62 Years ago today ...

[CoffmanStarter]

... at RAF Odiham.

http://streaming.britishpathe.com/hls-vod/flash/00000000/00028000/00028647.mp4.m3u8

Many congratulations your Majesty :D

WARNING ... The 2nd video is likely to cause grown me to weep :{

[1.3VStall]

Coff,

Not only did we have a proper Air Force then, but it had a bright future to look forward to as well.

How times have changed!:{

[MPN11]

<sniffle> and <whimper>

Even the RAF drill is better than you see on Horse Guards these days at the Trooping of the Colour.

I think I need a consoling drink :(

[CoffmanStarter]

MPN11 ... If we lived closer, I'd gladly buy the first :ok:

[teeteringhead]

600 + aircraft involved in the air and on the ground at ODIZ, and all from UK Stations!! :sad:

Had an aged Spec Air Sqn Ldr working for me once who had flown (IIRC) a Meatbox in the flypast. He told tales of a number of single-engine jets in the formation - Sabres maybe? - that flamed out, successfully relit, and then rejoined. :ok::eek:

[CoffmanStarter]

This pic from the Coronation Parade made me smile ...

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af162/CoffmanStarter/CGeu5ZOWQAAEaXA_zpsbkqxkxrl.jpg

Image Credit : RAF Historical Branch

All that power and brains the size of walnuts ... I'm clearly talking about the horses :}

[ICM]

For some reason that link isn't working for me, but is there a degree of confusion here between the Coronation, 2 June 1953, and the RAF Review at Odiham in the following month, on 15 July? As a lad, I saw the first on a great-uncle's TV and had the good fortune to be taken by an uncle then in the RAF to the latter.

But I concur in the sentiments about the scale of it all. The Coronation of Charles III will certainly have only a fraction of that Service involvement - the AHB claims that some 8000 airmen were involved on 2 June 1953.

[CoffmanStarter]

ICM ... You are quite correct ... I just kept it simple at 62 lapsed years :ok:

An alternative URL for you ...

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/coronation-fly-past

[Wander00]

did the stars ride in No1 trousers or was there some sort of horse friendly bodge?

[Danny42C]

Coffman Starter,

Would you mind if I used that in the (very unlikely!) event of my winning a Capcom ?

Danny.

[Rosevidney1]

Typical, now we have wannabe cavalry all over the HLS and somebody will have to do a FOD plod or a POO plod.

[CoffmanStarter]

It's not my picture ... But by all means Danny :)

[MightyGem]

Even the RAF drill is better than you see on Horse Guards these days at the Trooping of the Colour.
Dare you to walk into the Guard's Depot at Pirbright and say that. :E

[FantomZorbin]

I'd like to have bought the horse in the foreground ... with five legs a Derby winner for sure! :)

[Courtney Mil]

The film's a fake. How did Her Majesty get through security and board the aircraft if she didn't have a boarding pass?

[CoffmanStarter]

Courtney ...

Back then there weren't any of BEagles ... Pig-ignorant, bottom-fondling failed wheel-clampers at 'security'

... to interfere with Her Majesty ;)

I'm sure there's a story he's not telling us ...

[Courtney Mil]

Ah, that's good to know, Coff. To be honest, she's Queen so should be able to where she wants anyway. Without having to have her bottom fondled by some drooling pervert.

[Martin the Martian]

That's no way to talk about the Duke of Edinburgh.

[Courtney Mil]

Too quick for me, Martin! :D

[Courtney Mil]

Love the pic of the RAF Dressage Team, Coff:ok:.

Did you notice, the horse on the right has three back legs? But there are only 16 legs altogether. Stores were obviously told to issue 16, but no one in Procurement explained the distribution protocol.

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af162/CoffmanStarter/CGeu5ZOWQAAEaXA_zpsbkqxkxrl.jpg

Actually, now I look more closely, there are only 15. Storeman obviously only had 16, but didn't want to part with 16th because, "I've only got one left and someone might want it."

[CoffmanStarter]

Very good Courtney :D

[Wander00]

Were the Admirals similarly mounted for the occasion? I guess the Army had little trouble in finding "horse qualified" generals

[Danny42C]

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse !

[Warmtoast]

Composition of the Odiham Coronation Review flypast.


