What's flying over your house

[Mike Etheridge 1]

Well I expected to see Spitfires and Hurricanes over my house last week but saw none. However today I went to a model railway display in Dartford with a friend and whilst in the car park at the Leigh Academy where the exhibition was held, I saw first a single spitfire with invasion stripes and later when we were leaving, five aircraft , two Hurricanes and three Spitfires- a great sound and visual display.

I am not current involved with model railways but spotted a book for sale titled 'The Meccano Super Models'. The asking price for the 'as new' book was £1.50, so when I got home I checked out the Amazon price. Would you believe that a new copy is listed at £999.11---must be a mistake?

 

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 19/09/2015 20:33:37

[Peter Miller]

I am not current involved with model railways but spotted a book for sale titled 'The Meccano Super Models'. The asking price for the 'as new' book was £1.50, so when I got home I checked out the Amazon price. Would you believe that a new copy is listed at £999.11---must be a mistake?

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 19/09/2015 20:33:37

I have noticed that a lot of the S/H book sellers ofte put exhorbitant prices on books on Amazon. I don'y know why. I thought that I had a very rare expensive book based on that. I was wrong and find I can buy copies really cheaply.

I think that they must just hope that there is some mug out there who will buy it.

[Erfolg]

I have observed the same phenomena Peter.

There was one case where i knew where the book warehouse where one book was located that was advertising a book I was interested in.

I went to the reception, where I was told they did not deal directly with the public. I then said i was very interested in the book, and would like to verify the condition, before ordering on the net.

It then became apparent that they possibly did not have the book.

From this conversation, I started to think that some of the books were subject to some type of arrangement, between dealers. The listing more of a come on than occupying shelf space and costs such as heating, rates, cost of purchase. Potentially a method of artificially inflating prices, between a ring of traders, perhaps?

[Martin Whybrow]

Standing in my back garden working on my car when I heard multiple jet engines approaching; looked up to see the Red Arrows approaching from the direction of Duxford, flying in a 2 +7 formation; I waved my hands over my head as they came close and immediately the rearmost plane pulled of to one side of the formation, did a slow barrel roll directly overhead, then rejoined the formation My mate had chosen just that moment to go in and use the loo, so he was rather annoyed at missing the impromptu display.

Edited By Martin Whybrow on 20/09/2015 21:16:24

[Dave Bran]

Posted by Wiltshire Flyer on 18/09/2015 01:07:09:

Posted by Dave Bran on 17/09/2015 20:30:13:

Spitfire..................................Yawn..................

Several Piper Arrows or the same one screwing itself into oblivion......................too bored to look................

He who is tired of the majestic sound and sight of the legendary spitfire, is surely tired of life itself?

(Passes Dave a rope) 🎻

Got rope but not long enough to lasso Spitfire. Need more Hurricanes.............

Saturday? Guess............S P I T F I R E on circuits................................sigh............ and a Eurofighter Typhoon rising out of Biggin Hill, bit far off but I assume the pseudo WW2 livery one, only saw the underside briefly and got deafened by the roar....................

[Dave Bran]

Posted by Martin Whybrow on 20/09/2015 21:15:51:

I waved my hands over my head as they came close and immediately the rearmost plane pulled of to one side of the formation, did a slow barrel roll directly overhead, then rejoined the formation

He was telling you he'd seen your distress call and was sending help.................................

[John Privett]

Posted by Dave Bran on 21/09/2015 08:04:35:

Got rope but not long enough to lasso Spitfire. Need more Hurricanes.............

Slightly stretching the "over your house" bit, but I've checked through my photos and identified all the aircraft I saw at the Battle of Britain flights this August and September at Biggin Hill and Goodwood.

In total I have seen 30 Spitfires and 7 Hurricanes. Plus a Mustang and a Blenheim - though they don't really count as Battle of Britain aircraft.

Since Wikipedia reckons that globally there are only 54 airworthy Spitfires and 13 Hurricanes, I've been fortunate enough to have seen over half of each of them in the past 5 or 6 weeks.

In fact, as 13 Spitfires are based in North America, 5 are in Australia/New Zealand and 1 is in Israel, I've seen 30 out of the 35 that are close enough to have any expectation of seeing. (30 are in the UK, 2 in Germany, plus 1 each in Sweden, France and The Netherlands)

Seeing a single Spitfire or Hurricane flying past isn't going to be quite the same again! Though whilst flying on the Downs yesterday we did spot a single Hurricane late in the afternoon heading vaguely in the direction of Biggin Hill.

