Air Races!

[Bixxer Bob]

Also had the worst glide angle short of a brick, great plane though, there's a guy in South Africa who will take you up in one if you have the money.

Not surprising with those stubby wings, makes me think of a jet propelled penguin. I saw a program on Discovery with Martin Shaw with a lightning, remember something about having to be specifically qualified on it.

Don't get me started, Vulcan, the sexiest looking bomber ever  :shock:

Now you're talking, I'm welling up....

As a young lad of 16 I was on an Air Cadet summer camp at RAF Wattisham in Suffolk. As I lay on the grass on a warm summer evening watching a pair of Lightnings light the afterburners, accelerate down the runway, lift, select wheels up and climb vertically with a tremendous roar into the night sky, I knew the RAF was for me.  It was an awesome sight.

Rapid forward through seeing Jaguar into service, Lightning retire, Vulcan retire, Shackleton retire, Buccaneer (now that was a brick outhouse of an airplane) retire, Phantom retire, Tornado into service, Victor retire,  Canberra retire, Typhoon into service and Jaguar retire, it's time for me to retire.  35 yrs, man and boy, I've enjoyed every second of it, and wouldn't have changed a thing.  I served in 7 different countries ( 8 if you include St Athan in South Wales ).  I'm a very, very lucky man!!!

[Sin_Tiger]

I am envious   I tried out for the RAF before leaving school and they told me they wouldn't take me as my accent was too thick to be understood over the radio. This was in the days before "cultural social inclusion" and other namby new labour psychobabble.

My mother promptly sent both self & sister to "electrocution" lessons as she called them. Now after 30 over years at sea in more countries than I care to remember, most people, besides other Jocks, have trouble placing my accent, :irony: .

Shackeltons! Tear wells in glass eye and retires to dig out 1969 (pre decimal) copy of the "Valiant" annual amongst some dusty moth eaten copies of "Commando" weekly.

[NeilD]

oooow we've got an aeroplane thread..!  8)

heres a pic of a visit to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby on a wet Sunday morning by my local branch of the TOMC .. bit of a busmans holiday as I work on base, but nice to get a pic of the TBS in front of the Lancaster..  :lol:

[Sin_Tiger]

The front tyre on that is huge and I'm not talking about the Lancaster either.

I used to travel to Louth regularly for my Land Rover bits and stopped for a puff in a layby near the Linconshire showground just in time to watch the Red Arrows do practice right over my head.

One of those moments you couldn't plan, beautiful clear sunny spring day, Rangie full of "bits" for the run home and getting a free show  :D

[Colonel Nikolai]

I've always thought both my 96 Sprint -- and to a lesser degree the Tiger of the same year -- have the look of WWII fighter planes like these. Last summer while riding through an area of I80 in Wyoming on the Sprint during a pounding thunderstorm (which I later found out had several tornado touchdowns :shock: ) I pulled into a campground and called it a day. Next morning I look over at the green monster with all its dirty streaks across the pipes, fairing and engine she looked like she'd been through the Battle of Britain.

Now the bikes all look so faceted, like Transformers toys. Nothing against the Roadies: I've not ridden one, but I've ridden the new Sprint ST and I must say it's better engineered in many ways than my old Sprint. But the look just doesn't grab me.

[Sin_Tiger]

-- have the look of WWII fighter planes like these. with all its dirty streaks across the pipes, fairing and engine she looked like she'd been through the Battle of Britain.

That's an excellent description / analogy, I can picture it mentally, dead right. I'm going to spray paint some oil streaks down the sides of the Roadie when I get home  :lol: but as you say with the angular looks it'll probably come out looking like a well worn Star Wars fighter. The Vara on the other hand looks like a Klingon Battle cruiser nomatter what I do to it  :roll:

[Colonel Nikolai]

Sin_Tiger, right like the Millenium Falcon! I think I was channeling Han Solo when I put the Sprint away this year (first time storing it offsite) "I dunno Chewy, I got a bad feeling about this... like I might never see her again or something."