RE: Lancaster NX 611

Well atleast it’s nice to know that it will be shown at some point.I was beginning to worry that they might have shelved it.

RE: Another for Lancman

Good pic.The Mk.II Lancs had Hercules engines,which from memory were left-handed,so it appears that this pic may be reversed.

RE: Lancaster for Lancman

Nice pic!Think you might be a little out with regards to the date of the pic Neilly.I’m sure that PA474 carried her PM-M2 codes from 1990 until the change to WS-J in 94-95.Perhaps you meant 1983?? 🙂

RE: Picture of the day 22/12/01

Now THAT ladies and gents,is one damn fine beautiful piece of American flying machinery!I saw her at Biggin Hill in ’98.She was simply stunning,both on the ground and in the air.
In the evening I did the walk-through and had a good walk around her from the outside too.The smell of oil and fuel and hydraulic fluid,the oil smears on the cowling,and the sunset reflected in the aluminium skin.I had to tear myself away!
I look forward to the day when she might return…
As a side note,does anyone know if the Aviadome’s Connie will be doing any UK shows before she goes on static display?I’ve simply got to see another Connie!

RE: phred’s comment

I think it’s about time we knocked these ‘best aeroplane’ discussions firmly on the head.As Chuck Yeager would say “It’s the man (person), Not the machine”.It really doesn’t matter how good a design is if the person flying it is no good,or the tactics are poor,etc.
As an example,what about the PZL P.11?This rather antiquated machine was the only frontline fighter available in numbers to the Polish air forces.Despite the apparent obsolescance of the design,the Poles still achieved a better than 1 for 1 kill ratio.Pretty impressive for aeroplanes that were outnumbered,outgunned and outclassed.
You can always argue that they might have done better with better aeroplanes like Hurricanes,but the fact is that they didn’t have them,so any other theories are pure speculation.
I think we ought to think more about the people flying the machines than purely the machines themselves.

RE: Low Flying

Now there is one good looking aeroplane! 🙂 Personally I reckon the sleek-nosed Hercules-powered models were better lookers than the earlier ones (not to say that they were ‘ugly’ as such).They performed somewhat better aswell!

RE: Picture of the day 18/12/01

Nice one philo!You can almost smell the castor oil… 🙂

RE: TUAF Focke Wulf and Spitfire

The Turks most certainly did have Focke-Wulfs.They were in fact among some of the first 190’s produced,being A-2 models supplied in 1942.The Turks by all accounts seem to have found them most endearing as they kept them in service into the late 1940’s when the spares ran out.
The Turks also operated Hurricanes aswell as other axis designed aeroplanes,so it wasn’t uncommon to find ‘opposing’ designs sharing the same airfield.The situation was repeated in places like Romania and Finland.