Oh Happy Days - well done Bob!

Good job that bird was missed! (at 1:15 during the inverted portion)

Flap 40

'That bird' was, I believe, No 4 crossing at the bottom of the 'Hairyside' - he would certainly make a good job of missing the inverted vic.

Thanks for that Bob, I hope all's well with you - I'm hoping Pink Thing's going to organise that reunion sometime.

All the best,

Rod

You are right - it was David Perrin in opposition when we were on the inverted push out during the opening sequence.

In '76 at my debut Farnborough appearance as a wingman I hit his turbulence and flick rolled towards the leader (Colin Woods) I moved the controls in a blur and missed him !!!! :sad: I recovered to see the other two carrying on - I joined as soon as possible and after landing was mortified I had messed up our first display there. This was short lived when Exagerat ( Richard Butler - Team Commentator) came up and remarked 'Fantatstic display - why did you not brief me on the new manouvre ?' I did not have the heart to tell him the truth'. We never had the problem again after we debriefed and working out a fix for the problem.


Still breathing, drinking, wenching and flying !!

LOONRAT

G-SOLO
 

I remember Dave P's old jet at Shoreham in '93 where it was undergoing some work with Mike Fenton (I have pics but don't know how to post..). In July '93 I believe it was, John Harper came to collect it and took it to new owner in Germany, I guess this was when the aeroplane was last in the UK.

Whato' Rod, I am up to my eyeballs at the moment planning something called the 'Tip to Tip 2008'.

Six paramotors Land's End to John O'Groats in aid of the Forces Children's Trust and The Air Ambulance. Been at it for a while - you should try it, great view but not a lot of speed. Kick off is on the 29th July so busy, very busy.

Bob may be in the process, I have not been informed (party).

http://www.paramotorclub.org/tiptotip/images/map.jpg

http://www.paramotorclub.org/tiptoti...p_image001.jpg

When did the Marlboro sponsorship take over ?
Was it the same team ?

I have a picture on me in front of a Marlboro Pitts S1(T?) at Booker in 1984.
I went gliding with a mate from University and saw the teams' a/c there.
Reason I ask is that the Rothmans seem to have used Pitts S2's and wondered if there was a connection.

No connection between Marlboro and Rothmans teams that I am aware of Kluge. We knew each other but that was as far as it went, when Rothmans withdrew, Marlboro just became that little bit more prominent that's all.

Thx for clearing that up. Appreciated.

G-SOLO at shoreham in '93........That would have been when Mike was working in the Chelsea college hangar I think?

IIRC the Pitts had arrived dismantled, and was then reassembled there, took forever to get the rigging sorted out, and then headed out to Germany. I also have a suspicion it had been in Switzerland at some stage and fallen foul of the noise regulations there, but it is a long time ago and my memory is not reliable!

Crash

That's a magic bit of video .

Rod Rae / Rothmans
 

:ok:Upside down in an open cockpit! 1980, the best & scariest flight of my life was with Rod in his Pitts Special. He flew us inverted for no less than 15 minutes over the Clyde (Glasgow). I hung white-knuckled onto the straps which I was sure were going to fail. I was going to die, but what a way to go, I thought.

Great pilot!

Frankie

p.s. Just found a picture - Rod's a/c was G-BADY. Where is it now?

great thread, only discovered it last night and it makes great reading,i remember sitting in our local beer garden with an ex rothmans team member on a hot summers afternoon back in the 80s and the beer was flowing when we decieded that we couldnt drink anymore and it was time to go,when i got home i could hear a pitts doing aeros in the overhead (i live half a mile from the aerodrome) and sure enough there was my drinking partner doing aeros in the overhead in his single seat pitts .i wont mention his name but if he reads this he"ll know who he is,HAPPY DAYS.:ok:

Gawd - I hope not. The Pitts is a twitchy beast in transition at the best of times (my limitations not the a/c), as I remember, even without X-winds.

But then, these chaps were the Masters. :cool:

Great team and wonderful shows. :ok:

K

Rothman's
 

I knew David Perrin slightly.

When I was a student, I had a holiday job working for Personal Plane Services and one of my abiding memories is of erecting and rigging 'from the crate' a Stampe that was being imported for the Rothman's Team. As nice a 3D jigsaw as you could ever want, getting the sweep, stagger, dihedral and incidence right, with all the flying and landing wires within acceptable tension and facing into wind. Rigging the silerons was just as bad, as i remember!

Anybody know what the likes of John Connor, John Harper or Andy Legge are up to nowadays?

Harpo is still around, lives in Orkney and travels around Uk & Ireland in the summer doing some instructing.

When I was a young lad at Shoreham I was very lucky and flew with both Marcus Edwards and John Maclean when they were operating as the Vixen 2. Those flights will remain very clear in my memory till the day I die! I did my first inverted spin and Derry turn with them and the experience of close formation aerobatics made a huge impression on me. The Rothmans would base themselves from time to time at Shoreham, as a young man these guys impressed me as much as the Red Arrows.

I have a video by Cord called Aerobatic Solo, it features three short films

1: Man in the sky (26 mins) featuring Dave Perrin
2: Rothmans Formation Team (5 mins)
3: Wings in the sun (21 mins) featuring some fantastic footage of the Rothmans

These videos are filmed beautifully, does anyone know if it is available on DVD?

I remember Marcus and John with great fondness they were nice guys and always great fun to be around.

As for Dave Perrin I saw him fly many times but sadly never met him although he did not live far from Shoreham. If you fly along the cliffs between Eastbourne and Seaford you can still his strip on the family farm. I well remember seeing his Pitts parked there. Very sad he died so long an amazing talent

Kinsman, have sent you a PM.

Cheers

Treadders

I have just spent some time at the Pan Am training centre in Miami. They have a wonderful collection of photos lining the walls and corridors of Pan Am aircraft and operations through the years, from early Sikorsky flying boats to the Pan Am flying boat Clippers to the 747.
And there on one wall, right opposite the mens toilets, is a pic of Rothmans pulling up in to a loop taken from either a camera looking back from the lead ship, or another aircraft ahead of them. No date or any other info.
Seems a strange thing.
Anyone have any ideas why that would be there ?