what Warbird suprised you the most when you first saw it fly?

Again – ‘Winston’ at Duxford with Rod Dean in the driving seat – the paired run-in with the Canberra was amazing.

Mark V, nice to know I’m not alone in thinking that. Must have cost Southampton council a small fortune though so I cannot really imagine they’ll repeat it any time soon, more’s the pity.

Hi Mike,

I think Yak11 is thinking of an even bigger splash 😉 .

Certainly agree with you about Seawings 2000 – great show. It would be fantastic to do that again in 2004 or 2005.

Janie

I think a lot of answers would have been different its been intresting reading what people said especially when i remember some of these displays myself,it occured to me lots of people would give aerobatic displays i am going to pose another question and see what peoples memories are there.

I can’t help but wonder if duxfordhawk had asked “what Warbird impressed you the most at any point in your life?” as opposed to “what Warbird surprised you the most when you first saw it fly?” whether any of these answers would have been any different!

Originally posted by Yak 11 Fan
Ah now if we are talking of Harriers as being Warbirds, I had seen the display many times before and thought ‘thats impressive’ however the first time I saw the special display they put on at seaside venues I was very suprised at it’s finale

First saw that at SeaWings 2000 at Southampton. Must admit I was well impressed. I was downwind of it and got splashes on the camera lens from aboout 200 yards:) That is one airshow they should definitely repeat,

Don Plumb’s Airwar ’74 – Windsor Ontario.

Standing on the runway opposite Frank Strickler as he marshalled and waved off over 30 Warbirds, all packed tight like an aircraft carrier, all with engines running, for a mass formation fly-by. A Spitfire, three P-38s, three Widcats, three Corsairs, a Hellcat, a Kingcobra, an Avenger, Bearcats, Kittyhawks and Mustangs galore. Just click click click click – no tele photo required.

All common stuff now but in 1974, as a Brit, this was fist time viewing for most of these types.

To be introduced at the first flight briefing – anybody with a spare seat get this man airborne. Bliss.

Mark

Originally posted by Corsair166b
A couple of displays/warbirds come to mind, first and foremost is Paul Bonhomme displaying in the Mk.14 (18?) Spitfire ‘JE-J’ over at legends, as I’ve said before, I believe he could take a Bearcat in that plane, it was so impressive….
Mark

What, you mean THIS Spitfire Mk14?

A couple of displays/warbirds come to mind, first and foremost is Paul Bonhomme displaying in the Mk.14 (18?) Spitfire ‘JE-J’ over at legends, as I’ve said before, I believe he could take a Bearcat in that plane, it was so impressive….

Lefty Gardner putting ‘White Lightnin’ through her paces anywhere….has to be on a level with Stephen Grey or Hoof Proudfoot displaying ‘California Cutie’….the Lightning is just THAT impressive anywhere it goes…

Howard Pardue putting the Wildcat through its paces, or back when he flew the Corsair….today’s most impressive Corsair display would be Dale Snodgass flying Jim Read’s dash 5, really gets it going and down LOW…

Mark

I’d love to see the pics Steve, and talking about Yak 11’s in that way you will be very welcome 😀 Fantastic aircraft, recently termed a Warbird Pitts Special by somebody in the know 😉

Nice airfield Seething, went there for the first time this year for their display.

This is my first post ,so I hope you like it ,
It was June 1976 , I was 12 years old and attending the annual Seething air show in Norfolk where my father was a club member.
Amongst the participants was the Yak-11 G-AYAK based then at Booker, and displayed by the late Neil Williams ,and what a display he did with it, infact I can still visualise Neil taking off and only just clearing the end of the runway because of the take off run needed.I also managed to get Neils autograph,a real result for a then 12 year old .
The following year the Seething airshow was in May, my highlight was the arrival of TF956 with Pete Sheppard at the helm.
that display was awesome,I had seen TF956 at Duxford,but I had never seen a display like the one at Seething (maybe it was because it was such a small airfield) got some old polaroid pics somewhere i’ll post them if i can find them if anyone wants to see them.

Steve

For me, it has to be a 4 ship Vulcan scramble back in ’73 (or was it ’74?) at Finningley.

Both the noise, and the spectacle of these huge, beautiful, machines not just taking off, but taking off almost vertically (al la Lightening), then doing an incredible left turn at 90 degrees, was simply stunning.

Another memorable display was on the south coast somewhere, maybe Portsmouth, at a Navy day. An F4 did a very spirited routine above HMS Eagle (from my perspective), which made babies cry – Phabulous. I forget the year, and most everything else – but I think it was before Eagle was relegated to chopper carrier and was most probably in the ’70’s!

Yes – it certainly made a splash!

Ah now if we are talking of Harriers as being Warbirds, I had seen the display many times before and thought ‘thats impressive’ however the first time I saw the special display they put on at seaside venues I was very suprised at it’s finale

Originally posted by Flood
Anyone care to admit to Harrier awe?

Awe? Definitely.
Surprise? No.

Don’t know about me… But the look on kids faces when they first saw the Harrier perform back in the eighties (and undoubtably the seventies too) probably did a whole lot to interest them in aviation! My secondary schools model club had a display containing around 75% Airfix Harrier GR1s – with a couple of Sea Harriers thrown in (alright – just GR1s painted as SHars – but this was just before the Falklands… Me? Mine was the Matchbox Spitfire crudely converted to a Seafire!) after seeing the Sea Harrier display at Portsmouth Navy Days!
Anyone care to admit to Harrier awe?

Flood.

The actual noise that you hear when a Wildcat passes by is the sound of the pilot screaming in agony because of the number of handle turns it takes to wind up the manually-operated, chain-driven undercarriage. The engine is quite lovely.

A bit bitchy steve bond, sounds more like a cement mixer and a lawn mower combined,just to think that was the US front line naval fighter in the early stages of the pacific war.
Thats whats good about warbirds there all different in engine sounds,looks and performance.

Bearing in mind the key word is “surprise” and not “favourite” – in no particular order:

1. The jet biplane at Oshkosh because the noise just does not match the spectacle.
2. Vulcan – I was inside a C130 when it passed over. I thought Armageddon had arrived.
3. The hysterically agile C150 Aerobat at Shuttleworth this year just creased me up. Great flying skills.
4. The Vintage Aircraft Team, Biggin Hill 1986, because I had never seen twin-boom aircraft before.
5. Xavier de Lapparent’s Extra which appears to defy the laws of aerodynamics.
6. The Gee Bee racer which does defy the laws of aerodynamics.
7. B2 – because you could not hear it.
8. Concorde – just because.
9. A friend’s RV6. It’s amazing it flew considering I did my first riveting on it.

XH558 in 1988… back then i was only vaguely aware something like the Vulcan existed, actually seeing one fly definately dropped my jaw! It wasn’t at an airshow or something either – the Vulcan was flying in to RAFG Brüggen for a squadron anniversary, i saw it fly over (low!) at school.