Pete TrumanMaybe they should have named the duty free at Belfast in George Best’s honour?
Now, now, don’t be cruel, on the other hand perhaps they could have named the obligatory CD shop at the airport after Lennon, though I doubt whether the poor old lad ever saw a CD.
Incidentally, I rate GB as the greatest footballer I ever saw and I saw him a few times and he never failed to deliver the goods, apart from at the end. I always thought that if he hadn’t had to play for such a poor international team, and they were, lets face it, no offence meant, he would have eclipsed Pele on the international stage.
Well, c’mon, football’s got to creep in somewhere at the moment.
Pete TrumanEast Midlands Airport was opened over 40 years ago on the site of the Castle Donnington airfield and even today people up there refer to EM as Castle Donnington, certainly my old man used to and so does my brother.
Naming Finningley or Doncaster as it should be, after Robin Hood is hilarious, even though it is close to the Notts border, but then you Yorkies have always tried to hijack OUR Robin Hood, note Kirklees Priory.
I haven’t a problem with naming Eastleigh after R J Mitchell, but how many members of Joe Public know who he was, my missus is quite good on a/c recognition, she has to, living with me, but I bet when she comes home in a minute and I ask her, she won’t know who he was, probably heard of the name but thats all and I’m not having a go.
If she does know, I’ll cook the tea, and it’s her turn tonight and I’ll let you know.
Exiled Merry Man.
Pete TrumanThe weather for our village fete yesterday was appalling, pity, there was a bloke selling some really good second hand books for naff all, I bought a brand new copy of Hutchinsons WW2 Battle plans for £2 and Tornado Down for 20p, then the rain came and he didn’t have any cover. Before I could get through them all he gave up and chucked the whole lot into his van and drove off. The whole place turned into a mudbath, I don’t know what it was like at Southend.
A P-51 flew over out and back and, good for him, did a course correction to go over the village green, it was interesting to note how many people thought it was a Spitfire, even with me shouting the usual about Cadillac of the skies and cordite in my mouth etc, etc, they didn’t understand, I thought I was going to be carted off by men in white coats.
Ah well, ended up in front of our dining room picture window watching for flybys which never happened, supping wine with madams old man, some friends and watching people avoiding the lightning by hiding in the phone box, as my old man would have said, ‘Typical working man’s wet Bank Holiday weekend’.
Pete TrumanI’ve been trying to ID the aircraft parked outside, Wellingtons, Oxfords or Ansons?
Pete TrumanQuite fancy seeing ‘On the Beach’ again, haven’t seen it for years, black and white wasn’t it, remember being surprised to see Fred Astaire in such a serious role.
When I was a kid, my older brother used to pass on to me whatever he was reading at the time. First mistake was ‘War of the Worlds’, this gave me nightmares for a week.
Second mistake, reading ‘On the Beach’ during the Cuban missile crisis, when my old man was preparing to turn our bathroom into a fall out shelter, couldn’t cope with that, the 60’s weren’t as cool as they were made out to be.
Pete TrumanMustang flew south about 15:00 then returned half an hour later.
Spits returned at 17:00, obviously not been to Southend then, 2 flew low and fast following Bardfield Road and the other, which I’m sure was PR blue, came right over the back garden.
I was talking to my mother on the phone at the time and she was well impressed with the noise.
Just checked the airshow list and don’t know where they could have been to.
Weather down here is looking pretty grey, could be bleak for airshow and village fete, the parking cones are out already, wishfull thinking at this time of the morning, I wonder what time the AAC will attempt to land on the village green, should be fun.
Pete TrumanAt about 10:30, I heard the sound of Merlins and rushed outside to see what I took to be 2 Spitfires flying quite low and fast over the village heading south, so low in fact that they were obscured by my trees and I couldn’t get a clear view.
Meanwhile at the same time, my missus was driving up the track from her stables and heard a deafening racket, she stopped because she thought her exhaust had fallen off, then she ducked as another Spitty flew so low and fast over the top of her that she said it blacked out the sky, he’d obviously spotted the gliders from Wethersfield and was flying underneath them, probably just broke formation from the other 2, she said it was heading for Braintree.
It’s great living here, there’s some nice bikes about today as well, would suit Andy in Beds.
Pete TrumanIsn’t OO something to do with WallerOOns, if you watch the current TV adverts, and I try to avoid them, OO has something to do with Typhoo tea.
