Newmarket wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 12:43 pm
Gandalf wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 11:58 am
Top five air displays featured these aircraft.
(All these air displays were from my youth, so they were doing things that would not be allowed now).
1. English Electric Lightning
2. Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
3. BAC Concorde
4. Hawker Siddeley Harrier
5. Avro Vulcan
We’re any of the pilots of the BAME persuasion ?
If not it’s a fucking disgrace and just goes to show what a bunch of Neanderthals we really were.
Until last summer of course .
Just curious , cos I used to enjoy a bit of Biggin Hill myself as a child , what were they doing ?
1. English Electric Lightning
One of my hobbies is flying radio controlled model aircraft. Me, my brother and my dad all do it. Back in the late 70's there was an airshow at Biggin Hill that featured model aircraft in the morning (my dad being one of the pilots), and full size aircraft in the afternoon.
Because we were on the flightline in the morning we were allowed to stay there in the afternoon. (Unthinkable that that would be allowed now!).
Of course we saw many aircraft that afternoon but it was the English Electric Lightning that really sticks in my memory.
We were sat about two thirds of the way along the runway. The Lightning started its take-off at the far end. Before it reached us it had already folded its undercarriage up, but had gained virtually no height at all. Then, as it got right in front of us it just pulled straight up and went vertical!
But prior to the airshow the grass next to the runway had been cut. So as the Lightning went vertical it created this massive green cloud and we couldn't see a thing. We could only hear, and feel, the jet engines of that plane. I guess I was 10 or 12 at the time. Awesome experience!
2. Lockheed XF-104 Starfighter
Also at Biggin Hill but a different year. The commentator told the public to look over their left should because two Starfighters would be approaching. These Starfighters were not part of the planned show, they were en route somewhere else. But they got permission to do a fly-by over Biggin Hill.
We saw them as two specks in the distance and watched them as they were approaching. As they got to us they flew diagonally across the runway in complete silence. And then, as they got ever the other side of the runway, BOOOOM!! They were flying supersonic!
In the crowd there was a mixture of screams, tears and laughter, and this feeling if disbelief from everyone!
They did one more circuit, and then they were gone!
3. BAC Concorde
This was at Farnborough. There was really low cloud cover that day which prevented some planes from flying and limited what others could do. Concorde flew from another airfield somewhere, did a couple fly-by's including a touch-and-go with its main undercarriage.
But the most memorable bit was at the end of the display. It pulled up and flew up through the low cloud cover. And as it went through the cloud the wing vortices created a whirling hole in the cloud, and the sunlight from above came through that hole. It almost didn't look real, like a scene from an old biblical movie. Slowly the hole shrank in size until the beam of sunlight disappeared.
Almost a religious experience, that one!
4. Hawker Siddeley Harrier
Again at Farnborough but a different year. There was a display featuring eight Harriers.
Mainly they were doing formation hovering, much like a helicopter display team, in two groups of four. But for the grand finale they lined up seven of the Harriers hovering along the front of the crowd, facing us, and then the eighth Harrier flew behind them. And as the eighth Harrier passed each of the seven, those Harriers would bow to the audience.
As you can imagine, the sound of seven Harriers hovering was deafening! But it was spectacular.
5. Avro Vulcan
Not a particular airshow. I saw the Vulcan fly at numerous airshows and it was always a highlight for me. Particular the take off. The pilot would pull the nose up almost vertical, before pushing it down again. Four Rolls Royce Olympus engines produced a sound you could feel in your chest.
And the way the pilots could throw the plane around was amazing for such a big aircraft.
I did see the Vulcan fly again some years later, but the pilots were no longer pushing it to its limits. Whether that was because it was such an old airframe, or because of modern health & safety regulation I don't know. Maybe a bit of both.
But the memory of that plane, and the others I mentioned, will live long in the memory.
