RE: Picture of the day 27/11/01

Another great pic Philo.I remember this aeroplane with great fondness as at the time it was probably my favourite warbird in the Eurpean scene.I was dumbstruck when I heard about the crash.Hoof Proudfoot was indeed an excellent pilot,I remember his displays in this aircraft and others and every time he never failed to impress.
My most endearing memories of Legends ’94 and ’95 are the displays by the P38 in her ‘Califirnia Cutie’ paint sceme-particularly the low level rolls.I had always been lead to believe that the Lightning handled like a drunken Elephant,but the displays by both Hoof and Stephen Grey proved how wrong that assumption was!Legends ’96 was the first Flying Legends show that I missed since it started,and with hindsight I’m glad I was not there to witness the events.
As a side note,it appears that in this picture the aircraft is being piloted by Stephen Grey.
It would be great if perhaps one day a P38 graced the UK skies again in future,but when considering the cost of such a beast,perhaps we will never see this characteristic shape in our skies again. 🙁
My memories of this machine and her pilot will always be happy ones,but naturally tinged with sadness.

RE: Mosquito at Gardermoen?

Typically,I had a brain wave after I typed that first message!On having a second look at the picture,the Mossie appears to be on a turntable for ‘compass swinging’,as in calibrating the accuracy of the aircraft’s compass.This suggests that the machine is still in operational service,and therefore the picture would most likely have been taken in Scotland,perhaps Banff itself.
It certainly is something of a poser…

RE: Pictutre of the day 26/11/01

Another nice pic Philo!I have to say that I prefer the P40 in her present Aluetian Tigers scheme,but a P40 in any paint job is good enough for me 🙂
With regard to LF363,I think we have to remember that she wasn’t so much ‘rebuilt’ as built from scratch.Something like 80% of her present parts are replacements.But who is complaining?Not I,it’s great that they made the right decision and put her into the air again.I just wonder if they would do the same if such a thing were to happen again (God forbid)…

RE: No more heroes………

Agreed Steve.I also find it hard to put feelings into appropriate words.Perhaps words just can’t do justice.

RE: TFC Mustang

She was sent back to the states to have rectification work done to her rear fuselage and one of her wing spars.The reason it’s taking so long is because Fighter Rebuilders have had so many work commitments that she had to wait her turn for the work to be carried out.Now that she is back,she is being restored in as near to true P51B standard as possible,with retraction and locking mechanisms for the tailwheel being built from scratch for example,and much more besides.Previously she has very much been a mish-mash of parts from various models of P51.
This quest for authenticity means an awful lot of either parts hunting or scratch building from original drawings,some of which are themselves hard to come by,and this all takes time,particularly when manpower (sorry,personpower! 🙂 ) and resources are hard pressed.
I think we should be more patient as I have a feeling that it will be more than rewarded when she flies again 🙂

RE: Hendon

With regard to the point about the TSR.2 being ‘gutted’,it was actually never completed.The airframe has never come to life for so much as a ground run-the engines were yet to be installed when the programme was dropped like a hot brick.I’m lead to belive that there is still plenty of stuff inside her though,but the lack of engines would ofcourse mean a considerable weight saving.

RE: Picture of the day

Now this is an interesting one.In this day and age where superbly maintained Buccaneers,Lightnings etc are prevented from flying in the UK by the CAA,we have by contrast this American registered Super Sabre which graced our skies not so long ago.The irony for me is that from what i’ve heard,this aircraft was in diabolical condition ie,nearing the end of it’s fatigue life,leaky joints all over the shop,etc etc.Why on earth did the SuperSabre get dispensation to fly here??I seem to remember it being something to do with a government contract,but surely if it was carrying out trials work then that must be more risky than appearing at a display?
It does seem a little ironic…

RE: any fighters or bombers?

The computer generated Mustangs in the opening sequence appeared in the second episode,along with a pair of rather poorly computer generated Spit XIV’s (14’s) later in the same episode.
In a later episode,there was also a formation of fairly non descript aircraft that I think were meant to be Mosquitos,but they were in the background of the shots and so were not well defined.
As you can probably guess,i’m not really in favour of using special effects instead of the real thing,except perhaps where they can’t get hold of a real one,or to enhance formation shots.It would certainly be beneficial to us in the warbird scene if they used the real ones, not to mention the improvement you’d see on the screen.