Who was the best display pilot you ever saw?
 

For me, when I was on the display circuit in the 70's and 80's, number one was Pete Shepherd flying the Royal Navy Historical Flight's Sea Fury. A truly brilliant display. Wonder where he is now? I would love him to give us a run through of his display.

I also had great admiration for W/Cdr "Jacko" Jackson who, in the late 70's, was the BBMF Lancaster pilot. Many say probably the best one so far. Wonder where he is too?

Indeed, if anyone know the whereabouts of these superb pilots I would be grateful if they let me know.

In the meantime let us hear of your delights.

No-one could display a WW2 piston warbird like Mark Hanna. Great guy too. RIP.

No question,

Neil Williams. Saw him display Spifire IX MH434 at Compton Abbas (76/77?), absolutely brilliant.

Same spit flown by Mark Hanna, also a top bloke.

Both sadly missed.

Rgds BEX

R.A 'Bob'Hoover, in the Shrike.

No argument with the above, but I have particularly fond memories of John Lewis at Shuttleworth in a variety of a/c.

Sheer guts would have to be [I guess] Mark Hanna in the -109 taking off from Duxford. A huge 'no man's land' of control before getting airborne!!

G'day. <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

1. Janusz Zurakowski who performed the only innovative manoeuvre of the jet era - and no one has replicated it since!. See the Aeroplane Feb 2002.

2. Toby Elwood (RIP) who stretched his luck until the elastic broke.

3. John Derry the DH test pilot who did some superlative displays in Vampires/Venoms at Farnborough, invented the "Derry Turn". His luck ran out when the Sea Vixen prototype broke up at Farnborough.

PS I never saw Quill's Spitfire demos. Those who did say they were very special. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Have to agree with BEXIL on this one , saw Neil Williams display a Spit at Shoreham in the 70s absolutely stunning watching the maesto at work.

Also seeing Ray and Mark Hanna dogfighting at the first Goodwood revival mtg was very special. All three truly top echelon display pilots.

<img src="cool.gif" border="0">

For me it has to be Ray Hannah. I met and chatted with Mark (a true Gent) but never saw him fly.

I have said this many times, but the pilots that made the best impression on me (as a child) were the RNHF Sea Fury pilots of the 80's - brilliant displays all the time. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Another world-class display I saw was the Hannas doing a pairs routine in the OFMC Corsair and Fury in 1994. Perfection <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Mark

[ 30 January 2002: Message edited by: Mark [fradu] ]</p>

Anatoly Kvotchur - SU 27.

Speechless. Your PPRuNe name sort of sums up Dennis Kenyon's antics in the Enstrom. His was always a superlative display.

Then of course we should not forget the great (he'll kill me for this, but I don't care) John Farley, whose displays in the Harrier and Sea Harrier were quite superb. My abiding memory of his SHAR display will always be - while hovering, he would rotate from the horizontal on a plume of power and climb vertically. What a sight that was.

Alexandre Beschastnov. The guy who flew up into the other MiG-29 at Fairford a few years back. He let me have a go in his MiG-29 in September last year - sadly he subsequently managed to lose the last of his nine lives in a crash.

It's sad that so many of the names in this list are people who did buy it eventually. Perhaps that's what gives them their edge - that little bit less fear than the rest of us mortals!

Good topic. I like this forum.

I think this accolade has to be shared by Mark Hanna & Tom Middleton, both sadly no longer with us. Exceptional pilots with that certain je ne sais what. Watching them perform with the Polikarpovs at Wanaka was poetry in motion - sheer bliss.Its great to see Mark featuring so prominently in this thread - a fitting tribute to one of life's special people.And Tom was as happy displaying the heavy metal as he was bouncing round the skies in Biplane Adventures' Tiger Moth or the Pitt's. RIP.

Mark & Ray's display at the inaugural Goodwood Revival meeting was awesome - as was Ray's display in the AFC Spitfire with I think it was Roy Mulqueen in the AFC's newly restored Hurricane at WOW 2000.

[ 02 February 2002: Message edited by: tiger burn ]

[ 04 February 2002: Message edited by: tiger burn ]</p>

First vote for Brendan O Brien and colleague in the Skyhawk Fournier RF4 motor gliders doing a mirror inverted formation to the background music of Pink Floyds "Wish you were here" absolutely flawless and incredibly skilled given the low power available.Second vote for the late "French Connection" in their Cap10s their formation flicks were amazing.Brian Lecombers Stampe act was pretty good.Modern aeroplanes large chequebook and point and squirt!!.

Tiger

I second your sentiments. The AFC Hurricane was flown at Wanaka 2000 by Keith Skilling. Ray Mulqueen is the AFC chief engineer.

Cheers

Duxford Battle of Britain September show 2000.

Flew in with my old dad, Great weather mass Spit flypast.

I don't know who the guys were but the best I've seen was the pair of P51's, they were stuck to each other like glue...Faultless.

Toebrake,

Lee Proudfoot was probably one of the P51 pilots.

Difficult to choose a "best" display pilot - most are very good.

Fris B, Yes of course......hats of to Keith Skilling!

Stampe,

The Skyhawks team got me 'into' Pink Floyd when I was a teenager! It was 'Shine on, you Crazy Diamond' by the way, not 'Wish you were Here'.

Anyone remember the German 'Vikings' F104 team? Saw them display at Prestwick years ago, doing transonic opposition passes at 600KTS+. Nuts.

The old Dutch Air Force 'aerobatic' F27 display?

Also have memories of Ray and Mark Hanna tailchasing each other in Spit and 109 on the deck before disappearing behind the nearest ridge.. .Saw Mark break into the circuit one day in a Yak- inverted, pushed to the 45 degree up line then a Canadian break. Brilliant.

ST

Regretably I was not able to see many of the pilots mentioned in this thread but from an earlier era two stood out.

In the 50's Lt/Cdr John Kelly's solo performances in a Seahawk were truly heart stopping, particularly his low slow loop. It started at 200ft/200kts and peaked out over the top at only 1500ft.

Another who left an impression was Prince Cantacuzino in a Stampe.. .I saw him do an inverted flypast with the top of the fin about 20ft off the deck.. .Afterwards he apologised to the crowd saying he couldn't get any lower because wind conditions were too rough to permit it !