Steve 964Steve.
Here’s an idea.
Forget about the cost of tying up capital in warbirds, maintenance, hangarage, workforce costs, fuel, rebuilds etc etc.
Just think about insuring the TFC Warbirds.
Do you think the margin from two days of Legends earns them
Ten times the annual insurance costs?
A hundred times the annual insurance bill?
A thousand times?
I’m interested to know your perception.
Why is nobody mentioning the SIX Rapides / Dominies? A unique event at any airshow anywhere in the world.
I loved the show (Saturday)
🙂
Moggy, This is my view and is in no way Knocking Stephen Grey ,The Fighter Collection or any other warbird operator for their remarkable efforts.As for tying up capital in the aircraft which is probably the major expense,you must remember that so long as these aircraft remain airworthy then they are an asset which can be sold whether they be rebuilt or purchased in airworthy condition,Mr Grey is obviously an extremely clever business man who collects these aircraft for his pleasure ,the fact that he can show them for reward is also a reflection of his business sense ,revenue from shows obviously helps with the running costs of these aeronautical masterpieces.You should also consider the other aircraft either being restored or waiting in storage,with that in mind what do you think the future costs will be.
You don’t have to be a very clever business man to know that your profits have to be greater than you expenditure for the business to A.survive and B. expand so tell me what you see in hangar 2 and tell me how the business is going.The Rapides/Dominies were a superb display as you say unique and probably not seen for fifty years at least,i certainly enjoyed them as i did all other ‘flying legends’ in the display.
Steve
Steve 964Warbird uk
I fully appreciate your comments,i do realise that those people who wear the period clothing have their interest and maybe ‘drama queens’ was a bit harsh,
but you must realise that the stars of this show are in fact the aircraft,and it is they that the punters pay to view more closely.
Personally i would never ask a member of groundcrew ,pilot to move out of the way as i am fully aware that if these pesonnel are interrupted or distracted a mistake could be made or something important not completed,i’m also happy to have tractors and bowsers in my pics, although having personnel in period clothing and a shiny ‘new holland’ tractor or a Total bowser isn’t quite authentic !! in my experience the abuse is usually aimed at marshall’s and press photographers,i have never heard anything unpleasant aimed at ground crew or aircrew.As for the financial angle these events easily earn massive amounts of money that is obvious they wouldn’t keep doing it if not ,there is far to much work involved and pressure on people for it not to be financially viable so i disagree with your comments on charges,by the way the grandstand with seating for approx 100 people and standing for a similar amount had about 20 people in it so by my maths thats £300 raised,i think you might need to canvass the public more and not just people on here to see where i’m coming from.I don’t enjoy criticising but i am entitled to my opinion and it is similar to many from my experiences .
Steve
Steve 964Re : VR 930
Bad news i’m afraid,
Enquired about servieability of the Sea Fury at Legends yesterday whilst at the RNHF stall,
It seems that those engineers who are responsible for the Centaurus in VR 930 (is it Ricardo’s) have made some very basic mistakes during the reassembly of the engine,
apparently three of the cylinder sleeves are timed so that they are out of sequence with the firing order,(these cylinders are on the exhaust stroke when the ingnition fires,the result of this is that the engine has to come out of the aircraft and be rebuilt yet again.
The time frame for this is unknown,but the guys an the stand were not optimistic about seeing her in action this year.
If it was my aircraft i think i would be looking for someone else to over haul it,
i think the people they have been using need to have a look at their procedures in the light of their performance with this engine.
according to the older gentleman on the stall,in his experience all the moving parts have alignment marks and it is easier to overhaul than a Merlin (subject to parts obviously)although i think i’m not convinced having seen one sectioned.
Steve
Steve 964Thanks for posting some great pics,
Only need the weather to be kind and there is going to be one special weekend at Duxford.Twenty years ago i never would have even dreamed of seeing some of the aircraft that are now seen regularly,and as for those that have been made available on sort term basis,well its absolutely amazing and i think that those dedicated people who make these events happen should be praised and given the credits they really deserve.
Steve
p.s wish i could be there both days
Steve 964Accomodation
I’ve got a reservation at the travelodge at Baldock for saturday night if thats any good to any one, pm me if you are interested
steve
Steve 964Hello all
Its good to know that the Biggin video is still kicking about,i am glad to hear that it has been in good hands.You will not be supprised to learn that the video is infact a copy,i didn’t dare put the original out, not so much a case of not getting it back ,but the tape is twenty years old and has been played a lot.I lost the colour on one tape and decided to play safe and copy all my old archive video onto new tapes .Later i will transfer the originals to DVD format.
I was not slagging the forum members,ive caused enough trouble lately 😉
and i shouldn’t tar everyone with the same brush but i’ve lent stuff before and lost it.
I’ll find something else to put out to the members, see what i can find.
Steve
Steve 964G – AKDN
A friend of my fathers owned this very historic Chipmunk for many years.
While my father was learning to fly the aircraft he was learning in (Rallye Commodore) was grounded because of metal fatigue.In order to continue towards completing the PPL my father was offered the Chipmunk by the owner who was an ex R.A.F instructor who had decided that the Chipmunk would present no problems .Needless to say my father completed the PPL and flew G – AKDN regularly for about twenty years.
Obviously i jumped at every opportunity to fly in it ,later i started learning to fly it and just got to solo stage when unfortunately the owner decided to put the aircraft up for sale.Coincidentally i had just had a motorcycle accident and had decided that a driving licence would be of more benefit.
I do however have great memories and video film of the aircraft which are treasured now that the aircraft has returned to Canada.
