Aircraft General Discussion

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Here's a bit more to go off re the ANZAC group.

I ran through the very shaky video again a few times, and grabbed these three.

While I was struggling to adjust the focus setting back to auto, the left hand aircraft had peeled off. It only became obvious when I re-ran the video

This first one is the lead aircraft.

This is where the LH aircraft peeled off.

And here's the tail-ender, clearly an Ozzie roundal.

Does it help?

Thanks for your interest.

Regards,

Sam

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi All,

Sitting at home last evening with the French doors open, suddenly heard an aircraft noise close by and then two of the strangest aircraft I have ever seen circled our village at a REALLY low altitude making hardly any noise compared to the normal stuff we see and hear.

They had two ENORMOUS propellers and a squat fuselage, the props looked totally out of proportion to the rest of the craft. Did not make out the markings sadly. They circled our immediate area for about 5 mins and then flew off.

I would say that they were only 200-300 feet high, so super low.

Someone said that there is a warship in Weymouth Bay buy have not checked.

Weirdest thing I ever saw!

Martin

[Anonymous]

Probably a V-22 Osprey developed by Bell and Boeing:

**LINK**

Andrew

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Andrew, Spot on! thats the baby! Helluva thing, half helicopter half plane! Do we have them?

Martin

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

The V-22 Osprey is operated by the USAF 7th Special Operations Squadron based at RAF Mildenhall, which is just up the road from me, so they are a common sight around here.

They are not in UK service, although there have been persistent rumours that they are going to be adopted by the SAS.

Initially restricted to training in East Anglia, the Ospreys have been seen in more widespread locations in the UK of late, including in the Mach Loop.

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Mach Loop?

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

**LINK**

[David TParticipant @davidt96864]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 26/04/2018 07:40:43:

Hi All,

Sitting at home last evening with the French doors open, suddenly heard an aircraft noise close by and then two of the strangest aircraft I have ever seen circled our village at a REALLY low altitude making hardly any noise compared to the normal stuff we see and hear.

They had two ENORMOUS propellers and a squat fuselage, the props looked totally out of proportion to the rest of the craft. Did not make out the markings sadly. They circled our immediate area for about 5 mins and then flew off.

I would say that they were only 200-300 feet high, so super low.

Someone said that there is a warship in Weymouth Bay buy have not checked.

Weirdest thing I ever saw!

Martin

Hardly any noise?! Last summer I heard what I thought was a Chinook over west London. Eventually I spotted a vaguely V-22 -shaped speck in the distance, it must have been several miles off. Would love to see one in flight a bit closer

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Andrew J where you thermaling over the South East Bedford industrial area around 16:20 then moved over Cardington hangers and then headed off in the direction of Dunstable, after that a pair of Red Kites thermaled over over our village until they were dots in the sky. Shuttleworth had a couple of aircraft in the air circling around in formation.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 03/05/2018 17:59:55

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Last Sunday my brother and I had a very nice day out at the Scottish National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.

N.

[Anonymous]

Posted by martin perman on 03/05/2018 17:59:12:

Andrew J where you thermaling over the South East Bedford industrial area around 16:20 then moved over Cardington hangers and then headed off in the direction of Dunstable………….

Not me I'm afraid, I was stuck in the office, in a client meeting, for most of the day. But at least lunch was provided by the company. I've got the big glider on Saturday, so fingers crossed for the weather. Tomorrow I'm finishing off the paperwork for a Skylark4, one of the last rolls of the dice for wooden gliders before composites took over. The deal is I do the inspection and in return I get to fly the glider. I've flown a Skylark3, but not a 4, so that'll be another type in the logbook.

Andrew

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

A wee story about Harvards and Wirraways. From a distance they look roughly similar, they came from the same design, but it is how the fly that is different. It is said that you learn to fly in a Harvard, then go and fly a Mustang for a good few hours, you are then about right to fly the Wirraway, I believe they had a slightly different wing design, maybe without wash out, it was an earlier design than the wing on the Harvard, and this among other things would make the stall a bit lively.

