A new museum and well worth a visit:
http://www.jetagemuseum.btck.co.uk/
http://www.gloster.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
All photos by the Aviation Anorak
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
The Jet Age Museum Gloucester Airport
A new museum and well worth a visit:
http://www.jetagemuseum.btck.co.uk/
http://www.gloster.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
All photos by the Aviation Anorak
Thursday, 16 January 2014
The One-Eleven Lives On!
Really great news! BAC One-Eleven 400 N999BW has a new
American owner TriStar History and Preservation Inc
and they will keep it flying! Two other 400srs are also still flying and
operated by Northrop Grumman. N999BW is however still the pretty one as Grumman’s
have bits stuck on them for testing. Maybe one day it could make a visit home
back here in the UK?
Monday, 6 January 2014
Thursday, 3 October 2013
VC-10 Retirement
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| The VC-10 - beautiful from any angle in the air or on the ground |
Read more about this iconic British aircraft completed it's last flight on the 25th of September 2013 :
http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/vc10-final-flight-26092013
http://www.vc10.net/
Thursday, 19 September 2013
Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident Memories
Back in the mid seventies I remember on nice hot sunny days getting
on my bike and riding from my home in Windsor to the bottom of Heathrow’s 10L.
I would take a packed lunch and sit for hours on the grass and watch aircraft
zooming over my head as they touched down. When I smell the fuel now at work it
always takes me back to those magic days at the end of the runway or watching aircraft
from the top of the Queens Building at the heart of Heathrow.
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| ...and another ZZzzzz |
Along with the wonderful smoky and noisy Caravelles, DC-8s, Viscounts etc (I could go on and on) I got so bored of seeing endless British Airways Tridents. I confess now in the days of all look-a-like jets, how I would love to see a Trident in the air again! Looking back now I think it is time to remember this odd 3 engine beast (or 4 as in the case of the Trident 3Bs). Many pictures are about of BEA/BA’s Tridents so here are most of the others...
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| Nice colours and photo of Air Ceylon's Trident 1E 4R-ACN (cn 2135) See below... |
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| Trident 1E 4R-ACN (cn 2135) Air Lanka after country & airline name change. I don't think this aircraft ever flew in the new colours? |
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| A great landing shot of Trident 2E B-2210 (cn 2178) CAAC |
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| Trident 1E G-AVYC (cn 2137) of BKS Air Transport See below... |
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| Another of Trident 1E G-AVYC (cn 2137) this time in Northeast Colours |
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| Chinese Air Force Trident 1E 50051 (cn 2130) |
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| Trident 2E 5B-DAB (cn 2155) Cyprus Airways |
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| Trident 1E YI-AEA (cn 2125) Iraqi Airways |
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| Trident 1E G-AVYB (cn 2136) Channel Airways |
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| Trident 1E 9K-ACH (cn 2134) Kuwait Airways |
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| Trident 1E AP-AUG (cn 2133) PIA See below... |
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| Another of Trident 1E AP-AUG (cn 2133) in Pakistan Air Force Colours |
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| Trident 3B 9Q-CTM (cn 2304) Air Charters Zaire |
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| HS-121 Trident 3B G-AWKZ (cn 2312) It was painted by BA Engineering in BA's Landor colours but never flew like this. Very smart! See Below... |
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| Trident 3B G-AWKZ (cn 2312) as she looks in 2013 at Manchester Airport in BEA colours. Not bored with Tridents now! Photo by The Aviation Anorak |
http://www.hs121.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Trident
Chinese Air Force Trident 50051:
http://www.aviationmuseum.eu/World/Asia/China/Beijing/China_Aviation_Museum.htm
BEA Trident 3B G-AWKZ :
http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/content/runwayvisitorpark
Barrage Balloon Hanger. Pawlett, England
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Barrage balloon hanger at Pawlett, Somerset, England. 73 years old and still
standing. Photos Aviation Anorak (Sept 2012)
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The main work carried out at Pawlett was the testing of German barrage balloon cables (1-ton breaking strength) as well as our own (breaking 3.25-tons) to draw comparisons (by flying the RAE's aircraft into the cables). Countermeasures to barrage balloons were also developed including various types of strengthened aircraft wing leading edge and, of course, cable cutters. About 12 aircraft were available to the team to carry out this work. They key to the RAE's success however was the barrage balloon and its cables. In order that a balloon(s) was always available it was necessary to have a hangar of sufficient size to house it fully inflated. Repairs to the balloon fabric had also to be carried out and a large fabric store was also built . The balloons had to be tethered at the test area and the concrete tethering pillars also survive.
Only two sites had balloon sheds of this type - the other being the Maintenance Unit at Sutton Coldfield where there were four similar sheds. It was necessary at the MU to have fully inflated repaired balloons to make sure that repairs had been carried out satisfactory. The balloon depots had a much smaller balloon sheds where they were only checked out partially inflated. Balloons from these depots were transported to the operational site many miles from the depot and inflated on site. Pawlett is entirely different - it was fully operational in the sense that the balloons were required on site - hence the need for such a large hangar. All four hangars at Sutton Coldfield have been demolished.
