Top five aircraft moments

[warferry]

First flight in a Messenger in 1950's

Flight in a Gemini Mk8 to Sandown in the Isle of Wight and back with a cream tea thrown in . 1957

Flight in a Hastings with the R.O.C. 1958.

Flight in a Varsity from West Malling to Thorney Island ,pilot on hearing we had taken 5 hours in a R.O.C. coach
to get there took us back to T.I in less than 45 minutes. 1960's.

Flight in a Gipsy Moth with the late Ron Souch ,sadly missed.

,

[chrism8]

Sat in a " follow me " car at Fairford with a good friend at the time mid 90's I think with a mixture of Tornado's / Mig29 / Red Arrows pretty much on the bumper of the car, also sat in the cockpit of a B1b and the Mig29

[cj9ru]

Right... Here we go... In no particular order

1.Standing at the top of the quarry on the way up to Glen Doll in Scotland abseiling with the scouts. Looking up to see a Buccaneer flying underneath us with navigator waving. Now anybody who knows said quarry will know... He was very, very low!
2 At a Leuchars Airshow in the early 70s with my father and watching a Canberra coming from the sea end at full pelt extremely low over the runway. Seeing it... as we heard nothing until he screamed past us.... Awesome
3 Sitting in a Spitfire, again at Leuchars when I was 6 years old. Thanks Dad.
4 A personal air display by the Red Arrows at our house in Perth..... Ok not really for me but our back garden at our old house in Perth was right under parts of the display. On a perfect sunny day totally oblivious to the fact they were coming at all.
5 A slightly daft one.... Actually flying to a Dundee United football match in Inverness with one of my football buddies, Derek who flew us up in his Cessna. I got to take controls for a while on way up. The taxi driver from airport not believing us, insisting we were off the Easy Jet plane we followed in. Then initially being refused entry back to our plane as they obviously didn't believe us. (the football was rubbish by the way and we left 15 minutes before the end! The spectacular flight back in bright sunshine over the dam at Pitlochry.

There are of course like everyone else numerous others

Chris

[Sprague]

Abc

[NAM Updater]

1. Base access in the early 1970s (1973?) to see B-52 deployment at RAF Marham, some strange looks with my Kodak 126 camera.

2. BOAC VC-10 flight deck visit whilst en-route to Canada in June 1975 – Heathrow to Dorval.

3. Guardroom at RAF Waddington on 14.07.82 to clear Customs formalities for the Saab Safir delivery & being cheered by the RAF Police when the HMRC left the building.

4. Being part of the team that managed to get Vulcan XM594 flown in safely to Winthorpe on 07.02.83.

5. Stepping in to lead the team that made the arrangements for the delivery of the Saab Viggen to RAF Cranwell 07.02.06 and having the counter the challenging set of misinformation that was being circulated.

[Tangopapa]

It's taken a while to consider these after a lifetime of fun in aviation, Reducing to 5 moments was quite a challenge. In no particular order:

1. My first flight on Concorde from Heathrow to Nice via the Bay of Biscay.

2. Flying with John Romaine in the Blenheim from Duxford over Cambridge and watching the view from the turret once airborne- couldn't wipe the grin off my face that day

3. First visit to MASDC as an excited 19 year old. Arrived into Tucson at dusk, drove out to Kolb Road and watched the sun set over endless lines of C-124, C-119, C-121 etc. You get the picture. Heaven.

4. Being flown line astern, low level, over West Germany in 1982 in a flight of eight UH-1H's to a field site where watched a mass paradrop by the 101st Airborne from 12 C141B's that had flown directly from the USA

5. Joining a flight that had been blagged by a friend on Eric Honeckers' Il.62M 11+20 on a short hop from Neuhardenberg to Berlin Schonefeld. This was during a Luftwaffe organised photo trip around the former East German bases in 1991

Tangopapa

[Sparky 119]

As has been said, hard to narrow down but my top 5.

1, First ever flight in an RAF C130 from Upper Heyford

2, Watching air to air couple up to a VC10 from the cockpit of another VC10

3, First experience of thrust on take off to New York in a 747.

4, Overflying AMARG a definite bucket list tick.

5, Feeling the earth move opposite a B1 at Riat when spooled up for take off.

