I’ve just had some fun browsing back through this thread which seems to seems to have become a little ‘lost’. So I thought I’d unearth it and cheat a little….
Here’s a panel I have ( fronted by yet another of those Corgi Lightnings – OK,OK : but I can’t afford a real one ! 😮 )
And here’s one in real life – on Lightning XS458…..
And my obvious question is – what is this duct for ? :confused:
( Note : I can’t tell you if your answer is right or not ! 😉 )
Firstly, to keithnewsome, thanks for the welcome….
I’m afraid that I just ‘dropped in’ while on a business trip – Binbrook is 150 miles from here. The Q shed is on private farmland and it’s never easy in such circumstances to find out which farm ! However, there were a couple of farm employess working there and when I asked if it was OK to take some pics, they were quite obliging – as always, I was careful not to take my car onto the property ( it was a long walk ! ) and didn’t enter any of the buildings. I notice that a couple of members of this Forum live close by – maybe they can help ? Having visited many airfields over the years, I well know how vulnerable such relics are ; literally, here one day and the next – at someone’s whim – vanished without trace.
And secondly – many thanks to 320psi for posting those truly wonderful pics. I stood there yesterday thinking ‘I wonder what it looked like when….?’ and this morning there’s the answer ! Great stuff…..
As there’s so much ‘QRA’ interest, thought I’d post a couple of pics of the less-glamourous building next door ( I’m guessing it’s a fuel pump house ? :confused:) – it certainly has quite a blast wall. Oh – and another shot of that Lightning before it flew back into its’ box 😉
Of course, there was a 1/1 scale Lightning in residence – XR724….
But maybe she looked a little better from a distance…..
These are just a few odd snapshots but they were literally taken today in superb weather…..
It was very warm and all that could be heard were skylarks and someone mowing grass in the distance.
Being a sad old ***, I couldn’t resist taking this one….
Sorry about that ! 😮
Having ‘lurked’ at these forums for a long time, this is my first posting here…..and hopefully it’s in the name of a ‘good cause’.
I went along to see XS458’s taxy-runs at Cranfield last Saturday and had what will probably be one of my most enjoyable and interesting aviation ‘days out’ of 2009. What a fantastic aircraft XS458 is, and a real monument to the enthusiasm and sheer hard work of Russell and his team.
The opportunity to get up very close to the action is something to be savoured – I can’t match the superb pics already posted in this thread, so here are a couple of snaps which I hope give a flavour of the day…
I wasn’t one of the lucky people going along for the ride – but for me the highlight of the day was at the very end ; an opportunity to sit in the cockpit while former Lightning pilot Dennis Brooks patiently answered all the questions I could think of ( which he did with great charm and courtesy, even though he must have heard them a thousand times before…)
…and a good memory to take away….
I’d never met Russell or any of the XS458 team before, but I was immediately made to feel at home. A day out with true aviation enthusiasts, a real live Lightning, even a great lunch laid on at a nearby pub ( ‘corporate sponsors of XS458’ ) – what more could you want ?
Such experiences are rare – go on, treat yourself ! 🙂
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