Where was the Spitfire last night?

Hi Mike,

How big is your house!!!?:D:D

[QUOTE=avion ancien;1280600]I wonder how many people go to an air display and then complain that the band didn’t turn up. I usually go to concerts to listen to the music and to air displays to watch the aircraft![/QUOT Like most of us but in the case of Battle Proms the two have gone hand in hand for last year and this year. I think perhaps the weather at Duxford was unsuitable as Carolyn Grace seems to do her best to attend where scheduled, hopefully the omission was not due to a tech problem or pilot illness.
I’ve just gone back and finished reading all the other entries and find that my theory about weather was correct. If anyone is in any doubt about the vagaries of local weather conditions let me share my most unusual weather experience. About this time last year I was going to do something in the back garden only to be greeted by rain so I decided to nip out to the shops as I couldn’t get on the garden, imagine my surprise when I found the fron garden in bright sunshine. I would not have believed it possible if I had not seen it for myself.

Best resurrection of an old thread….great you went the year after and all went well….:)

I wondered if any of the visiting aircraft, most of which had left before us, had encountered any problems on their way home.

We left in the gap between the Edwardians and weather was fine until South of WW where it was overcast with light rain patches (which were easily avoided).

WX was brilliant all day at OW and I am told it was one of their best for a while. I certainly found it a delight and thoroughly enjoyed it as it was my first.:D

Re cancelling display slots, older aircraft are more diffcult to operate (in the air and landing), have a lot less instrument flying equipment, are not good instrument platforms even if you have them, almost all are restricted to day VFR anyway and because of aeros you can’t have lots of bits in the cockpit to help the enroute. So it is perhaps a greater challenge than people realise.

Add to that the wish not to damage a historical aircraft ( e.g. rain damage as metioned above) and manage risk whilst also dealing with the presures and responsibilities of display flying, there will be times the right decision is to cancel and whilst it causes disappointment, at least you can display another time. Unfortunately there have been times where weather has caught out transiting display aircraft with tragic consequences.

So perhaps we should treat any slot as it will happen if at all possible and treat it as a bonus if it does; they will certainly try their best to make sure it does.

CC

Excellent feedback Gooney Bid. Carolyn really enjoyed the display on Sunday night as she said the weather was perfect for it. I missed it, as I was at Old Warden.

In addition some people may not be aware of the damage that rain will cause to an aircraft travelling at speeds in excess of 250 knots.

Just look at the vampire leading edges! Not good 🙁

Aaah, now the thread is making sense now I checked the date of the earlier posts:rolleyes:

Thanks Darren and also pass on my thanks to Carolyn for her reply.

I hadn’t realised that it was scheduled to fly at the start of the performance when, in fact, it was raining quite hard. It was announced at the interval that it would not be appearing and I had assumed that was when it was due to fly. By this time the rain had stopped completely.

I will almost certainly be going next year and look forward to seeing it then.

Last night I attended the “Last night of the Proms” at Audley End and I must admit that the Grace Spitfire put on an absolutely superb display, much to the extreme delight of the audience.

The Spitfire performed through the first three numbers and as soon as it had finished Katherine Jenkins came on and sang “Amazing Grace”. How very appropriate!

Ladies and Gents,

Carolyn has asked me to post the following:

The slot time for the Spitfire display was 19.30 to 19.36 to the two first pieces of Music of the concert at Audley End. At the departure time to meet this slot from Duxford the weather on reaching the hold for the runway was beyond the legal UK VFR weather minima because of continual rain and reduced and reducing visibility. The Spitfire returned to dispersal and shut down. The News team were filming at 17.30 and again at 19.00.

In addition some people may not be aware of the damage that rain will cause to an aircraft travelling at speeds in excess of 250 knots.

The Grace Spitfire is a family operation and we want this Spitfire to continue for generations to come and it is our intention to ensure this will happen.

Carolyn Grace

The Grace Spitfire

Thanks Darren and also pass on my thanks to Carolyn for her reply.

I hadn’t realised that it was scheduled to fly at the start of the performance when, in fact, it was raining quite hard. It was announced at the interval that it would not be appearing and I had assumed that was when it was due to fly. By this time the rain had stopped completely.

I will almost certainly be going next year and look forward to seeing it then.

Disappointing but….

We should all know by now in the U.K that whilst the weather can be fine where you are, just down the road it can be a totally different story, as I can testify on return by road from Old Warden last night!

We left about 18.15 and whilst overcast, visibilty was good and there was no rain, and several of the collections aircraft were still giving flights to the raffle winners etc.

However, as we joined the A1 (southbound) just down the road, it was a different as I said above, a different story. Rain, lots of low cloud and a squally wind. It was hard to believe what it was like at OW a few minutes previously! This continued until we got home in the deepest depths of Surrey.

I wondered if any of the visiting aircraft, most of which had left before us, had encountered any problems on their way home.

Cheers

Paul

Ladies and Gents,

Carolyn has asked me to post the following:

The slot time for the Spitfire display was 19.30 to 19.36 to the two first pieces of Music of the concert at Audley End. At the departure time to meet this slot from Duxford the weather on reaching the hold for the runway was beyond the legal UK VFR weather minima because of continual rain and reduced and reducing visibility. The Spitfire returned to dispersal and shut down. The News team were filming at 17.30 and again at 19.00.

In addition some people may not be aware of the damage that rain will cause to an aircraft travelling at speeds in excess of 250 knots.

The Grace Spitfire is a family operation and we want this Spitfire to continue for generations to come and it is our intention to ensure this will happen.

Carolyn Grace

The Grace Spitfire

Thats a great shame, as her display at Hatfield House was lurverly.

DS

[QUOTE=avion ancien;1280600]I wonder how many people go to an air display and then complain that the band didn’t turn up. QUOTE]

I tend to consider it a bonus 😉

I wonder how many people go to an air display and then complain that the band didn’t turn up. I usually go to concerts to listen to the music and to air displays to watch the aircraft!

Slightly ironic as there was a piece on Spitfires this morning on BBC news, also featuring Carolyn Grace,and the voice over said that she was off to display at an outside concert….

Obviously I do not know what actually happened in your case…..however, this is my personal general view on flying…

Although you might have been disappointed, please dont be too quick to criticise. Flying is a very personal thing. One person’s weather may be more suitable than others. All flying is like a chain being made it includes many links (aircraft serviceability, weather, pilot happiness, ability, confidence). Weather is very much linked to pilot comfort levels.

Last week my brother (a new pilot) made an excellent decision to turn round his Luscombe and land where he started because he was not happy to pick his way through scud. Other pilots probably would have pressed on, but was not comfortable.

It could have been less nice where the pilot was setting off from (than the other aircraft).

I concur that a Spit is a highlight!