Plane ecstacy

[Tayne]

.

[whitevanman]

I could be pedantic and point out that it is a Hawker Siddeley made aircraft that as its an S2B which was an RAF only version, either 12 or 208 SQN

Whichever were based at RAF Lossiemouth.

I told you I didn't know about planes...

 

The story I got from an ex-RAF friend was that a former Bucaneer pilot bought the petrol station and managed to pick up a decommissioned plane which he towed down the main road to the petrol station.

Sorry Tayne, it wasn't meant as a question, rather a statment that those two squadrons were both flying them at the same time from Lossie and it would therefor be one of them.

[AXrescuer]

I could be pedantic and point out that it is a Hawker Siddeley made aircraft that as its an S2B which was an RAF only version, either 12 or 208 SQN

I am sure that the RAF aircraft were converted from ex Royal Navy allocated units.

[AXrescuer]

I'd love to have seen a Trident in the air.

 

I grew up watching them as I lived only a mile and a half from the old Hawker Siddeley site in Hatfield and our house was right under the flight path!

 

I also saw the first flight of every Trident 3b made, they were wonderful times!

[AXrescuer]

That A380 must be the ugliest plane ever to take to the sky. Suppose at least it looks different to all the other Boeings and Airbuses. Like you I hark back to the days of Tridents, Tu 154s and DC-10s etc

I think the honour of ugliest aircraft goes to the old Super Guppy.

Well at least the Guppy was ugly for a purpose, i.e. it had to carry Airbus parts. The A380 is a landmark airliner but still looks hideous.

the Guppy was not built to carry Airbus parts, it was built long before that, first flew in 1965 years before Airbus Industries was even formed

Wasn't the Guppy originally designed to carry components for NASA's space program?

That was one of it's purposes, it was originally planned as a limited run to be able to cater for the more easoteric loads that others couldn't carry, bit of a niche market thats grown over the years, The Russians had there own version of it and Airbus built a similiar plane for there own use. cant remember their names of the top of my head

Aero Spacelines originally designed the Super Guppy in order to secure work from NASA who did remain their main source of income. In fact NASA still fly the last remaining Guppy aircraft to transport ISS components amongst other things.

 

The Russians had a simllar type of carrier called the AN-124 Ruslan and Airbus have developed one of their airframes into the Beluga.

[whitevanman]

I could be pedantic and point out that it is a Hawker Siddeley made aircraft that as its an S2B which was an RAF only version, either 12 or 208 SQN

I am sure that the RAF aircraft were converted from ex Royal Navy allocated units.

that was the S2 picture is an S2B

[Jozza]

I grew up watching them as I lived only a mile and a half from the old Hawker Siddeley site in Hatfield and our house was right under the flight path!

 

I also saw the first flight of every Trident 3b made, they were wonderful times!

My dad grew up in a house under the Heathrow departure track and has vivid memories of how conversation and television watching had to cease every time a Trident or a non 'hush-kitted' BAC 1-11 went over. He could never understand how such a relatively small plane could make so much noise whilst the big American four-pods were nowhere near as bad.

 

By contrast I was living in Bristol when the A380 prototype made its low-level pass over the works at Filton and it just sounded like a giant hoover.

[Volksy]

I've been spending a lot of time at the Premier Inn at Heathrow, which is parallel to the runway just before the touchdown point. It's great sitting down for a pint outside in the evening watching all the planes come in. Those A380's are quite a sight when you see them at that distance.

 

From some of the second floor rooms, you can see the Concorde parked up in the BA compound where they service and store the ex BA fleet being sold on or being sent for scrap.

[Lankytim]

Theres an ex-AIRBUS guppy parked up at Bruntingthorpe, its a great fat thing based on the B29- Very impressive. Ive got a pic of it somewhere. AIRBUS at chester has a new super fat airliner thing to replace it. Its the aeronautic Rick Waller!

 

I was up at Elgin digging up Aero parts a few months ago. I didnt see the Bucc!

[Tayne]

I was up at Elgin digging up Aero parts a few months ago. I didnt see the Bucc!

The petrol station is on the A941 as you leave Elgin heading to Lossiemouth.

It's even on street view.

[Vin]

There used to be a Blackburn Beverley parked up at the old museum of army transport at Beverley (funnily enough...).

 

It always amazed me as a kid that something like that could ever leave the ground....

 

It was moved when the museum closed It's now at Fort Paull museum, near Hull.

[gearoil]

Thats brilliant. Man, I was in Elgin for a weekend rallying about a month ago and didn't know that was there...

 

Any idea what its serial number is...?

 

Fiatdaft - theres a Buccaneer supposedly in a shed near where you found that Gannet.

 

Blackburn Buccaneer by Tayne, on Flickr

[morris_ital_lover]

Whilst we are on the subject of planes, does anyone know... how many A380s are painted in the airbus colours?

 

This thread is encouraging me to go up and dig out out some old airfix plane shite from the loft!

 

m0rris

[AXrescuer]

I could be pedantic and point out that it is a Hawker Siddeley made aircraft that as its an S2B which was an RAF only version, either 12 or 208 SQN

I am sure that the RAF aircraft were converted from ex Royal Navy allocated units.

that was the S2 picture is an S2B

809 Squadron of the Royal Navy certainly flew some S2Bs. XV865 first flew with the Royal Navy in 1968 and then with the RAF from 1978. It would seem that some were designated as S2Bs whilst still in naval service.

