Impressive full size aircraft displays

[Wookman]

Saw an A10 Worthog display at Exeter airport many years ago. The announcer introduced the Warthog and said it would arrive from the right at witch point I saw it fly over the hedge at the far end of the runway and disappear into the dip in the runway. It reappeared at the beginning of the display line at about 20 ft. Up to this point it had made no noise what so ever. The noise started as the thing went past. I remember thinking that if you where ever on the wrong end of a Warthog you would never know anything about it.

[Peter Miller]

9 minutes ago, Wookman said:

Saw an A10 Worthog display at Exeter airport many years ago. The announcer introduced the Warthog and said it would arrive from the right at witch point I saw it fly over the hedge at the far end of the runway and disappear into the dip in the runway. It reappeared at the beginning of the display line at about 20 ft. Up to this point it had made no noise what so ever. The noise started as the thing went past. I remember thinking that if you where ever on the wrong end of a Warthog you would never know anything about it.

This reminded me of a display at Wethersfield back in the mid 50s.

A Royal Navy Sea Hornet was displaying and the commentator said "The Royal Nave Sea Hornet will now do a run on one engine"

The Sea Hornet dived from a great height and hurtled past on one engine and pulled in a climb and vanished into the blue.

The commentator then said "The Royal Nave Sea Hornet will now do a run on no engines" which got a laugh.

The American air force has always been paranoid about an engine out. (I could tell you a few stories about that!!!)

The Sea Hornet dived out of the blue with both props feathered, hurtled down the flight line and pulled up into the blue before restarting the engines.

[SIMON CRAGG]

"Spirit of Kent", what a fantastic aircraft name!.

 

As a matter of interest, we recently visited the Battle of Britain Memorial site at Capel-le=Ferne Folkstone.

 

We were greeted by an ad hoc Spitfire fly by, which according to the staff happens regularly, as pilots go out of their way to pay their respects to the fallen.

 

An amazing, thought provoking place which is well worth a visit.

[Peter Jenkins]

I believe the noise from the props is actually the whistle from the supercharger rather than prop generated.  You can hear a similar sound in the clip of the Spitfire display that Jon posted above.

[Bruce Collinson]

I recall being told by a master at school that part of the issue with the Starfighter was that the Germans fitted them with heavier radars but didn’t recalibrate the stall warning system.   Also, allegedly, the Americans hangered  theirs but the Germans left them parked outside.

Being brought up in Bomber County, Lincolnshire, all of the numerous operational bases routinely put on open days and the tour de force was a scramble by 4 Vulcans.   The ground shook.

BTC

[Outrunner]

 

Seen at RAF Fairford, RIAT 2022. Not the fastest or loudest but the Airbus Beluga was massively impressive. This is really huge and quiet and quite cute.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Outrunner
Typo

[Peter Jenkins]

18 minutes ago, Bruce Collinson said:

I recall being told by a master at school that part of the issue with the Starfighter was that the Germans fitted them with heavier radars but didn’t recalibrate the stall warning system.   Also, allegedly, the Americans hangered  theirs but the Germans left them parked outside.

Being brought up in Bomber County, Lincolnshire, all of the numerous operational bases routinely put on open days and the tour de force was a scramble by 4 Vulcans.   The ground shook.

BTC

 

Bruce, I suspect your master had been smoking something odd!  Under the terms of the sale of the Starfighter the system would have either been the standard US system or standard US export system.  If the Germans wanted to fit their own radar they would have needed that to have been in the contract and I find the suggestion that they would not have checked CG totally laughable - Lockheed would have probably offered their assistance via the US government.  Also, the suggestion that the Germans didn't hangar their aircraft is equally absurd.  We (in the RAF) never left fighters parked on the pan unless they were required for flight.  Given the very short wingspan of an F104, hangar space would not have been an issue.  Sorry, but I think this is a complete red herring.

 

The F104 brake system did not work when the engine was shut down.  When we had one divert to my base, we declined to tow the aircraft into the hangar as the forecast overnight weather was benign and we would have had to have used airmen with chocks to arrest the aircraft movement in the event the towbar safety break operated and the aircraft was left to its own devices!

