Bud Holland's Low Pass at Yakima Range.
AustralianMade
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Assuming the fin is actually in the water...
Since water has a much higher density than air and the drag encountered by moving the aircraft's fin through water is much greater than that encountered by moving it through air, I'm amazed that the vertical stab or the whole tail didn't simply part company with the rest of the aircraft!?
Me thinks it is an example of someone willing to go to any length to perform the 'greatest' flying stunt.
Me thinks it is an example of someone willing to go to any length to perform the 'greatest' flying stunt.
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Some Belgian gentleman IIRC.
Looks like telephoto foreshortening might be a contributory factor to the overall effect as the crowd members visible don't seem to be unduly perturbed.
Looks like telephoto foreshortening might be a contributory factor to the overall effect as the crowd members visible don't seem to be unduly perturbed.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
If it is the same, and the weather looks right, it was a one-off airshow at RAF Cottesmore circa 1965 when Finningley was closed.
The crowd line, IIRC, was 400 feet to the south of the main runway. At the 23 end, in the dispersal near the marshalling point were 3 nuclear armed bombers on alert.
The F104 was of the Belgian Air Force and flown by a staff officer, a major, reputedly flying for his flying hours related pay. I do not recall him flying that close to the crowd but I can attest to the height.
He flew twinkle rolls down the runway at 20 feet and did roller landings at 50 feet.
The roller involved touching down, lifting off, rolling at 50 feet, touching down and doing a second roll at 50 feet.
I am not sure which was faster. OC Ops, Wg Cdr Digman, in his staff car racing for air traffic of the mad major coming round for a second time. He was told to depart straight ahead and never to return but he did!
Don't recall what happened after that.
The crowd line, IIRC, was 400 feet to the south of the main runway. At the 23 end, in the dispersal near the marshalling point were 3 nuclear armed bombers on alert.
The F104 was of the Belgian Air Force and flown by a staff officer, a major, reputedly flying for his flying hours related pay. I do not recall him flying that close to the crowd but I can attest to the height.
He flew twinkle rolls down the runway at 20 feet and did roller landings at 50 feet.
The roller involved touching down, lifting off, rolling at 50 feet, touching down and doing a second roll at 50 feet.
I am not sure which was faster. OC Ops, Wg Cdr Digman, in his staff car racing for air traffic of the mad major coming round for a second time. He was told to depart straight ahead and never to return but he did!
Don't recall what happened after that.
Begian air force
PN His children went on to become the "Sleivers" in the early '70s.
At the practice day for the St Mawgan air day they arrived flying "up" cardiac hill towards the airfield at about 50 ft and at SHQ they rotated to the vertical in full a/b doing upward charlies as they went. HTS (and he WAS a Harry) almost cut his throat in the tangle of the office venetian blind as he tried to see WTHWH. He then burned up to the tower as the pair did opposition manouevres at about 20ft down the runway for their "practice"!
On the day itself it was funny to watch the cheapskates jumping off the roofs of their cars as one of them approached the threshold of 31 below the height of the approach lights. Happy days.
The Ancient Mariner
PS they'd hang them for it nowadays.
At the practice day for the St Mawgan air day they arrived flying "up" cardiac hill towards the airfield at about 50 ft and at SHQ they rotated to the vertical in full a/b doing upward charlies as they went. HTS (and he WAS a Harry) almost cut his throat in the tangle of the office venetian blind as he tried to see WTHWH. He then burned up to the tower as the pair did opposition manouevres at about 20ft down the runway for their "practice"!
On the day itself it was funny to watch the cheapskates jumping off the roofs of their cars as one of them approached the threshold of 31 below the height of the approach lights. Happy days.
The Ancient Mariner
PS they'd hang them for it nowadays.
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Pontius. I bow to your superior memory and withdraw the Photoshopped charge.
Slightly off, but mention of OC Ops and Displays.....
Finningley, 1976 Press Day. (The Friday before the main event). Aircraft inbound from all points of the compass. ATC pretty maxed out. Aircraft stacked everywhere. Organised chaos.
Enter the Patrouille de France with their Magisters.
'Finningley Tower, Good Moaning, Patrouille de France 10 kilometer to ze North to join"
'Patrouille, Finningley Tower, join Runway 21. QFE 1021. Cleared straight in to land, VC-10 at 8 miles finals, Victor at 12 miles finals, etc etc ' Basically, every man and his dog wanting to land.
'Finningley, Patrouiile, Request 10 mineetes display practeece'
'Patrouille, Tower, negative, straight in to land please'.
'Tower, Patrouille, roger' then various French mumbles on freq.
'Tower, Patrouille, finals'
'Patrouille, clear land, surface wind 200 at 10 knots'
Then
'Tower, Patrouille, overshooting, overshooting Go'
and straight into a display practice.
