The Flying Billboard aka Sea-Vixen

Correct link for my previous post is www.airshows.tv

I’ve just added some pics of the new scheme and a video download of the official launch at www.Airshows.TV.

The video also features a response to peoples criticisms by the owner of the Sea Vixen!

Lasted a long time but didn’t use much airspace.

Apart from the junk piled behind it, it was nice to see with the wings down. Think the last two or three I’ve seen have all been folded.

Swift’s on jacks with no wheels on it, looks like it’s being tarted up.
They ran the APU on the Vulcan a few times and cycled the airbrakes and bomb doors. Hardly exciting but better than totally silent.

Nice one!

Originally posted by dhfan

Nice to see one at Newark today in a proper colour scheme though.

Really?

And how was its display?

😉

Moggy

Originally posted by tonydyer

I actually think the colour scheme is quite fun and from an aviation preservation viewpoint will be beneficial. How many Red Bull drinkers know what a Sea Vixen is? (Or come to think of it any particular older aircraft)

Oi!!! – i do and drink a lot of it 😉

I know what a Sea Vixen is, but I’ve no intention of finding out what Red Bull is.
As I said before, if that’s what it takes to keep her flying, so be it.

Nice to see one at Newark today in a proper colour scheme though.

I agree with Ashley….better to see her fly than not at all.

I suppose it is a bit like collectors of anything. We are purely custodians looking after items until we move them on to others. Red Bull have allowed the current custodians to keep operating this fine aircraft for a period longer. One day, she may end up in a more appropriate scheme. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

A suitable question may be…..if Red Bull or other stumped up the money for the Vulcan would you all whinge if she flew as a giant advert? I certainly would NOT.

I actually think the colour scheme is quite fun and from an aviation preservation viewpoint will be beneficial. How many Red Bull drinkers know what a Sea Vixen is? (Or come to think of it any particular older aircraft) Well more will know soon.

Regards

Tony

Sea Vixen

Good point Sconnor

At the end of the day its flying we can sit here moaning about the paint job all we like but its flying so who cares.

If it was stuck on the ground or going to SA or the USA then start moaning.

This is a bit of a late comment on the subject but i think she looks pretty good. If Red Bull want to spend a chunk of money on her, good on em too, then i guess they would expect to have it painted how they please. Plus its not unauthentic as her active life isnt over so its merely another progression to a different job and a different livery.

Better than her rotting or stuck in some museum as a static exhibit,

if they can paint spitfires red and a catalina with a rainbow then why not. Hurrah for red bull. I for one congratulate them for the sterling support they ahve given to manya ircraft over the years. Didnt they have a B25 in the Red Bull livery also?

Cant wait to see her at coventry.

I’m off to EuroDisney in the morning for 5 days so I’ll have a look to see if there are any spare poles on any of the rides for her , she should blend in quite well there !!.

Phil

Red Bull does this:

Southend-on-Sea May 25-26 confirmed. Coventry Classic 31 May-1 June confirmed. Biggin Hill Air Fair 7-8 June confirmed. Wellsbourne 15 June (flypast only) confirmed. Kemble 15 June Confirmed. Austria 26-29 June . Jurby Isle of Man 5-6 July confirmed. East Fortune 12 July confirmed. RNAS Cauldrose 16 July negotiating. RIAT Fairford 18-20 July confirmed. Sunderland airshow 26-27 July negotiating. Eastbourne 16-17 August negotiating. Weymouth airshow 20 Aug possible. Clacton airshow 21-22 Aug confirmed. Yorkshire airshow 24-25 Aug confirmed. Austria 25-29 Aug. Shoreham airshow 30-31 Aug confirmed. Southport 6-7 Sept confirmed. Jersey airshow 11 Sept negotiating. RNAS Yeovilton 20 Sept negotiating. Duxford 12 Oct negotiating.

Without Red Bull and that colour scheme all these people would not be lucky enough to see her flying!

Well, What can one say? Other than that looks horrible/terrible/disgusting/incongruous/cheap/tacky* (delete as applicable). The silver looks like something out of a Halford’s can and the blue reminds me of the horrible blue worn by the Patrouille de France.