[mudhen15]

1. First sight of a B-2 at Edwards Open Day. Stood near the hangars at one end, expecting a straight approach. Instead appeared low from behind the hangar.

2. Anatoly Kvotchur's arrival and display at Boscombe Down 1992.

3. First warbird flight, a Li-2 over Budapest.

4. Visiting Hickam AFB whilst they still flew F-15's.

5. Visiting the Italian AF when they still flew the F-104 at Grosetto and Grazzinese. Main memory stood at the end of the runway and having a F-104 landing overhead.

[SpilsbyPete]

Where do I begin

First ever flight in the RAF Beagle Huskey at Cambridge Airport as a Air Cadet
Various flights as a Air Cadet at RAF Summer Camps
Various vintage/warbird flights
including a Lanc flight over Niagara Fall and a Khe Sanh approach and landing at Mojave in
the VIP Martin 4-0-4
Exciting to see the "piano keys" through the Cockpit window

Various Trips
The BAC 1-11 Trip from Stansted to Angleholm 1995
A Trip to Grosetto and Grazzinese to the F-104's,most likely the same trip as mudhen15 above

However I will finish on George Pick's trip to Portugal and Spain 1996
Day 1
Sintra Airbase,Museum and Storage
Day 2
Alverca Museum and Storage
Day 3
Tigermeet at Beja
Full Airshow with a Portuguese F-16 "taking out" a RAF Hawk,all Ok
A Italian F-104 declaring a emergency
The Airshow is now running late
Stayed to end,Then got a Police escort to beat the crowds out of the show to catch our flight
Day 4
Talavara and Cuato Vientas (Civil)
Day 5
Getafe and Cuato Vientas (Military)
Day 6
Villanabula
The group was split into 3 for flights in the Casa 212's
Spent 30 mins in formation flying and then "Hedge Hoping"
Arrived at Matacan
Upset the Base Commander here, because he wanted to take us flying

Never be able to do anything close to this Today

This is why we call it "The Good Old Days"

Pete

[paddyboy]

Mudhen15

I’d forgotten about AK’s routine at BD 1992

That’ll be my No. 6

Paddyboy

[Skywatcher]

Good evening all
I’m really enjoying reading every ones replies this last half week or so keep them coming ,iv thought of a few more,gulf war two /Iraqi freedom,with B-52s fully loaded on continuous operations was pretty awesome ,one that you don’t forget in a hurry I rember the initiall launches well,unfortunately didn’t yet have a radio with me that time so missed the callsigns used would love a list if anyone has one MTIA ,and the Vulcan returning to RIAT since her operational days which I missed[i mean when she was in operational service I wasn’t born ],and the debut of the F-22 [2010 onwards as RIAT cancelled in 08 due to the flooding ],extrodainary .
stay safe all
All the best
Max
P.s also really enjoyed Solo Türk display F-16 whenever he showed ,as well as the Polish Viper more recently,I also recall a exercise around late 2001 ish I think, here with Mildenhall special operations team coming and doing a airfield re take exercise with CH-53s and MC-130s [was that when the mysterious US army 160 SOAR where possibly [?]present with a det of MH-6M/AH-6M Little birds ? Maybe wrong but might be linked ]all over very quickly,seem to recal some fast jets involved maybe hawks top cover ? It was dark at the time so hard to tell,also the Spirit deployment for a short period here in August 08 stands out to

[adderman]

Hi Folks
My personal 5.

1. Jumping out of a perfect serviceable BN Islander at Sibson Peterborough and almost landing on the A1 when the wind changed.
2. Air Cadet experience flight on a Trident LHR-EDI including cockpit visit on outbound leg. One of our officers was Snr Engineer at BA.
3. Scenic flight in GAF Nomad over Mount Cook NZ. Cabin was balanced so sat in second pilot seat.
4. Hangar tour at USCG Los Angeles and sitting in HH65 cockpit.
5. 3 hour tour at Edwards AFB(NASA side) in 1992 watching prototype C17(87-0025) hammering the circuit. Then got 'lost' on way out...

6. The one that got away... missing the overnight KC10 bash to Mildenhall/Fairford in 1986 for Eldorado Canyon as I didn't hear the phone ringing in the hall!

