Airfield near Weybridge
Nemesis of the Proot Dynasty
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TheOddOne,
I was the Television Director shooting the footage of the VC10 when it landed at Brooklands in the 1980s. We had 4 cameras located around the airfield, in case there was a big bang! The landing was kept very hush, hush, to stop the airfield being inundated with people.
In the event, the VC10 (which took off from Heathrow 10 minutes earlier), did about three practice landings, before it made the final approach. As a pilot, I was convinced that it would finish its landing run on the Waterloo railway line!
In the event it came over the houses, which were built on the end of the runway, and stopped with about a quarter of a mile of runway left!
I interviewed the captain after they disembarked and he said that he could have made the landing even shorter if he had needed to.
I believe I still have the footage of at least two of the cameras, including the captain's interview.
Interestingly, we had been commissioned to shoot the event by Trafalgar House (a long defunct company) and in the event (we were the only film crew at the event) Brooklands told us that they didn't want any of the footage. What a waste.
I was the Television Director shooting the footage of the VC10 when it landed at Brooklands in the 1980s. We had 4 cameras located around the airfield, in case there was a big bang! The landing was kept very hush, hush, to stop the airfield being inundated with people.
In the event, the VC10 (which took off from Heathrow 10 minutes earlier), did about three practice landings, before it made the final approach. As a pilot, I was convinced that it would finish its landing run on the Waterloo railway line!
In the event it came over the houses, which were built on the end of the runway, and stopped with about a quarter of a mile of runway left!
I interviewed the captain after they disembarked and he said that he could have made the landing even shorter if he had needed to.
I believe I still have the footage of at least two of the cameras, including the captain's interview.
Interestingly, we had been commissioned to shoot the event by Trafalgar House (a long defunct company) and in the event (we were the only film crew at the event) Brooklands told us that they didn't want any of the footage. What a waste.
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[QUOTE]Interestingly, we had been commissioned to shoot the event by Trafalgar House (a long defunct company) and in the event (we were the only film crew at the event) Brooklands told us that they didn't want any of the footage. What a waste. [/QUOTE
Unbelievable! Does the film still exist?
Unbelievable! Does the film still exist?
jhieminga: I recall it was used a few weeks prior to the Vimy delivery by a Cub; I remember querying its availabilty when he booked in.
lukeafb1: I was the radar controller who 'spoke' to it when it left the Heathrow Zone until it had Brooklands in sight.
Heard on the radio this am that Mercedes Benz World will be hosting viewings of each GP this year with presentations by celebrities.
lukeafb1: I was the radar controller who 'spoke' to it when it left the Heathrow Zone until it had Brooklands in sight.
Heard on the radio this am that Mercedes Benz World will be hosting viewings of each GP this year with presentations by celebrities.
Death Cruiser Flight Crew
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All this has caused me to reach up to the bookshelf, take down, and blow the dust off a flying log book. An entry for 16 Sep 1974 reads: PA23-250 G-ATFF P1 Gatwick-Bournemouth-Filton-Brooklands-Gatwick and in the 'Remarks' column it says Sir George Edwards. Yes, I flew the great man himself that day, and I suppose the BAC communications aircraft must've been unavailable.
It's very long ago now, and all I remember was that the aspect of the runway at Brooklands looked decidedly different on the approach. It almost seemed to be as broad as it was long! Being a 'proper' airfield, it was absolutely no problem for a Piper Aztec, of course, especially compared with some racecourse strips we used to fly the jockeys into and out of, before the CAA put a stop to it.
I lived in nearby Addlestone, and some years earlier had been in the garden when there was a sudden howl, and an East African Super VC10 curved onto final for Brooklands for some re-work. In current parliance ... "Respect!!"
It's very long ago now, and all I remember was that the aspect of the runway at Brooklands looked decidedly different on the approach. It almost seemed to be as broad as it was long! Being a 'proper' airfield, it was absolutely no problem for a Piper Aztec, of course, especially compared with some racecourse strips we used to fly the jockeys into and out of, before the CAA put a stop to it.
I lived in nearby Addlestone, and some years earlier had been in the garden when there was a sudden howl, and an East African Super VC10 curved onto final for Brooklands for some re-work. In current parliance ... "Respect!!"
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My post re 5X-UVA http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...ml#post5558202 may be of interest to followers of this thread as well.
