How Low Can You Go??

[Firebird]

Cracking write up and the photos are quite good............


Low level over the sand

[Hatton]

my word

[Denis]

A very old and good friend of mine, Trevor Bailey was at Thumrait at the same time, after serving in the RAF at Coningsby and Wattisham as an armourer, he joined the Sultan of Omans Air force also as an Armourer.
These pics were taken by him at Thumrait, the figure walking down the runway about to be passed by a Jaguar is Squadron Leader Paddy Roberts.
Sorry about the quality of the images.

[JetBlast]

Great shots, regardless of the quality. Can you imagine this sort of flyby at an Airshow

[mikemasey]

Hi Denis,
good pics from Thumrait, spent some time there myself but wasnt a Thug-ite I was based up north in Seeb.
Ive one low level Hunter at Thumrait but dont know how to "post" it.
mike.

[Chris G]

Does anybody knows the name of the song from that An-12 goodie?

From when things were done properly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkZQt...elated&search=

[Propstrike]

G-FIRE at Elstree, Ray Hanna I think.

[DazDaMan]

G-FIRE at Elstree, Ray Hanna I think.

I bet Alain DeCadeneit is glad he never saw that picture!

[Firebird]

Didn't someone mention on here that the late, great, Stefan Kawowski flew Hunters for the Sultan of Omans Air Force......

Explains alot about his stunning Hunter displays.......

[John Cooper]

This pic of this Hastings hit the water off Cyprus both the inboard prop tips were peeled back after hitting the sea (PropStrike!)

http://image24.webshots.com/25/9/45/...9phRYPu_ph.jpg

This is an extract from my diary in 1962 when I was on 201 Squadron although it involved a 206 MR3 Shackleton

I also recall an incident with a 206 Squadron MR3 Shackleton where it had been in exercise with a submarine and had the scanner housing down to the third search (ie Scanner fully extended), the pilot was flying so low that he ripped the second and third stage of the scanner housing off by being in contact with the swell running at the time. I recall going over to that kite and standing upright looking into an empty scanner well with splintered plywood all around! One lucky crew.

Anyone beat those two?

[DazDaMan]

These are via Al George.

Will that do?

[1946]

Several years ago,(90's), Pylon racing was conducted here in Tasmania in the north of the state and called Sky Race. One of the entertainment segments was for a well known aerobatic 'ace' to take off in the Pitts special imeadiatly airborne he would invert the aircraft back to ground level, to within having the prop and tail about a foot off the earth. I watched from the fence at the flight line that after noon where he was just that bit too low. Take off normal, inverted, then the motor screaming stopped, and he came past inverted sliding on the top wing of the Pitts, and the tail leaving a neat furrow in the grass. Misjudged alowance for the tailplane droping and nose rotating around the CofG. Pilot un injured, except for pride, aircraft $30k+ damage.

[Andy_Young]

There is of course the Hercules that hit the guy standing on top of a Landrover at Cirencester a few years ago....

[Flightpath]

Several years ago,(90's), Pylon racing was conducted here in Tasmania in the north of the state and called Sky Race. One of the entertainment segments was for a well known aerobatic 'ace' to take off in the Pitts special imeadiatly airborne he would invert the aircraft back to ground level, to within having the prop and tail about a foot off the earth. I watched from the fence at the flight line that after noon where he was just that bit too low. Take off normal, inverted, then the motor screaming stopped, and he came past inverted sliding on the top wing of the Pitts, and the tail leaving a neat furrow in the grass. Misjudged alowance for the tailplane droping and nose rotating around the CofG. Pilot un injured, except for pride, aircraft $30k+ damage.

I remember that, I went over from Melbourne to see the Tassie Air Races and didnt expect to see a stunt like that! (Of course it's not every day you see it, he can't afford to do it at every airshow!).
There was also a well known old US pilot doing his usual stunts in his Aero Commander with both props still!

cheers,

-John

[pistonrob]

G-FIRE at Elstree, Ray Hanna I think.

Spencer Flacks Spit aint it? or owned it at least

[DazDaMan]

Yep.

[Skyraider3D]

Nice low flyby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFJ4r...eature=related

Awesome (and rather risky) take-off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKK8Z...eature=related

[Peter]

Looks like he was a cat's wisker from catching the ancilliary doors on the runway!

[JDK]

Below sea level?

