Thank you sir,wonderful shots.I think she's a beautiful aircraft

Coming up next......Biplanes?

Something like this perhaps ..?

A duo of Gloster Gladiators ...





















To be continued ...

Lovely stuff

Indeed Chucky

Thanks Chucky, BD-123.

A few more biplanes - this time a combination of Hawker Nimrods (x2) and a Hawker Fury:


Fury in the lead ..


.. by a smidgen ..






Gear down (and welded!) for landing ..






Someone forgot to properly secure a panel behind the pilot ..


Next time: some 'old navy'...

Wildcat (or 'Martlet' in Royal Navy / Fleet Air Arm service):

I didn't realise we had an airworthy Martlet,great shots again FlatEric.

Actually, it's a Grumman Wildcat FM-2 - it was the earlier FM-1's that were called 'Martlets' by the British.

With a lightened structure and a more powerful Wright R-1820 radial engine, the FM-2 was notably quicker, faster climbing, longer ranged and more maneuverable than its FM-1 predecessor. To help control the increased power, the new plane had a distinctive, taller vertical tail. All-in-all, it was a great improvement, and more than four thousand FM-2s were built in 1943-45.

By 1944, the British re-named all their aircraft 'Wildcats' to align with the American nomenclature and avoid confusion in joint operations.

Well that told me.Thanks for the info FlatEric

The Brits made such beautiful machines. Not discounting the photography--which is of course excellent. But these gleaming sleek machines look wonderful at any angle. The fields and hedgerows just make it all the better.

Hi Chucky, sorry mate - I was agreeing with you. You were right - there isn't a flyable Martlet (FM-1) in the UK (although I think there is a non-flyable example in the Fleet Air Arm museum in Somerset).

Smokin_Hole - you're so right, but being a Brit myself I do declare a slight bias . However, I think the Blenheim has a face that only a mother could love ... Don't get me wrong, I love the Blenheim - tons of character - but I don't think even the biggest fan boy could describe it as beautiful ..

Next up ... more from the Grumman 'Iron Works' ...

Grumman TBM Avenger:

I'd love some close-ups of that wing folding mechanism.Can I just make out a red 'tell-tale' protruding above the upper surface of the wing? I assume that would be flush when the wing is locked.

I can never look at an Avenger without thinking of Flight 19.

Hi Chucky, I didn’t do the flight line walk this year, so don’t have any close in shots of the wing mechanism. The best I can offer is a heavy ‘close in’ crop of a long range shot – the ‘tell tale’ is easier to spot on this shot:



Another heavy ‘close in’ crop of the wings in flight – the ‘tell tales’ are just visible at the wing junctions:



Now for some Corsairs

We had two at this year’s Flying Legends. The three bladed example with yellow nose and Royal Navy markings is an FG-1D, whereas the four bladed example is an F4U-5NL.





















Hope you like them

OK, so nobody likes Corsairs

What about Ponies then? Shiny and non-shiny

Hell no,I love the Corsair.That first shot is just awesome.I like the fact that there are re-enactors milling around the aircraft.That dark matt grey paint scheme is great.

Superb pics pal.

Sorry I've been on holiday and just back and not had time to show those lovely Corsairs to my grandson, they are his favourite aircraft Fantastic pictures FlatEric keep em coming!

I think my grandson has seen every Corsair video on Youtube and he only turns 5 in a couple of days

We are off to the Sunset Airshow at Sanicole in September and we are both looking forward to it

Glad to hear there are some Corsair fans out there

Alicatt - I hope your grandson likes the pictures (and please pass on my regards - the boy's got taste if he likes the Corsair ). I hope you both have a great time at the Sunset Airshow and that you get to see a Corsair (or two!)

Continuing the naval avaiation theme, the Hawker Sea Fury. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and also one of the fastest production single piston-engined aircraft ever built. The Sea Fury has many design similarities to Hawker's preceding Tempest fighter, but the Sea Fury was a lighter aircraft; both the Sea Fury's wings and fuselage originate from the Tempest but were significantly modified and redesigned.

On 8 August 1952, Lieutenant Peter "Hoagy" Carmichael, of 802 Squadron, flying Sea Fury WJ232 from HMS Ocean, shot a MiG-15 down, making him one of only a few pilots of a propeller driven aircraft to shoot down a jet. The engagement occurred when a formation of Sea Furies and Fireflies was engaged by eight MiG-15s, during which one Firefly was badly damaged while the Sea Furies escaped unharmed. Some sources claim that this is the only successful engagement by a British pilot in a British aircraft during the Korean War, although a few sources claim a second MiG was downed in the same action.

The example at Flying Legends is in Royal Australian Navy markings: