We did a shuttle with a 76 in the last year of Brands Hatch because I flew it with Dave Duncan.
The first year at Silverstone was a small, up to 76/WG30 size on the northern side. The circuit was packed with R22s up to Hughes 500s and the best place to view the approach was from behind a truck. I loss count of the avoiding actions I had to take. I can remember James Hunt, with a dollybird om each arm, asking me to fly him back to his hotel.
The following year was bigger with S61s and the specialist heavy airstrip. We were accommodated in Lawrence Bristow’s old boarding school and we slept in dormitories in 5’6” beds designed for fourteen-year-olds.
The next year was even bigger with Tigers and 214s as well. At the end of the day we all ended up at Newcastle Airport Hotel. Aberdeen were having trouble manning the next days’ flying programme so it was faxed down to Newcastle where the Chief Pilot and Operations Manager worked out the programming late at night detailing the crews for the early morning take offs.
I always used to watch the race on a television set. Watching supersonic streamlined roller skates hurtling around the track got a bit boring when you didn’t know who was where.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 23rd Jan 2014 at 21:58.