Last week it was mist....

ASB Video "Mike Da Mustang"

Guns for the Jug...

Misty enough to hide a hangar....

Duxford shrouded in mist...

Sally B back under cover...

That's all f-f-f-folks...

Closing display of the 2009 season at Duxford was handed to B-17 "Sally B" which flew a faultless display. Caught a glimpse of her reflected in the glass of the American Air Museum and thought it an apt photo to include...

Hopefully the smoke pouring from her engine is her way of saying that the engine troubles of the last two years are firmly behind her.

The Jug has wings...

Helitech 2009 Duxford

Helitech 2009 is currently on at Duxford. Running from 22-24/9/09 it features all things helicoptery and has a static display of modern civilian and military helicopters. Numerous companies had stands in the exhibition marquee catering to the helicopter world ranging from seats to night sun lanterns.

Quite a few of the aircraft in the static display area were up for sale - tempting to crack open the cheque book....

Wrapped up, ready to go...

Gray Eagles...

A moving film about a WWII Mustang pilot and sharing his memories...

Sally B flying again?

The sound of multi radials had me dash into the garden to catch sight of a B-17 in a slow circuit just to the south of my home.
Is "Sally B" (aka Memphis Belle) fit and healthy again after it's run of engine problems?

Today is the Burma Star veterans event at Duxford so maybe she's been providing some entertainment for the attendees?...

Singapore's National Day Parade Preview...

Last Saturday was the preview for the NDP (National Day Parade) here in Singapore. It's S'pores 44th 'birthday' on the 9th August and there was a preview of the celebrations put on for families.


















Our hotel overlooked the venue so we were treated to a free mini airshow and other military displays....

Singapore Airlines A380...

Airbus A380-800 9V-SKG Singapore Airlines at Heathrow.
The wings are so long they have a curvature like the Earth's!













Have to wonder about the operation of a fully loaded passenger aircraft with an emergency exit tied shut. Looks like a long term setup as they had put black duct tape over the arrows pointing to the exit....

One small step for man...

...one giant leap for mankind.

Today, 40 years ago, man stood on the surface of the Moon.

"We choose to go to the moon..."

Forty years ago today a Saturn V launched Apollo 11 from the Kennedy Space Centre on July 16, 1969 at the start of it's epic journey to put men on the Moon.

The Horsemen Arriveth...

The Horsemen P-51 Flight Team arrive back at Duxford on Friday afternoon following filming over the southern coast of Kent. They performed a short display for the benefit of the helicopter camera ship which accompanied them.

Gag Le Chab

So, Flying Legends is over for another year. All in all a fine weekend only spoilt by the grounding of the entire TFC fleet due to the nice folk at CAA deciding to check paperwork going back to 1940.
Weather turned out way better than I had hoped for from watching the doom mongers on the weather forecasts earlier in the week. They got the rain on Saturday night correct so I guess the seaweed hanging out the window works...
Flying displays were as usual excellent with my personal high points being the FW 190 (or is it Fw190) and The Horsemen.


But one thing did spoil the show for me and for many people I had the chance to talk to.
That one thing?
Bernard Chabbert.
His endless commentary talking over everything has become tedious now. Some try to defend him by citing his aviation knowledge. Fine. Be knowledgeable. But be knowledgeable in moderation. He just drones on and on throwing in some philosophical titbit now and again but he has introduced a new word to the English lexicon - chabber: to talk incessantly to an audience to the point where that audience wants to commit suicide or go to sleep.

I cannot be alone in wanting this man to just STFU (to use a modern internetism) - take a breath. Go for a coffee or a glass of wine. Eat some food. Just find something else for your mouth to do other than spout forth words.
Sunday improved as they found the music for the Horsemen routine - what did Chabbert do? He spoke over the middle section. Anna Walker suffered the same - nice aerial display with a charming version of Bolero. Chabbert found the volume dial and decided to improve on the music. This man just doesn't know when to stop.

I feel I have the right to make this complaint. I am a fully paid up member of the Flying Legends Club - I have gone every year since the first one and have, with only one or two exceptions, paid for the Gold Pass tickets. I have usually gone on both days. I have paid my 'dues' by supporting this event.

Hopefully the voices being raised to request the man to be moderated will not go unnoticed - maybe the Silence Chabbert Action Commando unfurling a huge banner in front of the commentary box next year might get the message home....

The Horsemen Arriveth....

Horsemen out for a gallop....

From out of the blue rode The Horsemen...

7 days to go.....

Short stroll....

And todays theme is two seat trainers...

Duxford's F-15 summer wardrobe...

Took a stroll up towards the AAM this afternoon and I see the F-15 Eagle is back out in the open air after having a new coat of paint...

37 days to go....

...now to pray for decent weather.

Why we love the Mustang...

Like my own love of the P-51 Mustang the good folk over at ASB.TV have put together yet another great piece of video -

"The Horsemen love the Mustang. Imagine that! We love it for all the same reasons you do. This segment took quite awhile to edit. It is very simple but we wanted to make sure that it captured the essence of how we feel about this magnificent machine. Hopefully we did it justice... we certainly poured our hearts into it."

Watch and enjoy...

Vimy Replica

Vickers Vimy replica now safely in the back of H2 at DX - temporary lodgings until it goes to Brooklands for permanent static display....

The Horsemen Cometh - Helicopter

The Horsemen - P-51 Acro Team

Camera, no sound, action!!!

