Found this pic of Fat Albert displaying at my helicopter…..

I did crash soon after taking this photo, I should have got someone else to take the photo whilst I flew it

Kelly Johnson – Head of design at Lockheed:
Electra, P38, Constellation, U2, Starfighter, SR71 to name but a few of his babies.

Sqn Ldr Jack Jones, My Grandad’s boss at Channel Airways, he went from pleasure flying Puss moths to Europes 2nd largest Airline in less than 3 decades 🙂 …then lost it all a decade later…. 🙁

Just curious. Why, AIR INDIA, of all airlines that land at LHR?

Dunno, I guess they stick in my mind from when I worked at Budget Rent-a-car and we had a meeting room at the old site at Heathrow with dual aspect windows, one looking up the glideslope and the other across the runways.
I always remember the Air India 747s would always touch down right next to the building when using 09L
That was my favourite meeting room until a few years ago I was working on a project that was based out of Boscombe Down and room 111 overlooked the Operational Evaluation Unit’s ramp, and the runway beyond. Boys with lots of toys……. 😀

I flew with Laker twice, once to Miami in ’80 and then to LAX in ’81, we were due to fly to DFW in ’82 but then Laker went bust, so we re-booked with Braniff, (Big Orange!) and they went bust, so we flew American Airlines.

We think of these no-frills budget airlines as a new phenomenom, but most of it can be traced back to the likes of Freddie Laker, Jack Jones and others competing out of Southend and Lydd in the ’50s & ’60s with seat pitches to make you wince!

Not forgetting the likes of Dan Air and Courtline of course!

We had Boom Mikes on our Mk4 Bonedomes, with an interrupter switch clipped to the flying jacket. You could really make the pilots jump if you stuck your head out of the door with the mike switched on! :diablo:

I hated using the throat mike though, (for wet & cold conditions, as the condensation on the boom mike would freeze) it made you sound like you were under water, I couldn’t understand what I was saying let alone anyone else (nothing’s changed there then….)

Oooh I don’t know, there are plenty of PPLs flying JPs and Gnats with bang seats, although the survival rate when you don’t use them seems to be higher than when you do……

Just the fact that there is an organisation so near and accessible that can talk in the terms that TFC can, throwing around the names of the historic aircraft the way a dealer discusses his car stock, makes one salivate 😀