Ian S C

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

My deceased father worked for Heston Aircraft as their chief Draughtsman 1937 – 1957, leaving to join Vickers Weybridge. He told me of a 'secret' operation at the works to convert a light bomber to evacuate King GeorgeVI in the event of Germany invading England.
The conversion was done at great haste and completed within a few days. The basic conversion was to fit a wooden floor in the fuselage, lay a few yards of carpet, bolt down a couple of armchairs and install an Elsan toilet behind a curtain. A Basic oxygen system was also installed, and more than likely extra fuel tanks. The chairs and carpet were supplied by Bentals of Kingston !
Does anyone know of this work, the type of aircraft etc. Of course, it was never used for that purpose, but I wonder what happened to it ?
BobH

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Ian S C on 04/05/2018 11:28:56:

A wee story about Harvards and Wirraways. From a distance they look roughly similar, they came from the same design, but it is how the fly that is different. It is said that you learn to fly in a Harvard, then go and fly a Mustang for a good few hours, you are then about right to fly the Wirraway, I believe they had a slightly different wing design, maybe without wash out, it was an earlier design than the wing on the Harvard, and this among other things would make the stall a bit lively.

Ian S C

Reminds me!

Driving over the A69 last Thursday afternoon and cresting a hill, I saw a low winged plane flying up the valley towards me, with two landing lights very bright. Looked unusual and as it passed almost overhead I saw tapered wings and squared off tail surfaces – it appeared to be a Mustang.

Neil

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Unfortunately we have thrown Thursday's local daily newspaper away, so I can't quote this exactly, but one columnist mentioned that there were NATO exercises off the Hebrides last week. It seems there were two crows, flying along and minding their own business, then there was a tremendous noise and a passing Tornado, engines on re-heat, left them tumbling in its wake. Once safely on the ground, one crow said to the other "Wow, that bird was going some, wasn't he?" His mate replied "Well, so would you if you had two bum-holes, and both were on fire……….."

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 04/05/2018 12:15:41:

My deceased father worked for Heston Aircraft as their chief Draughtsman 1937 – 1957, leaving to join Vickers Weybridge. He told me of a 'secret' operation at the works to convert a light bomber to evacuate King GeorgeVI in the event of Germany invading England.
The conversion was done at great haste and completed within a few days. The basic conversion was to fit a wooden floor in the fuselage, lay a few yards of carpet, bolt down a couple of armchairs and install an Elsan toilet behind a curtain. A Basic oxygen system was also installed, and more than likely extra fuel tanks. The chairs and carpet were supplied by Bentals of Kingston !
Does anyone know of this work, the type of aircraft etc. Of course, it was never used for that purpose, but I wonder what happened to it ?
BobH

Several types of aircraft were converted for that type of use including the Lancaster, BOAC used Mosquito's, wellingtons and whitleys were also converted.

Martin P

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 04/05/2018 12:40:57:

Posted by Ian S C on 04/05/2018 11:28:56:

A wee story about Harvards and Wirraways. From a distance they look roughly similar, they came from the same design, but it is how the fly that is different. It is said that you learn to fly in a Harvard, then go and fly a Mustang for a good few hours, you are then about right to fly the Wirraway, I believe they had a slightly different wing design, maybe without wash out, it was an earlier design than the wing on the Harvard, and this among other things would make the stall a bit lively.

Ian S C

Reminds me!

Driving over the A69 last Thursday afternoon and cresting a hill, I saw a low winged plane flying up the valley towards me, with two landing lights very bright. Looked unusual and as it passed almost overhead I saw tapered wings and squared off tail surfaces – it appeared to be a Mustang.

Neil

Most likely one of these,

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=raf+turboprop+trainers&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB780GB781&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=_cXlf_CAkXB4SM%253A%252C7zU_Z4wSb00yDM%252C_&usg=__ZAS7NLRr3CNBT_bznIVaXajZ-mI%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE3omTkezaAhXoDcAKHcBuAC8Q9QEIQDAF#imgrc=_cXlf_CAkXB4SM:

Martin P

[Anonymous]

Here's a sad tale of woe, which could have had serious consquences, and which reinforces the statement – RTFM.

