If you were born again, what would you want to fly?
Red On, Green On
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the woods and the water
Age: 24
Posts: 6,487
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
Minor thread creep, but how about one day that you could take part in?
I was talking to the dad of a friend, a WWII pilot, about D Day, and asked him where he was that day "In a Spitfire over the British beaches" - aged 20, I think. What a view of the greatest invasion, ever.
I was talking to the dad of a friend, a WWII pilot, about D Day, and asked him where he was that day "In a Spitfire over the British beaches" - aged 20, I think. What a view of the greatest invasion, ever.
Thread Starter
>Minor thread creep, but how about one day that you could take part in?<
Nice one. Bagsie a day with a UK F-4 squadron on QRA in, oh, about 1975.
>A Lancaster with Leonard Cheshire as CO. A Harrier with John Farley<
Yes to both. And an F-4 with Bob Prest, if his book is anything to go by. And any airframe with Jeffrey Quill.
Nice one. Bagsie a day with a UK F-4 squadron on QRA in, oh, about 1975.
>A Lancaster with Leonard Cheshire as CO. A Harrier with John Farley<
Yes to both. And an F-4 with Bob Prest, if his book is anything to go by. And any airframe with Jeffrey Quill.
Having been born somewhere in the region of 50 years too late (never did manage to turn up on time for anything 
) this is a fascinating thread. However, what has suprised me so far about this thread - the relatively few numbers of votes for the Spitfire.
Have to say I would love to have flown Lancs over Berlin, or on the single seat front Typhoons / Tempests on tank-busting sorties. Moving on a bit, I grew up during the mid-late Vulcan era and was absolutely fascinated by it as a sprog - still think it was, sorry is a beautiful platform, so would have to be that.
On the theoretical front, the TSR-2; if nothing else to see exactly what spooked the Spams so much!
) this is a fascinating thread. However, what has suprised me so far about this thread - the relatively few numbers of votes for the Spitfire.Have to say I would love to have flown Lancs over Berlin, or on the single seat front Typhoons / Tempests on tank-busting sorties. Moving on a bit, I grew up during the mid-late Vulcan era and was absolutely fascinated by it as a sprog - still think it was, sorry is a beautiful platform, so would have to be that.
On the theoretical front, the TSR-2; if nothing else to see exactly what spooked the Spams so much!
Data Lynx,
I knew a former Whirlwind pilot who would confirm everything you say about engine unreliability, and would add more about landing characteristics, but with the rider that single engined performance was so good that you'd still reliably get home.
And when everything was working (as it was when the aircraft was being properly supported - eg not at the start of its career and not at the end) he said that there was no other aircraft available before 1945 that he'd have rather flown over enemy territory. He said that you could out-run a BF 109E, out-turn it if you picked your operating height and speed, while the four 20-mm installation gave a punch that was 'ahead of its time' and that wasn't quite so fussy about harmonisation.
And with two Merlins it would have been an absolute war winner, he said. Even with Peregrines, he reckoned that had Whirlwinds been procured instead of Blenheims, more bombs would have fallen on more and tougher targets, losses of aircraft and aircrew would have been tiny (by comparison) and they would have taken a heavy toll of enemy aircraft 'as a bonus'.
He flew a 'rest tour' target towing on Lysanders, and post war flew the Canberra and instructed on the Gnat. He always complained that he never flew a Lightning - the only major Petter designed type that he 'missed'.
I knew a former Whirlwind pilot who would confirm everything you say about engine unreliability, and would add more about landing characteristics, but with the rider that single engined performance was so good that you'd still reliably get home.
And when everything was working (as it was when the aircraft was being properly supported - eg not at the start of its career and not at the end) he said that there was no other aircraft available before 1945 that he'd have rather flown over enemy territory. He said that you could out-run a BF 109E, out-turn it if you picked your operating height and speed, while the four 20-mm installation gave a punch that was 'ahead of its time' and that wasn't quite so fussy about harmonisation.
And with two Merlins it would have been an absolute war winner, he said. Even with Peregrines, he reckoned that had Whirlwinds been procured instead of Blenheims, more bombs would have fallen on more and tougher targets, losses of aircraft and aircrew would have been tiny (by comparison) and they would have taken a heavy toll of enemy aircraft 'as a bonus'.
He flew a 'rest tour' target towing on Lysanders, and post war flew the Canberra and instructed on the Gnat. He always complained that he never flew a Lightning - the only major Petter designed type that he 'missed'.
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 48
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Got to be 1914-18
No question for me...it's got to be starting with a Sopwith Pup, graduating to a Camel, then a Snipe.
For a cracking (and highly emotional) read, try "Winged Victory"--the best book about WW1 aviation, and just about the only "war book" recommended by WW11 flyers.
