4th of July!

What timing! Great pics. Cheers.

Flying Review

Another thing has come to me overnight, buying the Observers series on planes, I-Spy books and subscribing to Flying Review International. I think I still have the first issue that came through the letterbox – in 1966. Amazing feat of an F111 flying non-stop with no IFR to the Paris Airshow. Was to be a few more years before they came to UH. Recall reading about their arrival on the headlines of the newspaper I used to deliver ‘The Cron n Eck’ on my Saturday evening paper round, my first ‘proper’ job. Then building a Revell kit which was either the Navy blunt nose F111A or F111B lange nase version – or was it t’other way round?

airshows and Heathrow

This is a frustrating thing to answer. As senility creeps in I am set to pondering when I first saw a plane up close or fly over etc.

I used to make model planes as a kid, draw them and go to airshows nearby – Henlow, Cranfield, Upper Heyford etc.

My mum constantly reminds me of my indifference to a day out at Heathrow and how come I am so interested in planes now.

I didn’t actually get aloft until the early 80s with a flight in a Dragon Rapide at Sywell.

As a kid I recall seeing flights of Lightnings and Hunters over our school in Towcester, Voodoos etc from UH plus the C97 tanker towing a couple of jets over our house.

A RAF rescue Whirlwind at Wolverton Carnaval…

If anything else comes to mind I will return.

merins?

Is merins your pet name for Mustangs?

I recall highlights being the pair of P51 tailchasing… oh and the BBMF of course.

ey oop!

Hi Ollie… remember me from the WW2Aircraft.net site?

Good to see you are still plane mad.

BBC

Those sickoes at the Beeb showed the vid this lunchtime on the news. What hypocrites. Prob would not have got a mention without the graphic vid. And they show it when kids are around…

Prob be on YT imminently. Seen a crash like this before with a Sea Knight screwing up the approach to the stern of a frigate or some such. Tragic.