PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - the best/most amazing flyby (official or otherwise)?
Old 13th Jan 2002, 17:10
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Dan Winterland
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Fragrant Harbour
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Camel driver - the VC10 at WW , G-AVRM was the one standard VC10 BA operated, just used for training - mostly at SNN and PIK. It wasn't officially used by the RAF, it's now at the Cosford air museum - although it does still fly in spirit as bits of it are reguarly 'borrowed' to keep Brize's flying museum pieces airborne!

The Flying Training School graduations were halted at Cranwell when I was there as a student. They were getting out of hand, and an accident would have happened IMHO. I was giving the CFI at Cranwell a good listening to one day while standing to attention in his office on one such grad day when there was a roar and a Hawk tailfin went past the window behind the CFI's back. I stood there open mouthed while the CFI carried on with his 'chat' obviously impressed with the effect his words of wisdom was having on me!

The IOT graduation with the Phantom flypast lower than the level of 'Winking Willy' is the stuff of legends. The pilot's punishment - posting to the Low Level Training Squadron at Finningley (the bad boy's unit!). I supposed he proved he was eligible to lead such a Sqn - nice one Mike!

Another boring war story - I was back at Cranwell a few years later - as an instructor this time. A bit of idle chat on the 'dial a mate' system (the MoD phone lines) to a mate at Conninsby indicated that we would be airborne at the same time, me in a Tucano, him in a Spitfire. After a comment to the effect of "Well, I don't want to see you over Louth at 10 grand at 4 o'clock", we subsequently met up for a magnificent dogfight. A cutting from the local Louth paper arrived in the post addressed to me a week later, apparently some old dear in the wilds of Lincolnshire has phoned the paper to say she had seen a Sptifire and ME109 dogfighting - just like she saw in 1943!
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