which aircraft thrilled you the most to see flying

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As a kid I went to the opening of DFW airport in Dallas. Saw many impressive aerial exhibitions that day, including the vaunted Harrier. But nothing impressed me as much as the Avro Vulcan performing a barrel roll on take off.
 
For me it has to be the Lancaster, Spitifire Hurricane 2x B17's - although what really hit me as being beautiful graceful, was the genuine 1918 Bleriot that flew at flying legends this year -apparently the pilot that was flying it has not one, but TWO genuine bleriots - lucky s*d:shock:

I cant wait for the blenheim to become airworthy again - they were in the process of putting the MK I short nose on it in the hangar. The Fuselage of the Falco CR42 was coming along nicely also, As was the P47 Razorback the Beaufighter

I do however have a "wish list" of aircraft that I wish i could see flying again,:cry:

Stirling, Halifax, Wellington, Hampden, Whitley, Concorde, FW190, Do17Z, Ju88, Bf110, JU87 stuka,

who knows? maybe one day......
 
Of WWII planes seeing the Spitfire, Hurricane and Bf 109E in the air at Thunder Over Michigan was a thrill. as was seeing the Lancaster in the air. However no modern day plane gives me a bigger chill than the B1-B. My Dad made parts for them when he worked at Rockwell and since his passing every time I witness a flyby I wonder if some of the parts he made are on board and I tend to get a bit sentimental.
 
My Dad made parts for them when he worked at Rockwell and since his passing every time I witness a flyby I wonder if some of the parts he made are on board and I tend to get a bit sentimental.
Did he work in Inglewood or up in Palmdale? My father in law was the production test pilot.
 
moved further south. Also I'm friends with Larry at Gourmet meats on Jewel between Kipling and Wads. Good Danish bakery up on I think it's Union..
Sorry its taken so long to get back on your post - Yep - know the bakery well although I never actually been there and also driven past Gourmet meats - shoot, we should hook up for a beer sometime?
 
Actually he worked in the Columbus, Ohio plant. They did a lot of the sub parts there. The Columbus division developed the diffusing bonding process that they used to make up some of the large titanium pieces like the wing pivot structures and lander gear mounts. At the time I was working for a company that supplied the ultrasonic inspection equipment that checked for voids in the rough pieces after they were bonded but before they were machined.
 
Thought I'd bring this old thread I started way back in 2008 back to life.

Over the last year or so I have seen

2 Lancasters in formation
4 C-47s in formation
8 Spitfires in formation
2 Vampires in formation
An F-86 Sabre
Sea fury
Feisler Storch
And of course my true love the Vulcan on two occasions, both times transporting me back to a 7 year old boy in 1977 again.

I do feel lucky of late !
 
Ah, the ground-shaking, chest-crushing roar and howl of the mighty 'Tin Triangle' - priceless !

Yeah I know, so glad we have managed to see it a couple of times over the last 2 of years and very happy I managed to share something from my childhood with April as well !

And it's always great to hanging around at airshow with your good self Dogsbody
 
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The most impressive flyby I evar saw was in Arizona. I was in a Cessna 172 at about 1200 feet AGL bear Sedona and a pair of A-10s came out of nowhere and went under me by at least 600 feet. They were playing in the canyons and they impressed with the 145° banks over the top of a ridge to get back down to LOW level.

They were in sight for maybe 10 seconds and were almost inverted very low over some places we used to ride off-road motorcycles. I was considering going down into the canyons muself (I was solo) and refrained for years afterward becuase of the complete lack of warning of their passage. No NOTAMs or anything during flight planning and it was NOT a military airway at all.
 
My most memorable flyby was while climbing in Snowdonia in North Wales. We were climbing Tryfan, and all day in the valley below us Hawks from RAF Valley were doing low-level passes. Great to watch - pretty little planes playing between then mountains.

And then, and the end of the day, sitting in the pub at the bottom of the mountain, there was a much louder noise and round the corner, at about a wingspan's altitude came a Hercules! It honestly looked like the only reason it could fit between the mountains was because it was banking so steeply. That's a REAL pilot.
 

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