Thought you might like to see something a little more aged and British (and I don’t mean me).Tonight I’ve chosen an air-to-air I took of one of my favourite types, the Comper Swift. I was asked by the then owner of this machine to take a series of air-to-airs just before he put her into storage. ‘CTF was later sold to the Shuttleworth Trust and can now be seen at OW.
Hope the title didn’t catch out BlueRobin who anticipated my Magister (a prior a-a post) would have a prop – I wonder if anyone expected this Swift to have swept wings and hail from Supermarine – afraid I’m not old enough to have captured one of those a-a!
Enjoy!
By: robbelc - 3rd April 2005 at 11:25
Loveley aircraft, nice shot. Just think in its day this was one of the most popular record breaking aircraft. People flew these to South Africa and Australia 😮 , must have been made of sterner stuff in those days.
EG G0ABNH flown by Lt C.Byas flew to cape Town in 10 days in 1931, and C.A Butler flew G-ABRE Croydon-Darwin in 9 days also in 1931!
By: davski - 3rd April 2005 at 10:41
Beautiful aircraft, one of my favourite types and one that I wish we saw more of. Lovely photo too – thanks for sharing!
By: Consul - 3rd April 2005 at 00:53
Thank you kindly Propstrike. The shot was actually taken near to Shotteswell (near Banbury). I have shots of CTF formating on both port and starboard sides of the camera ship – but not both at the same time I hasten to add! Careful pre-briefings and safety are paramount with a-a sessions so I’m still here to tell the tale. Ahhh Control Column those were simpler but happy days.
By: turbo_NZ - 3rd April 2005 at 00:34
guilty….thought I’d see the Supermarine variety….;) but this is a great looking aircraft nonetheless…thanks Consul
TNZ
By: Propstrike - 2nd April 2005 at 23:58
Nice shot Consul! It looks a bit like Wales in background, so I would guess the Comper was perhaps in the custody of Alan Chalkley. Speculating further, it could have been taken from his Cub, although more usually the target formates on the starboard side, due to the open door.
There used to be a Tim Badham who contributed a lot to Control Column- Perhaps you are related?
By: Top Cat - 2nd April 2005 at 21:52
Looks a great aircraft but visability looks questionable!! 🙂
Sign In
April 2, 2005 at 9:44 pm