Nice one Mr Langham, when I first started the thread I originally thought it may be a Dragonfly and described it as such, however I thought that those that know more than me, which is most Forumites, would take the p###, so I opted for the easy option.
On another note, the weather down here is appalling, and unlikely to improve for a few days, it doesn’t look good for the Southend Airshow tomorrow and monday, shame as it’s our village fete on monday and we always get flybys from a/c returning from the show, Jags and BBMF last year, both were pretty awesome, the Jags nearly took off the church tower and I could feel the force from the Lanc as it roared over my back garden.
Pete TrumanWasn’t the cockpit/nose section of this Lincoln grafted on from a Lancaster and wasn’t it aquired for spares for Charles Church’s ill fated Strathallan Lancaster project.
If so, was it destroyed in the hangar roof collapse, what happened to it and incidentally, what happened to the remains of the Lancaster.
OK I’ll do a search, just being lazy.
Have searched and come up with some answers, but they date back 3 years, whats the current situation with this pile of bits that are obviously scattered between here and Florida.
Pete TrumanHow about something left lying about from the ‘Star Wars’ set, could be Jabba the Hutts stand in double.
Pete TrumanHow about a Havoc, where’s this picture from.
Pete TrumanThat reggo is now on a Eurocopter.
Dunno any more than that. They’d have been common when the film was made, but rare now (There’s a few around).
Never seen the film, liked the book. Any good?
Well I’ve seen the film a few times and I think it’s pretty good, a bit slushy, but Peter Finch is cool as usual, and good for the time, the Japanese aren’t entirely dealt with as the b###### we are led to believe.The Radio Times only gave it 3 stars, question, why are Oz civil aircraft coded VH and not A?
Pete TrumanBiggin ’69- I remember my grandfather telling me about it.
Dude, you must be like, really old!
If you think Robbies so old, perhaps your great great grandfather told you about my first airshow at Newton in 1956!
I would desperately have liked to have got ‘Stoned in Hyde Park’ in 1969, however I was working at Butlins, Minehead at the time and couldn’t make it, although some people dissapeared for a few days to see Bob Dylan at the IOW Festival.
Best airshows were definately early 60’s, Hucknall, Syerston, Cottesmore and Waddington were my local venues.
Highlights were the 3 minute warning Vulcan scrambles that were pretty awesome, the scenarios used to be like the BoB with the Vulcan aircrews lounging around in deckchairs in front of the crowdline then sprinting for their a/c when a flare was fired off from the tower. Lets see, what else, good variety of US aircraft including B-47’s and Douglas Destroyers, and they used to do some interesting mixed formations in those days. 111 Squadron with their Hunters performing in all weather conditions used to be a bit hairy as crowd overflying was not an issue then. The first Lightnings were cool as no-one had seen such a fast, noisy, piece of kit as this before, and, they tended to come in low and fast from behind the crowd line.
Most of the participants in those days tended to be RAF, USAF and RCAAF, I don’t recall many other air forces taking part, but still, the variety of a/c was incredible.
Memorable moment was Douglas Bader flying into Cottesmore, parking right in front of me and being greeted by ‘Johnnie’ Johnstone, who was station commander at the time.
Another memorable moment was during the mid 70’s at the Hall when the first F-15 arrived here. We heard the communication over the PA when the pilot took off from somewhere near NY at lunchtime, then he arrived at about 17:00 over the airfield, I recall he was desperate to go to the bog and just did a flyby and landing.
Wow, Famillies Day, Alconbury 1991, how I got in, I don’t know, I phoned them up and they let me in, amazing, all the a/c had been in the Gulf War and I was invited into the cockpits of everything, even the F-111 whatever, the electronics thing.
I remember sitting in the pilots seat of a Starlifter when Ray Hannah flew in with MH434 and the whole crew abandoned the plane to watch his sensational arrival.
Best bit was lying in the tail of a KC-135 and being taught how to work the refuelling probe by a tasty US female operative.
Happy days.
Pete TrumanOne great memory I have of the Hall, was standing around having my Polish very very early in the morning, when the base commander came trotting along in his tracksuit, surrounded by his entourage, and a British policeman was making a mess up of the parking arrangements. The ensueing row was a sight to behold, it was wonderfull, the copper beat a hasty retreat.
Happy days, I should be recharging my batteries today and getting all excited about the great annual event.
Pete TrumanPresumably the ‘He111’s’ and ‘Ju 52’s’ may have been involved in ‘Police action’ as well then.
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