[onetenor]

Today saw THE VULCAN over our back garden. 2nd time in 3 weeks. Seemed each time to be heading for Harwarden airport. Regarding waving to passing aircraft. When I was a lad the Weather Spit used to fly over our house . If I was off school I would rush out when I heard it coming and wave as it came over. Very often I would get a wing waggle in return. In the end I wouldn't even need to wave and if I was in the yard I got a waggle . The spit was replaced by a Mossie but never got a waggle from him. Might have been a different pilot or couldn't see me any more.. The service was eventually discontinued so no more waggles anyway On one rare occasion the Spit was accompanied by a hurricane . That was in Liverpool but I now live in N..Wales and used to see the Jet trainers from R.A.F. Valley but I think they have stopped training jet pilots there anymore.

[Dave Bran]

Posted by John Privett on 21/09/2015 22:21:10:

In total I have seen 30 Spitfires and 7 Hurricanes. Plus a Mustang and a Blenheim - though they don't really count as Battle of Britain aircraft.

Yes John, but MOST of the Spitfires and Hurricanes extant do not count as Battle of Britain aircraft EITHER, sit in a darkened room for a while, you have been contaminated, PLEASE don't slip into the same malaise as most of the Journos, esp the BBC, watch less Television and take more salt!! I stopped watching after a BBC twit was happily standing by a Mk IX at BH describing it as a wonderful BoB veteran, it wasn't good for my health................. (MkIX was in service from June 1942).

In that vein, it still annoys that people are continuing to be insistent that "Big Beautiful Doll" went in at Duxford. That Mustang loss, though sad, wasn't even a WW2 build, it was an "H", and was only painted up as BBD because of its ace pilot status (as are others in the world).

With regard following the title "over your house", I'd say that a chance sighting anywhere is OK if stated as such, but going to see anything specifically (like going to a show) is cheating!!!???

Coat, Get.....................

[Erfolg]

I really do not think any of us should get to excited if a Spitfire is described as a BoB veteran, or words to that extent. I doubt if there is a BoB Spitfire left in the world. At best i would expect a very heavily reconstructed airframe. Trying to be realistic, these aircraft operated in war conditions, in a period where aircraft were quickly superceded. At best being relegated to less arduous duties than the front line, from there eventually the scrap yard.

I am of the group of people who do not really care, just happy to see one of a type/linage. Part of my feelings are that the more exact we come in trying to define the exactitude of any aircraft, the less real they can be made to seem.

The most important part of the celebrations (or whatever you believe them to be) is what happened. This is where i become a total nerd, as I think the important aspects were the sequence of events. The bombing initially of the Radar stations, then the switch to airfields and industrial capacity and finally how the Germans were induced to bomb cities. I guess you would argue that the BoB as acknowledged was centred on ensuring that the invasion plans were shelved.

Yet get into the historical detail I like and there will be a lot of yawns and the ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Peter Miller]

Actually the BOB Memorila flight does have a genuine Battle of Britain Spitfire. Their CO said so on Antiques Road Show on Sunday night.

[Erfolg]

Peter

That could well be true. Although I doubt in the absolute sense, that it is without some changes as a result of ware and tare, others due regulations/safety issues, communication requirements and even changes as a result of accidents however minor.

I could not care less personally, about this sort of change. That is as long as the aircraft is typical of its type and mark, that is near enough for me.

Why worry if a journalist is not accurate in an absolute sense, as long as the image and message communicated is not unreasonable. I can see that I perhaps occupy one end of the modelling opinion. Yet there are some subjects where modellers are absolutely certain, enough to die in a ditch, yet there knowledge is far from well informed. Yet to their needs there understanding is enough to be true. The irony is they will not be aware that they are perhaps only partially correct and bathe in self satisfaction.

Of course, that could well be me

[Dave Bran]

Been a bit busy, but just spent a half hour trying to discover what flew over my house on Wed afternoon.

Small, shoulder wing with a high tailplane, and a clearly shaped water landing fuselage, either retracted floats or very low profile floats/skids quite a long way inboard of the tips, very low profile at that. Had a peculiar engine note, quite high pitched but quite low revving if that makes any sense! As it was over my house (literally) before I got sight, all I saw was it flying away, so did not see engine position clearly enough but assume pod over and behind wing, but pull or push uncertain.

Looked much more streamlined than an Icon, narrower hull in both height and width. Def would be IN the water, not on it!!!

