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Wow


Terry Everall

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This afternoon 2 spitfires over Bishopthorpe ( near York) right over my house and they flanked a Lancaster bomber which circled 3 times at about 200ft over the house!

What a noise and even my 3 grandkids were impressed!

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Fly past at the railway museum Terry, but should have been 1 Spitfire and 1 Hurricane with the Lancaster. Great that the youngsters can still get excited by that incredible sound.

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Awesome

Bob :)

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I had the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight fly over the South Yorkshire Police Show (later called "The Blue Light Show") every year.

To see a Spitfire and a Lancaster was one of the most moving sights I've ever seen.

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When i lived in stanmore we used to get them all the time practicing over my house, and now i live in bedfordshire we get them all the time here as well plus a big assortment of other vintage planes.

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We had a Hurricane and Spitfire over here today going over from Marshalls to Duxford.

We have the BBMF over fairly regularly when they are displaying at Duxford.

Awesom as they come over at abou 200 feet!!!

The kids love it.

Chaz.

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They are both amazing aircraft, I have been able to fly in the Lancaster on one display, one day i will get to fly a spitfire !! I think I joined the military far far too late

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They were over SantaPod at lunchtime today

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They are both amazing aircraft, I have been able to fly in the Lancaster on one display, one day i will get to fly a spitfire !! I think I joined the military far far too late
It is indeed one of the great privileges of my life to have flown a Spitfire, albeit a two seater, whatever you feel when you hear that noise, imagine what it's like when it's wrapped around you :)

A Spitfire needs to flown all the time, it is nothing like as stable as a Hurricane, particularly in pitch, which is why the Hurricane was a better gun platform. Early marks required the pilot, immediately after take off, to change hands on the stick, reach down with the right hand and vigorously pump the undercarriage retraction lever, the result was almost always porpoising as it was almost impossible to keep your left hand still while pumping with your right, a bit like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time.

As close to handling perfection as I have found, the Spitfire suffered early in WW2 when faced with 109's which could evade contact by simply pushing forward into a vertical dive, the 109 had a fuel injected engine whereas the Merlin used carburetors with a float, when the Spitfire pilot pushed over to follow the 109 the negative G caused the float to rise and block fuel flow for the duration of the manoeuvre. The Merlin would cough and splutter for a few vital seconds or the Spitfire pilot would have to roll inverted and pull through, either way the result was a couple of seconds of breathing space for the German, until some bright bod invented the floatless carburetor which, when fitted, soon saw the Luftwaffe pilots change tactics!

There is nothing to compare with flying a Spitfire... except possibly a T7A Hunter... but that's another story

G-BOOM_and_G-HUNT.jpg

G-BOOM on the left, G-HUNT on the right, strangely the side by side 2 seater was 7kts faster than the single seater

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I'm sure I've told this before, but if not or if you missed it here goes.

On the last Blue Light Show we had the BoBMF fly over with a Spitfire and a Lancaster. We had the largest crowd ever, about 3000 people in the show at the time of the flyover. I heard the Spitfire about 10 seconds before those around me and soon every face was looking to the sky. A deathly hush came over the crowd and all eyes followed this little plane as it swooped, with a roar, over the showground.

After a minute or so the planes had gone and then the noise of the crowd resumed. Near me was a young Barnsley lad with his 3 year old son on his shoulders. The lad said "What was that Dad". I was completely taken aback when the 20 something lad answered "That was a Spitfire son, be very proud of it" (or words to that effect). Why was I taken aback? because I, wrongly, assumed the legend had faded but I was wrong. The few are still known to the current generation.

I'm so pleased the small ships are represented in the pageant tomorrow.

Sorry to be so emotional, but I really believe we must never forget. If we do it will all happen again.

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Often over Sywell as well as going to Silverstone _ oh, and red arrows over earls barton this week as week... :-) have a great weekend everyone. james

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On Wednesday night over Oxford we had a Lancaster with 3 jets -1 a euro fighter displaying around it, Lancaster outshone the jets !!

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Often over Sywell as well as going to Silverstone _ oh, and red arrows over earls barton this week as week... :-) have a great weekend everyone. james

Where abouts in Sywell and Earls Barton are you ?

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I used to live near what was De Havillands in Broughton Chester which is now BAE and doing the airbus wings. They used to have a Mosquito, I think the only flying one in the world, until it crashed quite a few years ago at another airshow in Barton 1996. The sound of that with its two merlin engines screaming at 50 ft was unbelievable. I am totally dismayed as to why this plane or a replacement has never been rebuilt it was absolutely beautiful to see it doing its circuits before the shows. They should get one into the battle of Britain Flight.

Another one I am pleased to say has been resurrected is the Vulcan, whilst on a course in Lincoln they would fly over every morning over the hotel. What a wake up call. They went on to bomb the airstrip on the Falklands.

Must be the patriotism kicking in.

Bob :d

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I am totally dismayed as to why this plane or a replacement has never been rebuilt it was absolutely beautiful to see it doing its circuits before the shows.

I was lucky enough to see it at a classic car day at the Shuttleworth aircraft collection where it flew over and did a display.

I believe it is because they were made of ply, canvas and wood and the "structural" glue is finally failing after all those years and they therefore cant certify them. You cant take it apart to re-glue it without major damage/rebuild.

I do believe a couple of full restorations are going on somewhere but dont quote me.

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