Found this in my old photo’s, Biggin Hill 87 according to the slide mount. Not sure of the serial though, and cannot remember the sound of it.

One from 1980 I think??? Biggin Hill RNHF with 4 at the show

Andrewman

The Hornet use to regularly out-fly all the jets during exercises flown during the late 40’s early 50’s. They would fly from Germany under the radar and trash all the airfields of the UK defenders, then fly home before Fighter command could react. All rather amusing. This is an aircraft that could have been in service in 44/45 if it were not for our friends in the Ministry of Aircraft Destruction

How about a DH Hornet, we don’t even have a replica, so it must be a challenge for someone out there any takers?:D 😀 😀

Comparing aircraft accident statistics with car safety has to be apples for apples, Boeing 747 to Chrysler Voyager, A320 to Ford Mondeo. All car accidents to all revenue earning passenger flights, or perhaps our wonderful railway system.

Warbirds now let me see???????? Formula1 cars seems to fit the bill.

And oh one more point, don’t make the same mistake as politicians always make, that of assuming the public does not understand the subject. as it tends to get you into trouble as demonstrated continuously by our leaders

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight are the custodians of a part our National Heritage, it would be irresponsible of them to fly these aircraft in a manner that would shorten their life or increase the risk of flying them. Steven Grey, Ray Hanna, and others own their aircraft, they love what they do, know the risks, and can do what they like with their aircraft. We are very fortunate and privileged that they agree to entertain us with displays of these aircraft. Things will go wrong, its human nature, and what’s more and frustrating is that several lessons will have to be re-learnt over and over again.

I for one love a well flown display that gets the heart betting a little faster. I don’t mean seeing something getting close to the edge, but displays such as the Breitling Fighters are just wonderful. Long may they continue, and for those that don’t like it, please stay at home, but try and avoid spoiling our fun.

As an aside I thought that the 3 Griffon Spits display was the best display at Legions this year. It demonstrated the speed and power of the aircraft superbly, and made the heart beat faster. It had that feeling catch me if you can. Just think what it would be like if they were able to open the engines to 25lb boost and do it, oh the sound and the smell of that 150 pn fuel
😎 😎

I think the low flying clip was great, and so I suspect do many others, if not the vast majority who viewed it. Life is not without risk, and those that fly understand that there is always that elevated risk when they fly. Dare I say it but if you stand at the end of a runway with a camera and a presenter then the temptation can become too much…………………. if you catch my drift. The film crew must have understood the risk, even if they did not quite expect what they got. Lets just enjoy it.

As for the pilot, well if it is who we think, then those of you who can remember back to the early 80’s and I’m thinking May 1982 at Biggin Hill would have seen flying of a similar nature from a number of pilots.

I can recall Ray flying both MH343 and Spencer Flacks Red MKXIV, the later in conjunction with the Red Hunter that was flown to perfection by Stephan K…… (I’m not even going to attempt the spelling but the name was Polish in origin but I believe that Stephan was from New Zealand). The crowd was in aware of the standard of flying, and I have to say I never had that feeling that things did not look right.

In those dark distant days the flying was a little more exciting, and the regulations at more relaxed. As I recall Ray always took off in the spits and flew the length of the runway at very low altitude gaining speed and then pulling up in the vertically and sometimes into a loop and rolling off the top if my memory serves me correctly. This was very impressive. So the manoeuvre that he allegedly pulled in the film clip was well practised and I assume well thought out. Standards and regulations have quite rightly been improved over the years and no one would wish to turn the clock back, but I’m sure much of the regulation has been aimed at some of the lesser lights that have come to display flying with the 10 fold increase in airworthy warbirds, some being flown by pilots with out even 100th the experience of the more established display pilots.

However words such as irresponsible do great injustice to the pilots and those that spend vast sums of their own money to feed our insatiable appetite for seeing ever greater variety of old aircraft fly. So lets not pass comment on who did what unless we were there.

And I would have to say that Ray is undoubtedly the Best spitfire pilot for flying this type of manoeuvre. This is not to say that others can not fly the same way. Others still such as Squadron Leader Paul Day have to fly and display the Spitfire to advantage, and at the same time bear the responsibility of ensuring that part of the nation’s heritage is not lost by not taking any elevated risks at all. That he does not pull off the ‘exciting’ manoeuvres that Ray has been able to do does not in my eyes make him a lesser pilot, or Ray for that matter a greater Pilot. Let’s just enjoy it all
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Originally posted by warbirdUK
It’s very difficult to know who does what within aviation on here sometimes but just now & again someone who knows drops in & then back out again, smiling about the ‘so called expert enthusiast’
of course, you know who you are! 😉

I agree. I have said nothing about this accident having watched it happen and been very shocked by it. At the risk of attracting some adverse comment I do not think we should be so hard on those that are willing to comment on it as having paid our respects to the crew and their family its right and proper that considered comments are allowed to be made. I for one have felt the need to unburden my feelings amongst other enthusiasts, not being able to discuss what I experienced with my colleagues at work and refraining from posting due to some of the comments to those that have ventured an opinion or asked what happened.

I of course am not an expert or a pilot, but I have watched display flying since the mid 60’s and was always pleased to see the Seafury, Firefly and Swordfish fly together in the 80’s. I think I know when something does not look right.

I’ll finish by sharing some of my thoughts in the 60 second or so before the accident. I was watching the Firefly very closely from the eastern end of Duxford having looked forward to seeing it after such a long absence. After an impressive piece of airmanship keeping formation with the slower aircraft it broke into it’s solo routine After seeing the Firefly turn at the western end of the field I held my breath until the accident saying over and over in my head, please please don’t do that again. I can’t explain it but what happed did not surprise me but as I mentioned above it shocked me.

Is she a steeplechaser or flat racer?:confused: :confused: :confused: