Amazing sight seen this afternoon

100ft !!!!!!!

Are you sure?

Pretty much. I could read the numbers!

steve

What's the point in spending all those millions on developing an "invisible" plane when it's sooooo easy to see it and take a photo? 

KR

Tony

Nice shot PP - on it's way to Scotland. Lovely plane, lovely sound.

Not my pic sadly. I couldn't get to the camera in time.

steve

My house is right on one of its regular air corridors to the south

It does fly low, but not 100ft for sure as it would hit the hill behind the village and I know what the Bensen 'copters look like at their minimum of 250ft, so I guess maybe the lowest I've seen it at is 500ft

According to its www schedule today it flew from its base at Robin Hood AP at Doncaster to RAF Leuchars & the schedule sez its the last flight of the year.

The (only) good thing about living in Farnborough 

I saw the Vulcan on its farewell tour at Leuchars many years ago. It was by far the loudest thing I've ever heard (and I saw Led Zeppelin, the Who, Deep Purple etc at their loudest). My body felt like it was being driven down into the runway and my son, three years old at the time, was terrified. It was one of the most intense experiences I've ever had.

Good to see it's still flying.

Very cool - interestingly, when I was out shopping, I saw one of these today coming into our local, small Concord Regional airport:

Kind of a "chrome bumper" version of your sighting!

(I know it's not RAF, but I did get excited to see it!  WW II is my fave vintage or aeroplanes.)

Reminds of a day when I was passing by Fairford on the A417 and one of these floated over the road at low level.

http://youtu.be/UDvyDb6ICwo

Leuchars Air Show yesterday.  We are nearby and usually see some of the aircraft but nothing like that.

My father was stationed there for his NS and so we'd do the show most years when I was a kid.

Sadly, this will be the swansong I fear.  

G

Agreed. Saw it over 'Donny' a few times in the good old days of the Finningley Air Show. Bloody noisy. And when it flew low, in front of the sun, being big and 'relatively' slow,  it felt like a mini eclipse !!!

Reminds of a day when I was passing by Fairford on the A417 and one of these floated over the road at low level.




http://youtu.be/UDvyDb6ICwo

I've not seen one in the air, but  here's one of the early YF-12s (I think) that is slowly gaining a patina in an outdoor collection in Birmingham, Alabama. I imagine one would need industrial-sized balls to strap into one of these and push the loud-lever forward.

Funnily enough last weekend I had a chat with ex-Blackbird pilot Rich Graham. Obviously a really interesting guy, and now free to talk quite freely about much of what he did. 70 minutes at Mach 3 would still be an achievement these days. 

Tony

On reflection.....

Tony

Just had one of the BoB guys beating up the scenery

A power dive in (unmistakable luverly noise) into a tight low 360, then disappeared in the direction of Coningsby

Looks like he was buzzing a house in the area

"Hello Mum"  

I heard it first and then looking up saw a Spitfire fly over overhead as I stood in a friends garden just outside Eastbourne this afternoon.  About 4.30.  A lovely sight to behold.

SteveT

Aha, I know where that one is Tony...

You guys have just made the hairs on the back of my next stand up with your pictures!! -  I think on this thread we have three of the four greatest aeroplanes ever to grace the sky.

There's only one missing - here it is:

Speedbird Concorde G-BOAF blasting out of Heathrow...

Spitfire, Vulcan, Concorde and SR-71, each a masterpiece of its time.  Never did see the SR71 fly.

Interestingly I'm just reading a superb book called 'The search for Zero point' by Nick Cook the Editor of Jane's All The World's Aircraft.  He goes in search of research into anti-gravity technology which seemingly the Germans were quite preoccupied with during the war with a project called 'The Bell'.  The question is - did they succeed?  Did the Americans continue the work as part of their black projects since the war?  Is there a link with the B2 stealth bomber which apparently produces insufficient engine thrust to meet its performance figures and where does the rumoured US hypersonic ramjet spy plane Aurora fit in?

Fascinating stuff - he did a very good documentary on Ch4 available on Youtube here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8xN8zi9w_s

Jonathan

I was always partial to these...

I've seen all the aircraft you mention, Jonathan, but the best display I've seen, and by quite a margin, was this F-15 at Duxford last year. Luckily I was there on the Sunday and a storm had just cleared as this aircraft appeared. The Saturday show was clear skies and bright sunshine!

Tony

I was at Goodwood on Friday and I have to admit that watching a Spitfire and P51 Mustang flying so close together their wingtips looked to be touching was one of the days highlights.  The other was the eventual arrival of the Lancaster from the BoBMF.  Supposedly it had got stuck thanks to fog over the Channel Islands, hence running a bit late.  They made up for it with some very low passes over the paddock.  Lovely...

As long as we're bringing up favorites, here is mine - I just think the uniqueness of this design is so cool, and it was a high performer as well:

Richard, you'll have to pay a visit to Flying Legends at Duxford next year. 

Tony