[B-2 Fan]

This is a great thread, really enjoying reading everyone's memories.

Very hard to pick just five...

1. A 30 minute flight in Spitfire MJ627 out of Biggin Hill as a surprise 50th Birthday present from my family. Included 11 minutes hands on where I did a wide arc around the Dartford Bridge, with great clear views over London.
2. A day return from London to New York on Concorde, name pulled out in a draw at work!
3. UH-1 Huey Combat Flight from Cape Town.
4. Air to Air Formation flying and aerobatics in a Harvard out of Swartkop near Johannesburg.
5. Flying in to the 1989 St. Mawgan Air Show in an Air Seychelles 707 from Gatwick, with a very low fast approach and go around before landing.

[Rugbyref]

OK. If we extending this to the one that got away, mine would be all strapped in to a Varsity at RAF Oakington, which went tech meaning that type never entered my log book.

[Thunder]

The one that got away for me, was a trip out to CVN-65 USS Enterprise, during JMC 01/02. Turned up at Kinloss for the flight out to the carrier onboard a C-2A, only to be told that due to operational requirements(F-18 engine had to be delivered onboard), that only essential personnel would be flown out. Unfortunately the second C-2 was down in the Med at either Rota or Naples. I think I cried that night.

[MR TERRY GREEN]

Gutted.I would have been even more so if the Carrier had F-14s aboard.

[a321]

My top 5
1. Lightning displays by the Wattisham TFF In the 70's
2. Flight in the navy Swordfish whilst working Saturday morning overtime at Bae Dunsfold 1981
3. Visit plus flight over DM in 1994
4. Whilst doing flying spanner duties on an A320, Being intercepted by French AF. Mirages on the return journey, Due to pilots not answering the radio.
5.Again on flying spanner duties 787 this time, going to Las Palmas and seeing Spanish F-18's operating on several occasions.

[STN RAMP RAT]

my turn ......

1) Being intercepted by 1435 Flight Typhoons leaving the Falklands on an Air Seychelles B767. It allowed me my one and only chance of air-to-air photography.

2) Bouncing around the US bases in the Gulf on an ATA L1011 and having the jump seat. Seeing the departure of a B1 from Al Udeid at night with full afterburner and being number 2 to a U2 at Al Dhafra were standout moments.

3) The 1987 Binbrook AIrshow. The departures for the Lightning 11 ship formation and the lightning going transonic were outstanding.

4) Getting a tour around the USS MIdway in Hong Kong in 1983. EA6's A7's F4's and E2' Hawkeyes. you don't know what you've got until its gone '

5) Sitting on the roof of the customs building in Miami in 1989 and 1991. I saw DC6's, B707's DC8's as well as a Connie and KC97 in service.

and the air spare, in case any of the top 5 are unacceptable, would be seeing the B2 flypast at the Mildenhall Airshow in 1997, If I did not know it existed, I would have reported it as a UFO

[Thunder]

Gutted.I would have been even more so if the Carrier had F-14s aboard.

It did, both VF-14 and VF-41 were on board. This was the same cruise that in September the first air strikes against Al Qaeda post 9/11 were carried out from the Big E.

[Andy_99]

For Me

1) IAT Greenham 1983 as a Scout on Litter Pick-up duty having somewhat better access to the aircraft than joe public, being invited into the cockpits of many, hospitality of the USAF was amazing
2) IAT Greenham 1983 again on litter pickups on departure day & getting the chance to sit in the cockpit of a phantom whilst being prepared to depart
3) IAT Greenham 1983 Getting special access to the airfield on SR71 departure day. It had been painted by the peace campers on the Sunday so delayed until the Tuesday, a couple of us plane nuts were met at the gate by an airman in a pickup & taken over to see the pre-flight, then followed it along the taxiway to watch it depart from the runway midpont. Then of course the additional passes before leaving with full burners right over the peace camp.
4) Somewhere in Wales must have been 1981/82 walking along a saddle at the end of a valley & watching a pair of A10's following the pass climbing up towards us, crossing the ridge & dropping into the next valley.
5) Watching armed B1's taking off from RAF Fairford to bomb either Kosovo or Iraq in the 90's, the noise, the vibration & the colours of the engines on full chat.