Edited January 5, 2023 by Peter Jenkins

[Peter Miller]

Not quite displays but definitely Vulcan related.

 

On Master Diversion Flight at St Mawgan we had a few visiting Vulcans.

One had had an argument with a Petrol Station on the end of Filton runway on take off which made a big mess of all the pipe work and undercarriage doors.

Another came in late on very wet night. I was on nights.  We only had one pressure refueller on the station which held 3000 gallons.

We asked the pilot if he wanted fuel. "Just top it up a bit please"

"Er... How much?"

"Just SIX Thousand Gallons!!"

We were there until 2 am in the pouring rain with a pressure bowser being topped up with a normal over the wing refueller! !

Mind you, a Vulcan is the best aircraft to be refuelling on a pouring wet night!!!

[Jon H]

When my Dad was young he lived at Scampton as his father was a Vulcan engineer. He told me that on one occasion he heard a noise louder than anything he had heard before so went to take a look. 

 

One Vulcan was steaming down the runway, got into the air but hugged the ground. it then pulled up into a near vertical climb, rolled inverted and pulled round the loop to pass down the runway the opposite way at about 50ft. It then carried on a normal display. 

 

The story he was told by his Dad was that the pilot was practicing for some display for the Queen and they had removed some limits on the Olympus engines to get more thrust out of them.  The story goes that the brass forbid him from doing his fancy takeoff just in case he stuffed it in front of the Queen so apparently it was never repeated. 

[Ace]

My Dad flew Vulcans and while at a Cottesmore families open day in 65/6? the announcer said a Vulcan was coming in at zero feet, so all looked down the the runway in anticipation. Then the sun was obscured by the huge delta coming in silently at 200' over a hanger from behind the families then slamming in reheat and pulling near vertical. I vividly remember the ground shaking and my ears drumming. Health and safety was shall we say a little more relaxed back then. 😉

[Peter Miller]

8 minutes ago, Ace said:

My Dad flew Vulcans and while at a Cottesmore families open day in 65/6? the announcer said a Vulcan was coming in at zero feet, so all looked down the the runway in anticipation. Then the sun was obscured by the huge delta coming in silently at 200' over a hanger from behind the families then slamming in reheat and pulling near vertical. I vividly remember the ground shaking and my ears drumming. Health and safety was shall we say a little more relaxed back then. 😉

Visiting Vulcans always shook the ground at St Mawgan. Far more so than other V bombers

[Nigel Dell]

2 hours ago, Ace said:

My Dad flew Vulcans and while at a Cottesmore families open day in 65/6? the announcer said a Vulcan was coming in at zero feet, so all looked down the the runway in anticipation. Then the sun was obscured by the huge delta coming in silently at 200' over a hanger from behind the families then slamming in reheat and pulling near vertical. I vividly remember the ground shaking and my ears drumming. Health and safety was shall we say a little more relaxed back then. 😉

It can do that without the reheat as it is not fitted. Even more awesome only whimps need reheat! 😂

[Gary Manuel]

Vulcan Scramble was a sound to behold and never to be forgot.

 

Recordings are still scary to this day. Let's hope we never see / hear the likes again.

 

 

[Peter Miller]

13 minutes ago, Gary Manuel said:

Vulcan Scramble was a sound to behold and never to be forgot.

 

Recordings are still scary to this day. Let's hope we never see / hear the likes again.

 

 

You will NEVER get anything like the full effect on film. YOU HAVE TO BE THERE!! The ground shakes with the noise!!!

[Chris Walby]

15 hours ago, john stones 1 - Moderator said:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Svetlana+Kapanina+Death&&view=detail&mid=B9F6AD8BDF5807483A20B9F6AD8BDF5807483A20&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DSvetlana%2BKapanina%2BDeath%26FORM%3DRESTAB

Nice one John,  Always amazed at the engine reliability and that the prop stays on!

 

I show this one to the Air Scouts for a couple of reasons, watching the rudder and elevator movements, external observations when flying, relaxed wave (17:52) to the camera. The pilot of the motor glider looks skyward as he keeps telling the Scouts a gentle grip of the stick is all that's needed....not two handed corner punching! 

