Gliders Photos

[vikingBerserker]

Great pics!

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Glider]

This sounds a little odd but I cannot remember which submarine I was on. I have been on three different submarines and cannot remember on which one I took the following photo's. .
Engine Room

Torpedo Room

 

[Wurger]

 

[Glider]

Back to the aircraft
Bronco

RF4c

A very busy Canberra, post Gulf War

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[Glider]

The B1
This was one of the first airshows, where the B1 was a star turn. Security was very tight by UK standards and I have never seen a British armed police officer at an airshow before or after.

Little and Large show

B17 G

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely shots!

 

[Airframes]

Nice shots. The lighting in the B-1 pic adds to the scene nicely.

 

[Glider]

This is a boring shot but I think it's one of the first A300B2 Airbus which it's fair to say broke the almost monopoly the USA had in large airliners

Next the RAF F4 obviously taken in 1979

Last a disappointing shot of an Alpha Jet and a Do28. It does show how keen people were at that time to sell the trainers as strike aircraft. An interesting point is that I live almost on the perimeter of the local parachuting Club, and they use the Do28 in the club.
We did come back from shopping one day and found an unopened chute in the front garden. All my wife would say was 'Where's the body'.

 

[Wurger]

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Next the RAF F4 obviously in 1979.

In 1973 the Ark Royal visited us in Key West for a little ACM exercise, Spey Phantoms vs J79 Phantoms. Totally embarrassing. In a week of dogfights not one of our birds escaped being shot down, and not one scored a kill. To add insult to injury, a couple of Buccs sneaked in on the deck at the speed of heat, popped straight up into the furball undetected (NVAF style), picked off a couple of our Phantoms, and escaped unscathed. This particular engagement was the "big show" finale, a 6(RN) vs 8(USN). The RN guys were regular line pilots; our crews were Topgun trained instructors. Ouch! I had a part time job on the side as a fueler, and noticed that our planes took on significantly more fuel than theirs after each hop. That Spey had to be a $hit-hot engine. But like everything else British, they left puddles on the tarmac.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Glider]

Interesting as the UK pilots generally preferred the J79 to the Spey. The Spey was more powerful so if the US pilots tried to use the vertical they would be in trouble but the J79 had a much better throttle response so tended to be more flexible. The UK F4's were slower as the changes increased the drag.
The RAF used to think that the best F4's in the fleet were some J79 powered aircraft purchased after the Falklands as they were updated with better radars and Skyflash missiles giving them the best of both worlds.
As an aside the USN were not that keen to fly FAA F4's from their carriers as the jet exhaust from the Spey was a lot hotter than the J79 and tended to damage the deck / blast shields.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

The RAF used to think that the best F4's in the fleet were some J79 powered aircraft purchased after the Falklands as they were updated with better radars and Skyflash missiles giving them the best of both worlds.

They were probably using dash 12 engines. In '73 we were still on dash 10s. (Wwooowwwoooww) as the exhaust nozzles and BLCS adjusted to different power settings.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[Glider]

Some golden oldies, Concorde (what else could it be?)

Jetstream from the day when the UK could build a decent set of aircraft

Airbus putting on quite a display

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Glider]

Italian Navy Agusta Bell - which always looked overloaded to me, I think it was the large radar.

Shorts Tucano

Tornado

Viggen

 

[Wurger]