For those who like Aircraft pictures

[jjb1970]

The PBY is in Danish SAR colours I think.

[mezzoman253]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What is that PBY livery?

 

After contact was lost with Bismarck it was a PBY of RAF Coastal Command (purchased before lend-lease) with an USN (ret)* attaché / instructing copilot at the controls which located Bismarck.

 

* The US was not at war (May '41) so the training flying officers provided with the aircraft temporarily "retired" their commissions, but were flying combat missions.

 

I think it's Danish AF.

 

Ah! Pipped at the post. 😃

Edited April 19 by mezzoman253

[roundhouse]

2 hours ago, rob D2 said:

You won’t find much flying in there .

the runway is only about 1400m which precludes routine ops of all the heavy or pointy stuff .

 

theyve got a load of jaguars there they run for technical training . I wonder if these were flown in somehow ? Like slam it down and brake like stink / drag chute etc 

I certainly thought that they looked like jaguars but didn't realise that any were still in flying condition

Edited April 19 by roundhouse

[Metr0Land]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What is that PBY livery?

 

 

Denmark

[rob D2]

4 hours ago, roundhouse said:

I certainly thought that they looked like jaguars but didn't realise that any were still in flying condition

They are start and taxiable or I believe to teach the airmen and women ground handling techniques 

[KeithMacdonald]

6 hours ago, rob D2 said:

You won’t find much flying in there . the runway is only about 1400m which precludes routine ops of all the heavy or pointy stuff .

theyve got a load of jaguars there they run for technical training . I wonder if these were flown in somehow ? Like slam it down and brake like stink / drag chute etc 

 

I just looked on Flight Radar, and it's not even showing as an operational airfield any more. Which I'm guessing means no active air control on-site, and maybe the light aircraft flights (Grobs etc) are uncontrolled?

[Flanged Wheel]

I once read a book, published during the war, detailing the work of Coastal Command. Although inevitably propaganda, it did make for a fascinating few hours. I would share the name of the book but it is sitting in a loft in Yorkshire and I’m in Vietnam…*

 

Of course, we all know that it was the mighty Fleet Air Arm, flying from HMS ARK ROYAL (one of my old ships although obviously not THAT one), that eventually did for the Bismark!

 

*Using the power of t‘interweb, I’ve tracked it down. It’s “Coastal Command at War” by Squadron Leader Tom Dudley-Gordon. The copy I have belonged to my wife’s grandfather who flew with the RAF in World War 2 and lost a leg in an accident but copies are available in the usual places for reasonable sums.

[Ron Ron Ron]

57 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

I just looked on Flight Radar, and it's not even showing as an operational airfield any more. Which I'm guessing means no active air control on-site, and maybe the light aircraft flights (Grobs etc) are uncontrolled?

 

From what I can find, during the published, limited operational hours, Air Traffic Services will be provided when operationally required.

Cosford airfield can operate an "Air Traffic Control Service" (Note that the much busier Halfpenny Green, just to the south, operates with a "Flight Information Service").

 

There'a a standard "Aerodrome Traffic Zone" (ATZ) and no other protected airspace.

There are published radio frequencies for Tower, Approach and Ground (both VHF and Military UHF for all three). 

When no Air Traffic Service is available, pilots are required to make blind calls on the Approach frequency, when inbound or operating in the vicinity of the ATZ..

Resident flying club activity may continue outside of the times when an Air Traffic service is provided.

 

 

Regarding the short runway.

The Landing distance available is...

r/w 06  1092 m / 3602 ft

r/w 24  1118 m / 3668 ft

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flanged Wheel]

And now, as they say, for something completely different… Certainly a long way from rural Shropshire!

 

We’re in Ho Chi Minh City and spent some time yesterday at the City Museum. It is in the former Presidential Palace and was worth the one pound entrance fee for the architecture alone (although we did have to dodge a large number of couples who were having their wedding photographs taken). The museum is quite helpful in understanding the recent history of the country and city although obviously from a certain perspective.

 

The real gems were sitting in the grounds outside so I present, for your delectation, delight and perusal, the following…:

 

 

A captured Bell UH1 helicopter with a Northrop F5E lurking behind. The latter aircraft was stolen by a defector from the South Vietnam Airforce in 1975 who used it to bomb the Presidential Palace (of the “Saigon puppet regime” according to the sign) and then flew it into a North Vietnam controlled area.

