shouting at the TV when Raymond described the formation on the screen as being Sea Vixens when they were obviously Buccaneers (or some such glaring aircraft rec ****-up – time dims the actual combination). However Raymond’s presentation was such that you could believe him and it was the designers who had got it wrong.;)

The DVD omits the Pink Floyd track, and Rod Stewart 😮

Sailor available on DVD

Brian

A can remember seeing that the first time around as well, and yes, Raymond
Baxter was the best person available to commentate on this subject.
(Unlike Noel Edmonds doing the Farnborough Airshow 🙁 )

It certainly brought back memories of when the RAF was a real air force.

Someone mentioned “Sailor”. I wonder if the BBC still has that on video ?

I still remember the slow motion footage of Phantoms taking off from the Ark
Royal, with a Pink Floyd backing track.

Cam you imagine if they flew two Typhoons over Birmingham today? People would be “terrified it was a terrorist attack” 🙂

http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2012/08/10/raf-forced-to-cut-daily-flypast-as-scottish-residents-feared-of-bombings/

I missed this too the first time around. Albeit I was 10 years old ! Excellent and thanks for posting.

Steve

Remember watching this when it was shown, and have often wondered if copies survived anywhere.

I can’t help but wonder what an up-to-date 2012 version of the programme would look like, nor how many examples of the few types in service could be spared to make the programme. It would be so boring with so few types available……

As well as the breadth of types on display in 1974, its the lack of “lumps and bumps” such as tail-and nose- mounted radars and radar warning “add ons” on the Harriers and Vulcans, and the old camo colour schemes that caught my eye.

So, nearly forty years on and look what has become of the RAF… I wonder what the RAF will look like in another forty years :(.

P.S. – I guess much the same thoughts would result if I watched the original “Sailor” series by BBC TV too…its not just the RAF that has been cut to the bone… 🙁

That’s fabulous!

And what a contrast Raymond Baxter makes to the modern 24-hour-rolling news-rentagobs too: A commentator who so obviously knows his stuff inside out and is loving every second of the action.

Brilliant.
Brings back a few memories.

Pete