Flying. Everything planes.

[Davelfc]

39 minutes ago, tokyojoe said:

Anyone ever actually flown one? I did a couple of hours in a Cessna (152 I think) years ago. Never pursued it though due to being stupid enough to get fucking married.

In the air cadets, a chipmunk. Never alone though. Had a parachute that was basically your seat when you sat in the plane. If pulling and pushing a stick and some foot pedals counts as flying one then yes!

[sir roger]

Went to Ambleside early last year and the room had an outside jacuzzi. Was sitting in it with  the wife when an RAF plane flew past that low that my bottle of lager nearly flew out of my hand. Could probably pick the pilot out of a line up.

[Bjornebye]

53 minutes ago, tokyojoe said:

Anyone ever actually flown one? I did a couple of hours in a Cessna (152 I think) years ago. Never pursued it though due to being stupid enough to get fucking married.

They let you fly at 152? You've had some life so far you mate 

[dockers_strike]

Lockheed Super Constellation. Fucking love the lines of this beauty. Never got to fly in one but what a fuck sight these are. They look fucking fast just sat on the ground. In the air, they epitomise a bygone era. Awesome!

 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

I used to live not far from Biggin Hill. We used to drive past it when coming off the M25 early to avoid traffic (Lovely drive through Westerham etc). Thats where all the mega rich land in their private jets isn't it? 

 

The Shoreham disaster was grim a few years back. 

Biggin Hill airport I believe is mostly a business airport these days and is listed as a Designated UK Port of Entry. I think it used to be used a lot by private planes but I get the impression they have clamped down on that as it wasn't always used in a legitimate way by the patrons. Certainly it's not used for commerical planes, as far as I'm aware. I teach people to drive around Westerham and Sevenoaks amongst other places and some of the roads are pretty spectacular. Certainly better than sitting in traffic in South East London and the like.

[Kepler-186]

Focke Wolf 190s during the Channel dash. Taken from an Aviation Art group on FB. 

[sir roger]

But this Fokker was a Messerschmidt

[M_B]

https://il2sturmovik.com/store/battle-of-normandy/

 

For anyone into WW2 flight sims. If you are thinking of buying then wait for the sale - most of the battles are half price to 75% off during a sale.

 

 

 

[tokyojoe]

4 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

They let you fly at 152? You've had some life so far you mate 

No it's a Cessna 152. Oh never mind, might have expected it.

[neko]

2 hours ago, M_B said:

https://il2sturmovik.com/store/battle-of-normandy/

 

For anyone into WW2 flight sims. If you are thinking of buying then wait for the sale - most of the battles are half price to 75% off during a sale.

 

 

 

That looks like my cup of tea...thanks !

[neko]

M_B

 

Why not buy this version ?

 

https://il2sturmovik.com/store/cliffs-of-dover/

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, neko said:

M_B

 

Why not buy this version ?

 

https://il2sturmovik.com/store/cliffs-of-dover/

I've seen the Stalingrad version of this is reduced to £5.99 and is VR supported. Gets mostly positive reviews too.

[M_B]

1 hour ago, neko said:

M_B

 

Why not buy this version ?

 

https://il2sturmovik.com/store/cliffs-of-dover/

COD is the old game version which is unsupported - the damage model, flight model, physics and graphics are all far better in the new version (used by the Battles series: Moscow, Stalingrad, Kuban, Bodenplatte, Normandy).

 

Also cliffs of dover has a quite a few bugs, the most important being the need for the player to fully manage the engine (cause the AI does a bad job). It's a learning curve to get that right.

 

That being said, COD isn't bad at all. It's just not in the same league as the Battles Series, which is hands down the best WW2 flight sim on the market. You are in for a treat - it's brilliant, and VR is sensational.

[M_B]

1 hour ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

I've seen the Stalingrad version of this is reduced to £5.99 and is VR supported. Gets mostly positive reviews too.

Yeah the sales are well worth waiting for. The older battles usually get 75% off. I'd recommend always getting the premium versions.

 

Flying a campaign with the Tempest at the moment. It's an absolute beast of a plane.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, M_B said:

Yeah the sales are well worth waiting for. The older battles usually get 75% off. I'd recommend always getting the premium versions.

 

Flying a campaign with the Tempest at the moment. It's an absolute beast of a plane.

I looked at the deluxe version for £4 extra with two extra planes that I'd never heard of, I added the Spitfire for £4 reduced from £16 instead. 

[M_B]

Nice!

