Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies - 1. Military Marvels
22 August 2012, 10:17 PM
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Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies - 1. Military Marvels
I don't post too often here these days - but this is one of the most exciting programmes I've seen for a very long time and I know others on here will agree.
Lot's and lots of 'bucket of sun' deliverer's and loads of footage of old skool Farnborough Airshows. Most enjoyable TV hour I've had in a long time
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...itary_Marvels/
Lot's and lots of 'bucket of sun' deliverer's and loads of footage of old skool Farnborough Airshows. Most enjoyable TV hour I've had in a long time
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...itary_Marvels/
22 August 2012, 10:28 PM
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22 August 2012, 11:33 PM
#8
Watched it while doing my kitchen chores...... 
I built most of those as airfix kits in the 60's and remember Roly Falk rolling the Vulcan. Back in those days airshows always seemed tinged with danger as something always seemed near to having a crash.
I remember one airshow where there were meant to be 2 or 3 German F104 Starfighters but only one turned up and the guy on the tannoy said that the German air force were losing a Starfighter for every few hundred hours service........
So I went and bought an Airfix model
Shaun
I built most of those as airfix kits in the 60's and remember Roly Falk rolling the Vulcan. Back in those days airshows always seemed tinged with danger as something always seemed near to having a crash.
I remember one airshow where there were meant to be 2 or 3 German F104 Starfighters but only one turned up and the guy on the tannoy said that the German air force were losing a Starfighter for every few hundred hours service........
So I went and bought an Airfix model
Shaun
23 August 2012, 12:26 AM
#10
Good to see you posting here again too UB.
It was a pretty informative programme I agree Rob. They have a Gloster Meteor in the Dutch airforce museum and it looks pretty damn cool in the metal.
It was a pretty informative programme I agree Rob. They have a Gloster Meteor in the Dutch airforce museum and it looks pretty damn cool in the metal.
23 August 2012, 10:54 AM
#13
An avid fan of BBC4. The music retrospectives are brill, original Kurt Wallander and The Killing, both excellent. The some of the documentries have been facinating. The comedy stuff and drama bio's have been brilliant as well.
And it was an excellent programme last night and just shows how good, sadly, we where. TSR 2 was years ahead of the Russians and the Yanks and was used for years after as a tech study for RAF apprentices.
Because it's intellegent and thought provoking TV requiring some interest, it's not watched by many.
And it was an excellent programme last night and just shows how good, sadly, we where. TSR 2 was years ahead of the Russians and the Yanks and was used for years after as a tech study for RAF apprentices.
Because it's intellegent and thought provoking TV requiring some interest, it's not watched by many.
23 August 2012, 12:19 PM
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Watched it while doing my kitchen chores......
I built most of those as airfix kits in the 60's and remember Roly Falk rolling the Vulcan. Back in those days airshows always seemed tinged with danger as something always seemed near to having a crash.
I remember one airshow where there were meant to be 2 or 3 German F104 Starfighters but only one turned up and the guy on the tannoy said that the German air force were losing a Starfighter for every few hundred hours service........
So I went and bought an Airfix model
Shaun
I built most of those as airfix kits in the 60's and remember Roly Falk rolling the Vulcan. Back in those days airshows always seemed tinged with danger as something always seemed near to having a crash.
I remember one airshow where there were meant to be 2 or 3 German F104 Starfighters but only one turned up and the guy on the tannoy said that the German air force were losing a Starfighter for every few hundred hours service........
So I went and bought an Airfix model
Shaun
Saw them do a display at Hearne back in the 80's awesome,
they then repeated the display at Deadelus in the 90's
They covered the distance from the the south side of the IOW to the runway in seconds and then went vertical at the end of the runway to boot!!!!
Feckin awesome
Mart
23 August 2012, 01:21 PM
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But did Britain really rule the skies, except for the ones over Britain, which you would expect?
Yes we had loads of awesome aircraft, Comet, Vulcan, Sea Vixen, Concorde, full of innovative world beating engineering, but we failed to capitalise and sell many abroad. (The Harrier being an exception.)
Yes we had loads of awesome aircraft, Comet, Vulcan, Sea Vixen, Concorde, full of innovative world beating engineering, but we failed to capitalise and sell many abroad. (The Harrier being an exception.)
23 August 2012, 01:57 PM
#23
But did Britain really rule the skies, except for the ones over Britain, which you would expect?
Yes we had loads of awesome aircraft, Comet, Vulcan, Sea Vixen, Concorde, full of innovative world beating engineering, but we failed to capitalise and sell many abroad. (The Harrier being an exception.)
Yes we had loads of awesome aircraft, Comet, Vulcan, Sea Vixen, Concorde, full of innovative world beating engineering, but we failed to capitalise and sell many abroad. (The Harrier being an exception.)
I think the next program may hopefully acknowledge that as I think its about the commercial jet airliners. As the UK aircraft manufacturers did fail to capture the commercial global market.
Certainly the fatigue problems with the Comet meant other makers like Boeing got ahead in the game before us. Shame really as all Boeing 7x7 planes are asthetically ugly in comparison.
Last edited by ALi-B; 23 August 2012 at 01:58 PM.
23 August 2012, 02:20 PM
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There's a lightning in the Manchester museum.
I loved these aircraft when I was a kid. I've been lucky enough to see a Vulcan and a lightning flying. The Vulcan is so loud it's ridiculous.
I loved these aircraft when I was a kid. I've been lucky enough to see a Vulcan and a lightning flying. The Vulcan is so loud it's ridiculous.
23 August 2012, 02:21 PM
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I think the next program may hopefully acknowledge that as I think its about the commercial jet airliners. As the UK aircraft manufacturers did fail to capture the commercial global market.
Certainly the fatigue problems with the Comet meant other makers like Boeing got ahead in the game before us. Shame really as all Boeing 7x7 planes are asthetically ugly in comparison.
Certainly the fatigue problems with the Comet meant other makers like Boeing got ahead in the game before us. Shame really as all Boeing 7x7 planes are asthetically ugly in comparison.
23 August 2012, 02:46 PM
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Truly fascinating programme. I enjoyed every minute as you might well imagine!
My father took me to the 1952 Farnborough air display when Derry suffered the blow up of the DH 110. I remember clearly watching him at he turned over the black sheds lining up for the very fast and low run over our heads. The aircraft suddenly pitched up violently to the vertical and I saw cracks appearing all over the aircraft's fuselage. We were standing just behind the 10 shilling enclosure. I clearly remember seeing both engines fly past over our heads into the hill behind us. One of the engines was rotating as it went past. There was a terrible thump as the fuselage landed almost into the 10 shilling enclosure and we were lifted off the ground. I was not very big and was dragged around by the crowd which was in a panic. Several people were killed in the 10 shilling enclosure. Many people were killled by the debris going into the crowd on the hill behind us.
When Neville Duke went up in the red Hunter to break the sound barrier afterwards, you could hear a pin drop while we were waiting for the sonic boom and everyone was in a cold funk I reckon, I certainly was!
When the fighter style aircraft used to do those high speed runs over the crowd's heads at very low level, the noise as they passed overhead was almost unbearable and after they passed there was always a sort of singing noise left behind them. I used to wonder what that was but I now know that it was caused by the vortices in the air which used to trail off the trailing edges of the wings. The vortices would have been pretty intense at such speeds. You can often see vortices coming off the rear wings of the F1 cars because they show in the visible water vapour which condenses in the vortices on a damp day.
I am so proud and feel incredibly lucky to have flown in many of those aircraft shown on the programme. You can imagine how the programme took me back to such memories.
Les
My father took me to the 1952 Farnborough air display when Derry suffered the blow up of the DH 110. I remember clearly watching him at he turned over the black sheds lining up for the very fast and low run over our heads. The aircraft suddenly pitched up violently to the vertical and I saw cracks appearing all over the aircraft's fuselage. We were standing just behind the 10 shilling enclosure. I clearly remember seeing both engines fly past over our heads into the hill behind us. One of the engines was rotating as it went past. There was a terrible thump as the fuselage landed almost into the 10 shilling enclosure and we were lifted off the ground. I was not very big and was dragged around by the crowd which was in a panic. Several people were killed in the 10 shilling enclosure. Many people were killled by the debris going into the crowd on the hill behind us.
When Neville Duke went up in the red Hunter to break the sound barrier afterwards, you could hear a pin drop while we were waiting for the sonic boom and everyone was in a cold funk I reckon, I certainly was!
When the fighter style aircraft used to do those high speed runs over the crowd's heads at very low level, the noise as they passed overhead was almost unbearable and after they passed there was always a sort of singing noise left behind them. I used to wonder what that was but I now know that it was caused by the vortices in the air which used to trail off the trailing edges of the wings. The vortices would have been pretty intense at such speeds. You can often see vortices coming off the rear wings of the F1 cars because they show in the visible water vapour which condenses in the vortices on a damp day.
I am so proud and feel incredibly lucky to have flown in many of those aircraft shown on the programme. You can imagine how the programme took me back to such memories.
Les
23 August 2012, 03:34 PM
#30
Got some of the first public flight at Waddington after recomissioning:
Tricky shooting conditions owing to huge masses of dark cloud looming between the sun....and a compact camera (with 2x teleconverter, hence the vignetting - I never bothered 'shopping the pics).
Lancaster shots came out better...it was flying slower
Tricky shooting conditions owing to huge masses of dark cloud looming between the sun....and a compact camera (with 2x teleconverter, hence the vignetting - I never bothered 'shopping the pics).
Lancaster shots came out better...it was flying slower
Last edited by ALi-B; 23 August 2012 at 03:46 PM.