The Red Arrows

[Mr Pee]

Just had a grand view from my back garden of the Red Arrows as they performed up the road at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Aren't they fantastic? Makes one proud to be British, as does the Festival of Speed itself. Magnificent event. Anybody with the slightest interest in Motor Sport or automotive exotica really should go and take a look, even if you drive a diesel Peugeot 207.

[Serial_Apologist]

The worlds seems obsessed with people wanting to do things faster than ever before. I never got that one....

[salymap]

I loved seeing the Red Arrows rehearsing around here years ago. Don't know whether they used Biggin Hill sometimes but never see them now. Only beaten by the day I saw three Concords all at the same time on their last flight. They were beautiful planes I thought.

[Flosshilde]

Yes indeed Saly - The Concord was a beautiful object, & a splendid example of European cooperation.

I cannot understand (pace Mr Pee) how a 'celebration' of things going fast can possibly make one 'proud to be British', especially as the things probably aren't 'British'. What makes me proud to be British is things like the way in which we have given refuge to people who have been persecuted elsewhere, our open and tolerant society (still, just about).

(If anyone wonders what the 'Festival of speed' is about, it's " a unique summer weekend that brings together an impossibly heady mix of cars, stars and motor sport ‘royalty’ to create the largest car culture event in the world."

It's not about celebrating the effect of taking drugs )

[MrGongGong]

I loved seeing the Red Arrows rehearsing around here years ago. Don't know whether they used Biggin Hill sometimes but never see them now. Only beaten by the day I saw three Concords all at the same time on their last flight. They were beautiful planes I thought.

the red arrows practice in the airspace over our allotment
so all winter we get the full on whoosh with coloured smoke
most children round here are so used to it that they barely look up , unless its the weekly Lancaster bomber we seem to get in the summer en route to somewhere or other

[Mr Pee]

I cannot understand (pace Mr Pee) how a 'celebration' of things going fast can possibly make one 'proud to be British',

I think you probably need to attend the Festival to understand- it's set in the grounds of Goodwood House, a classic British country estate, and it still has, despite it's success, a bit of a feel of a garden party about it. I just can't imagine the same atmosphere anywhere else. And people travel from all over the globe to participate and spectate.

It's not about celebrating the effect of taking drugs

Trust me, you don't need drugs when a Formula 1 car has just roared past a few feet away!!

[Flosshilde]

I think you probably need to attend the Festival to understand- it's set in the grounds of Goodwood House, a classic British country estate

I would enjoy Goodwood House rather more without the clutter of cars etc. Although, as it's not in the first rank architecturally or for landscape design, it would be a long way down my list of places to visit.

[Mr Pee]

Well, it's free of such

clutter

for 361 days of the year, so that shouldn't be a problem. And whilst I agree Goodwood does not have the grandeur or scale of, say, Highclere or Burghley, it has a charm all it's own, and is set in the beautiful surroundings of the South Downs National Park. It's well worth a visit, wherever you put it on your list.

http://www.goodwood.co.uk/goodwood-house/goodwood-house.aspx

[MrGongGong]

And weeeeee there they go again today
off to the Waddington Airshow no doubt



though it doesn't make me proud to be British at all

[Mr Pee]

And weeeeee there they go again today
off to the Waddington Airshow no doubt



though it doesn't make me proud to be British at all

They were at Goodwood again this morning-- made ME proud all over again!!

[MrGongGong]

I never really understood (or even Understand) why THIS would make you proud to be British ?
there are things we should be proud of indeed
but (highly skilled I know !) folk flying about in aeroplanes are entertaining to watch etc but don't really make me proud at all

[Flosshilde]

Originally Posted by MrGongGong
And weeeeee there they go again today
off to the Waddington Airshow no doubt



though it doesn't make me proud to be British at all

They were at Goodwood again this morning-- made ME proud all over again!!

It's not as if formation flying is uniquely British, or even uniquely well-done in Britain. Even the Belgian Air Force does it http://www.mil.be/aircomp/subject/in...NU=2046&PAGE=1

[Mr Pee]

Even the Belgian Air Force does it http://www.mil.be/aircomp/subject/in...NU=2046&PAGE=1

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.

[MrGongGong]

hummm

the hawk jet is hardly state of the art you know
having been to visit the mechanics at Scampton (and made some recordings of them taking off etc ...... no second takes there then !) they are fast running out of
planes to cannibalise so fairly soon it will all come to an end unless someone starts making bits etc

[Mr Pee]

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..........