After a couple of previous attempts I finally managed to get hold of a G45 Gun camera. All the gun camera film I have been viewing for the last 30 or so months has been shot on the G45 fitted to Spitfires, Hurricanes, Typhoons etc.
Made by the Williamson Manufacturing Co.Ltd. of London & Reading before, during and after WWII, they were fitted to a wide range of aircraft.
It appears to be in good condition and is a 24v version. The camera is finished in a black 'crackle' finish and I suspect it may be a relatively 'new' version even though it carries AM markings. Other examples of the G45 I have seen online have a grey paint finish hence my suspicion it may be a post 1945 example. The heating element inside the lens housing is still intact. An empty film magazine was included.
Fitting and removal of the film magazine is either from the side access door or from the top loading slot dependent on the camera's orientation when fitted to the aircraft.

All I need now are the rest of the parts to rebuild a Spitfire around it!

Go fly a kite....

No, not the usual use of the term, but something I watched when in Singapore a couple of years ago.
While having a meal at Clarke Quay one evening my eye caught some strange lights in the night sky. I thought I was witnessing the arrival of some alien spaceships (helped by a few Tiger Beers) and eventually managed to make out they were some form of RC aircraft.
After our meal we wondered over the other side of the river and found that what I'd seen were actually RC kites - flown by a local club outside Riverside Point.

I may just pick one up to bring home when we visit in August...

Go take a look at these amazing gadgets in action - goflykite.com

FW 190 out for an airing...

As I was about to go back to 'work' some of the contents of H3 were pulled out to enable one of the Spitfires to be taken out from the centre of the hangar. As a result, an opportunity arose to have a close up to look at the FlugWerk 190 A9 (and others), while the various bits were shuffled around.

Duxford 27/3/09

Wandered around for a short time this afternoon.

The back half of H2 had been cleared out so there was a little more sat out in the sun, wind and rain than usual today.










Sally B has her port outer cowlings back on, so how long until she is back in the air?















Nicely restored BMW 801D from a FW 190 on display in H4...

Robots, Flying Cars & Airships...

Tenuous aviation link coming up. Having grown up reading Dan Dare in the Eagle comic and other 60's and 70's science fiction, which predicted we'd be living on the Moon and flying around in cars, I have a bit of a soft spot for things retro and one of the few films in my DVD collection is the animated film "Robots".

So I was pleased to find the retro robot art of Lawrence Northey via the website Webomator.
The retro robots are great and I'd love to have one.
The artwork of Bradley W. Schenck of Webomator is also great and is available on the Retropolis Transit Authority - think I may have to treat myself to a couple of the shirts for summer!!

The Horsemen cometh...

An excellent video trailer/teaser of the world's only P-51 formation aerobatic team, and of things to come, has been posted over on Airshowbuzz.com - amazing production work and delivered in HD.

Just turn the volume up and sit back!!!!

ASB.TV

Watch out for their arrival for Flying Legends 2009!!!

XH558 - can it be 'saved'?

The pledge total currently stands at £956,540 £961,558
Will they manage to raise the amount required before the end of today (cut off?).

Fingers crossed so we may still see the tin triangle fly in 09.....

UPDATE:
And they did it!!! XH558 lives to f(l)ight another day - let's hope that the promises to restructure the trust works and that they are not cap in hand to the public again....

Paddy Finucane - penultimate mission?

As previously written about, sometimes I'll see something that gets me reaching for Google and doing a little research.

Today it was a name that I recognised from reading about the RAF in WWII.

Finucane.

I wondered if it was the same Paddy Finucane, an Irish Spitfire ace who was awarded the DSO and the DFC and two bars, and who was one of the youngest Wing Commanders in the RAF.

The title card of the clip in question just read -

Combat Film No. K1273
W/C Finucane Stn Flight
14/7/42 Spitfire VB
Dutch Coastal Vessel Off Ostende.

The clip showed a ship being attacked at low level and lasted a matter of seconds.
A quick search on the 'net produced the following information -

After attacking German shipping at Ostend and strafing three German airfields on July 15th, 1942, Finucane’s wing regrouped to return to Hornchurch. As the group passed low-level over the beach at Pointe Du Touquet, Finucane’s Spitfire was hit by machine gun fire that severely damaged his radiator. The engine overheated and quit, and the Spitfire was too low to allow Finucane to bail out. Losing altitude swiftly, Paddy was heard to say; “This is it, Chaps.” Witnesses reported that after a near perfect "splash" the Shamrock-Spit sank like a stone, and despite all efforts, was never to be seen again. At the time of his death, Wing Commander Finucane’s score stood at an amazing 32 victories. SOURCE

Could I have stumbled across the last piece of footage of this 'ace' prior to him being shot down and killed in action?

More info about Brendan Eamon Fitzpatrick "Paddy" Finucane can be found on several websites such as acesofww2.com or century-of-flight.net

Part A attaches to Part B...

The P-47 Thunderbolt assembly instructions - just like a big Airfix kit....

Miss Velma gets naked...

iPhonePhoto

Ferocious Frankie

Ferocious Frankie before a bit of flying today at Duxford...

Duxford today...

Thunderbolt a little closer to her wings...


Hangar 2 panorama...
(click for larger image)
My first attempt at photo stitching!

Or would that be a Hangarama?...

Random View: Airspace...

Images taken with iPhone 3G