Just like a number 9 bus, all quiet and then they all take off together! great day, great flying, hope to see you all at the week end
Category: hawk
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Pre Legends Wednesday
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Corsair, Harvard and Hawk action
Today was action packed with several Harvard flights, along with practice displays from Alan Wade in the Corsair and Brian Smith in the Hawk 75.
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La Ferte Alais
Harry was sent to record TFC at LaFerte this year. His report is short on the written word due to a strange encounter with French hospitality, this is what he remembers:
TFC’s deployment to La Ferte Alais this year consisted of the MkVB Spitfire and the Hawk 75, arriving in the safe hands of Nick Grey and Patrice Marchasson respectively, with the Spitfire following the Hawk by a couple of days.
Fridays practice had to be scrubbed thanks to being caught out by heavy rain shower (with a bit of hail thrown in for good measure – they could have stayedin England if they wanted that sort of weather!) this all rolled in whilst waiting for an impressive practice by the Aeronavale Rafales to finish.
After a few minutes hoping for it to pass (with Nick and Patrice strapped in, and everyone else sheltering under the wings) the decision was made to get the aircraft back into the hangar ASAP, which is easier said than done when there is no tow bar for the Spitfire (Roy, take note)! I think we must have nearly set a record for the fastest a Spitfire has ever been pushed away, with no less than 17 people pushing, and Nick Grey leading the way!
Nick getting ready for his practice
Taking Shelter under the Hawk 75
Pushing the Spitfire in (thanks toNigel Hitchman)
The Spitfire safely returned to the hangar
On both the show days Nick Grey displayed the Spitfire alongside George Perez in the French Mustang, and Patrice flew a spirited display in the Hawk.
Stephen just checking all is OK, like Fathers do!
The arty pics
Patrice in the Hawk
Nick in EP120
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La Ferte 2016
Our photographer sent these through last night, as he is a photographer he doesn’t do writing so we will have to guess what was going on.
First off, Bob and Chris M. take a well earned rest having just enjoyed the best of French cuisine.
Next up Roy (you can never be too careful) Smith finishes re-arming EP120, “just in case”.
Ah,the Flying bit, Nick in the Mk Vb….
…and Patrice in the Hawk 75
Finally Nick with possibly the best seat at the display.
We may have more tonight!
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Christmas 2015 Best Wishes
Wishing all our Friends and followers seasons greetings. Click on any image below to view the gallery
We will be doing a few updates to the website over the Christmas break including a transfer to a new server. We may briefly be off air for a short period of time but we will be right back! -
August News and Wallpaper Downloads
Nearly a month since Flying Legends 2015 , this months wallpaper is something unique to Flying Legends 2015 , our Hawk 75 & P-36C tucked in close!
Elsewhere we are getting back to normal, whatever that is! The online shop is back after a break for Flying Legends and stocktaking. A change we have made for Friends of TFC, if you are logged in (you can do this on the FofTFC main page HERE ) your discount is now automatically applied to your purchases. We are still processing memberships for those who joined at Flying Legends, apologies for the delay.
NEW, after much feedback we have now launched a family membership subscription – more details HERE . At the same time subscriptions for single memberships have increased to £15 from August 1st 2015. We will have more news about further FofTFC benefits later in the year.
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The day after yesterday
With all our efforts for the last few months focused on a certain weekend in July (Flying Legends) the morning after is somewhat of an anticlimax and leaves one thinking what on earth do we do now …..?
Well the first thing to do is to thank everybody for their time and contribution (our volunteers not only give up their free time to help us with producing Flying Legends but also the myriad of tasks that all contribute to keeping the aircraft collection in fine ‘fettle’).
Also to the engineers who alongside the volunteers have worked long hours making sure each of the aeroplanes has completed the various calendar, hours based and out of phase checks and inspections;
The second thing is to reflect on our successes and tease out the bits that for us didn’t go quite as planned ! Despite the best efforts of our display pilots the fleet remained servicable to the end with the only the P-40C falling foul of the electric propeller ‘rain demons’ and as some of you may have seen taxied back to the flight line at the start of the Sunday balbo sequence with a propeller that according to pilot Steve Hinton flatly refused to play ball in automatic mode.
Of the visiting display aircraft both Sea Furys developed tech issues one of which necessitated an early landing off the balbo; the second Fury had an electrical snag which we were able to help diagnose and resolve with the operators engineers but the aircraft wasn’t able to complete the scheduled demonstration due to the onset of rain which brought the show to a temporary halt for 25 minutes or so though It flew later on Sunday afternoon in the balbo.
Personal highlights, well, the four Curtiss aircraft Hawk 75, P-36C, P-40C and the P-40F;
loved the Nimrod’s and Fury, (the patina on the Nimrod’s new exhaust pipes looks just right now following the display on Saturday) regrettably the crosswind put paid to a repeat performance on Sunday; and finally of course the Gladiator in the joker slot between balbo passes.
Remember to put Flying Legends 2016 in your diary (dates to be released) and we hope to see our ‘friends’ again very soon…
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Departing to La Ferte Alais
The Hawk and Gladiator are now at La Ferte – Alais after departing Duxford this morning.
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We are getting dressed again
A quick view of the hangar with more bits being put back on the aeroplanes than taken off since the last update.
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Legends – the true meaning
On Thursday we had a visitor to the hangar. John Cronin was a Fleet Air Arm pilot in 1945, completed his flying training on the Cornell and Harvard before going on to the Martlet (Wildcat) He managed eight deck landings on an aircraft carrier with a collapsed oleo “on the wrong side” which made the take-off swing even worse than normal.
He then was posted to Tambaran near Madras (now Chennai) to fly the Hellcat, in preparation for the invasion of Japan. Whilst there, however, the hostilities came to an end and John gratefully returned to the UK and his life as an insurance salesman. Now 89 years young, he is still active, driving himself and brother Tom to Duxford today and although not able to get into the Hellcat this time it was a great pleasure to welcome him again.
You can see our aircraft Legends such as John flew below as the aircraft are nearly as active as John (including the Hellcat). Video as caught at the Duxford September show.