But still….. It is a Sea Vixen, our only airworthy example. And as such I will watch it and cherish it. I will also hope that one day it might be returned to an authentic scheme. I will also express gratitude too that Red Bull have sponsored the machine. That through thir good offices I can still see it in the air. Perhaps the garish colour scheme is more than compensated for by that. I hope the deal is mutually beneficient to both parties.

Regards,

kev35

Still not keen but looks better than I’d hoped.

It was very nasty weather, shame we didn’t get to see the full scheme as there is a lot of work underneath!

I was there as well and I ‘m going to post a short video of the taxy run, plus some comments from the owner about the colour scheme on www.airshows.tv over the weekend.

After seeing it in the flesh, I love the scheme, makes a change from green brown and grey aircraft.

Might be gettting some air to air of it next week!

Here it is on a horrible day at Bournemouth International Airport earlier today.
Did not fly but did a fast-taxi Bruntingthorpe-style along the runway, however only after it waited for a Boeing 737 to land 🙂

M

Well said Cirrus, could’nt have put it better myself. You know, folks will think that we have conspired together on this. Anyhow thanks for the long chat this morning over the phone, oh sh*t the moggy has fled the sack. Oops sorry the cat, no offence Moggy .

The Flying Billboard aka Sea-Vixen

I hear all the arguments, including some very attractive paint jobs for Red Bull a ‘fauel additive’ :rolleyes: on commercial airliners and GA aircraft, not forgetting the F1 Car. Very Nice indeed.

I just dont much care for the scheme applied to the Sea-Vixen ~ thats it really.

Forgetting all the other practical arguments of cost and sponsorship, the CAA and their rules, notwithstanding all the other numerous Warbirds (and it certainly is one of them) with paint schemes more akin to its history. I just think that it looks like an escapee from Captain Scarlet or Thunderbirds ~ If that gets kids interested in our AVIATION HERITAGE (thank you moggy id advance for your undoubted response ~ ps How about all that nose art then? BRILLIANT ~ the twilight years of active service and still a sense of humour persists). Funny looking girl on the Tornado and unlike most other nose, or should I say fuselage art, she is fully clothed! How very PC of the artists recognising the insult that our Muslim friends might take, let alone his wife, girlfriend or boyfriend when the pilot returns home (non gender specific remark, despite the MOD’s beliefs).

Nonetheless, it will be an absolute delight to see CVIX back in the air again and hopefully at considerably more shows this year. I will delight in the sight and sound of this aircraft, Wince at its clothing and clean the camera and save film in the process. But, I will still be delighted to see him/her (PC correct) in the air.

As for Kemble, sorry I am at College, BUT like Lemble and Coventry please everybody GO they are brilliant shows that break the mould and are a positive delight.

Three cheers for all the people involved in getting and displaying the Sea-Vixen. A rotten smelly sock for the Red Bull crew and their paint job. Three cheers for Red Bull though on their continuing support of aviation; But please YUKY paint jobs on civil aircraft (GA and Airliners and of course F1 Cars) and nice period paint jobs on military ones, Alpha Jets and L-39’s exempt.

At the end of the day if it supports and promotes aviation I am all for it, one thought though if the Vulcan opens its bomb bay to display an advertising banner is it fulfilling its role by bombing the crowd the audience with something unwanted (not unlike a bomb). Maybe the bomb bay thing is the manufacturer, sponsor actually perversely allowing the aircraft to carry on its service role!

Three Cheers for Red Bull (not the drink or paint job!), Three cheers for the Sea-Vixen and any Airshow organiser that books her. A rousing F**T though for not allowing the public flogging of the persons responsible for the scheme during the display routines.:) 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Alright, I won’t look tomorrow.

Taken over completely in 1948, fully integrated by the summer of 1951.
Ambassador design started in 1943 when DH only had a stake in Airspeed, I forget how big.
Head of design team for the Sea Vixen was Tamblin.
Not going back to the book now but I think he designed the Heron.

I thought they were an associate company that was still producing aircraft under it’s own name i.e Airspeed Ambasssador.