The whole of the Arrivals Timetable goes to rat****. Aircraft are scattered all over the Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire skies. The SMO's cat has kittens 2 minutes before the SATCO does. OC Ops is apoplectic, the Local Controller is a gibbering wreck.
After 10 minutes of 'practeese', the Magisters finally land and taxy in.
OC Ops Mini breaks the sound barrier from ATC to the other side of the airfield to 'interview' the Patrouille Leader, only to find a French Air Force 2* (General de division Arien), complete with lit Gallouise cigarette and cockpit ashtray, grinning at him from the rear seat of Patrouille One.
How do you b@llock a 2*?
Did 'rank' overcome 'leadership'?
Slightly off, but mention of OC Ops and Displays.....
Finningley, 1976 Press Day. (The Friday before the main event). Aircraft inbound from all points of the compass. ATC pretty maxed out. Aircraft stacked everywhere. Organised chaos.
Enter the Patrouille de France with their Magisters.
'Finningley Tower, Good Moaning, Patrouille de France 10 kilometer to ze North to join"
'Patrouille, Finningley Tower, join Runway 21. QFE 1021. Cleared straight in to land, VC-10 at 8 miles finals, Victor at 12 miles finals, etc etc ' Basically, every man and his dog wanting to land.
'Finningley, Patrouiile, Request 10 mineetes display practeece'
'Patrouille, Tower, negative, straight in to land please'.
'Tower, Patrouille, roger' then various French mumbles on freq.
'Tower, Patrouille, finals'
'Patrouille, clear land, surface wind 200 at 10 knots'
Then
'Tower, Patrouille, overshooting, overshooting Go'
and straight into a display practice.
The whole of the Arrivals Timetable goes to rat****. Aircraft are scattered all over the Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire skies. The SMO's cat has kittens 2 minutes before the SATCO does. OC Ops is apoplectic, the Local Controller is a gibbering wreck.
After 10 minutes of 'practeese', the Magisters finally land and taxy in.
OC Ops Mini breaks the sound barrier from ATC to the other side of the airfield to 'interview' the Patrouille Leader, only to find a French Air Force 2* (General de division Arien), complete with lit Gallouise cigarette and cockpit ashtray, grinning at him from the rear seat of Patrouille One.
How do you b@llock a 2*?
Did 'rank' overcome 'leadership'?
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
taxydual, not at all. I was not suggesting that it was not photoshopped. What I meant by 400 feet was that distance from the crowd line to the runway was 400 feet and that our hero indeed flew down the runway. He did for the rolls as well as the rollers.
No, the image could have been photoshopped or possibly th einfamous telephoto lens does not lie
He certainly was not as close as the picture suggests.
I am not sure what that is above the heads of the crowds but below the aircraft. It looks a little like distant trees of which, of course, Cottesmore has none. The umbrella and the F104 were both features of the Cottesmore show which suggests that that is where this picture was.
No, the image could have been photoshopped or possibly th einfamous telephoto lens does not lie
He certainly was not as close as the picture suggests.
I am not sure what that is above the heads of the crowds but below the aircraft. It looks a little like distant trees of which, of course, Cottesmore has none. The umbrella and the F104 were both features of the Cottesmore show which suggests that that is where this picture was.
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Phantom at Cranwell
I remember seeing a video of a Phantom perfoming a flypast at a graduation parade at Cranwell in about 1985. Too low (below the towers), ground sink, so full reheat over the parade. Cue caps, dignataries etc being blown in all directions. I was told that the pilot escaped any disciplinary action because his briefing had been "Go and give them a good one!". Does anyone else remember this video, or indeed the incident itself? Is the video available anywhere or has it remained within the Service?
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
mabmac, the pilot certainly did not get away with it. The full story is somewhere here on pprune but the nav in the back, a nav student wg cdr OC Ops Desig (Leuchars) lost 6 months seniority and possibly a reprimand at the courts martial.
The tape shows a descending turn with slight wing rock as the aircraft rounded Whittle Hall....
72' agl was the alleged minimum to which it descended.
The tape used to be used on the Flying Supervisors' Course as an example - it has, to the best of my knowledge, not leaked into the spotters' world.
Mods, if we get any stupid links to ill-disciplined SOAF low flying clips, please close the thread!
72' agl was the alleged minimum to which it descended.
The tape used to be used on the Flying Supervisors' Course as an example - it has, to the best of my knowledge, not leaked into the spotters' world.
Mods, if we get any stupid links to ill-disciplined SOAF low flying clips, please close the thread!