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/CompositionoftheFly-past.jpg

[Tankertrashnav]

Dare you to walk into the Guard's Depot at Pirbright and say that.

I remember my dad who had been a Scots Guards sergeant instructor at the Guards Depot (at Caterham) watching QCS on TV and reluctantly admitting that they were "as good as" the guards, although he would never have admitted they were better!

I see Brian Trubshawe of Concorde fame flew the Valiant on the revue flypast.

[Danny42C]

Left marker: "When I neigh, we'll all buck together and throw this lot off. Pass it on. Won't it be fun !" :ok:

[Pontius Navigator]

Recognise a few names at the bottom of that list, Le Bas, Trubshaw, Duke, Lithgow, Falk; why don't we know pilot's names like that any more?

Hannah, Green, Mason (fading), Ward may be modern exceptions, oh, and the Major (but does every little boy know of him?) and Caroline Grace.

[Schiller]

I don't know how many admirals were mounted, but 1SL (Sir Rhoderic Mcgrigor) certainly was. I was a visitor to his flat, above Admiralty Arch, at the time. He was no horseman; at breakfast he confessed he was terrified he would fall off the beast at some stage.

[Wander00]

Thanks, Schiller


Interested to see Paddy Barthropp on the list. He was a frequent visitor to the Yacht Club of which I was secretary, and often visited a mate (RN) from Stalag Luft III days. When the Lt Cdr (the former Sailing Master to HM the Queen incidentally) died, we held a wake and ashes scattering at the Club. With the deceased and 3 attendees who had all been in Stalag Luft II it was a bit of an "occasion". ( I also had a Trustee's wife who was the widow of one of the 50 escapees who were murdered.)

[Tankertrashnav]

I dont think little boys ever really knew pilots' names to the extent you imagine, P-N. When our primary class teacher asked us to name our heroes (c1957), just about everybody picked a footballer. When I named Peter Twiss nobody, including the teacher, had heard of him, in spite of his holding the world speed record at the time.

Struggling with one or two of the names on your list, except Hannah of course, and Ward, but the latter for all the wrong reasons!

[Danny42C]

Sign of the times, TTN, sign of the times. There's no market for the real heroes any more.

D.

[Pontius Navigator]

TTN, age, which one's?

Mason as in Pabelo
Green as in Thrust
Grace as in Spitfire
The Major ditto

I forgot Twiss. Footballer wise yes, and cricket possibly more so, but also motor bikes and of course motor racing "and the BRM has blown up again, Fangio takes the lead" :)

[Warmtoast]

Re my post #24 above about the Odiham Coronation Review flypast.
I've been told separately that there were three prominent Battle of Britain pilots leading the Meteor formations i.e. Dennis Cowley-Milling, Bobby Oxspring and Paddy Barthropp.


Passed on FWIW.

[Tankertrashnav]

P -N - Mason came to me after a bit of head scratching (if you'd said Pablo it would have been easier), but Green, Grace and the Major escaped me until prompted.

The speed record that Twiss held (in the Fairey Delta 2) was 1132 mph, one of those figures which refuses to leave my brain to make room for more useful bits of information, like my mobile telephone number!

(btw - How long since a policeman stopped a motorist for speeding and asked him "What's your name sir, Fangio"?

[polecat2]

Heroes


The voiceover in the introduction to the film 'The Right Stuff' ends with the line: "They were called test pilots - and nobody knew their names".


Well, I did. at 12 years old! I knew most of the well know British and American test pilots and which aircraft they flew because I studied aviation books from the local library and copies of RAF Flying Review when I should have been doing homework. This was not unknown in the mid 1950s.


Ah yes, Peter Twiss, Fairey Delta 2, 1,132 mph, 10th March 1956, and I didn't just consult anything.


Polecat

[Danny42C]

♫" Once I had an Air Force, made it run - made it run against time....

- Once I had an Air Force - now it's gone...

- Brother, could you spare a dime... ?"♫ :(

[Wander00]

TTN - funny, that figure has always remained with me too. A few years back I attended the funeral of Neville Duke, whom I had met a few times as a member of a certain yacht club. Had I still been a small boy, I could have collected some significant autographs from the days of which we speak.