old near miss

[Kendo Nagasaki]

Was watching tv the other and saw a documentary about old planes when, suddenly i remembered something from my childhood (stay calm, nothing M. Jackson about this post).

One day, about 20-odd years ago, i was walking home from school when i noticed a strange noise above my head. I looked up and saw a strange, box-like, airplane. It had a single engine and the pilot was clearly visible even though it was about 3000ft up, pre-ww1 so not very sexy. Obviously old, and not worth much further observation, i thought.

This changed rather suddenly when, with a huge roar, what appeared to be a Sea Harrier came within touching distance of this venerable airplane. The interesting part of this story (at last! (you)) was the the Harrier pilot actually bothered to come back, and did a slow circle of the biplane to make sure it was ok. When i later told this story to my parents all i got was a patronising 'yes dear'-sort of look and told to do my homework.

Im pretty sure this happend before the Falklands contretemp, so i like to think that 'Sharkey' Ward gave me my own private airshow. And a near-death experience to the pilot of the biplane.

[BEagle]

No, it wouldn't have been Ward. If it had been him, he'd have told everyone all about it. Often. Even if they weren't listening.....

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

how on earth did you decide on the "handle" of a 70's masked wrestler :confused:

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[TheNightOwl]

Ah, so I'm not the only one who watched the Saturday afternoon wresting in black-and-white, A_b_i_w!! Well do I remember him, along with my old favourite, George ???(from Dundee). Can't remember his surname, but he was very rarely defeated.

Kind regards,

TheNightOwl.:ok:

[Pilgrim101]

Nice one Beagle,

Pity the Pucara didn't have a tail gunner ? :E

[ROUND TUIT]

AHH.. Sea Harriers - they were the days, supersonic commercial travel, when summers were warm, Christmases were white, no mobile phones or PCs ......... just the dulcet tones of a Pegasus to stir the hairs on the nape of your neck.

[witchdoctor]

Golly! I can see the follow up book now - "How I Won WW1 All On My Own And Defeated The Red Baron" by Sharkey Ward. :rolleyes:

[Gainesy]

... while advising Admiral Jellicoe on the correct disposition for the Grand Fleet at Jutland...

Only met him once, but he came over as different from his book.

[Oggin Aviator]

Oh dear here we go - more Sharkey bashing :(

I have never met him however I would like to think of myself as a friend of his son (which is totally irrelevent to this discussion but I like to digress .......).

Whatever you think of him (and yes I have read his book, which I found quite interesting after reading those of Sandy Woodward, Mike Clapp and Julian Thompson), he rose to the challenge when called upon (like so many others before and since) and did his duty, often under trying circumstances.

In my view he is OK.

p.s. (tongue in cheek) Isnt there a quote from some vague film about arrogance in a fighter pilot being a good thing? :D

p.p.s. Beagle - as an ex tanker and Vulcan mate I guess he upset you with his conclusion about the trillion gallons of jet fuel required to get a single Vulcan down to the FI. :confused: I guess it gave the Crabs something to do in '82 - they hadnt done much since moving Australia on paper in the mid sixties ! (a masterstroke for them IMHO) :}

[BEagle]

At least the RAF knows where Australia is - unlike a certain organisation who managed to drive one of Pusser's little grey boats into the only Australian rocks for thousands of miles - well charted rocks at that!

;)

[Shackman]

OA - Did we move Australia as well?

I thought it was Gan that we moved from some 2 miles South of the Equator to 2 miles North (or thereabouts or even the other way round). All I can remember about it was that our Nav - Frank ***** - spent about 2 weeks of one SAR detachment wandering around the island with the sextant and taking lots of readings before submitting the change of position to the Admiralty, who eventually sent Hecate out to check that he was right.

Incidentally, the original position was plotted by the RN for the establishment of 'Port T' - a secret refuelling and operating base for the navy during WWII. Good job they didn't run aground then, although even the Germans were able to find it when I believe a U Boat torpedoed one of the Tankers inside the Atoll!

[Oggin Aviator]

Beagle - Touché :p