roving #123),
Thanks ! Sent me scurrying back to my logbook - but "not one of ours". All the Vampires I flew on 20 Sqn at Valley and on 608 at Thornaby were in the VT series - this is a VZ.
Can't place the background - don't remember the little pier anywhere on Anglesey (could it be on the Menai Strait ?) There must be hundreds of people watching this, who've been through Valley, and can "fix" this for us.
Shows the wonderful cockpit visibility from a Mk III (or V ?) Could it be that the jet pipe on the 2-seater was angled lower towards the ground than the monoposto ? We never heard of this tarmac-ripping in my time.
We used (very naughtily) to do low passes by the summit restaurant on Snowdon, exchanging waves with the trippers sunning themselves on top. Happy days !
I would've been ATC-ing at Strubby when that chap went in. Don't remember hearing about it - but then losses were still almost at wartime levels, and did not excite much interest. "Flight Safety" was an oxymoron.
Danny.