 

 

[Cuban8]

6 hours ago, Peter Jenkins said:

I believe the noise from the props is actually the whistle from the supercharger rather than prop generated.  You can hear a similar sound in the clip of the Spitfire display that Jon posted above.

Seems to be no definitive answer to the source of the whistle - Mustangs are particularly good at it, but I reckon it's an aerodynamic trait because some of them are loud whistlers and others hardly at all. It seems most prevalent when the aircraft is pulling a turn and viewed from below rather than from a top view (pulling up into a loop for example) and not when on a fast and level pass. Notice at 0.10 and at other times when the whistle disappears briefly - this is quite common in a lot of videos and when I've watched an aeroplane live at an airshow. Very Odd.

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Cuban8

[J D 8]

  The Lockheed F104 was the wrong aircraft for what the post war Luftwaffe [ Bundeswehr]  needed. The then head of the air force Erich Hartmann resigned over the issue feeling that there were other aircraft better suited to the Germans need that should have been considered. 

He was the highest scoring fighter pilot of WW2  and his opposition to the 104 led to his early retirement.

      Investigations into the "Lockheed bribery scandal" reveled that the West German Defence minister and his party had received more than 10 million for the purchase of 900 104's   This was denied by the government.

  Later investigations found that all documents at Lockheed related to the purchase had been destroyed.

 

[Jon H]

Its very loud too...

 

 

 

On the P51 the gun ports do whistle like a flute but it must be more than that as reno racing P51's with ports fared over also whistle, as do Spitfires when pushed hard and the Hispano Buchon imposter 109's do as well. My money is on the supercharger and some angle of attack influence on the air being drawn in to the intakes. 

[Jason Channing]

I remember many years ago having completed my engineering apprenticeship at Aviation Jersey and standing alongside a RR Merlin I had worked on after a rebuild as it started up on the test stand for the first time. The earth literally shook. (I was given a piston from the rebuild.) At the time I did not really appreciate it as it was used at my Dads engineering company building race engines and was used as an ash tray which was quite normal back then.

[Gary Manuel]

5 hours ago, Peter Miller said:

You will NEVER get anything like the full effect on film. YOU HAVE TO BE THERE!! The ground shakes with the noise!!!

Yes I know. I live a couple of miles from former RAF Finningley.

[Robert Cracknell]

Not for much longer as Vulcan XH558 is to be dismantled and moved to a new home. It is not known if it will run again after this... 

The airport is closing in June 2023.

[Gary Manuel]

1 hour ago, Robert Cracknell said:

Not for much longer as Vulcan XH558 is to be dismantled and moved to a new home. It is not known if it will run again after this... 

The airport is closing in June 2023.

Yes I know. I live a couple of miles from former Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport. Not June 2023 though. It closed in November 2022.

[Jon H]

8 hours ago, Robert Cracknell said:

Not for much longer as Vulcan XH558 is to be dismantled and moved to a new home. It is not known if it will run again after this... 

The airport is closing in June 2023.

 

The Avro Shackleton at coventry is going to be dismantled and moved to Elvington as coventry is closing too. I still think they should have moved it to east kirkby to live with their lancaster and make use of their extensive avro manchester derived aircraft knowledge to speed the restoration. They also have a captive audience there for taxi rides etc. I guess there was some reason that didnt happen. I would love to see it fly, hopefully they can continue working on it at elvington.  

[Allan Bennett]

I think for me the most impressive full-size display was a South African Airways B747 at a Duxford air show quite a few years ago.  The size of it made it seem much closer to the spectators than the smaller military aircraft, and the manoeuvres it was able to carry out were amazing.

[EvilC57]

22 hours ago, Chris Walby said:

Nice one John,  Always amazed at the engine reliability and that the prop stays on!

 

I show this one to the Air Scouts for a couple of reasons, watching the rudder and elevator movements, external observations when flying, relaxed wave (17:52) to the camera. The pilot of the motor glider looks skyward as he keeps telling the Scouts a gentle grip of the stick is all that's needed....not two handed corner punching! 

 

 

That looks hard work compared to twiddling the joysticks on my DX8!