A local resident who moved to the area in 1940 remembers the site in use. The balloon was tethered in the yard and not moved out - the structure on the Hams is the remains of a navigation beacon. The RAE carried out other experiments here including attaching (dummy, paint filled) aerial mines to ballons and testing bombs on the Hams. The test dropping of the first 500lb and 1000lb bombs took place here and other work involved plotting the fall pattern of dummy incendiary bombs.
The hanger appears structurally sound but the cladding is rusting in many places. There was no access to the interior of the hanger. Along the W side of the enclosure is a long building with a garage containg an inspection pit at the southern end. The roof of this building has mostly fallen in. The other buildings are severly overgrown and the site is littered with the remainants of its former use as a scrap and spare parts yard.
The site is located at the junction on Gaunts Farm Road and Ham Lane and covers an area that measures circa 180m by 130m at its widest points. The site housed the barrage balloon hanger as well as accommodation blocks and other auxiliary buildings. This was a Royal Aircraft Establishment set up chiefly for the development of barrage balloon cable-cutting experiments. The accommodation block is centred at ST 2835 4293 and measures 37m long by 9m wide and orientated northeast/southwest. The building is still extant and is now part of a scrap yard. The Barrage balloon Hanger measures 32m long by 28m wide and orientated northeast/southwest. The hanger is still extant and is now used as a store in a scrap yard. An auxiliary building is circa 50m away from the main site. The rectangular building measures circa 4.5m wide by 5m long orientated northwest-southeast with the entrance on the southeast side. This building is still extant. To the south of the site is a white arrow 15m in length which would have shown the direction to the bombing range marker-author unknown (via internet)
http://www.bbrclub.org/Pawlett.htm
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Spitfire Floatplane
With the German invasion of Norway in April 1940 the RAF took an interest in the concept of using floatplane fighters in areas where airfields were not immediately available. To this end a Spitfire Mk I R6722 was taken in hand at the Woolston factory to be modified and mounted on Blackburn Roc floats. Tank tests were carried out at Farnborough, using a 1/7 scale model, it was found that the concept was basically sound, although the vertical tail surfaces would need to be enlarged to counterbalance the side area of the floats. The end of the Battle of Norway and the need for as many Spitfires as possible meant that R6772 was converted back to an ordinary fighter without being flown.
With the entry of Japan into the war the concept was revived in early 1942. A Spitfire V W3760 was fitted with a pair of floats 25 ft 7 in (7.8 m) long, mounted on cantilever legs. This aircraft was powered by a Merlin 45 driving a four-bladed propeller of 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) diameter (3.4 m). A Vokes filter was fitted to the carburettor air intake and under the tail an extra fin extension was added. Other changes included external lifting points forward of and behind the cockpit and a spin-recovery parachute with a rudder balance-horn guard. The Spitfire floatplane was first flown on 12 October 1942 by Jeffrey Quill. Soon afterwards the Vokes filter was replaced by an Aero-Vee filter, similar to that on later Merlin 61 series aircraft, which was extended to prevent water entry, and full Mk VB armament was installed. Two more VBs EP751 and EP754 were converted by Folland and all three floatplanes were transported to Egypt, arriving in October 1943. At the time it was thought that the floatplanes could operate from concealed bases in the Dodecanese Islands, disrupting supply lines to German outposts in the area which relied on resupply by transport aircraft. This scheme came to naught when a large number of German troops, backed by the Luftwaffe, took over the British held islands of Kos and Leros. No other role could be found for the floatplane Spitfires, which languished in Egypt, operating from the Great Bitter Lake. Specifications for the VB based floatplane included a maximum speed of 324 mph (521 km/h) at 19,500 ft (521 km/h at 5,943 m), a maximum rate of climb of 2,450 ft/min at 15,500 ft (12.45 m/s at 4,724 m) and an estimated service ceiling of 33,400 ft (10,180 m)
In the spring of 1944, with the prospect of use in the Pacific Theatre, a Spitfire IX MJ892 was converted to a floatplane. This used the same components as the earlier Mk VB conversions. Jeffrey Quill wrote:
"The Spitfire IX on floats was faster than the standard Hurricane. Its handling on the water was extremely good and its only unusual feature was a tendency to "tramp" from side to side on the floats, or to "waddle" a bit when at high speed in the plane."
Soon after testing started the idea of using floatplane fighters was dropped and MJ982 was converted back to a landplane. From Wikipedia
Five aircraft were converted:
Mk I - R6722
Mk Vb - W3760
Mk V - EP751 and EP754
Mk IXb - MJ892
More info @: http://aviationtrivia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/spitfire-floatplane-that-reginald.html
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Avro Vulcan B2 XH558
It was great to see this lovely looking and sounding aircraft flying over my home town. Long may she continue flying!
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http://www.vulcantothesky.org/
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| Photo by:The Aviation Anorak @ Weston Air day 2013 Knightstone island Weston-super-Mare England 22/06/2013 |
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/
Sunday, 21 April 2013
A BAC One-Eleven Getting Down!
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