The Passing of An Epoch.

Sad to hear of the passing of this icon of aerospace. A lovely chap of charming modesty. Apollo was the end of the first age of space exploration. Lets hope we live to see further such advances within our lifetimes.

I thought it was strange that there wasn’t a thread on the show itself, there was this one about the arrivals day, http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=118808

Great pics, and some great aircraft there that you don’t seem to see elsewhere.
Did the Procter fly?

The ‘arrivals day’ on Saturday was actually a separate VAC event. The Proctor flew in and out again on the Saturday.

All very relaxed and no commentary. Smashing. 🙂

That Man Flemming….

Dieppe was many things, but as time goes on, more and more interesting information leaches-out about the background to the operation. It’s often said that without Dieppe, there could have been no Normandy. A lot was learnt, probably about what not to do. Was it really worth the terrible losses…? I’m not sure that history has really decided yet. Was it a trial run, probably partly, but the real underlying reasons are probably all Intelligence-related.
The connection mentioned with Ian Flemming and his unit has come-up in this forum before. The documentary on Yesterday underlines just how involved Flemming was. He had early knowledge of Ultra and ran his own highly specialised units often operating under the cover of another unit.
There is still a lot more to come out for sure, but it must have been important to sacrifice around three thousand men dead and captured…..

Great News.

Great news if it happens, – it’s been years since I saw this a/c fly….:) Lets hope that the weather-gods are kind….!

The Road to Damascus.

I see this issue has, as expected, continued to rumble on. Opinions have been expressed, and yes, it must be true, everyone is ‘free to have an opinion’. Equally, some of those opinions will be wrong. They may even be complete and utter tripe…
As to the original question – well, at least THAT IS something most will agree on. A ‘Data-plate Special’ is a Spitfire (Or replace that with any type of a/c you wish..) that consists of mainly – or even wholly, replacement parts. Notice that I say ‘replacement’ parts. These may be new manufacture or have been transferred from other a/c. The point is that the parts, whatever their origin – conform to drawing and spec’. This is a fact, not an opinion.

So, lets firstly put this bogie to bed. This a/c is a Spitfire (Or whatever.). Such an a/c is categorically NOT a ‘replica’. It conforms in every respect. It has to, to be airworthy as that particular ‘type’. (Give or take some very minor exceptions.) The Airworthiness Authorities also recognize this explicitly. Fact.
During the war, many other firms built other makers a/c. I have pointed this out before as have others. It’s a fact. Many parts manufacturers also contracted-out production – instruments are a good example. To describe such an a/c as a ‘replica’ is not just ignorant and insulting (Which it is.), it’s plain idiotic. Use the word ‘replica’ for plastic gate-guards and such like. We are talking about real-world aviation here, – not plastic kits or mock-ups, or mock-ups of bits of a/c.

Lets put another bogie to bed. ‘Percentages’ (Groans…..)This is, as a certain man said ‘all balls’. There IS no ‘correct’ percentage’. Got it..? Non. Nada. Nicht. Zippo.
Out in the real world, away from the domain of the internet ‘experts’ there are, – as others have alluded to – , people whose opinions matter. Really they do. Included in this group are others, who even though not directly involved, clearly understand the issues, as many posts in this and other threads may attest. Lets call them ‘Group A’.
Equally, there are people whose opinions don’t matter and who seem completely and utterly impervious to the facts. Now, this factual reality may offend some of the anoraks who endlessly trot-out complete balderdash, but there it is. Lets call these folks ‘Group B’. Someone on TV said, a couple of days ago, that ‘David Iycke believes that the royal Family is a group of lizard-like aliens dressed-up in skin-suits, out to take-over the world’. Many folks have given their lives so that individuals such as Iycke can peddle their gibberish, so I may laugh too, but I’ll still defend their right to talk gibberish. That will not, however, render such ravings as either factual or correct…!!!
Now if the latter group wish to peddle their nonsense and fantasies, fine. Just don’t expect reality and facts, in the shape of ‘Group A’, to stand by and let their gibberish to pass unchallenged. As we’ve seen in the past, they are blind to reality and will, like the boils on an adenoidal teenagers neck, continue to erupt.