Trouble is, there are lots and lots of kit and micro and light seaplanes, one offs and upwards, but I would have thought very few in the UK, and so you just don't expect to see one over urban London/Inner Kent!

[Devcon1]

About 4.45pm today flying north over Tiverton Devon, what looked to me like a P51 Mustang with invasion stripes.

[Mike Etheridge 1]

On Saturday about twenty to thirty Parakeets plus one crow all mobbing one Raptor which may well have been a Buzzard. I grabbed my camera but the only photograph I was able to take was of the Crow and Buzzard as the Parakeets had dispersed over the woods beyond our garden. As the Crow and Buzzard flew higher in the sky it was obvious the buzzard was the more able flyer and got the better of the crow which eventually backed off.

Just a few days before a Tiger Moth had flown over the garden:

 

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 04/10/2015 21:38:40

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 04/10/2015 21:40:48

[Mark Kettle 1]

Waiting at the Peterborough hospital this morning and over head two F15's dogfighting - est 8, 000 + feet high has anyone else seen them?

[Danny M2Z]

A Focke Wulf 190 flew over last week. A quite rare event in Australia until I discovered that a local enterprise bought one. This link gives more background info **LINK** but it was interesting to view as I was quietly catching a few trout from Lake Hume. Albury airport is just up the road about 8 km.

Yellow nose cowling - might wander down and grab a few photos.

* Danny M2Z *

[Cuban8]

Posted by Mark Kettle 1 on 20/10/2015 10:20:44:
Waiting at the Peterborough hospital this morning and over head two F15's dogfighting - est 8, 000 + feet high has anyone else seen them?

Wouldn't be surprised if they're not the same pair that regularly fly over my daughter's house in Swadlincote.

When I was a youngster in the 60s, we used to live in North Walsham, Norfolk. A Wessex used to regularly fly over our house at low altitude and I'd use my mum's washing line prop with a tea towel attached to the top to wave at the crew. They'd usually respond and on occasion circle a couple of times and wave back.

Great times.

 

C8

Edited By Cuban8 on 20/10/2015 12:10:23

[Erfolg]

Unfortunatly I did not have my camera with me, when i visited the Regensse, and Rotach Ergern.

My wife and myself were sat in outside bar in a hotel, when a Ju 52 flew over, at a lowish height, along the length of the lake.

I was totally awestruck, as for me it was so atmospheric, feeling you could be having a drink, pre 1939, enjoying a beautiful summers day. As can be imagined, the progress of the aircraft was quite slow, almost lumbering (by the standards of today), the engines with a distinctive note or beat, the aircraft itself so distinctive.

Another perspective was it is a nice summers day in a beautiful location and a old aircraft has flown over, so what. That was my wives view.

[Danny M2Z]

G'day.

The bushfire season is here again. over 100° here tomorrow.

I looked out the front door just in time to see this, so ran in and grabbed the camera. I think it was a practice water pick-up run. Lake Hume, NSW-Vic border, Australia.

Still intend to visit the local airport and get some photo's of the Focke-Wulf 190.

* Danny M *

Edited By Danny M2Z on 18/11/2015 06:22:07

[Daithi O Buitigh]

Danny, the 'FW' is almost certainly 'FlugWerk' and not 'Focke Wulf' (They will build a 190 for you if you have enough cash). They also did a Bu131 and a P51 and a 'Dora'

Check here

[Danny M2Z]

Daithi, I think that you are correct, but still worth a photo or two. It flies around above the lake also.

It's interesting to see the water bombers, they often top-up locally, right in front of the lounge room windows.

I saw a very large Sikorsky wokka-wokka fly over last week.

* Danny M *

[Martin Whybrow]

Not a particularly interesting aircraft, but at a very odd altitude; just heard (about 20 minutes ago) a passenger aircraft very low and using a lot of power, ran to look outside and a BA plane flew over us at about 2000 feet; we're 20 miles away from the nearest airport. He looked to be manouevering quite hard as well.

[Martin Whybrow]

Seems it was BA flight BAW9273, flying from City to Cambridge; quite what it was doing over us at that height (reported as 2200 feet) is a mystery, its flight path on flighradar24 was decidedly odd.

[Martin Whybrow]

About 9:25 this morning, heard fighter jets moving very fast, looked out just to the south of us to see a pair of Eurofighter Typhoons moving very fast, using a lot of power and pulling some hard manouevers, enough to cause vapour trails from the wing tips.

Edited By Martin Whybrow on 26/01/2016 13:55:16