I was also at St Mawgan when 'The Slivers' arrived. Standing looking out of the OM windows down the hill when I noticed a flash of light and two smoke trails below the level of the mess which rapidly became the two 104s coming up the hill - a sight to behold. Some years later they displayed at Odiham Families Day, and I also have a photo of them coming along the crowd line just as low and close as the picture above - unfortunately I was using a telephoto lens and all I got was the nose and intakes (and the heads of those around who were ducking!).
IIRC the Arrows display at the same St Mawgan airday was even lower over the airfield than the Slivers - certainly could only see the tails of the Gnats going past in front of the crowd line (someone said their min display ht was 20ft at that time!).
IIRC the Arrows display at the same St Mawgan airday was even lower over the airfield than the Slivers - certainly could only see the tails of the Gnats going past in front of the crowd line (someone said their min display ht was 20ft at that time!).
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Anybody remember that other Belgian team , "The Fennecs" (2xSF260s).
Synchronised flick roll immediately after getting airborne.
O.K. they gained height slightly during the flick, so the ballistics were heading in the right direction.
I guess it demonstrated confidence in the aeroplane .........
Synchronised flick roll immediately after getting airborne.
O.K. they gained height slightly during the flick, so the ballistics were heading in the right direction.
I guess it demonstrated confidence in the aeroplane .........
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One of the most interesting teams I ever saw was the 'Wings of Portugal' (think I got the name right) at Finningley, must have been 1978 I think. They were all over the shop - I think the plan was for formation aeros, but it looked more like a dogfight where everyone was going for a gun kill...usually in a different direction.
I saw them later in their career and they were much more normal about it, much to my disappointment as I found their original routine quite entertaining.
Closely matched by the 50th HAF anniversary flypast we were supposed to tag onto in our mighty brown bomber in the early 80's as 50 (?) fighters formed up in a massive flypast over the airbase. We ran in alone, eventually, after spending an exciting period calling in 2's and 3's who were whizzing absolutely everywhere - intercom sounded like the soundtrack from Memphis Belle as the German fighters are attacking.
I saw them later in their career and they were much more normal about it, much to my disappointment as I found their original routine quite entertaining.
Closely matched by the 50th HAF anniversary flypast we were supposed to tag onto in our mighty brown bomber in the early 80's as 50 (?) fighters formed up in a massive flypast over the airbase. We ran in alone, eventually, after spending an exciting period calling in 2's and 3's who were whizzing absolutely everywhere - intercom sounded like the soundtrack from Memphis Belle as the German fighters are attacking.
AustralianMade
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Icarus Sun;
If only this were equally and universally applied Bud Holland may not have had the chance to die in such a manner...
If it is true that senior officers did not do anything about this person.And his problems led to the accident they should be fired,however high up the tree they are.
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Update
This thread has been around a while now, yet the subject (particularly the CRM aspect) still fascinates me.
This page is terrifying, thought provoking, interesting and has been updated recently:
CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE/MAPS ETC
Regards,
ABX
This page is terrifying, thought provoking, interesting and has been updated recently:
CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE/MAPS ETC
Regards,
ABX
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Originally Posted by RETDPI
Anybody remember that other Belgian team , "The Fennecs" (2xSF260s).
Synchronised flick roll immediately after getting airborne.
O.K. they gained height slightly during the flick, so the ballistics were heading in the right direction.
I guess it demonstrated confidence in the aeroplane .........
Synchronised flick roll immediately after getting airborne.
O.K. they gained height slightly during the flick, so the ballistics were heading in the right direction.
I guess it demonstrated confidence in the aeroplane .........
Embarrassingly made our GR4's look badly painted, slow and heavy. In one of the bars (Original Joes?) the locals said they knew when we were on det by the amount of noise our GR4 make. That'll be the "constant speed variable noise" throttle box.
One of the Canadian Airmen saw our GR4's fly overhead and said "Dude I'm seeing things, I swear I saw the wing just move".
"Must tighten up the bolt on the wing root when it lands
".
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How low is low ?
Quiet weekend in Leeming tower in the late '60s (then open 24/7 as a Master Airfield). Belgian pair (F104s) doing display somewhere up North (Sunderland Air Show ?), came in to us to refuel before starting back.
Could they do a low run past Tower after take off ? - Certainment !
They went into a/b for the low run. Leader was low, but No.2 left a long scorch trail on our (quite short) grass.
I've never seen anything so low. They were probably one of the pairs already mentioned. (Come to think of it, they used to drive like that as well over there then).
D.
Could they do a low run past Tower after take off ? - Certainment !
They went into a/b for the low run. Leader was low, but No.2 left a long scorch trail on our (quite short) grass.
I've never seen anything so low. They were probably one of the pairs already mentioned. (Come to think of it, they used to drive like that as well over there then).
D.
