Jets

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:34 pm

Watched this on BBC4 last night and enjoyed it so much I thought it worth a mention. Here is the I player link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... y_Marvels/

Loved seeing the footage of the old V-Bombers and the lightening. I can't imaging how it must have felt seeing the Vulcan fly back in the mid 50's.

YouTube · Post by **Paul** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:47 pm

+1

I saw it as well and was entertained and impressed by it. Part 2 next week on commercial jet liners.

Cheers,

Paul

ned1 · Post by **ned1** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:53 pm

Just Watched it using your link, would have missed it otherwise.

thanks

gus · Post by **gus** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:56 pm

English electric lightnings
Just awesome.
Gus

Al · Post by Al » Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:09 pm

Totally agree Gus, to watch one go vertical immediately after wheels up is amazing, even more so at night, never worked on them myself but people who have all echoed the comments of the guy on the programme, We had a Vulcan for my passing out parade at Swinderby, we saw it take off from Waddington which was 5 miles away behind the guests so they could not see it coming until it was overhead, again an amazing sight(and sound) at low level.

Al.

dave1100s · Post by **dave1100s** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:15 pm

ned1 wrote:Just Watched it using your link, would have missed it otherwise.

thanks

Ditto! Thanks for posting mate, great viewing

Sat here watching it on the laptop with headphones in....far better than watching the usual fat families / embarrassing bodies etc the wife insists on watching!

Daveg2812 · Post by **Daveg2812** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:33 pm

The last remaining flying Vulcan is based at Robin Hood airport, the former RAF Finningly, and less than a mile as the crow flies from where I live. You can often hear it taxi around as they do checks on it. It has a sound completely unlike all the commercial and private jets that fly out of there. Often, when it's been out, it will fly low over the surrounding area before landing, as it did last Sunday afternoon. It really is a site to see and a noise to hear.
Think I'll give the programme a viewing.

boxerscott · Post by **boxerscott** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:22 pm

We bought tickets for the last day of Festival of speed at Goodwood, The Vulcan was one of the headline acts for the day, was really looking foward to another serious bout of tinitus but sadly ( or so it seemed at first) it was replaced by euro fighter (Typhoon)

Utterly jaw dropping stuff.[/url]

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:07 am

They mentioned a 'plane called a 'Follom Meek'

. I googled it but no result.

There were also a few inaccuracies. I think they claimed (for instance) that the Canberra was the first jet bomber. I quote wikipedia:- "The Arado Ar 234 was the world's first operational jet-powered bomber, built by the German Arado company in the closing stages of World War II. Produced in very limited numbers, it was used almost entirely in the reconnaissance role, but in its few uses as a bomber it proved to be nearly impossible to intercept. It was the last Luftwaffe aircraft to fly over England during the war, in April 1945."

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:26 am

gus wrote:English electric lightnings
Just awesome.
Gus

I used to know a bloke that was an instructor at the Empire Flying School who wrote the manual 'Inverted Spin Recovery (English Electric P1)'.

He reconed they were only good for 8½ mins endurance on full afterburn tho aparently.

oyster · Post by **oyster** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:06 am

I was at small school when the Lightening was doing air trials over north London. It was anticipated, I remember we knew it was coming, it broke the sound barrier above us. It may have been flying out of Hendon at that time? I also remember householders sending invoices to the air ministry for broken window glass caused by the shock waves.

brookes745 · Post by **brookes745** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:31 am

el-nicko wrote:They mentioned a 'plane called a 'Follom Meek' "

They briefly showed a Folland Gnat, a small anhedral wing jet used by the RAF in the trainer role before the Hawk, also preceeded the Hawk in the Red Arrows.

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:29 pm

brookes745 wrote:
el-nicko wrote:They mentioned a 'plane called a 'Follom Meek' "
They briefly showed a Folland Gnat, a small anhedral wing jet used by the RAF in the trainer role before the Hawk, also preceeded the Hawk in the Red Arrows.

I had the sub-titles on as well and the commentator definitly said 'Follom Meek'. Apparently he was a well-respected and knowledgable bloke so I took it at face value. However, I 'googled' it with no result.

Iwonder if it was a 'red herring' it 'cos actualy it did look a bit like a 'Gnat',

Daveg2812 · Post by **Daveg2812** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:01 pm

I'd always thought that the 'Gnat' was a Hawker Siddeley aircraft

Merecat · Post by **Merecat** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:46 pm

Daveg2812 wrote:I'd always thought that the 'Gnat' was a Hawker Siddeley aircraft

Folland Aircraft were swallowed up by Hawker Siddeley in the early 60s, but the AFAIK the Gnat was always known as the Folland Gnat.

Mick