Anyone else like Birds AND planes? (7 Viewers)

Yes I have an interest in Aviation as well as birds. The aviation interest came at the age of 15 and at 17 did my first solo and ppl at 18. I am now 52 and no longer fly due to work, family and cost. I have only in the past 6 months become interested in birds.

I was at Duxford when RR299 came in one day (a normal day) I remember it had come from Brough and clicked incessantly as it cooled down - lovely plane, shame it failed miserably at Barton.

Steve Thomas, stick with birds, you'll love 'em. I could suggest a book to get you in the mood which also has some flying scenes in it...........but I would get told off ;-)

Farnboro John said:

Now they are talking to VTTS they might have a chance, but my bet is on the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar who I understand are working to buy Glyn Powell's mostly completed rebuild to airworthy. Timescale for completion (with suitable funds) could be 2016, certainly 2017. Fingers crossed!

I saw RR299 at low level in the Peak District a long time ago. I should like to see another in the air soon (without having to go to USA/Canada each of which have one.)

John

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The Mosquito is my all time favourite plane. I was gutted when the last airworthy Mossie in the UK crashed back in July 1996. I saw it displaying at Duxford the weekend before that disaster. I do hope another can be made airworthy again. Does anyone on here know whether the Beaufighter that was being rebuilt at Duxford was ever completed or made airworthy? I've been a bit out of touch with the vintage aircraft scene since I moved to Ireland.

Si.

Monahawk said:

The Mosquito is my all time favourite plane. I was gutted when the last airworthy Mossie in the UK crashed back in July 1996. I saw it displaying at Duxford the weekend before that disaster. I do hope another can be made airworthy again. Does anyone on here know whether the Beaufighter that was being rebuilt at Duxford was ever completed or made airworthy? I've been a bit out of touch with the vintage aircraft scene since I moved to Ireland.

Si.

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The Mosquito is my all-time favourite plane too!

The Beaufighter is kind of stalled. I'm no engineer but the issue is something like, they have a Beaufighter airframe and drawings, but the only working engines (Bristol Hercules) are from post-war Handley Page Hastings, and these power vacuum systems that work the other way from Beaufighter ones. This would mean either discarding the engines for proper originals (if any exist) or obtaining design authority (DA) (some say original equipment manufacturer (OEM) these days) approval for system modifications - new engineering, new drawings, new certification.

Its a big issue and the Beau is currently going basically nowhere, though they may be doing non-controversial airframe restoration desultorily. Its a great shame, for me the Beaufighter would come not too far behind the Mossie as something I would like to see in the air.

John

Farnboro John said:

The Mosquito is my all-time favourite plane too!

The Beaufighter is kind of stalled. I'm no engineer but the issue is something like, they have a Beaufighter airframe and drawings, but the only working engines (Bristol Hercules) are from post-war Handley Page Hastings, and these power vacuum systems that work the other way from Beaufighter ones. This would mean either discarding the engines for proper originals (if any exist) or obtaining design authority (DA) (some say original equipment manufacturer (OEM) these days) approval for system modifications - new engineering, new drawings, new certification.

Its a big issue and the Beau is currently going basically nowhere, though they may be doing non-controversial airframe restoration desultorily. Its a great shame, for me the Beaufighter would come not too far behind the Mossie as something I would like to see in the air.

John

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Thanks for that John. That's a shame about the Beaufighter project. I guess it's a case of 'maybe one day or maybe not' with this one.

Si.

Saw this beauty distantly a few months ago while birding and only found out it was based locally afterwards. Been trying to get a photo of it in the air ever since, but only seemed to see it in the distance - though the pilot did seem to like flying quite low. While birding around Fife last week it flew over us a couple of times but I missed out on the shot owing to conditions and a temperamental lens/body connection. Thankfully it was third time lucky when it flew over us in good light and very low and the lens behaved. Vietnam War era Cessna O-1 Bird Dog based at Dundee Airport.

Photo edited in an attempt to give it an authentic 60s colour photo look - not sure if it worked or not.

Apropos of my earlier comment that the Mosquito is my favourite aircraft, an early thing that led to that was the flawed but exciting war film 633 Squadron. In my youth I was a keen Airfix modeller but the right kit never quite existed and you certainly couldn't get 633 Squadron markings. These days with the Internet you can get ANYTHING....

John

Airfix 1:48 de Havilland Mosquito BXVI built as Mosquito B35 from the film 633 Squadron, with after market diamond tread tyres, brass turned Browning 0.303 gun barrels and 633 Squadron decals from Hong Kong.

A ''plain'' Red Kite .....and what about the ''Iron Bird?''...seen yesterday NE London.