 

 

Surrounded by flowers, there sits this Cessna A-37 Dragonfly. This was another seized by North Vietnamese forces and used on 28 April 1975 to attack Tan Son Nhut airbase, two days before the fall of Saigon. It was piloted by the same defector who had stolen the F5E earlier that year.

 

All are in rather sad condition.

Edited April 19 by Flanged Wheel
Typographic error correction.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Flanged Wheel said:

the work of Coastal Command

One wonders what the consequences might have been were the Donegal Corridor (over neutral Irish soil) closed to Coastal Command.

[Martino]

8 hours ago, roundhouse said:

I certainly thought that they looked like jaguars but didn't realise that any were still in flying condition

Looking at Google Earth, there also appear to be some Harriers parked there, or were when the photo was taken.

[KeithMacdonald]

For those that like Harriers...

 

https://www.wired.com/2012/04/opinion-dyson-harrier-resolve/

[jjb1970]

This was a new one for me. Sichuan A320 and A321 passenger jets are regular visitors to Singapore on their services to/from Chengdu but yesterday was the first time I've seen an A321F in their livery. I think these are P2F conversions but may be wrong.

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

B-32FZ   A321-200F  

First Delivered to Air Macau in Feb 2003

Retired Sept 2021

Converted to a freighter in 2023.

Entered service with Sichuan Airlines Dec 2023

 

 

 

.

Edited April 20 by Ron Ron Ron

[55020]

23 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Converted to a freighter in 2003

Just to correct your typo, it was converted to a freighter 10/2023 at Chengdu Shuangliu.

 

 

Steve

Edited April 20 by 55020

[Ron Ron Ron]

46 minutes ago, 55020 said:

Just to correct your typo, it was converted to a freighter 10/2023 at Chengdu Shuangliu.

 

 

Steve

 

Thanks Steve.

Finger trouble !

Now edited.

 

.

[big jim]

A spitfire at Sandbach transport festival today

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

BA377 is a full size model Spitfire IX

 

 

.

[big jim]

21 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

BA377 is a full size model Spitfire IX

 

 

.

i did wonder if it was a replica as I wondered how they got the wings on and off for transportation! 

[Andy7]

On 19/04/2024 at 13:21, rob D2 said:

They are start and taxiable or I believe to teach the airmen and women ground handling techniques 

That was the case. They now use a simulator for the ground handling aspect!

When I did my trade training there in 2000 we used the Jet Provost. Sometime after they used the war reserve Jaguars as they were more intimidating (good idea), now they use a simulator (sounds like a bad idea to me).

 

I worked many hours on VC10 and Nimrod, both absolutely fantastic aircraft.

[jjb1970]

James May worked with a company that made those full size replicas for his toy story episode on Airfix kits. He brought in a class of school children to make a full size kit of a Spitfire at the Cosford RAF museum. I really enjoyed the series and that episode especially so.

[Jeff Smith]

I recently flew from Atlanta to Dublin on a Delta A350 and was surprised that we cruised at 50,000ft!

[55020]

1 hour ago, Jeff Smith said:

I recently flew from Atlanta to Dublin on a Delta A350 and was surprised that we cruised at 50,000ft!

 

I hope not, as the service ceiling (the highest density altitude where a small rate of climb is still possible) of an A359 is 43,100 feet.

What was the date and flight number, as FR24 replay will let you check what Flight Level you ended up at?

 

 

Steve

[Jeff Smith]

April 9th, DL0176.  The on-board flight tracker was indicating exactly 50,000ft for most of the flight......

[Night Train]

On 19/04/2024 at 07:23, rob D2 said:

You won’t find much flying in there .

the runway is only about 1400m which precludes routine ops of all the heavy or pointy stuff .

 

theyve got a load of jaguars there they run for technical training . I wonder if these were flown in somehow ? Like slam it down and brake like stink / drag chute etc 

Been to the Cosford ATC tower a few times for work related purposes. Always guaranteed a good mug of tea there. I always thought this Jaguar looked partiucularly splendid.