Aircraft

[Carruthers]

There are no U-2s permanently based at Fairford, but they stage through from time to time usually en-route to having a prod around one of the world's trouble spots.
Their visits to RAF Fairford always create a great deal of interest amongst aircraft enthusiasts and this hasn't gone unnoticed by the USAF.

Mike B, one of the administrators at www.fightercontrol.co.uk seems to be well known.



There is a permanent U2 detachment at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
I understand that the Cypriot government has its reservations about the aircraft being based there, but the Sovereign Base Area is essentially British territory so that's that.
The official position is that the aircraft are engaged in 'weather research'.
In 2014 the unit celebrated it's fortieth anniversary at Akrotiri with the slogan 'Still not here after forty years'.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Swoooosh...

[glatt]

Beautiful. Can you imagine being rich enough that you could have flown on the Concorde? That would have been amazing.

[Gravdigr]

ETA: That Tornado shouldn't have had too much trouble keeping up with the Concorde, not at mach 2, anyway.

Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (2,400 km/h, 1,490 mph) at 9,000 m (30,000 ft) altitude;

~ Wiki

[Gravdigr]

An RAF Tornado:

[Gravdigr]

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

ETA: That Tornado shouldn't have had too much trouble keeping up with the Concorde, not at mach 2, anyway.

~ Wiki

I tried to find the altitude before I posted that, but without success.
The Tornado was low on fuel, over the Irish Sea, and I'd assume at mach 2 uses fuel at a prodigious rate. So four minutes of balls to the wall, playing with a camera, and watching the fuel gage, kept him busy. But you can ask him at his site, Adrian Meredith. You can buy a print signed by him and the Concorde Chief Pilot Mike Bannister, for £50.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Pesky peckers...

[BigV]

Have any of you ever met a Concorde in person? Heh, met... I mean have seen one in person? I have. There's one parked at the air and space (?) museum near Boeing field south of Seattle. Slang and I visited there when he came through town once. The plane is undeniably sleek, fast-looking even sitting still. But it is tiny, not nearly as big as I thought it would be. I don't think it's just because it was parked next to a much bigger plane, it is just smaller, more intimate that I expected.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, it's only 200 ft long and 84 ft wide, although the sumbitch is 40 ft high. Since it only carries about 100 passengers, the tickets were sky high.

The closest I got was taxiing(taxying?) by a parked one in Atlanta. It looked kind of sad with it's nose drooping, but at least it was on my side of our plane.

[Happy Monkey]

There's one at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum.

[Happy Monkey]

Speaking of which, here's their restoration floor:

[plthijinx]

Bob Hoover, without question, one of the top aviators of our era. this is long, but very well worth it (sorry about having to follow the link)

[xoxoxoBruce]

Hells Angels.

[Diaphone Jim]

Getting out of my car at a south-of-London B&B long ago, I looked up as any old pilot would at the sound of a jet. The dropped nose (on final to Heathrow) and the squared tail held my gaze until it disappeared. Wow!

I also saw Bob Hoover on several occasions. An elegant. dapper man in a black suit and white shirt no matter what the aircraft.
One day it was a Beech twin that he put through an aerobatic show that probably sent the designer into cardiac arrest.
After cutting the engines just above the runway in front of the crowd, he completed a full loop and coasted to a stop right where he had started.
Then he got out sipping at the cup of coffee he had also started with.
Wow again!
Hey, this page is almost as fun as the IOTD.