John Eacott Visits the DARK SIDE

[Ned-Air2Air]

Yes John has gone over to the Dark Side, well for at least 30 minutes :E

Caught up with John and his lovely wife at Duxford today where he swapped cyclic and collective for a Spitfire and Rolls Royce Merlin. Here are a few pics from his little visit to the other side :)

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8899.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8908.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8920.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8922.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8925.jpg

[Ned-Air2Air]

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8928.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8945.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8947.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8968.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8975.jpg

[Overdrive]

Excellent! Look forward to hearing all about it :)

[Ned-Air2Air]

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8977.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8978.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8982.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8983.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8985.jpg

[Ned-Air2Air]

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8992.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A8996.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A9002.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g100/KiwiNed/Eacott/1L1A9008.jpg

[RVDT]

Ray Bans, BIG Watch.....................must be a pilot then! :ouch: Fetching my coat.

[IntheTin]

Great Pictures as always Ned. I always wanted to go up in a Spitfire after watching this clip.
Also, just in case, while I'm in the UK this summer and wanted to visit the Dark Side also, where do I go......

YouTube - Spitfire low level (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Lav2IOsjE)

[ReverseFlight]

John looks even cooler in the Spitfire than landing his BK on PHS's front lawn !

[Droopy]

Caption for 6th pic from top ".....I won't be needin' no feckin map - catch!"

[Rich Lee]

Is it possible to book a flight in the Spitfire?

[CYHeli]

Good stuff JE.
Enjoy your retirement...:D
Col.

[topendtorque]

Noticed the Ray Bans and the three time zone Dick Tracy Special, but was most interested to see that the gent in the front got to suck on O2 while the GIB got to hold his breath. Real? Half your luck.

[John Eacott]

Ned,

Thanks for the photos, they have brought great memories of a great day :ok:

The Spitfire is a full dual control machine, so it was a flight made even better by getting to actually drive the legend, including wingovers, rolls and loops. Light on pitch, but heavy on roll, it was fine to fly, but I admit to needing a bit more currency on aerobatics ;)

The pilot was an ex RAF Chinook/Wessex driver, Dave "Rats" Ratcliffe, who seemed to enjoy the trip as much as me. He used the O2 mask just for noise attenuation, it's like sitting inside a Fergie tractor engine half the time: the battery in my ANR gave up half way through the flight, which gave a good excuse for some heading errors :p

A couple more photos:


http://gallery.me.com/johneacott/100551/DSCN3543/web.jpg

http://gallery.me.com/johneacott/100551/DSCN3538/web.jpg

http://gallery.me.com/johneacott/100551/DSCN3549/web.jpg

http://gallery.me.com/johneacott/100551/DSCN3550/web.jpg

http://gallery.me.com/johneacott/100551/DSCN3554/web.jpg

http://gallery.me.com/johneacott/100551/DSCN3561/web.jpg

[Ascend Charlie]

Does the needle on that Knot-o-Meter go round the dial TWICE?

Interesting setup.

[Te_Kahu]

Ascend Charlie. I think the small letters read: "Tens of MPH"

[Um... lifting...]

AC-
I do believe you are correct... two laps around the dial or thereabouts. As I read it, he's doing either about 200 or a bit over 460. Since the wings appear to be over at about 60 degrees and the thing's not falling out of the sky with minimal sideslip, my money's on 200.
G's should be at 2 if it's a steady turn, but perhaps he's somewhere in the middle of a wingover or some such. Either way, looks like good fun!:ok:

[Sailor Vee]

my money's on 200.Otherwise he's bust his VNE, according to the decal on top right of panel! :ouch:

[John Eacott]

AC,

Yes, the needle goes round and around, but I didn't spend much time looking inside: just the 280mph entry speed for the rolls, and then look back out and try not to pull back stick when upside down, half way round the aileron roll ;)

UL, 4G on pull out from the loop, and about 2G for the rest.

Link to the Aircraft Restoration Company (http://www.arc-duxford.co.uk/spitTix.htm) and the T9 history :)