OT: VE day warplanes

No you aren't. Duxford in Cambridgeshire regulary sees these planes hit the nearby M11

The planes may be old design, but they are fully renovated, or mostly built from scratch again now'a'days, and they do have a lot more safety features built-in than they used to have during war time. The Civil Aviation People wouldn't allow them to fly if they didn't come up to quite modern safety standards.

But they do fly hell'of'a'low though, don't they? :-)

That will be the Battle of Britain flight, Lancaster bomber and Spitfire and Hurricane fighters.

Dave

And if it wasn't for those planes, and the people who flew them defending this country 65 years ago, most of us would not be here.

Good grief. I know Political Correctness was going a bit far, but this is ridiculous. These planes are a part of everyone's heritage and it's wonderful to s3ee them fly.

Out of interest, how many aeroplane accidents can you recall in UK that have happened over cities, causing 'catastrophic consequences, that were due to a planes age?

Planes, of every age and type, fly over densely populated areas every minute of the day, the chances of any accident are so remote that it's, IMHO, a risk worth taking. And yes, I live under the flight path of a local Airport.

Yes.

While they're flying there's no problem. :)

---------------8<

_Most_ of us? Maybe you need to define "us" in order to make that one work.

No it doesn't. There was one that overran the runway and ended up on the M11 a few years ago but apart from that I can't think of any other cases of a plane on the M11. I think that was blamed on pilot error. I think the M1 has had as many planes as the M11, only in that case it was a fairly modern passenger jet.

DC3 Dakota aircraft of the same age as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight are still used in commercial service in some parts of the world. If the aircraft is properly maintained there isn't a problem.

Ian

I too find such flights exciting but I can't help wondering if it is not all part of a shameful triumphalism and glorification of war.

-- UK Radical Campaigns

Well they could fly at civil aviation flight levels for the area, same heights as other planes passing by. But then you wouldn't see a lot. The pilots of these planes specialise in low level and formation flying. And the planes are as safe when low in built up areas as airliners. Yet you don't hear many complaints about airliners being dangerous when flying over urban areas do you?

Martin <

No, it's about commemorating those who fought and most especially those who fought and died. That why it's known as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

Spot on. Those aircraft are maintained and flown by the Royal Air Force. They are stripped and reassembled annually, and their flying hours are restricted, as are the manoeuvres they are allowed to perform.

Yes, your just another small minded scaremongering idiot who knows f*ck all about f*ck all. Go away and learn something about how this world works and most especially about what aircraft such as those represent, the job they and the men who flew them did and what they achieved. You can start here

Or would you prefer to be speaking and writing in German with your every move watched by the Gestapo?

You obviously know little of the level of design of the average light aircraft, if you think the Battle of Britain flight is significantly less advanced than many of the aircraft flying today.

You would be surprised at how long you have to react if something goes wrong in a fixed wing aircraft that is established in level flight.

You are. They have to comply with Rule 5 of the Rules of the Air, which sets a requirement for any aircraft flying over a congested (i.e. built-up) area to maintain a minimum height of 1,000 feet (recently reduced from 1,500 feet) above the highest object in the area, or, in the case of single engine aircraft, high enough to be able to land clear of the congested area if the engine fails. The Thames counts as somewhere to land clear, which is why the main helicopter route through London follows it. I don't know the glide ratio of a Hurricane or Spitfire, but I would be surprised if they did much less than about 1.5-2 miles for every 1,000 feet.

Colin Bignell

...

IIRC the aircraft was also involved in an aerobatic display, which is intrinsically more hazardous than straight and level flight.

As also happened with the M27, where a passenger jet ran off the end of Eastleigh Airport, and the executive jet that ran off the end of the runway at Northolt, hitting a van.

Colin Bignell

AFAIK it happened once (I think it was an Me109 that had engine problems) - 'hardly counts as "regular".

Dave S

Care to define regularly?

'anon's post is clearly an early morning cross posting breakfast troll.

RT

memory of me old dad who was a mechanic on one and was notorious for wringing off cylinder head nuts with the remark;

" If he 'as a problem with that, then he'll more than likely end up in the drink or behind jerry lines, so it won't be my problem"

My uncle is on a picture up there somewhere, leading aircraftman Sidney Case esq!.....