Late autumn last year the local gliding club bought a new two-seater club glider, a Perkoz. Last week it landed out at Bourn airfield, about 4 miles from the club. The tug pilot refused to do an aerotow retrieve on the sensible grounds that the aeroclub at Bourn are now limited to a relatively short section of the peritrack with a grass extension. A 15m single seater may be ok, but not a larger two seater. So a retrieve crew was sent and the glider dismantled. On return the glider needed rigging. There was some difficulty in getting the wings aligned, so someone suggested putting the drag spar pins in first to locate the wings fore and aft. So they were put in with the same alignment as they were taken out. At which point it dawned that they're were not actually doing anything as they were not fully home. All round embarrassment, andf it turns out we've been flying the glider for the last 6+ months with effecftively no drag spar pins.

I flew the glider a few weeks ago for my annual checks; darn it I even spun the glider and recovered as a demo to the instructor. Good job the wings didn't come off.

Andrew

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

"I flew the glider a few weeks ago for my annual checks; darn it I even spun the glider and recovered as a demo to the instructor. Good job the wings didn't come off."

Definitely food for thought!! Back in the 80s I was at Brize Air Day and saw Andy Gough lose his outer panels in an attempted bunt – sad ending and another in the litany of such.

rgds

Bill

[Anonymous]

Posted by Cornish Jack on 04/05/2018 23:07:34:

Back in the 80s I was at Brize Air Day and saw Andy Gough lose his outer panels in an attempted bunt – sad ending and another in the litany of such.

If I remember correctly a rogue spanner in the wing, presumably from manufacture, was a possibly to blame. When the RF3 was recovered at Thurleigh the syndicate discovered a small hammer in the wing, compete with "saw" marks on the wooden handle from the aileron cables.

I was too slow this afternoon, something interesting flew over, but by the time I got outside I only saw what looked like a WWII fighter in the distance heading for Duxford. In my defence it was fair shifting; I hope he was observing the 250kt limit. It had a straight wing and sounded nothing like a Merlin, so possibly a radial engine?

Andrew

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

"That's well done: **LINK**

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/06/pilot-forced-make-emergency-landing-packed-devon-beach/

MichaelG.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 06/05/2018 21:45:23:

If I remember correctly a rogue spanner in the wing, presumably from manufacture, was a possibly to blame. When the RF3 was recovered at Thurleigh the syndicate discovered a small hammer in the wing, compete with "saw" marks on the wooden handle from the aileron cables.

Andrew

My mate Barrie(of Little Snoring fame) found a crowbar in the wing of a Hudson when he was working at Marshalls. That was all rusty and looked as if it had been there since manufacture. BAe when working on Nimrods at Woodford had a tool 'check' sustem using brass tokens so nothing could be left in the airframe.

regards Martin

[David TParticipant @davidt96864]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 08/05/2018 08:55:31:

BAe when working on Nimrods at Woodford had a tool 'check' sustem using brass tokens so nothing could be left in the airframe.

regards Martin

There was a similar system in use where I did my apprentiship…… to stop us herberts from losing / pinching the tools

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

lI remember when working on Britannia’s in the Air Force during the 60’s a hammer was found in the tail plane of one aircraft, it was inscribed with the name of its owner and was presumed to have been entombed since the tail plane assembly had been built by Bristol’s. The hammer was parcelled up and addressed to the original owner at the manufacturer’s and despatched. Apparently when received back at Bristol’s it caused a whole load of trouble and it’s return was not appreciated. It was not uncommon to find items inside areas of airframes, one presumes that with the advent of shadow boards and more stringent tool control, incidences of “ lost” tools is now much less frequent. Lost tools have on a number of occasions been responsible for bringing aircraft down with catastrophic consequences.

Dave W

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

David T – Tool tags like this one (1963 – 1966)

[Author]

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