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What have you been flying in?


Lewis Garner

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The Lysander was originaly designed as a fighter but was used for army co-operation until it was used for Clandestine missions. The Cub and the Auster are both descended from the Taylor brothers designs. The Cub was built by Piper Aircraft after the Taylor brothers had financial problems and William Piper took over the Company. The Taylor family then formed a new Company Taylorcraft and the First Austers were licence built Taylorcraft. As for flying them the Cub has better alround visibility and lighter controls but less power 65hp. The Auster was modified and revamped much more than Cubs and became heavier so the engine power was upped to compensate for this. I have flown various Austers and have found the handling to be heavier than a Cub. Lysanders are rare but a friend of mine has flown one and was quite impressed with everything except the Mercury engine.

Alan

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L4 - Ken Wakefield

L6 x 2 in formation with Alamo Liaison Sqdn from San Antonio Texas, piloted by 437th TCG, 85th Sqdn veteran Tommie Thompson - a/c later destroyed killing B24 veteran pilot.

P51 - Janie - with Maurice Hammond - uber thanks to brother Clive for this one!

B17 - Yankee Lady - out of Willow Run

B24 - Witchcraft - out of Willow Run

C47 x 5 - 3 x G-AMPO/G-AMPY/G-AMSV/43-15211 x 2

AAC Westland Scout - hedge hopping on Salisbury plain whilst in the TA

RAF C130 - crossed the north sea in the cockpit

RAF VC10 - all the seats face backwards!

RAF Tri-Star

AWACS simulator - I broke the motion equipment!

Citabria - with Pilot Officer 'Biggles' Barrell

Airbus A310/319/A320/A330

DC9

DC10

727

737

747

757

767

777

MD11

MD80

Saab 340

Canadair Regional Jet variants

Embraer variants

Various twin turboprop and jet commuter types

Space shuttle

 

Aspiration list:

C47 No 42-100591 Valiant Air Command, Titusville FL - genuine ex 437th TCG, 84th Sqdn, Ramsbury a/c: the wartime pilot of which I knew before his death. Should be back in the air later this year after an 8 year o/haul following a ground loop.

WACO CG4A

Curtis Commando C46

Lockheed Constellation - any variant

Republic P47

Boeing B29

Lockheed P38

North American B25

Saturn V

DC4

DC6

Vulcan

 

Almosts......

C141 from Charleston AFB scuppered due to 911

B17 Lucky Lady - Wroughton to France. Brother Clive asked if we could bum a flight from Great Warbirds at Wroughton in 92 and they said yes we could fly back to France with them...we had neither Passports or cash to get home with!

B17 Liberty Bell - from somewhere in Suffolk but Clive didn't ask me!!!

 

It's good to aim high and whilst most of these are unlikely to be fulfilled, that's what I said about the P51, B17 and B24 a few years ago!

 

Ok I was joking about the Space Shuttle and the Saturn V!! I had a job keeping my breakfast down in the P51!! But I'd do it again!

 

Thanks to Jessie the Jeep for the ground to air of me in the P51 and to fellow B17 joy rider and HMVF regular Simon Morris for the Yankee Lady and Witchcraft pics - it was the highlight of our August 05 'Grand Adventure' to Thunder over Michigan or as it actually turned out, a grand and a half!!

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Two BAe Nimrod's (getting old enough now!)

Auster Mk III which served in the far east during WW2, best aircraft i've flown, very light and responsive

Auster AOP VI

Auster Beagle Terrier which served in Korea as an AOP VI

Auster AOP 9

Stampe biplane which I flew in over the WW1 battlefields

 

as well as a few modern RAF training aircraft

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I decided to learn to fly when in my mid twenties, ( thirty six years ago ), and turned up at one of the flying clubs at Ipswich Airport, which is no more, Ipswich Borough Council having planted houses on it. The CFI told me that as I could drive crawler tractors I would have no problem in learning to fly!! He proved to be correct, I proudly gained my PPL after two years of weekend flying training and evening classes during the week, this was at £10.00 an hour when I started.

 

The CFI also told me that a Plane was a piece of equipment used by a carpenter, and that " We fly aeroplanes ". Advice I have allways kept in use. Club flying was great fun, going on trips locally and on the Continent, seeing how many WW2 airfields we could ' bag ' during an hours flying in East Anglia, even having to make an unscheduled landing on a couple of them when caught out by bad weather. Flying seems to attract characters, such as the club member who navigated by straw stacks! being an agricultural type, he knew where most of the stacks were in Suffolk, and could find his way around the County.

 

Sadly, I have never flown in anything exciting, just the usual Cessna, Piper, Rockwell types, as well as the occasional Microlite, but had a great deal of fun doing it. I don't fly these days but still maintain an interest in aviation.

 

Antony.

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A ex WW2 US army air corps Fairchild spotter / recon aircraft . Single radial motor , high wing configuration . It had local history: used in SWPA in WW2 and then civil registered post WW2 .

 

I saw P51 with civil reg. VH IVI at a airshow in 1970.. sadly it crashed a short time later . At the same show they had a civilian owned ANSON flying ..it had been re-engined and modernised with a metal main wing spa. They organised a pylon race around the field and the poor ANSON was miles behind the other modern types .. it was on a regular freight run to the Bass Strait Islands ...Brain and Brown the Company .

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