I have VHS video of a B1-B rolling during a zoom climb at Mildenhall, sometime in the mid 90s.

Incidentally, after Tex Johnson had rolled the 707, the boss of Boeing asked him what the hell he thought he was doing, to which Tex replied "selling airplanes!"

wub,

I think you might finally be somebody with hard evidence that I am not mad. I have always been adamant that I saw the B1-B doing extraordinary things at Mildenhall ('93 I'm sure was the last time I was able to get there - the year they had the SR-71 making transonic passes and 6nm turnarounds for another go!!!:D ), but it had reached an altitude beyond any accurate visual capacity with the MK1 eyeball, and above some thin stratus to be totally sure. Something like a half loop with a roll off the top at something beyond 5000' I reckon. Sound familiar?

WD

If the wings had folded up and the aircraft had ploughed into the crowd would we all be flying DeHavillands now????

B1 rolling, thats why I asked Vintage ATCO originally in this thread -it seemed as though it was a rare event!
B1 display (I use the term lightly - a couple of passes lo/hi speed with zoom climb but because of noise/speed/size combination very very impressive) restrictions have relaxed and most will end with a climb and roll. Originally a hard push over and rolling the right way out to S&L Since Mildenhall 91 (first time I saw it) the roll has been a complete 360 and still climbing. Apart from cloudbase, it also depends on how much US "brass" is around to determine how energetic the show is. There are several airshow videos that show this. Though I have never witnesseed it, a roll off the top in a B1 should be perfectly feasible and I am sure there are certain ex V bomber drivers out there who have done such a thing in their time in a Vulcan and/or Victor.
As with all "big jobs" size and speed are always gonna please the crowd and it is harder to make large objects look as though they are going fast compared to small ones. At the first UK B1 flying apearance (Mildenhall 89 I think) during the practice on the Friday, the (very) high speed pass was mis judged rather and took place at around 100' over much of Beck Row rather than 12000' of concrete.Cue several claims from greenhouse owners for smashed windows!

Wub - last SR71 flying appearance at Mildenhall was '88 - B1B didnt appear in UK untill Lakenheath show in '88 so definitely not '93!

Dutch F27 (they should do the same in a Fokker 60 nowadays)and Italian G222 always superb displays- though only the '222 actually rolls - one full aileron and 2 derrys. Italians also displayed the Piaggio 180 Avanti and this included rolls and a very viscious bunt that bordered on a stall.Dutch Troopship display ended with one of the more pronounced "Keh -Sahn" approaches - re Clophill Fete and also St Athan , were the display line is along the disused runway full of parked aircraft.

Dont think the Ukrainian Coaler actually looped - just a very tight inclined loop which keeps the wings just past the vertical. Similar to the F27, G222 and Swedish Herc- incidentally they use the oldest C130 in Europe for displays! Also I dont think he feathers 3 engines and certainly not at an IAT!- Have seen him feather outer 2 at shows abroad.

Ah yes, forgot the Keh San (how do you spell that?) approach by the Dutch...

Saw an Italian Avanti looped at Fairford as well - noisy so and sos they are, one came off the hold at Biggin a few months ago, occasioning me to look up and see what the hell it was!

The B1 at Boscombe had taken off and done a few wings forward passes before disappearing much to everybody's disappointment - a Let 610 did it stuff, then I observed a small, yet rapidly expanding, browny-grey cloud far off to the west across Salisbury Plain, so I actually kept both feet on the ground as it went past! It may well have rolled off the top of its climb, we just couldn't bloody see it 'cos of the stratus!

Avro
 

Maybe. I'm not sure that anything would have helped the ill-fated Comet. More probably we'd all be flying about in descendants of the superior Jetliner (see also here and here).

Thanks paulo for posting the Barrel Roll clip.:D

WD:

Checked my video, memory plays tricks sometimes. The incident I mentioned was at Mildenhall in '97, certainly no SR-71 there but the B1 did not roll. He made a low pass and zoom climbed then rolled right until he was inverted and the flew like that for 5 seconds (I counted, sad or what?:rolleyes: ) then rolled left to level flight, so it sounds like the same thing you described.

Has anyone got a link to the Vulcan doing a barrel roll at (I think) Farnborough. I think it was in the late sixties as it's black and white footage, with Raymond Baxter commentating ".....well what about that?!"

Thanks for the link of the 707 film. I have only seen the inverted photo before. :ok:

I've got a Video called 'The Best of British Aviation', which is Farnboroughs from the early 50s onwards. It shows the Vulcan roll, and the Vulcan and Victor doing the 'half loop and roll off the top' bomb delivery technique.

And those passes by the Hunter and other fighters - very fast and as low as it's possible to go, with photgraphers right by the runway in grave danger of decapitation. No Health & Safety back then:)

SSD

Re "No Health & Safety back then"

No common sense more like! those photographers were mad- standing under a Valiant wing is one thing but having to duck under a rolling Hunters wing tip..well thats just stupid!

Scariest moment on those Farnborough videos for me is a fully loaded Hunters inverted pass that descends dramatically as it pulls into a hard turn and heads straight for that small wood on the far side!! Surely only seconds from disaster!:uhoh: