Silly names
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,658
Likes: 501
From: Canada
Earlier in my flying career I was lucky enough to fly an aircraft with 4 big radial engines. The sound they made and the general sense of satisfaction you got from operating machinery that demanded knowledge, skill and a bit of art, is simply not duplicated in modern airplanes. I still consider my time on the mighty Douglass as the high point of my flying, but the reality is the roar of the a high powered piston engine is fast disappearing and so my tiny contribution to remembering them is my handle.
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
From: EuroGA.org
I was thinking the same.
He's probably ducking small arms fire, while flying single handed (his other hand is holding the NVG), assymetric (one engine already shot out), with pressurisation lost due to turbine fragments having penetrated the hull, pumping down the gear manually with one of his legs (hydraulic pressure lost, of course), with a trainee in the LHS getting a proper lesson on airmanship.
He's probably ducking small arms fire, while flying single handed (his other hand is holding the NVG), assymetric (one engine already shot out), with pressurisation lost due to turbine fragments having penetrated the hull, pumping down the gear manually with one of his legs (hydraulic pressure lost, of course), with a trainee in the LHS getting a proper lesson on airmanship.
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 147
Likes: 0
From: North West UK
My Dad took me to Ringway (now Manchester International) when I was about 6, and we enjoyed watching Gannets being test flown, the auxilliary RAF attacking the tower with Vampires, etc. From that moment onwards I was hooked, and ever since, anything that flies is interesting. Went through the 'plane spotting phase, then some 50 years later learnt to fly there, having had a go with gliders in my teens at various locations around the UK. Things have certainly changed over the years. Happy memories of 'Mush' Martin with his Austers, BEA Dakotas, Dan Air Yorks and the occasionalo Vulcan visitor. I could go on.... 
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 263
Likes: 0
From: Not around here
When I was in the ATC, I was 'adopted' by a really nice ex RAF officer by the name of Bill Goody. He was a great character, who had a real love for flying and a passion for helping out kids. He was also great at spinning yarns. In the war he was a Mosquito pilot and his call-sign was "Cricket23" (23 squadron).
He's long-gone now, but it still brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye when I think about him.
Regards,
C23
He's long-gone now, but it still brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye when I think about him.
Regards,
C23
Joined: Aug 2001
Aviation Qualifications: Spotter
Posts: 1,829
Likes: 165
From: se england
In spite of growing up and going to school on the very edge of Heathrow and being fascinated by planes from an early age as a result I never ended up working in aviation unlike father , father and mother in law and wife. However until recently I did fly an awful lot- too much really -as passenger .I am British to make it clear what perspective I had on things here I thought Pax Britanica was a fair enough name.( Tho ' I need to be wary of spell checkers)
Nice idea for a thread actually and an interesting read.
Nice idea for a thread actually and an interesting read.
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,103
Likes: 0
From: 45 yards from a tropical beach
Like Big Pistons Forever I had the good fortune to fly them. First the four Rolls Royce Griffons on the Shackleton, then the two mighty Wright Cyclones on the Neptune. The Handles Neppie and Neptune were already taken, so the somewhat clumsy Neptunus Rex was the next best.
!