Cheers

Looks like a BA Airbus

West End Birder said:

Looks like a BA Airbus

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Clearly...will need to brush up on my "Ironbird" ID skills, if I want to become a "high flyer". :t:

Well as the 1973 Individual Champion of the UK ATC Aircraft Recognition Competition and also the 1976 Individual Champion of the Air Britain Combined Cadets Aircraft Recognition Competition (I kid you not) I am sure I can help you

Yes, I used to be an into aviation but no longer. You can see the resemblance between bird and plane attitudes quite markedly on waterfowl. Even my ident on the site is aviation related (Gold 21, a KC-10 that holds happy memories)

Ken

A couple more from above our home here in St Petersburg, Russia for your gratification.

I see the two choppers are the same model but can anyone explain the different paint job, is it just the painters 'theme of the day'?


Andy

andyadcock said:

A couple more from above our home here in St Petersburg, Russia for your gratification.

I see the two choppers are the same model but can anyone explain the different paint job, is it just the painters 'theme of the day'?


Andy

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Two Mil-8 choppers, NATO reporting name "Hip" and an Antonov AN-12 "Cub" I believe.

Different colour schemes are almost inevitable in really big military fleets as aircraft cycle through maintenance over years: may spend periods in storage and miss out on the new fashion in camouflage: might get sent to a different climatological region with different camo needs, and so on. The patterned one was probably painted longer ago than the grey one.

John

Thanks a lot John

Andy

Farnborough heading for its biennial centre stage position:

Lockheed Martin F35B Lightning II displayed by the RAF.

John

Previous to my earlier posts, I now have to be extremely cautious what I photograph and where. On my usual trail walk I went a bit further than normal, some 5km. There are numerous buried gas pipes and a few very small (20m2) gas hubs which are enclosed in barbed wire and a bigger distribution centre belonging to Gazprom.

2 weeks ago today, I was arrested on a public footpath by armed Gazprom security and detained. My broken Russian and their slightly, but not much better English, helped me understand that I was suspected of 'photographing an installation of the Russian Republic'. My camera, thankfully just a pocket digi and not our D5 with 600m lens was taken away for examination.

I had no papers with me, I hardly see anyone on this trail so didn't expect to need them and my fiance was in Moscow but via my mobile I was able to alert her to my adventure. I asked why I was being held and how long for, the stony faced reply did not comfort me 'we wait for the big boss to see if we will prepare papers' in other words if I would be charged with anything.

Time passed and I was at this point expecting to be released once they'd seen what was on my camera but I was in for shock. After 2 hours, an armed militia in Ninja like black uniforms, complete with machine guns arrived, handcuffed me and took me away in a police car.

Eventually, Anastasia's father was contacted and arrived at the police station with my papers and they seemed satisfied that this sweaty, shirtless guy, covered in insect spray and with a camera full of butterfly pictures was in fact not James Bond. Thank god I didn't have the big camera with all the aircraft pics is all I can say!

The Gazprom facility in which I was detained is much bigger than I realised but isn't visible from where I walk. Once inside, the size was more obvious. A large display cabinet showed off football trophies alongside WW2 memorobilia presumably unearthed during the laying of gas pipes. Helmets, bullets, grenades etc but on the wall opposite, was a poster making it clear why I'd been detained, terrorism.

This is a very paranoid country right now and I'll have to tread carefully in future, even on an obscure trail I now think of as home.


Andy

andyadcock said:

This is a very paranoid country right now and I'll have to tread carefully in future, even on an obscure trail I now think of as home.


Andy

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Very interesting/scary! I guess the MIB's were OMON or FSO.

As an aside, Robert Baden-Powell used drawings of butterflies as maps of military installations while working as an intelligence officer.

Captain_of_Crunch said:

Very interesting/scary! I guess the MIB's were OMON or FSO.

As an aside, Robert Baden-Powell used drawings of butterflies as maps of military installations while working as an intelligence officer.

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Interesting Capt, I wouldn't be so stupid in this area to go near any military bases with camera and binoculars but did not expect such a response in non military environment.

This being the Baltics almost, we're surrounded by naval, air force and artillery bases.

To make things worse, there is no concept here of wildlife watching, especially insects!

Andy

A few years back I was arrested in Cuba on suspicion of spying and interrogated for an hour, probably on account of telescope bins and camera. Showing them my notebook full of bird descriptions and my own sketches made it worse. They deciphered my dodgy writing and wrote down all the countries I had visited. They eventually let my wife and I go with no explanations or apologies. Surprising for a country which is trying to promote eco tourism but they do have a paranoia about foreigners