Of course, Sidcup is only about 7 – 8 miles in a rough line from runway 03/21 at Biggin Hill.

Are you sure it was the seventies?

I recall similar flights in the early fifties when I lived at Welling and then Blackfen, both slightly to the north of Sidcup. If I remember correctly they were mostly Meteors back then. I don’t know about livery though. They would circle for hours or so it seemed, and on most days.

I don’t recall much jet activity an the later periods though as the airliners had pretty much bagged all the airspace by then and Biggin and Kenley had long ceased being used by RAF jets.

Probably about when I became hooked on aviation.

Rod
(Showing his age)

No, not agricultural. Most high performance piston engines sound very lumpy at tick over. I’m hearing a thoroughbred here. That lumpy tick over and the subsequent change of note as the revs rise is all part of the “song” of a particular engine.

Am I alone in finding the sound of the different engines and engine/airframe combinations fascinating and highly evocative?

Put a Sptfire and a Hurricane and a P51 in the air together and you can tell which is which without looking. Then there is the difference between say a Merlin and a DB605 and an Allison. I do love the sound of a Spitfire doing a run and break, with that pop pop pop as the engine is throttled back.

I shouldn’t mention jets in a piston thread, but who could forget the howl of a Starfighter in the circuit, or the whistle of a Vampire, among other things.

Perhaps it’s time for a “What ‘plane” thread based on sound tracks!

Rod

Glad to help.

But no, sorry. I don’t know where you can get them online.
Maybe perhaps on that new Key.aero site someday sometime in the future. (Hint hint Key, if you’re listening).

For now you may need to find the back issues somewhere. About issues 63/64 IIRC, but I don’t have them handy right now and I am not certain so don’t quote me.

Rod