For a cracking (and highly emotional) read, try "Winged Victory"--the best book about WW1 aviation, and just about the only "war book" recommended by WW11 flyers.
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Farnham, Surrey
Posts: 326
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
LFittNI you're spot on with Winged Victory, read it about 35 years ago when it came out in paperback and that lead me to Henry Williamson, who wrote a whole saga entitled "A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight" about the transition from peaceful Victorian/Edwardian England to WWI and through to the Thirties.
The hero of WV is Tom Cundall, who appears in a couple of the books of Williamson, as an RFC pilot, andof course the other hero in WV is also called Williamson....
The hero of WV is Tom Cundall, who appears in a couple of the books of Williamson, as an RFC pilot, andof course the other hero in WV is also called Williamson....
Thread Starter
I know it's not particularly sexy, but does anyone else fancy a trip across the pond (LaGuardia-Prestwick, say) with Ernest Gann in a DC-4? Or maybe doing a night trip with him on an American Airlines DC-2 somewhere in the Mid-west?
And since no-one else has mentioned it so far, please can I do a day as a Concorde captain in that awesome machine's heyday?
And since no-one else has mentioned it so far, please can I do a day as a Concorde captain in that awesome machine's heyday?
Such as a, now what was it called....errmm, Sea something....
Sea Slug?
Sea Dart?
Sea Skua
Sea King?
Ah yes, Sea Harrier. That was it.
Sea Slug?
Sea Dart?
Sea Skua
Sea King?
Ah yes, Sea Harrier. That was it.
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Age: 84
Posts: 897
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This could take some time......
....not being a winged wonder, but having served with some of the best and admired many more from afar [though please don't tell them that!] and having bludged rides in just about anything that flew, there would only be one for me, and that is the only Hurricane in the Southern Hemisphere, and what a history it has.
Originally with 23Sqn in France, then repatriated back to England after France fell; flew in the Battle of Britain until damaged; repaired and given to Russia, where it eventually became a casualty and lay in a bog for some 60-odd-years until recovered by Sir Tim Wallis in New Zealand and totally rebuilt to as new. When it displayed at Wanaka they even found a New Zealand pilot who had it in his log book from 1940! One can only imagine what he was thinking when he climbed aboard.
Then Again... it could be the DC6, or that wonderful Qantas Constellation that flies so sedately in Australia, or aeros in the back seat of a Harvard in 1976 just before the RNZAF sold them all into private hands. It could be the low-level thrill of a Skyhawk, followed by some aeros enough to set the 'g-suit' working. Very sexy that!
It could have been the front seat loops and rolls in that Stearman, a ride I had to pay for unfortunately, but what a magnificent aircraft, and first on my list when I win Lotto tonight. [Just imagine that, winning Lotto, the All Blacks thrashing England at Twickers, and getting the 2011 RWC all in the same couple of days!]
But, I guess the best of all would be the 208 Squadron Hunter 9, which hit a landing light at Embakasi Airport in 1959, [and as Juliet XF376 is still flying in the UK I believe], and which my son, having seen a picture of me with the very same aircraft with its damaged right leg, produced an absolute masterpiece of a model which now sits in a glass case not too far from this keyboard.
....not being a winged wonder, but having served with some of the best and admired many more from afar [though please don't tell them that!] and having bludged rides in just about anything that flew, there would only be one for me, and that is the only Hurricane in the Southern Hemisphere, and what a history it has.
Originally with 23Sqn in France, then repatriated back to England after France fell; flew in the Battle of Britain until damaged; repaired and given to Russia, where it eventually became a casualty and lay in a bog for some 60-odd-years until recovered by Sir Tim Wallis in New Zealand and totally rebuilt to as new. When it displayed at Wanaka they even found a New Zealand pilot who had it in his log book from 1940! One can only imagine what he was thinking when he climbed aboard.
Then Again... it could be the DC6, or that wonderful Qantas Constellation that flies so sedately in Australia, or aeros in the back seat of a Harvard in 1976 just before the RNZAF sold them all into private hands. It could be the low-level thrill of a Skyhawk, followed by some aeros enough to set the 'g-suit' working. Very sexy that!
It could have been the front seat loops and rolls in that Stearman, a ride I had to pay for unfortunately, but what a magnificent aircraft, and first on my list when I win Lotto tonight. [Just imagine that, winning Lotto, the All Blacks thrashing England at Twickers, and getting the 2011 RWC all in the same couple of days!]
But, I guess the best of all would be the 208 Squadron Hunter 9, which hit a landing light at Embakasi Airport in 1959, [and as Juliet XF376 is still flying in the UK I believe], and which my son, having seen a picture of me with the very same aircraft with its damaged right leg, produced an absolute masterpiece of a model which now sits in a glass case not too far from this keyboard.