Author Topic: Is it a bird, is it a plane?  (Read 6908 times)

Offline RayW

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #15 on: August 21, 2017, 07:45:24 AM »
Just been looking again at prices of Spitfire flights and seems I was a bit optimistic with my original figure. Prices start at £2550 for a 20 minute trip and go up to £4800 for a 55 minute flight over the white cliffs of Dover.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 07:48:43 AM by RayW »
Ray

Offline Bluechip

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #16 on: August 21, 2017, 09:23:08 AM »
Just been looking again at prices of Spitfire flights and seems I was a bit optimistic with my original figure. Prices start at £2550 for a 20 minute trip and go up to £4800 for a 55 minute flight over the white cliffs of Dover.

Strewth! ...  £4800! ... Does that include ammunition or do you have to supply your own ?

Dave

Offline Jo

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #17 on: August 21, 2017, 09:30:48 AM »
Actually Knowing the running costs I was thinking the original price was cheap  ::)

I think I would prefer the Needles rather than the White Cliffs  ;)

Jo

P.S. Spitfire hire charges are normally £3K an hour (the plane only has 40 mins fuel on board) that includes maintenance, ground charges, etc... Plus pilot hourly charge....
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 12:09:04 PM by Jo »
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline Nick_G

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #18 on: August 21, 2017, 09:46:02 AM »

Strewth! ...  £4800! ... Does that include ammunition or do you have to supply your own ?

Dave

.
The money would be the least of your problems as Jo would be in a ME109 that she had hired and eager to dogfight.  ;)

Nick  ;)

Offline Jo

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #19 on: August 21, 2017, 09:59:42 AM »

The money would be the least of your problems as Jo would be in a ME109 that she had hired and eager to dogfight.  ;)


No I would fell happier in one of the planes I helped design,  a few years ago  :facepalm2:

Would a Spit show up on the old radar  :thinking: probably, probably better than a Hurricane would  :naughty:

Jo
Enjoyment is more important than achievement.

Offline Bluechip

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #20 on: August 21, 2017, 10:02:52 AM »

The money would be the least of your problems as Jo would be in a ME109 that she had hired and eager to dogfight.  ;)

Nick  ;)


Get it right, Jo would have rented the ME109. The folk she got it from would be the hirer.  :facepalm:

In any case I would look upon that as an act of war and I would immediately impose sanctions. Ie. Refuse to export my surplus onions on the grounds that they are Strategic Materials.   ( PS. Said onions are drying nicely now ) 

Dave  :old:

Offline RayW

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #21 on: August 21, 2017, 10:59:58 AM »

Pleased to see that we have so many aviation enthusiasts in our midst. Here are a few more photos that you might like. First, for Gerrit, we have the Canadian and British Lancasters in formation along the Kent coast, then a nice close up of a Hurricane, and finally for something completely different - this, believe it or not, is how Heathrow airport was in the early days, with crowds relaxing on the grass right at the side of the runways. They even had kiddies rides there, only yards from the planes landing!
And those folk right in the foreground are my parents.
I was about four at the time and was taken up for a pleasure flight in a lovely DeHavilland Rapide. I even got to hold the pilots sandwiches!!
Ray

Offline Steamer5

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #22 on: August 21, 2017, 12:12:04 PM »
Thanks for posting the pictures!

I'm lucky enuff to live close to the flight path from our local airport, the boys have several Harvards, a Catalina, & several X Russian jets Plus another whos name escapes me, nice days & the toys come out!

A couple of years back we got a tour thru the Hamilton Lancaster just prior to her going to the UK, she was still warm from a flight earlier in the day. The gentleman that showed us thru said they have a couple of guys from here come over regularly for a flight! We have a Lancaster here in NZ that doesn't fly.....yet... that thankfully is now under cover, but shes 5 hours drive away.

