Nimrod Display Team
Join Date: Apr 2002
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Hairyclam
Yes, in the good old days most 1st pilots flew the Nimrod display sequence once they were ratified by the Staish and the AOC.
However, following the accident, stricter authorisation and supervision rules were introduced by nominating sponsors and mentors plus mandatory practise and ratification when there is a break in display flying of more than 7 days.
It was decided that the safest option was to have only one nominated flight deck for the season - ideally the most experienced.
Like it or not, this was designated to the OCU because syndicates were less prone to disruption and therefore could remain constituted for the whole of the season - Sqn crews don't have this flexibility
Pilot being a QFI - Master Green - B Cat etc
Co-pilot usually a B Cat with a Green rating
Eng also a B cat instructor with plenty of hours and experience
Unfortunately, a lot of Sqn crews dipped out on some very nice display jollies. However, I'm sure you'll agree, the last thing anyone wants - particularly a Staish or AOC - is to lose an aircraft and crew for any reason
Love many, Trust afew, Always paddle your own canoe
Yes, in the good old days most 1st pilots flew the Nimrod display sequence once they were ratified by the Staish and the AOC.
However, following the accident, stricter authorisation and supervision rules were introduced by nominating sponsors and mentors plus mandatory practise and ratification when there is a break in display flying of more than 7 days.
It was decided that the safest option was to have only one nominated flight deck for the season - ideally the most experienced.
Like it or not, this was designated to the OCU because syndicates were less prone to disruption and therefore could remain constituted for the whole of the season - Sqn crews don't have this flexibility
Pilot being a QFI - Master Green - B Cat etc
Co-pilot usually a B Cat with a Green rating
Eng also a B cat instructor with plenty of hours and experience
Unfortunately, a lot of Sqn crews dipped out on some very nice display jollies. However, I'm sure you'll agree, the last thing anyone wants - particularly a Staish or AOC - is to lose an aircraft and crew for any reason
Love many, Trust afew, Always paddle your own canoe
Looks a lot more exciting than the Red Arrows synchro pair.....!
Join Date: Nov 2003
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As an aside re: the flare firing, I remember seeing the Nimrod fire off a flare at a show in E Anglia which landed between a parked Spitfire and P40. The operators of said aeroplanes weren't too impressed by that part of the Nimrod's display!!
Seem to remember it was a very pistol type flare, not the ones you can chuck out the bomb(?) bay.
Seem to remember it was a very pistol type flare, not the ones you can chuck out the bomb(?) bay.
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TD&H
Oh no no no!
VERY flares have a burn time of approx 5 secs. The flare was fired prior to wing over at 90 degrees when the aircraft was at 1500ft: This completed the display sequence.
Aditionally, the bomb bay is clean for displays and the launchers are empty.
Might have been the Sappho guy scaring the birds!!
Love Many, Trust a few, Always paddle your own canoe!
Oh no no no!
VERY flares have a burn time of approx 5 secs. The flare was fired prior to wing over at 90 degrees when the aircraft was at 1500ft: This completed the display sequence.
Aditionally, the bomb bay is clean for displays and the launchers are empty.
Might have been the Sappho guy scaring the birds!!
Love Many, Trust a few, Always paddle your own canoe!
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Speaking as ex kipper fleet AND ex Nimrod display crew in the early eighties, I am disappointed to hear of the Mighty Hunter dispalys being pulled.
The last one I saw was at Fairford year before last, and memories came flooding back - hanging in the straps in one of the beam seats etc. Some of the disply trips were really good fun, and I saw somw bits of the world that i have not had chance to see again.
The Canadian crash claimed the lives of a couple of my ex squadron colleagues, so I can see the sense of the new rules, authorisation etc., but the display itself was always good to see from the ground, and great fun in the air!
Hopefully the displays will be reintroduced in the near future, but I for one will miss the "non PC" Speys when the new aircraft eventually arrives!!
Long Live the Mighty Hunter!!
The last one I saw was at Fairford year before last, and memories came flooding back - hanging in the straps in one of the beam seats etc. Some of the disply trips were really good fun, and I saw somw bits of the world that i have not had chance to see again.
The Canadian crash claimed the lives of a couple of my ex squadron colleagues, so I can see the sense of the new rules, authorisation etc., but the display itself was always good to see from the ground, and great fun in the air!
Hopefully the displays will be reintroduced in the near future, but I for one will miss the "non PC" Speys when the new aircraft eventually arrives!!
Long Live the Mighty Hunter!!
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What a sad day it will be if they pull the Nimrod Display from the cuicuit, I was the nominated Nimrod Display Crew Chief for 1998, we had a great year finishing off with Ellington & Jax, sure it was tough going to all those parties and posing at shows, but I suffered.
Oh and by the way, that last Nimrod picture is apparently do-able.......
nuff said
PS...how do you P155 OFF the Blue Angels.....easy really, just march the whole detachment into the O Club at Jax
in kilts and with a piper at the front, guess who then had all the attention.
Oh and by the way, that last Nimrod picture is apparently do-able.......
nuff said
PS...how do you P155 OFF the Blue Angels.....easy really, just march the whole detachment into the O Club at Jax
in kilts and with a piper at the front, guess who then had all the attention.
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Buoy15, I only made the comment about it being a very flare, for I imagined anything chucked out of the bomb bay would be big and long lasting.
However I was there, airside, standing only a few feet from the parked Spit and P 40, and saw a flare from said Nimrod land between them. This was mid 1980's. Seem to recall it being fired as Nimrod flew along runway, and certainly not as high as 1500ft. Maybe things changed in later years.
However I was there, airside, standing only a few feet from the parked Spit and P 40, and saw a flare from said Nimrod land between them. This was mid 1980's. Seem to recall it being fired as Nimrod flew along runway, and certainly not as high as 1500ft. Maybe things changed in later years.
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West Coast - I attended an event called Foofaraw in Puget Sound last September at the invitation of a friend posted to Bremerton. On arrival at the small and beautiful island loaned for the event by the Olympia yacht club, we were greeted on the jetty by the local "scottish pipe band". This amusing yet highly pitiful attempt to claim a heritage so far back in the lineage of the people concerned as to be undiscernable was perfectly illustrated by their failure to understand my accent or where (or what) my home city of Glasgow was.
Men in skirts indeed...Scottish men....REAL men. The Foofaraw was good though, spent ages talking away quite openly etc to an older gent who later stood up to speak when a General from Ft Louis was called to the mic.......*DOH*
Shame I couldn't go this year. Photos of said pipers are available on request.
Men in skirts indeed...Scottish men....REAL men. The Foofaraw was good though, spent ages talking away quite openly etc to an older gent who later stood up to speak when a General from Ft Louis was called to the mic.......*DOH*
Shame I couldn't go this year. Photos of said pipers are available on request.
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TD&H
Fair call mate
That would suggest to me pretty poor airmanship which leads me to think it was most likely a crew from 3rd Division South
What you saw was never part of the display sequence and trying to embellish the standard format is a no no! - hence that dangerous situation at the time and the policy we have now.
Love many, Trust a few, Always paddle your own canoe!
Fair call mate
That would suggest to me pretty poor airmanship which leads me to think it was most likely a crew from 3rd Division South
What you saw was never part of the display sequence and trying to embellish the standard format is a no no! - hence that dangerous situation at the time and the policy we have now.
Love many, Trust a few, Always paddle your own canoe!
Join Date: Apr 2001
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It is nice to see that no matter how short of airframe hours, or how much the fatigue affects the aircraft, or how short of training all the crews get - it is nice to see 42(R) getting out of their beds on a weekend to waste a whole stack of taxpayers money!