Steve
Steve 964missing video
The Biggin Hill video that went around a few of the members included that display and an interview with Stefan. It also shows Stephen Grey with a full beard too 🙂
Stringbag you are quite correct,that was a video that i made available from my collection to whoever wanted to see it,shame it was never returned to me.Pity really ,you try and make archives available and then you don’t get them back .
Steve 964i quiet agree. they certainly make everything else out there at the moment seem much better in comparision with their music.
Adam,
Obviously you are not a Darkness fan ,to you everything else seems much better,that will be why the Darkness are travelling all around the world selling and performing their music as fast as they can ,and have picked up several awards in their short period of fame.
You are obviously in a position to criticise their music when you are a driver and spend your time posting childish messages on this forum.
Steve
p.s sort your spelling out if you want to criticise !
Steve 964Well said Willow
Don’t be so certain. While Steve964s definition of anorak is also how I see it and no offence was taken, Duxfordhawk takes another view.
Yes, I am a ‘spotter’ ie I log down aircraft serials/registrations and keep them on a database. I also take photos, I have also been actively involved in historic aircraft restoration. Yes, I like to speculate on what will/will not be present, but I’ll still be going to Legends whatever is there becuase it’s the best show in the world and I have been to every one (my first Duxford show was in 1976 and I’ve been every year since).I don’t object to the term anorak, in fact it’s become a bit of a joke, but I don’t see why writing down a few numbers (quite a lot of numbers actually) means that I should not be welcome on this forum. It is all part of how I enjoy the general interest that we all share in historic aeroplanes.
Disgruntled, Willow
Well said Willow !,
Too many members take this too seriously ,and also fail to read posts properly. READ AND UNDERSTAND before commenting !
Snapper , I never said there was anything wrong with Lowestoft, okay it is a shadow of the thriving busy seaside town/port that it used to be,and yes it is the home of The Darkness – IMHO the best thing to happen to british music for far too long!!
Steve 964
Steve 964Believe that if you will. It’ll be like the government policy on gradeI listed buildings- you are not allowed to change anything about it let alone demolish it, the government needs the space for new (unnecessary) offices down it comes
Just think back to when a new motorway (M11)was built through Cambridgeshire,carved the end off a historic and active airfield without a second thought. No chance of re directing it,remember the uproar
On the subject of XH558 i wonder how much it will cost to book it for a display slot,i’d love to see it fly but with costs of running a WW2 fighter or Sally B,and the MOD talking about disbanding the Red Arrows because of budgets and costs,i cant see to many organisers being able to afford to book it.
Hopefully i’ll be proved wrong.
Steve
Steve 964Time for me to respond –
1. I’m not in the know,i usually go to legends, the autumn airshow and Old Warden a couple of times a year, after nearly thirty years of travelling to airshows there are now very few that i feel the need to attend .
I don’t bother with the magazines any more (unless there is something of particular interest (dont think any are worth the money except ‘classic Wings down under’) i used to subscribe to Warbirds Worldwide until it folded,to be honest nothing else even remotely close to that for quality pictures and articles.
2.’ need to know’ ,just being realistic thats all,why do we all need to know when the organisers probably haven’t finalised a list anyway, they will tell us when they are ready.
3. ‘Anorak’ someone who is passionate about their interest or hobbies almost to the point of obsession, not derogatory – i’m an anorak when it comes to a certain marque of car,it doesn’t bother me if i’m called anorak.If you were offended i apologise.
4. As for ungrateful, – i just feel there should be a little more consideration shown for what we already have available for the UK shows,AND the efforts of those who work round the clock to get those magnificent machines servicable for the Legends show (wasn’t this good thirty years ago !!)
5.I don’t change in phone boxes,and i’m obviously not Stephen Grey – i’m sure he has far more style than to live in Lowestoft !!.And finally i will be at Legends on Saturday only this year -ticket arrived today :-))
Steve
Steve 964Albert
I’m not a bit suprised by your experiences when arriving from Baldock.
I can remember a time when if you wanted to leave straight after the show , you were sent left to Baldock wether you liked it or not,so you ended up with people turning left driving about half a mile then doing suicidal U turns to get into the flow towards the M11 roundabout.
I suffered this a couple of times although i used to take the first right turn a double back roud the country lanes,on one occasion i asked the policeman if i could turn right, to which he replied “I’LL F***IN book you if you don’t keep moving” charming i thought!! especially since he hadn’t yet stopped the Baldock bound traffic !!
Cambridgeshire Constabulary + IWM = No common sense at all
Steve 964
Steve 964great tailchases or displays
I seem to remember a tailchase at a legends show with Ray Hanna leading in the Iraqi Fury ,Stephen Grey following in the Bearcat,and Steve Noujaim bringing up the rear in the late Paul Morgan Sea Fury.
That was great,Hanna was really giving the Fury a workout,the commentator was loving it too judging by his commentary,got it on video somewhere.
Also remember Stephen Grey doing the joker routine in the Spitfire XIV when it was the new addition for the year,that was a special display.
Going back a few years to the Great Warbird shows at West Malling ,Stephen Grey and John Allison did a great tailchase with Grey in the Bearcat ,and Allison in Lindsay Walton’s french aeronavale Corsair,video’d that great display as well.
Some great memories,just as well we record them so we can watch or remember these great pilots and the aircraft they displayed so well,just wish i had video’d more of the frightening blighters.
Steve
Steve 964Anyone remember Paul Bonhomme doing a sixteen point hesitation roll?
I ‘m sure he did one either when he played the joker or maybe another occasion,but definately in the TFC Spitfire XIV.
I had never seen warbirds do anything other than four point rolls
(not complaining though !)
Steve 964
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