Cheers Kerrin
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Offline michaelr

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #23 on: August 21, 2017, 04:28:30 PM »

Offline jadge

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #24 on: August 21, 2017, 07:36:42 PM »
I was about four at the time and was taken up for a pleasure flight in a lovely DeHavilland Rapide. I even got to hold the pilots sandwiches!!

Funny you should mention that. In a few weeks time I'm treating my mum to a flight over London in a DH Rapide from Duxford. I've not flown in one before. But my mum has, in the late 1940s when someone, she can't remember who, lobbed into Redhill in one and said did anyone want a flight. Of course my mum was first in the queue.

Andrew

Offline Ian S C

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #25 on: August 22, 2017, 12:17:04 PM »
We have a number of warbirds here in NZ, ranging from a two seat Spitfire, and Mustang, a number of Harvards, and a couple of Strikemasters.
Here's a shot of a friend of mine celebrating his 80th birthday, cost $NZ 1200 for twenty minutes(the flight was nearer 30 min).  Ian S C

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #26 on: August 22, 2017, 07:09:58 PM »
Being a licensed pilot ( not currently current) I am really into this thread. However, being one that only cares for "straight and level flight" ( with a few steep turns) I don't know how I would get along with a true "fighter" ride. Heck, I even argued about "stall training" : I said you are teaching me how to avoid it and now you are wanting me to perform it  :facepalm::. I had a great uncle who was on a refueling plane in WWII and there are some "PX camera" photos in the family that are awesome. I'll admit that the reason I gave up flying was because it was more addictive and expensive than anything I was exposed to in the '70's and '80's   :lolb: :lolb:. Sure do miss those late evening flights in a 172 and sunset landings on old Runway 22 at M91. Hmm, most of the tooling is in good shape  :thinking:. Maybe it's time for a medical and recurrency  check ride  8) .

Cletus

Offline jadge

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #27 on: August 22, 2017, 09:54:26 PM »
However, being one that only cares for "straight and level flight" ( with a few steep turns) I don't know how I would get along with a true "fighter" ride.

I'm the complete opposite, I rarely fly straight and level.  :embarassed:

In a glider one never flies straight and level. You're always climbing or descending, and changing direction for the best looking clouds. And of course we spend a lot of time going round in circles.  ::)  Way back in the 1980s when stubble fires were legal in the UK it was fun to play a game of how many times you could climb in the same fire. The idea was to climb to the top (could be 5000ft) and then spin down to 1000ft and climb up in the fire again, and so on.

I learnt to fly on a Tiger Moth and steep turns and spinning were all part of the deal. The Tiger Moth has some central bracing wires in front of the cockpit. When they are on the horizon you're at about 60° bank. One had to do a figure of eight at 60° of bank one way, reverse to 60° of bank the other way and you got extra points for hitting the propeller wake. Although spinning was not part of the official syllabus the CFI (ex-WWII bomber pilot) said that since the Tiger Moth would spin he expected you to demonstrate three turns of a spin and recovery in each direction. Good fun!

Andrew

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #28 on: August 22, 2017, 10:23:31 PM »
Spin an aircraft, oh Hell no. When I got my ticket we were required to be proficient in spins,but, we didn't have to execute. I can read you the procedure frontwards and backwards, but I've never executed one. I do remember the time my CFI made me hold the 172 in a deep stall and right before she rolled over on her back, he said: "this is what it feels like right before you spin " I did the textbook recovery and said " yeah, here's how you recover " Good job Coach  :lolb:

Cletus

Offline Walsheng

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Re: Is it a bird, is it a plane?
« Reply #29 on: August 23, 2017, 01:09:32 AM »
I learned to fly in a 1948 Piper Vagabond that was 30 years old and my instructor was an ex air force fighter pilot (and just a touch crazy!)
He decided one day to try a roll, in a plane that had probably never been upside down.  Do you know how much dirt and crap accumulate on the floor in 30 years?  I didn't, but I know now!!!

John

 

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