[AXrescuer]

Thats brilliant. Man, I was in Elgin for a weekend rallying about a month ago and didn't know that was there...

 

Any idea what its serial number is...?

 

It's XW530 C/n - B3-06-69.

[Tayne]

I have to ask how you managed to find that out.

[Lankytim]

Tadaa! B29 based Guppy thing at Brunty. What a fatty!

 

 

You can just see my trade plate on the nosewheel leg. Not that i'd delivered it or anything.

[gearoil]

Thats brilliant. Man, I was in Elgin for a weekend rallying about a month ago and didn't know that was there...

 

Any idea what its serial number is...?

 

It's XW530 C/n - B3-06-69.

Thanks AXrescuer.

 

The history of XW530 is at the excellent www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk:

 

http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/S2 ... XW530.html

 

[fiatdaft]

gearoil there is certainly plenty of large sheds that could hide one.

[Jon]

Tayne, you're a star! Thanks so much for all you found out about N444M. I've passed the info on to my dad, who was equally amazed. I think I will get in touch with the current owner, as I'm sure that like you say, anyone owning such an old plane is an enthusiast and therefore must be interested in its past history.

 

However, my uncle has the slides at the moment and has since gone home down south. I only played around with the small images he sent, so would want to edit the full size scans in order to send. I'll be able to easily get large copies that I can re-edit, though at the mo I'm in the middle of moving house, so will have to wait a while. I think I'd like to write a letter to the owner with a copy of the images, as I think that's how I'd like to discover some past history about something I owned! Will keep you posted on any progress.

[Tayne]

Good luck.

[Tayne]

The plot thickens...

 

I've just found a flying boat forum with a photographic archive of all the Widgeons.

They list our aircraft, N444M, as a post-war G44A civvy-spec model with the serial number 1411. This ties in with the live flight info and the current pictures showing "1411" painted on the nose.

It contradicts the info I found about Mr Wilhite owning serial no 1343 though.

It could mean that he has two G44s though...

 

I'm sure the forum people have got it right, mainly because of the thre photos they put up.

 

This current picture

 

This vintage picture

 

and this, taken on the 24th of February 1981 at Gatwick.

 

http://theflyingboatforum.hostingdelive ... 4&start=20

 

 

I've also found a picture dated 17th May 1986 showing the plane in its yellow and red colour scheme.

[55bloke]

Another old-plane nut here!! To be pedantic, the Guppy isn't B-29 based, but Boing Statocruiser based, which was a new fuselage mated to B-29 wings and tail unit, and with different engines. I'm a WW11 miltary fanatic really, but anything old with wings gets my attention. Can anyone tell me, why didn't any of those early Russian airliners have dihedral on the wings? They all look as if they're going to loose the wings at any minute!

[Negative Creep]

Bump as I went to the Transport and Technology Museum in Auckland and look what I spotted

 

 

 

A few other pictures as well

 

 

 

 

 

You may be interested to know the Lancaster has the rather unusual twin .50cal tail turret instead of the the normal 4 .303. Or you may not.

 

 

Weatherbeaten Sunderland which will hopefully be restored. They are building a new hanger just out of shot

 

 

[Waderider]

If I was the richest man ever, Kermit Weeks times ten, I'd have a Shorts Sunderland Flying boat. I'd fit it out as a caravanette and live in it, flying here and there and generally being a kept bastard. No spot on earth would be safe from a visit. To me the coolest machine ever, the only competition being Spruce Goose. A man can dream.

 

Edit: Just realized with that dream I couldn't indulge in autoshite, what with the plane based lifestyle and all that. To remedy this my Sunderland would be powered by 4 Perkins P6 marine diesels. What do you mean it couldn't take off?!

[whitevanman]

IF I remember correctly the twin 50 cal rear turret was part of a series of upgrades for aircraft joining "Tiger Force" which was the name for the attack force being sent from Britain to the far East before the Bombs went off.......

[AMC Rebel]

Enjoying a little free time I recently visited the Midland Air Museum -

 

http://www.midlandairmuseum.co.uk/

 

Being the contrarian I am, the things I found most interesting were not just the big silver ones, but some smaller pics and even models.

 

This is a real piece of plane shite and something I was unaware of.  I thought the Caravelle was a shed until I saw this - these were clear examples of just how far ahead we were (and how far we've fallen from the mainstream) vs the rest of Europe in particular.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFW-Fokker_614

 

 

We made the engines and the Germans decided to put them atop the wings 

 

 

In fairness there were a few good ideas in that - not least quieter for folks on the ground apparently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the kit car ethos applied to planes I feel, pretty, but never caught on cos everyone has heard of Cessna/Beech etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMC_Leopard

 

 

 

 

And then of course, there was this Rickman Ginetta in the "restricted area" to which some wag had put up a barrier marked "area 51".  I'd love to know how that Rickman Ginetta got there and what future lies ahead for it.

 

[hairnet]

will be visiting the smithsonian nasa museum in dc next month

 

via a 787 and a a350-1000

[Alusilber]

I remember seeing the white SUV thing in exactly the same place when I visited MAM in Summer 2016.

 

Kit planes built much like kit cars in garages are very much a thing, mostly in the US of A, though they are usually piston-powered, not jet.

[Asimo]

There was a VFW at Kemble last time I visited. Interesting, I took a lot of pictures (presently entombed in my dead iMac) I think it was used for training technicians.

Honda's small jet does the same thing with it's engines.