Interesting or unusual planes?

[TimC]

The Harrier in the Horseguards exhibition is a GR3 (well, to be accurate I think it’s a full-scale fibreglass mock-up of a GR3). It was retired for the exceptionally good reason that it was replaced by the GR5 (otherwise known as the AV8B), which itself was replaced and modified to become the GR7, and later GR9.

There were engineering issues that complicated the decision as to whether to carry on flying the GR9 fleet in 2010, but the bottom line was the defence budget under Cameron (and to this day) was so over-committed that something had to give. The remaining aircraft (around 70 or so) were sold to the US Marine Corps as spares for their AV8B fleet, which is still operating.

[Torslanda]

Wop! Wop! Wop!

The unmistakable sound of a Huey - or the civilian equivalent, it was white - flying over Middleton last evening around 8. Knew what it was before anyone could see it.

[fuzzy]

Wop! Wop! Wop!

The unmistakable sound of a Huey - or the civilian equivalent, it was white - flying over Middleton last evening around 8. Knew what it was before anyone could see it.

'Tis a lovely sound isn't it Tors? When I hear a Huey, I also hear the soundtrack to Apocolypse Now in my head

[ElyDave]

wait til you hear one of those Osprey tilt rotor thingies - nothing else like it

[Torslanda]

Wop! Wop! Wop!

The unmistakable sound of a Huey - or the civilian equivalent, it was white - flying over Middleton last evening around 8. Knew what it was before anyone could see it.

'Tis a lovely sound isn't it Tors? When I hear a Huey, I also hear the soundtrack to Apocolypse Now in my head

Me too. Sadly, when you look at the local population, the soundtrack is more remininiscent of 'The Walking Dead' . . .

[fuzzy]

 

[Torslanda]

Consulting Wikipedia, I've put 2 & 2 together and come up with a plausible reason.

Most likely what I saw was a Bell 204/205, the civilian version. One of the stated uses for such a machine is fire fighting, the course of the aircraft was away from Winter Hill and towards Saddleworth Moor...

[T42]

Wop! Wop! Wop!

The unmistakable sound of a Huey - or the civilian equivalent, it was white - flying over Middleton last evening around 8. Knew what it was before anyone could see it.

'Tis a lovely sound isn't it Tors? When I hear a Huey, I also hear the soundtrack to Apocolypse Now in my head

I thought of The Ride of the Valkyries as soon as I saw "Huey".

Also thought that they'd better not fly too low over Italian restaurants, but of course we're not allowed to say that these days.

[Andrij]

MOAR pieces of planes today (including something raaaather modern).  I'll wait until Friday evening to take more pics.

P1040649 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040643 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040644 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040645 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040646 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040647 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040648 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040650 by Andrij, on Flickr


P1040651 by Andrij, on Flickr

Unfortunately the pic of the F-35¹ came out blurry.

¹ Patsy says...

[Steph]

Mk XVI Spit?

ETA:
Yup.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-20715357

Meteor is coming up as an F4.

[Séamas M.]

That Spitfire is beautiful.

[Steph]

The Griffin engine changes the line of the nose significantly, and coupled with the bubble canopy and altered fin design, the later marks always look to me more 'modern' compared with a, say, Mk 5. It's like comparing the lines of an original Porsche 911 with, say, a new Boxster or similar. You can see the similarities, but there is a far more purposeful and efficient look to the later model. The earlier model looks, well...

"The Germans have no word for 'fluffy', Slackbladder"

[TimC]

The Mk XVI Spitfire is not a Griffon-engined variety. It is a modified Mk IX with a Packard-built Merlin 266. The clue is the four-bladed propellor. All Griffon-engined Spitfires have five-bladed props (or a contra-rotating prop in one or two very late examples) as well as a much longer nose.

The Meteor F4 in the display is the actual aircraft that took the world air speed record of 616mph in 1946.

The F35 and Typhoon are replicas, not real aircraft. The GR3, however is real, and not the plastic replica that used to grace Wittering's main gate (which is what I suspected it was!).

[Steph]

Ah! I saw the four-blade prop and wondered. The only Griffon-engine job I saw regularly was the Mk XIV I remember as parked up at Wittering.

I noted the Beeb report says the Spit is in 'replica' paintwork/markings, but hadn't realised the Meteor was the real thing. I did quite a bit of reading about that world record stuff.

I stick by what I said about the 'purposeful' look, though. I think the Spiteful lost the grace of the whole design with its new wing type, and of course sticking a jet engine into it was just awful.

