Jessie The Jeep

I came across this RAF jeep a few days ago! Steve

I've done about 15 events this year ranging from 'Bolero' and Ursel, to little charity fund raising events. Steve

Steve

This is quite a small event, but had a great relaxed atmosphere. The displays were split between the two stations on the line. Saturday saw good weather and many people both public and re-enactors there, but heavy drizzle on Sunday probably kept visitor numbers down.

I'm 99% sure the show was colour, and it was certainly shown in the 1970's, because I was only born in '69. Remembering shows from before then has been difficult for me! I don't believe it was a repeat from the '60's or chances are, it would have been B&W. Steve

Things are quite strict here in the UK. Any model over 20Kg ( Like my B-17 ), must be inspected during construction and then the model and pilot must make several proving flights before an examiner before the plane can be flown in private or public. See the Large Model Association for further giant models in the UK. Steve

and yes, you can get miniature gas turbines. Prices range from about £1000 to £4000. Someone recently made a 20 ft + wingspan B-52 powered by 8 turbines. The same guy who destroyed the B-17, and yes, he destroyed the B-52 also! Steve

Cheers! I've seen the 'other' video of that aircraft where the pilots ego exceeds his abilities, and he flies it inverted into the ground. He's well known on the US show circuit. Planes like that should be flown in a scale like manner. If you want to fly aerobatics, build an aerobatic type plane!!!! We had a guy on the UK show scene who also had an ego which exceeded his abilities; he put his B-17 vertically into the ground trying a roll that went wrong! The amusing part of the story was that the show organisers brother was there watching. He works for a police incident unit and was there with the police van. They drove down to the crash site, lights flashing, and took the bits away in body bags!! Steve

Here's four pics using my x2 converter and a 70-300mm Nikkor lens. They have been resized and lightened, but that is all. At maximum 300mm x2 zoom, the pics all seem slightly out of focus. Backed off a little to 270mm x2, all seems better. The aperture seems to be around F7 to F11 for best results. The x2 will cut the light by two stops. Holding it still ( or panning smoothly ) for flying shots is quite difficult at max zoom. Some of the slight loss of quality could be my 70-300 lens which has never been as sharp as my 18-55mm lens. Auto focus works through the x2 on the 70-300mm lens but the 18-55mm lens constantly hunts for the focus, hardly ever locking on. Steve

I got mine, a Jessops brand, for £79.00 suitable for Nikon or Canon. Steve PS I'll post some pics from it shortly

I had a feeling the program was called "HMS ???????????" something, but can't remember what. I seem to remember it being a colour production too. Steve

In the mid to late 1970's there was a BBC??? TV show set 'aboard' a Royal Navy Land Station. The very first episode began with a confused young Royal Navy recruit getting a taxi to his 'ship', but ending up being delivered to the Land Station in the middle of the moors, and wondering if he was in the right place! The front titles of the show featured two animated warships shooting it out, one of which sunk by the end of the titles, 'though you were never quite sure each week which one it would be. Can anyone remember this program, the title, who was in it etc??? I'm 99% sure I'm not making it up!! Steve

NE Area Secretary, Jon Kerr, stood down tonight as after many years of service in the position. Nobody wanted to take on the job ( usual story! ), so for the time being, I am the new secretary for the NE MVT Area. Any enquiries about the group can come via me. Current events attended are regularly updated on our website ( also run by me ) and details can be found on the Diary page http://www.mvtne.co.uk Steve

Did you see the B-17 landing bounce? I bet that was none to dull from inside the cockpit!!!! Steve

Maybe, but that flying under the bridge is something else!!!

Ray was a master of low flying. It was Ray and MH434 that flew under Winston Bridge in County Durham for the LWT mini series "Piece of Cake". The 100 feet span bridge was a very small target at 200Kts! See the clip on the 'other' video site! Steve

A few more pictures can be found HERE Steve

One reason for the event was to raise funds for the restoration of the Vulcan. After spending over 20 years outdoors, the weather has taken its toll on the magnesium alloy structure, in addition to vandals attacking the aircraft. There are plans for re-skinning damaged areas and then repainting the Vulcan in its Cold War green/grey camouflage upper surface and gloss 'anti-flash' white underside. Before the event, the Vulcan had received a good wash and scrub to remove a build up of dirt and moss, but this didn't stop it receiving a wash down by the fire truck on Saturday evening. The long term plans are then to raise funds to build a hangar to protect the aircraft from further attack. While the exterior of the Vulcan looks a little sorry for itself at present, internally the aircraft is in good condition, with parts being donated and swapped to keep the Elvington Victor taxiing and to help Vulcan XH558 return to the sky.

Many of the usual dioramas seen at North East events were present, but by far the largest was the combined display by the MVT(NE) members themselves, which was made up from four Dodges, two Jeeps, Jon's Staff Car, plus several tents and numerous pieces of fighting and support equipment.