Doesn't look as though there's anyone in the back seat.

Really? Helmet is quite clearly visible...

-RP

You cannot see either pilot or nav in this picture!!

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7ac192f83c.jpg
Just another day at Pax Port Howard


But yes they were flying the aircraft!

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f85735d53c.jpg
Just helping round up the sheep!!

MPA F-4 Flypasts!
 

You can say that again! when I was down MPA the F-4's would regularly beat up the airfield before landing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dominator2 (Post 10679051)

Of course, those lucky enough to have served at MPA will have witnessed a number of "flypasts".

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And those on the mountain sites as many again.

"Measles 2 minutes from the south" no time for introductory 'stand by for broadcast' etc

The fool who was PiC of the aircraft, was well known to the chain of command about his antics flyoing B52s and they did nothing about him. At the time Fairchild had had a shooting in the base hospital of an airman who had severe psychiatric disturbance and he killed numerous people. Again the chain of command knew about him and did nothing. In both cases people were not disciplined for their lack of actions. This well worth a read.

One of the best courses I ever did in the mob was the two week full flying authorisers course at Bentley Priory. Great course, great bunch of mates, great stories. Both the B52 and Cranwell F4 were presented (as well as South Cerney and the Puma on the Spanish??? parade ground). They were presented by the some of the top aviation shrinks on the planet and they tackled angles otherwise left unseen. Their view of the Cranwell F4...seriously *****ed flight planning, putting the "offending" pilot in a tight spot, which he did well to recover from.

The Bud Holland story is truly staggering to any aviator with an ethos based in professionalism. As Air Pig points out his disregard for limits was well known, to the extent that several sqn members had risked their careers by refusing to fly with him. Conversely a couple of the Sqn execs who were sticking up for him, were in the aircraft on the day.

As for the South Cerney Herc...again the story beggars belief...as does the eventual outcome (and I'm not referring to the fatality).

These incidents have a common theme. Breaking established rule and limits are usually an act of ego and showmanship, which in itself demonstrates aircrew who have conciously and deliberately decided to prioritise their hubris at the expense of their professionalism. From that point on outcomes become as much about fate and chance as anything else.

Sometimes they get away with...often leaving spectacular footage to challenge the minds of like-minded peers. Sometimes they kill themselves. And sometimes they kill a whole lot of other people.

On a lighter note...the video of the Puma and parade ground is well funny (no casualties). Wouldn't mind seeing that again.

I was on the Tristar as pax, just arriving on the Islands....the F3s had done their practise intercept and were providing a welcome flypast fiery cross.
Having spoken to the pilot afterwards, apparently his error was in banking as he passed the fire station because he wanted to say hello to 78 Sqn too. The bank induced a boom apparently and yes, damaged the fire station. But more importantly cracked the wing mirror on the 1312 R&R Landrover, Whitey!

His bollocking was more for overflying the helipad than the boom as I recall!

Re. Bud Holland:

The co-pilot Lt Col Mark McGeehan was the sqn cdr who had tried hardest to have Holland grounded, had banned his aircrew from flying with him, and does not deserve to be caught up in your implication above. The only person on board with some degree of culpability was the Fairchild Bomb Wing Vice Commander, Colonel Wolff. The record shows that Holland's principal enablers were a succession of full-bird colonels in the Bomb Wing HQ, ending with Brooks and Pellerin, neither of whom was on board. They and their predecessors failed to act effectively on the long series of squadron complaints against Holland.

Best flypast I ever saw was a loony F111 who flew down the crowd line jettisoning fuel from between the jet pipes all the way down the strip then hit reheat as he flew away, sonic boom as the dumped fuel ignited

Even better when the mad Aussie's did it at night over a city.... :)

Given that he wasn't flying but was in the backseat and no mention if the pilot flying was also fired.

Fair comment, although I did not mention any names nor "imply" any individual culpability. I expect we are exactly on the same page with our view that this is an accident to be studied by professional aircrew and to be learnt from.

Much talk of RAF and other arms ‘low flying’ here, but rarely a week went by without a low pass or three of RN FW carriers by returning stovies.

I captured a Buccaneer on film when pulling up from a low run under the flight deck angle, which gave the driver a one way chat with Wings and the no option choice of tanker for the next big exercise. In a fit of generosity I loaned him the slide which I’m still waiting to get back some 48 years later. Bloody paraffin pigeon drivers, never could be trusted :rolleyes:

Then there was the F4K cleared for a low pass of Ark, unfortunately the Mach meter was a bit out so not only low but supersonic. Cleared the dust off the overheads.

And the RN exchange pilot who found Eagle wandering around the ocean and asked for a low pass in his Etendard. The crew painting the flight deck markings weren’t impressed with the modern art as the paint tins followed the slipstream down the deck :p

The attached photo of the F4 was taken at a Gaydon air display in '76 0r '77. Just before MOD sold Gaydon, a set of trials took place involving F4s approaching the airfield from below the ridge
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4ad8c2fbfa.jpg
.near to the village of Kineton, which has a large secondary school. I was teaching metalwork there and recall being next to a window in the workshop when there was a sound and all I saw ( can still picture it today) was a glimpse of a navigator's white helmet with a dayglo sticker on it. The attendance officer appeared a couple of days later complaining of one Phantom going across the front of his car without warning. Cycling home one day in the 80s at the base of the ridge, I dismounted ( thought I was fit in those days!) and was aware of a Canberra pilot eye balling me from zero feet. Dad was admin with 39squadron ( Mosquito NF32) at Fyid in 1951. He would regularly fly with a W.O. Preston, ex WW11. On one occasion they were met on landing and taken separate ways. He had no recollection of going down the deck of an aircraft carrier at nought feet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker...ridge_incident

Hawker Hunter Tower Bridge incident

On 5 April 1968, Pollock decided on his own initiative to mark the occasion of the RAF anniversary with an unauthorised display. His flight left the soon-to-be-closed RAF Tangmere in Sussex to return to RAF West Raynham in Norfolk, a route that took them over London. Immediately after takeoff, Pollock left the flight and flew low level. Having "beaten up"[note 1] Dunsfold Aerodrome (Hawker's home airfield), he then took his Hawker Hunter FGA.9 (XF442), a single-seater, ground-attack jet fighter, over London at low level, and circled the Houses of Parliament three times as a demonstration against Prime Minister Harold Wilson's government. Pollock continued and dipped his wings[note 2] over the Royal Air Force Memorial on the Embankment, and finally flew under the top span of Tower Bridge.

He later wrote of the decision to fly through Tower Bridge:
Knowing that he was likely to be stripped of his flying status as a result of this display, he proceeded to "beat up" several airfields (Wattisham, Lakenheath and Marham) in inverted flight at an altitude of about 200 feet en route to his base at RAF West Raynham, where, within the hour, he was formally arrested by Flying Officer Roger Gilpin.

Although other pilots had flown under the upper span of Tower Bridge, Pollock was the first to do so in a jet aircraft.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...er-Bridge.html


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d49687386d.jpg

Have had a fab day in @UkNatArchives including seeing the note to CAS on that notorious Cranwell Phantom flypast!


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....406ef5595.jpeg
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