[CrinklyLion]

Not a particularly unusual flying machine
https://twitter.com/CrinklyLion/status/1015327546961989632
But I think the person sat in the front is quite interesting


There's something slightly surreal about seeing your kid launched into the air.

[TimC]

Ah! I saw the four-blade prop and wondered. The only Griffon-engine job I saw regularly was the Mk XIV I remember as parked up at Wittering.

I noted the Beeb report says the Spit is in 'replica' paintwork/markings, but hadn't realised the Meteor was the real thing. I did quite a bit of reading about that world record stuff.

I stick by what I said about the 'purposeful' look, though. I think the Spiteful lost the grace of the whole design with its new wing type, and of course sticking a jet engine into it was just awful.

The Spiteful wasn’t jet (or turboprop) powered, it retained the Griffon of the later Spitfires in the 2375hp ‘69’ version. A development, the Seafang, was made for the RN with folding tips and the contra-rotating prop I referred to earlier. The new wing was designed to cope with the high-subsonic speeds the Griffon-engined aircraft were capable of in a dive at high level. There was a jet-powered naval derivative (well, it used the Seafang’s wing) called the Supermarine Attacker, but that had no parts in common with the Spitfire.

Supermarine Attacker

[Exit Stage Left]

Talking of Bell helicopters, this was flying when Heather was on the phone from the moorland fire at Winter Hill. Her employer owns half of the affected area, and she had to be there to sign off on it flying. Very much 'Apocalype Now'.

[Ham]

Any hints on photographing the flypast? 

First, location, location, location https://secretldn.com/raf100-flypast-london-route-map/

I figger that the Wanstead Flats (where I live) has all the possibilities with my favourite being the point about 500m south of the track looking north, it appears to go straight over the Green Man roundabout so I could go north looking south, but that would suggest more issues with light contrast.

Second, photo techy.

I intend using my m4/3 DSLR set to manual, set with a 150-600 zoom stopped to f8 and set to manual focus at infinity. Flip out screen on a tripod and I should be all set, and be able to watch it at the same time.

I don't intend using a second camera, although I'm toying with the idea of running a 360 movie.

Third, photo technique

I was intending locking it onto a point on the flight path and pressing the shutter as and when, probably front three quarter view. That will lead to a load of broadly similar photos, but won't distract from the experience of the moment.

Any suggestions from people who have done this before - or even those who haven't but want to provide their wisdom and perspective, this is Teh Internets after all - gratefully received

[Mr Larrington]

Not a particularly unusual flying machine
https://twitter.com/CrinklyLion/status/1015327546961989632
But I think the person sat in the front is quite interesting


There's something slightly surreal about seeing your kid launched into the air.

Flyin' lion!

[Torslanda]

Any hints on photographing the flypast?

You won't get great results from Morecambe...?

WOT!

[Ham]

Any hints on photographing the flypast?

You won't get great results from Morecambe...?

WOT!

That's wise.

[Torslanda]

You're welcome! 

[fuzzy]

Just heard (then seen) a brace of Chinooks heading from the general direction of Benson towards Taht London.

[Mr Larrington]

Helichopters!  Many helichopters - five or six Chinooks and three or four smaller jobs heading east over Epping Forest while I was on my way to Mr Sainsbury's House Of Toothy Comestibles just now.

[Ham]

Any hints on photographing the flypast? 

First, location, location, location https://secretldn.com/raf100-flypast-london-route-map/

I figger that the Wanstead Flats (where I live) has all the possibilities with my favourite being the point about 500m south of the track looking north, it appears to go straight over the Green Man roundabout so I could go north looking south, but that would suggest more issues with light contrast.

Second, photo techy.

I intend using my m4/3 DSLR set to manual, set with a 150-600 zoom stopped to f8 and set to manual focus at infinity. Flip out screen on a tripod and I should be all set, and be able to watch it at the same time.

I don't intend using a second camera, although I'm toying with the idea of running a 360 movie.

Third, photo technique

I was intending locking it onto a point on the flight path and pressing the shutter as and when, probably front three quarter view. That will lead to a load of broadly similar photos, but won't distract from the experience of the moment.

Any suggestions from people who have done this before - or even those who haven't but want to provide their wisdom and perspective, this is Teh Internets after all - gratefully received

Things I learned:

Fahgehtabbaht the tripod.

Good move about the manual exposure.

Not so sure about the manual focus.

Not bad lens choice.

Could do better.

There is such a thing as too close. Was directly below the flight path.

Photies arrive shortly.