RE: Please help solve petty argument re Sally B

Hi Patb,
I think the landing incident you refer to was at Flying Legends in 1997.I was surprised to see a B17 bounce so well!I seem to remember one of the commentators dryly saying “‘Boing!’ said Zebedee” whilst Sally was still in mid-bounce.I don’t think I’d have been able to say anything at that moment meself,as I was sure I was witnessing a certain crash.

RE: Flug Werke 190 in the UK

Cheers Tom,it’s good news if you ask me!Who is this ‘little bird’?I don’t mean to doubt your word Tom,but when you’ve heard as many aviation rumours as I have you end up being a bit of a sceptic!

RE: Airshow Irritations!

The Kamov Ka50 Warewolf attack helicopter has an ejector seat.The contra-rotating rotor blades are attached to the hub by explosive bolts,whcih are automatically detonated when the pilot pulls the eject handle.I think the system is deactivated for public displays as there’s a chance that a departing blade could end up in the spectators.
Ofcourse James Bond could use the seat without blowing the blades off-he could just time it perfectly and pass between the rotating blades.Now THAT would be a neat Bond trick! 😉

RE: What’s the gem for Flying Ledgends then?

And there was me thinking I was the only person looking forward to Legends already!I’d personaly love to see the Shackleton at Legends as I’ve never actually seen one fly,despite going to a number of shows where one was scheduled to appear.I remember when the South African Shack came to grief in the sahara desert a few years back and couldn’t make it-I was well gutted.Perhaps WL790 could fly as a two-ship with the BBMF Lanc??Then perhaps pigs might fly!Ah well,we can only hope…
Did someone say they didn’t care for Connies???Whoever it was ought to be shot!I reckon the Connie is probably the best thing to join the European warbird scene for a very long time,and the Aviodome and everyone else involved in the project deserve a huge amount of admiration.Original pics of Connies in KLM livery look superb aswell,so if they’re anything to go by,I reckon the Dutch Connie will be the best looker on the planet.Bring on the Connie! 🙂
Someone also said something about putting Sally B out on the flightline for the flighline walk etc.I agree this would be a nice idea for photographers,but she needs to be on the public side of the fence for most of the day because she needs the revenue from the folks who take the interior tour.She’s cash strapped enough as it is, so it’s worthwhile to get as many folks through her in a day as possible.
IMHO it would be great to have some of IWM’s static exhibits brought outside on display days.I don’t mean that they should drag them all the way out to the flightline and park them next to the airworthy examples (although that would be nice),I was just thinking it would be good to bring things like the Javelin,Lightning,SeaVixen etc out so as to make them more accessable.In all my visits to Duxford,I’ve never managed to have a decent look at the Javelin because it’s always been tucked away in a corner somewhere,and the same goes for one or two others.

RE: Gonna miss the duxford get-together

Howdy folks,
I’m sorry to say I’ll have to miss out on tomorrow’s little gathering aswell. 🙁 Sorry about the lateness of the announcement but I couldn’t be sure until now.
Have fun folks,and here’s to the next get-together!

RE: Gonna miss the duxford get-together

The ‘door’ on the Hurri was on the right hand side,but in truth it wasn’t a door at all.It was a detachable panel which could be jettisoned in an emergency,making it easier to bail out or scramble out of in the event of a prang,particularly if the machine overturned.
I’ve posted a couple of pics to illustrate the point.The machine under restoration is the one now in the NASM in Washington DC.The portrait is of the left hand side of a 501Sqn Hurricane in the Battle of Britain.No door!
Hope this helps 🙂
Attachments:

RE: Time For A Lockheed Electra Junior ?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 03-01-03 AT 11:57 PM (GMT)]Agreed again there David,photo recce doesn’t get anything like the recognition it deserves.I think the asking price for the Electra was around the £200,000 mark,but it was a while back,perhaps over a year ago,so I’ll have to do a bit of digging through back-issues to find out for sure.
Whilst we’re on the subject of valuable and significant recce machines,I can’t help feeling that it was almost criminal to let the PR.XI Spit go to the States.I know,the States is not a black hole and warbirds can come back accross the pond etc etc,but I still feel it belongs over here,especially since the tragic loss of the only other airworthy PR.XI at Rouen.The work the Recce Spitfire blokes did was both crucial to the allied effort and extremely dangerous,and shouldn’t go unappreciated.
As an aside,does anyone know precisely when the PR.XIX first went into action?The Rolls Royce Spit,PS853,is adorned with D-Day stripes,which I think were applied while she was still with BBMF.I always thought the mark’s service debut was after the time of D-Day,so should a XIX really have them?

RE: Land World Speed Record

There is a pretty ambitious project on the go at the moment which uses the wingless fuselage from a Lockheed Starfighter!Go to:
http://www.landspeed.com.
So far as I can tell,they haven’t found anyone to drive it yet-I’m not surprised!It looks like it’s had it’s wings hacked off and then been stuck on a trolley.Whichever nut decides to drive the thing,good luck to ’em!
The original Thrust SSC is now in the Science Museum in London,and won’t be doing any more runs.The sonic shockwaves actually distorted the machine’s structure,particularly the undertray,and it’s been deemed that it would be unsafe to run the beast up towards record speeds again.
Good luck to anyone thinking about going any faster,I can’t see how they would manage to stop the thing from taking off!