Look! Up in the sky!

[crfriend]

It's been a quiet afternoon here in my little hamlet, and I've spent way too much of it trying to get a modern SNMP agent to compile on some of my "elder computers" whilst doing crossword puzzles to while the time away waiting for the next fatal compilation error.

As has been noted before, I tend to have most of my senses "up and running" pretty much full time, and this afternoon, over the din of the air-conditioner I heard something odd -- radial aircraft engines. Those make a rather unmistakable sound, and they're quite rare these days, so I figured I'd drop the daily rag and bolt for the back door to see what was aloft.

If I didn't know that vintage aircraft were in the neighbourhood I would have understandably thought I was hallucinating when I saw a B-17 fly overhead. I think that there are only three or four [0] of those beasties left flying today, and they're getting fewer and fewer (another was lost in Oswego, IL on 2011-06-13), and one flew over our little house. I thought that seeing a DC-8 taking off from Logan International a few years back was like watching a dinosaur in action; this experience eclipsed that.

There's other interesting craft out at the Worcester Aerodrome a few miles to our southwest; I shall keep my ears open to hear, and hopefully see, what may fly over next! I am also given to understand that they'll be there until Wednesday, so I may stick my nose in to see what else is there.

[0] Subsequent searching yielded a number of 11 (minus the Liberty Belle at Oswego) that still fly, but in any event, the one that flew overhead represented a meaningful percentage of the operational population.

[Kirbstone]

Not that it could compete with the fabulous B17, but the attached pic. has a personal relevance for me. Recently our National airline, Aer Lingus, celebrated 75 years of flying and a beautifully restored Hanley Page Dragon Rapide was photographed in front of the original Dublin Airport terminal building from 1930. It was the first aircraft type they used from 1936.

Aer lingus 75 celebration.jpg

My very first ever flight was in exactly such an aircraft as a brief pleasure flight off the large strand at Tramore, Co. Waterford in 1950, when I was just 8 years old. These flights were given at low tide during 'Race Week' in August for a number of years not long after the WW2, and my trusting mother actually allowed all three of her sons to go aloft together. She took a memorable photo of us in front of the 'plane, which I hope to dig out.

Tom K.

[Milfmog]

Never seen a B17 but maybe someday...

A few years ago (about 27 when I stop to think about it ) I was working on site at the Rolls Royce aero-engine plant in Derby when I suddenly realised I had the place to myself. Everyone had gone outside to watch the RAF Memorial Flight (a Spitfire, a Hurricane and a Lancaster bomber) go overhead. Six operational Merlin engines, running together, make a wonderful drone, RR Derby was, of course, the home of the Merlin engine.

The novelty of that has worn off over the years; my current home on the edge of the Thames Valley is visited by the memorial flight several times a year when they come down the valley on their way too or from a show. Although it is no longer novel, they still make an impressive group and gather immense admiration from people who are totally used to modern aircraft and ignore them all day; being under one of the flight paths for Heathrow means we see no shortage of modern commerial jets.

My most memorable flight was in a De Havilland Mosquito. It had been restored and recertified for flight at Booker Airfield, just up the road, and I had helped out with some NDT work and a fix for a faulty radio circuit. I was treated to a half hour flight by way of a thank you. Amazing aircraft, but I think I'll stick to the relative comfort of modern aircraft from choice.

Have fun,


Ian.

[crfriend]

Tom -- Thank you so much for posting that 75th anniversary picture of Aer Lingus. Shots like those, taken in recent times, but which with de-saturation could be confused with the (sometimes) distant past mesmerise me. The only flaw in it is the modern transit van parked next to the terminal to the right of the Rapide's vertical stabilisor.

Is the terminal still in service? That one very clearly has all the hallmarks of the wonder that the possibility of civil aviation had, including observation areas for watching aircraft come and go. Very sadly, those same observation areas are now a thing of the distant past; I have very fond memories from as recently as the 1980s of a bar just beneath the control-tower at Logan International (in Boston) where I spent way too much time waiting for computer parts to be flown in, and very happily spending it with blokes with binoculars and aircraft-identification books.

Funnily, when out on the briny in Boston Harbor we sail right beneath the approach for runway 4R, and one of my favourite liveries to see on approach is Aer Lingus -- that bright green tail is just a wonder. (It reminds me of my grandmother.)

Ian -- Your location makes me a bit green with envy (although this may pass with time). Seeing those flyovers on a semi-regular basis must be quite the sight! Concorde must've been a regular sight for a while.

On the B-17 sighting, it was very nearly a "pinch me" moment. I'd known for a number of years what radial engines sound like, but hadn't heard them in perhaps two decades or so. So when the sound first became audible above the air-conditioner there was a brief moment of, "What am I hearing? Can it be?", before bolting for the nearest door to catch the craft fly almost perfectly overhead. This was the very first one I'd seen in the flesh, and it happened to be airborne; that memory will be cherished for a long time to come! (And the sighting of her on her return to the Worcester Regional Airport (which I fondly just call the Worcester Aerodrome)).

[skirted_in_SF]

I got used to the sound of a radial engine when I lived in Seattle 1989 - 1992. There were float planes that took off from Lake Union and flew over where I lived (on their way to Victoria BC I think). Now that I'm back in SF, I think I hear one every once-in-awhile flying tourists around the bay. They do have a distinctive sound. I though I knew what they were, but a quick look at Wikipedia showed me that I was wrong.

[Milfmog]

Ian -- Your location makes me a bit green with envy (although this may pass with time). Seeing those flyovers on a semi-regular basis must be quite the sight! Concorde must've been a regular sight for a while.

Yes Concorde was an everyday sight, but people still stopped to watch her go. For a while I lived in a rented flat two miles to the west of Heathrow; right under the take off path. I used to be able to sit in the back garden and almost imagine that I could knock planes out of the sky with an empty beer can. After living there for just a few days I no longer heard the planes, with the exception of Concorde which just sounded so different. I still miss that sight and regret her passing.

Have fun,


Ian.

[Kirbstone]

While living in England we were only a few short miles from Farnborough aerodrome where there was a major air exhibition every two years. This included fly pasts by Concorde plus the Red Arrows and of course the WW2 classics . These would do a turn around at low altitude within sight of my house, and that was a free feast for the eyes at the time.
Sculling on the Thames at Reading on Saturday mornings was enlivened by the unmistakeable crackling roar of 4 R.R.Conway engines and the 11AM flight of Concorde out of Heathrow passing directly overhead still at low altitude. Reading & Windsor &c are right under the take-off flightpath.
At our 52nd parallel bolthole in SW Kerry that same flight regularly produced a soft Boom-boom at 11.20 each morning, as Concorde passed the Mizen supersonically.
Yes, the old original terminal which was built at Collinstown, 6 miles N. of Dublin in the early thirties was dubbed an enormous white elephant by detractors at the time. Although it isn't anymore a 'Terminal' building it is used by hoards of Ryanair passengers walking through it and its shops on their way to one of the modern pier buildings to board their flights. All the modern structures round it have been designed sympathetically leaving the old building unspoilt and still used.

Tom K.

[crfriend]

For a while I lived in a rented flat two miles to the west of Heathrow; right under the take off path. I used to be able to sit in the back garden and almost imagine that I could knock planes out of the sky with an empty beer can.

When we're sailing, we sometimes wonder whether some of the very low ones are going to carry our mast away! On the older 'planes one can count the rivets holding them together; the newer ones are completely smooth, but one can still see an amazing level of detail.

After living there for just a few days I no longer heard the planes, with the exception of Concorde which just sounded so different. I still miss that sight and regret her passing.

A bartender that used to work at out "local establishment" was a pilot and general aviation geek. We shared more than a few sobs upon Concorde's retirment. What a dream that machine was!

[Kirbstone]

Just managed to dig out my pic. of a H.P. Dragon Rapide with myself aged 8 (it was 1950) on the left, the youngest of three brothers standing in front. It had a crew of two and carried 8 passengers max. The 'Captain' made an in-flight announcement that we were flying at twelve hundred feet and one hundred and fifty MPH!. Our flight lasted all of 20 mins.

Three aeronauts in Tramore 1950.jpg

Also one taken in the 40's of that terminal building with a DC3 in front of it..

Dublin A DC3.jpg

That building is now mostly the offices of the Irish Airports Authority and the sympathetic new developments have left it with the nice original quadrangle and green behind it. It looks remarkably fresh for its 80 years.

DAA Head Office at Dublin Airport.jpg

Tom K.

[Since1982]

Ian said: Never seen a B17 but maybe someday...

If you ever see some films of the USA airships carpet bombing North Vietnam during the 1965-70's most of those planes are or were B-15 or 17's. Also there were many quick strike smaller ships hitting individual targets like grounded Migs during the Vietnam war. You can see a lot of that on the American TV "Military channel" even now.

[Grok]

Commemorative Air Force

[Grok]

The Mosquito Page

[Kirbstone]

Last weekend there was a seaplane festival at Enniskillen on Lough Erne. Two W.W.2 Catalinas turned up, and one sustained minor damage to its vertical stabliator and had to be towed up onto the hard for repairs.
Hence this rare photo of a whole 1943 Catalina up on wheels showing her curves.

Catalina Rs.jpg

Tom K.

[Big and Bashful]

Sorry, I still don't think the catalina is a good looking aircraft. (That's being polite!). I would love to have seen a Sunderland, but they have all gone as far as I know.

[Milfmog]

I would love to have seen a Sunderland...

I'm with you there B&B.

...but they have all gone as far as I know.

According to Wikipedia (so possibly completely wrong) there is one airworthy example left; in Florida.

Have fun,


Ian.