As others have said, even if you found a hangar-full of Spitfires (I use this example, as Group A are usually preternaturally obsessed with this a/c, and it may be the only example which works for them…!) then they would still need to be taken-apart and rebuilt to fly. In reality, most ‘finds’ are just shredded, or corroded, or very badly damaged rubbish. Equally, these a/c when rebuilt, usually contain a remarkable number of genuine original parts and assemblies.

There is this constant, ludicrous, suggestion, on the part of ‘Group B’, that the owners and rebuilders of historic a/c are embarked upon some sort of campaign of deception. I think that this is in part driven by their frustration in being outside the loop. Stan Smith alluded to this directly. They aren’t informed and they take this as some sort of insult, and feel that they are being deceived. This is of course arrant nonsense. Just because I don’t tell you what’s in my fridge doesn’t mean that I’m trying to decieve you…! I just have no need or obligation to tell you..! The builders, maintainers and operators know exactly what’s going on – and WHY. So do the CAA. ‘Group B’ also seem to presume that prospective purchasers are myopic and uninformed as they are. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that, as far as I’m aware, no purchaser has raised any complaint of deception. They are, by definition, a very astute and informed minority. They fully understand the technical and practical limitations within which these old a/c are restored, maintained and operated.

A pal of mine has a vintage car. I ride in it, – we jolly off to the boozer collecting flies in our teeth. It’s a very original 1934 model. It’s rusty and clapped. The brakes are awful, the steering like a wagon with the wheel adrift, it’s gutless and blows-out smoke and oil. Oh, and it’s about as reliable as an English summer. He loves it, and it’s fully road legal. To operate a vintage a/c is in no way comparable. Fact. Historic a/c are old designs, – maintained and operated with as much original material and parts as practicable. The requirements in NO WAY compare with an old car etc. Is that too complicated to understand..???????

I have a suggestion for ‘Group B’;- Do everyone a favour, – just presume every historic a/c out there is what you would term a ‘replica’. Really. Just ignore all information as to the history of ANY historic a/c. That way, you will NEVER be disappointed…… it’s a win-win for you guys…! In time, as the truth slowly permeates your baseball caps, you may even come to appreciate the years of effort and toil that has gone into such a/c. The road to Damascus as it were… Bliss.

To crudely paraphrase JFK;- ‘ Ask not the age of the part, ask only that it is correct’. In this context, that is all that really matters. Amen.
🙂

One Classic…and One Mystery…

The sequences of the Mossies flying up those Scottish glens at low level in ‘633 Squadron’ is just spine tingling, even if the models in the rest of he film were naff.

I’m also reminded of a film I saw decades ago…..The actor (David Jensen..?) who played the Fugitive in the TV series appears in a P40 on the ground, and there is then a terrific low-level helicopter chase with a Hughes 500. I think the actor who used to play ‘Trampus’ in a TV series might also have been in it. I’m jiggered if I can remember the title, but towards the end, the ‘500 flies right down the middle of a multi-storey car-park. Many other great shots…

Can anyone help me out on the title..?

Yes, they were.

Annies did et everywhere. They seem to have been pretty tame too, unless one flew them into the terrain. They were also used as an air-taxi fir ferry pilots, both service and ATA, they they kept turning-up all over. I think the ATA ran them right down as far as Egypt before they were shut down.

A pal of mine flew most of the RAF’s multies. He flew the Oxbox on some of the early Beam-Approach training in the blackout. He said that it wasn’t really suitable for this and was downright nasty to land it blind – with the set-up they then had. Rather him than me, is all that I can say…!:p

Flying in the Great War.

Without a doubt, the best book that I have ever read about flying in the Great War, was one called ‘Winged Victory’, by V.M.Yeats. It’s touted as fiction, but it’s a very, very thinly disguised autobiography from a man who lived through that awful carnage where so many perished soon after they arrived at the front. He knew first-hand from bitter experience, just how savage were it’s effects upon what were often nothing more than school-leavers.

Fate, in a cruel twist, decreed that Yeats would die with millions of others in the great Influenza epidemic just after the end of the Great War. In fact, few realise that it was so bad that it killed more people than the war itself…..

If you have any serious interest in what the experience was really like for the pilots, it’s essential reading. I was the same age as the pilots in the book when I first read it, and it really made me stop and think.

Cheery it is not, but it will take you closer to the reality than is comfortable.