Years ago I was a driving up the A1 just North of Grantham. It was, for UK, a very cold morning with bright blue skies. Off to my right I spotted a ‘contrail’ almost at ground level gently arcing upwards. ‘Ground level - couldn’t be a contrail - then it was obvious. The Red Arrows were at Scampton and it was a single aircraft trailing white smoke.
Anyway, the gentle climbing arc was held, and held, and held.
This guy produced a perfect semi circle that must have reached 25,000 feet. But could he do the same on the way down? He did! Perfect white circle against a brilliant blue sky, and with a diameter of some 5 miles.
I’d like to think that this was a bet from the previous night in the bar. ‘I’m such a s..t hot pilot that I can produce a perfect smoke circle to 25,000 and back again’. Hope he did a straight in with smoke to finish off.