A certain aerobatic ace flew his Bucker Jungmeister in Monaco harbour in the thirties with the fin deliberately in the water. Given that he was in controlled flight, and finished the display, unlike everyone else who's gone below that ground/sea level, I reckon that's a win.

[B-17man]

Cannot recall what year
________
VAPIR ONE V5.0 VAPORIZER

[Transall]

Below sea level?

Hi,

Indeed, below sea level.
French pilots do this in Djibouti, where some desert is well below sea level.
It's been done in F-8E (FN) Crusaders and I don't doubt they've also done it in F-100's, Mirage III's, Mirage F-1's and Jaguars.

Cheers, Transall.

[duncan.robinson]

To see Harvards with wet feet go to YouTube and type 'water skimming stunt planes' or paste /www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgkKP_fDsKc&feature=relatedImagine trying this for the first time. Anyone know where it is?

[Paul F]

Well worth a look, and turn the speakers up and enjoy 7 minutes of heaven - definitely not the "lowest" clip on the thread, but definitely one of the most atmospheric.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7405514.stm

Enjoy!

Then imagine doing the same in the dark, at half the height, with people throwing lumps of lead at you.......

Paul F

[DazDaMan]

Well worth a look, and turn the speakers up and enjoy 7 minutes of heaven - definitely not the "lowest" clip on the thread, but definitely one of the most atmospheric.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7405514.stm

Enjoy!

Then imagine doing the same in the dark, at half the height, with people throwing lumps of lead at you.......

Paul F

Brilliant. You can just hear the bombardier saying: "Down, down, down..."

[pimpernel]

To see Harvards with wet feet go to YouTube and type 'water skimming stunt planes' or paste /www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgkKP_fDsKc&feature=relatedImagine trying this for the first time. Anyone know where it is?

Look here.

Well worth a look, and turn the speakers up and enjoy 7 minutes of heaven - definitely not the "lowest" clip on the thread, but definitely one of the most atmospheric.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7405514.stm

Enjoy!

Then imagine doing the same in the dark, at half the height, with people throwing lumps of lead at you.......

Paul F

I could watch that all day. I wonder if the Beeb will put all their footage together for a DVD?


Brian.

[silver fox]

Hi all, new on here so please forgive if this has been asked before.

Does anyone remember seeing a BBC news clip shown on Naitionwide of very low flying Buccaneers at a Red Flag exercise in Nevada.

This was the first year that the RAF had been invited to attend, the high speed, low flying tactics employed had the cousins bewildered and totally unable to detect or "shoot down" the Buccaneer "bombing runs", the clip is particularly memorable by the commentary, plus the comments from the crews manning the missile sites, who basically gave up and went outside to watch.

I along with many others have made searches to locate this clip, does anyone know if or where this piece of film could viewed, bought or downloaded ?

[wl745]

heres one of a sabre at Butterworth going to fast for my poor Brownie!Another of a 204 sqdn shackelton at RAF Aldergrove Bof B day 1961 about to flour bomb a Sub!

[willy.henderick]

Years ago, during an Air Show in Gibraltar, a Shackleton hit the runway with the scanner

[adrian_gray]

Sadly I cannot remember who, where etc - except that it was probably mid 80s.

Not so long ago I was channel hopping and caught onto someone talking about planes, with a little film of someone flour bombing with a Piper Cub in D-Day stripes.

Turns out it was "TV Nightmares" - or some such drivel. Anyway, the chap being interviewed had been a local news reporter and was reporting on whatever the event was. Some bright spark arranged for him to be stood there with a mike and the Cub would bomb him - mug!

So there he is, stood like a lemon waiting for the bang, when the cameraman realises that the plane is just too close and flinches. Moment of impact missed, you just see the plane belt through the camera shot and a pair of legs sail up and over - think a clotheslined rugby player!

The pilot had decided to go REALLY low and REALLY slow to give the chap hanging out the door with the flour a good shot and they HIT the guy with the leading edge of the wing.

Incredibly both reporter and Cub survived - the head-shaped dent in the Cub's wing had to be seen to be believed, and I don't suppose his skull looked any prettier.

No doubt there are several morals to this story...

Adrian

[Stieglitz]

I have always liked the many pics of the LOW passes of the Belgian Airforce Fouga MT48. PS: This year is the final year of the Fouga in service with the Belgian Air Force. It is to retire in october.

To see several great pics, click HERE

J.V.