 

It isn't easy at first. Even taking off in some of the planes is difficult, but you'll soon get the hang of it. All the planes are modelled on historical reports of flight performance and have as realistic damage models as you can get with current tech. The graphics are marvellous and the effects on the pilot are even modelled - turn too tightly and at speed and you'll pass out and end up a lawn dart. The single player campaigns are historically modelled too.

 

My only criticism is that some mission require a lot of flying to get to the target which can soak up time. To avoid that, pick a squadron nearer the front lines.

 

Have fun

[General Dryness]

 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, General Dryness said:

 

I'm sure I flew close to Milford Sound. Amazing place. 

[Preston Red]

On 10/02/2021 at 16:52, mars said:

Jump to 6.23 and watch the Lightning climb.

 

The Lightnings were amazing. I was lucky enough to live near British Aerospace at Warton as a kid and I saw the last of them there in the mid 80s. That noise and the climb rate were unbelievable.

10 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

There’s some scary YouTube videos of fighters practicing low level flying through a valley in Wales.  Or landing on aircraft carriers.  Those fuckers must be mad.  

The Machynlleth Loop. It used to be awesome down there but in recent years it's quietened down a lot. Unfortunately, it's become a victim of social media as ignorant bastards started going and annoying the farmers who own the land by leaving gates open, parking in front of access gates and leaving litter all over the show. Add into the mix an RAF front line jet ban, LFA7 is now a shadow of it's former self.

 

I love aviation. Specifically military aviation. I never thought anything of getting up at 4am to go to RAF bases like Coningsby and Marham or to head down to Wales to sit on a mountain side and wait for military jets, cargo or helicopters. If you're into airshows, I can't recommend the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) enough. It blows all other airshows out of the water. Wall to wall action from 10am to 6:30pm.

 

Here's a few pics I've got from the Mach Loop and various airshows.

 

F-15-C Strike Eagle turning into the Cad Pass in the Machynlleth Loop. The perspective on this pic is incredibly deceiving. The jet is actually a mile past the hill.

 

IX Squadron Typhoon taking off at RIAT in 2019.

 

Two of a RAF four ship of Tornado GR4s in the Machynlleth Loop.

 

RAF Typhoon Display at RIAT 2018.

 

Red Arrows at RIAT 2019

 

USAF CV-22 Osprey in the Loop. One of the most bizarre things I've seen fly.

 

RAF Tucano trainer in the Lake District over Thirlmere.

 

RAF Hawk T2 trainer jet also over Thrilmere.

 

British Army Air Corp Apache display at RIAT 2019. I'm not usually a big fan of helis but these things are amazingly agile. Check out the displays on YouTube.

 

[Rico1304]

Brilliant 

[General Dryness]

4 hours ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

I'm sure I flew close to Milford Sound. Amazing place. 

West coast of the South island, all that Fjordlandarea. Looks beautiful. I haven't been there yet, but it's on the list.

[General Dryness]

My favourite military air crash video.

 

 

[Davelfc]

 

I spent a fair amount of time in the QRA at Bruggen, we had Jaguars and what was then the pretty new Tornado. The QRA was right at one end of the runway, so from the tower (with a big fuck off machine gun) you could watch them take off and land all day. It got pretty boring pretty fast, except when the weather was bad. The aircraft and their 'loads' never left the QRA though because we're all still here aren't we. 

 

That's the taxiway right in front of the fence at the bottom, further right are big gates for very quick deployment of the aircraft in the hardened aircraft shelters. I once had to climb on top of one of shelters to listen to a certain cup game as it was the only way I could get a decent reception on my radio. 

 

 

[Mike D]

 

[Preston Red]

10 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

Brilliant 

Cheers man. The Loop is a lovely place but it's a twat of a drive from Preston until you get to Bala. The scenery is beautiful from there onwards.

3 minutes ago, Poster said:

 

I spent a fair amount of time in the QRA at Bruggen, we had Jaguars and what was then the pretty new Tornado. The QRA was right at one end of the runway, so from the tower (with a big fuck off machine gun) you could watch them take off and land all day. It got pretty boring pretty fast, except when the weather was bad. The aircraft and their 'loads' never left the QRA though because we're all still here aren't we. 

 

That's the taxiway right in front of the fence at the bottom, further right are big gates for very quick deployment of the aircraft in the hardened aircraft shelters. I once had to climb on top of one of shelters to listen to a certain cup game as it was the only way I could get a decent reception on my radio. 

 

 

Must have been immense to be surrounded by all that stuff though. Was the Tornado the F variant for QRA? I think the GR variant wasn't much use at getting up and away quick enough compared to the F. I used to love the Jags as well. Saw a few of them at Warton too but was always a Tonka fan.