The Red Arrows

[MrGongGong]

You might have missed them but we had the full on coloured smoke thing
as well as the USA lot doing the "lets scare the poo out of the choir in Lincoln Cathedral" routine !

[Flosshilde]

Thanks for that link, Floss. I was previously unaware that Belgium even had an Air Force, but now I see that they do, and indeed that they have a display team.......who fly little toy aeroplanes with propellors. Hardly the same as a Hawk Jet. Like comparing a Formula One car to a Peugeot 207 diesel.

Mr Pee misses, as usual. Such a messy boy

[Mr Pee]

Mr Pee misses, as usual. Such a messy boy

You've lost me yet again. You posted a link to some toy aeroplanes and I commented on it.

How is that messy???

[amateur51]

No Red Arrows today- perhaps they've run out of spare parts- but we had the Vulcan bomber instead. What an incredibly beautiful aircraft, and what a fine example of British engineering. No comparison to those rubber-band powered Belgian toys in Flossie's link.

Makes one proud..........

But you made the comparison in your message #13, Mr Pee

WAKE UP AT THE BACK THERE, messy boy!

[Flosshilde]

Actually, I think that the 'little toy aeroplanes' would be rather more entertaining to watch than the screaming jets of the Red Arrows, which seem to do nothing more than scream overhead at high speed, trailing coloured vapour. So skillful - not.

[Mr Pee]

But you made the comparison in your message #13, Mr Pee

Fully aware of that Amateur.....

So skillful - not.

If you honestly believe that flying fast jets in close proximity, whilst at the same time carrying out perfectly timed and co-ordinated display elements, often whilst experiencing G- forces that would make most of us pass out- or at the very least revisit our last meal- is not a skilful activity, then the planet you are living on is even further away than I had previously suspected.

[amateur51]

Fully aware of that Amateur.....

Didn't want you to appear to be a chump, messy boy.

[and failed miserably ]

[Pianorak]

So skillful - not.

http://ultimatehigh.ig-zi.co.uk/c2/admin/preview.fcgi?p=76

Book yourself a trip - and that's just the nursery slopes!

[hackneyvi]

Actually, I think that the 'little toy aeroplanes' would be rather more entertaining to watch than the screaming jets of the Red Arrows, which seem to do nothing more than scream overhead at high speed, trailing coloured vapour. So skillful - not.

I fancy what you're thinking of, Flosshilde, is a plane crash.

I haven't seen the Red Arrows for a number of years but they used regularly to appear in the north west and always put on a good show for the local Lifeboat Day.

Might not both teams of flyers have their merits?

My mother was a WREN in the last war and repaired engines of Swordfish, slight-built and primitive little wooden bi-planes but torpedo carriers, I think.

[amateur51]

I fancy what you're thinking of, Flosshilde, is a plane crash.

I haven't seen the Red Arrows for a number of years but they used to regularly show for our lifeboat day and always put on a good show.

Might not both teams of flyers have their merits?

My mother was a WREN in the last war and repaired engines of Swordfish, slight-built and primitive little wooden bi-planes but torpedo carriers, I think.

Good on your mum, hackneyvi!

Here's a pic, mit torpedo, and a bit of description

http://www.military-aircraft.org.uk/bombers/fairy-swordfish-ii.htm

[Flosshilde]

I fancy what you're thinking of, Flosshilde, is a plane crash.

Perhaps that's what those watching the Red Arrows are secretly hoping for? Part of the thrill of watching high-speed anything must be the feeling that there might be a disaster (the same goes for live performances of any sort, of course).

However, I don't think the Red Arrers are worth any more discussion.

[Mr Pee]

Part of the thrill of watching high-speed anything must be the feeling that there might be a disaster.

I can assure you, Flosshilde, that when I watch either Formula 1 or the Red Arrows, the last thing I want to see is a disaster. I find the very suggestion that I am hoping for such a thing quite offensive. The last tragedy I witnessed in Formula One was the death of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, and I sincerely hope never to see such a thing again, anymore than I would wish to see a Hawk jet tumbling out of the sky.

And having said that there's no skill in being a Red Arrows pilot, you then suggest that a disaster is just around the corner. How do they avoid these endless disasters then? Good luck?? Or possibly the hours of training and practice that they put in?

[hackneyvi]

Good on your mum, hackneyvi!

Here's a pic, mit torpedo, and a bit of description

Mum, I think, believed the work had left her with the hands of a navvy, God love her.

I can remember seeing them at the occasional air display. Not really a handsome craft, is it? But it does have something of the heartiness of a garden bird, a bird that might shoulder its way to the front. I never knew until now that they were the "Fairy Swordfish", which adds a little more in delight to my love for them.

... soon gained the nickname 'Stringbag', a reflection on the aircraft's ability to carry almost anything asked of it regardless of shape or size.

Bold little bird!

Thanks, a51.

[mangerton]

Mum, I think, believed the work had left her with the hands of a navvy, God love her.

I can remember seeing them at the occasional air display. Not really a handsome craft, is it? But it does have something of the heartiness of a garden bird, a bird that might shoulder its way to the front. I never knew until now that they were the "Fairy Swordfish", which adds a little more in delight to my love for them.

Actually "Fairey", as they were built by the Fairey Aviation Company. The Swordfish played a large part in the sinking of the Bismarck.

[arancie33]

Actually, I think that the 'little toy aeroplanes' would be rather more entertaining to watch than the screaming jets of the Red Arrows, which seem to do nothing more than scream overhead at high speed, trailing coloured vapour. So skillful - not.

FYI, flying formation aerobatics in propeller driven aeroplanes requires exactly the same skills as doing it in jets and can be just as enthralling to watch. As for "screaming overhead etc", have you ever seen the USAF team (Thunderbirds they were in my day, maybe still are)? They really do rush across the airfield, disappear then come back from the other direction in a different formation and repeat ... and repeat. There was a story doing the rounds of the crewrooms in the '80s that after the Red Arrows had done a rehearsal at some American airshow, the American general rushed to whoever was in charge on the RAF side to ask if the Red Arrows could do a much diluted version of their routine as it was putting the home team to shame. I don't think they changed it one bit.