by Nick Anderson | Sep 7, 2021 | Plane Tales
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White’s is the oldest and most exclusive Gentleman’s club in London its members have included more Earls, Dukes, Lords, Barrons, Princes, Knights, Viscounts. Marquesses, heads of industry and notable politicians than you could shake a stick at. The name we’re interested in, though, is that of Lord Edward Grosvenor, the youngest son of the 1st Duke of Westminster. It was in White’s that Grosvenor had the idea to form an RAF Squadron of wealthy aristocratic young aviators all of whom were already amateur pilots and members of the club… this is the story of that Squadron.
Hot Chocolate, the drink that started it all
Chocolate and Coffee Houses were known for anarchy, licentiousness, gambling, hobnobbing, and politicking.
White’s, the oldest and most exclusive Gentleman’s club in London
The French Foreign Legion
The Gordon Bennett Balloon Race trophy
An officer and a gentleman
The Avro 504
No 601 Squadron the County of London
Swapping cockpits
Billy Fisk III driving the 1932 US Olympic bobsled team
The Hawker Hurricane
Canadian Sir John William Maxwell Aitken
The Millionaire’s Hurricanes over England
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Library of Congress, Afro Bighair, Anthony O’Neil, the National Archives, Deutsche Fotothek and the RAF.
by Nick Anderson | Sep 2, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The world of a pilot is different to any other. They see things from a different perspective and view the world from places that even the mightiest birds cannot reach. All their faculties of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing experience sensations unique to their position whether they are manoeuvring a mighty airliner or sliding through the air on sheets of silk in a slippery sailplane. When they get a chance, even the most professional and conscientious pilots will take a moment to marvel at their world. These are treasured moments that they will lock in their hearts and only bring out in quiet moments of contemplation, perhaps when they look back and realise what a life of wonder they have led.
The gear
The brain
Cordite
Passengers
Switches
Gloves
Goon suit
Size
Saraha
Ice rivers
Ice bergs
Streets of cumuli
Skyscrapers
Noctilucent
Glory
Trails
Moon
Sunset
Steph
Rick
Atlantic
Touchdown
by Nick Anderson | Aug 28, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
We all have our favourite flying movies, whether it’s a black and white classic with biplanes wheeling around the sky flown by actual World War One flying aces, comedy cult movies from which we can quote our favourite lines (Shirley you don’t mean that) or modern thrillers which employ state of the art computer generated imagery. This is a story of a much loved actor who didn’t just act in an aircraft crash, he became an unwilling participant.
Favourite movies
Ancestor William Bradford
Army swimming training
Going AWOL, a black mark for the squad
The Douglas AD-1Q Skyraider
A ditched Skyraider
A single seat dingy
The coast off Point Reyes
The RCA station that took him in
Clint Eastwood
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Glasshouse, coolvalley, Impawards, MGM, the US Army, US Navy, the Produzioni Europee Associati and the NPS GOV.
by Nick Anderson | Aug 19, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The work the Young Tiger crews performed during the Vietnam War was monumental. With an average fleet of 88 tankers over a 7 year period they performed nearly 180 thousand missions offloading 8.2 billion lbs, thats over 3,700 million tons, of fuel. A staggering achievement only surpassed by the hundreds of aircraft saves they achieved, preventing many of their fellow aircrew from falling into enemy hands.
The Lockheed L193 tanker proposal
A B52 of SAC refuelling from a Boeing KC135
The KC135 Flying Boom
The Flying Tigers in Vietnam
The F105
A KC135 refuelling F105s
Navy Whales
The Daisy Chain
An F111 tanking
The Flying Tigers at work
Images shown under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Lockheed, the USAF, NAID, the US Government and the US Navy.
by Nick Anderson | Aug 12, 2021 | Plane Tales
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Forty years ago, four RAF pilots graduated from Central Flying School and became fast jet Qualified Flying Instructors. They hadn’t been together at the same time since then. When they did, they shared some more stories.
Four QFIs then
Dave
A typical course photo
How Dave’s Hawk might have looked!
The Hawk canopy showing the lines of Miniature Detonating Cord MDC
Dave after receiving his Green Endorsement
Dave’s Green Endorsement
Nij
An F4
Barry
An RAF Canberra
Four QFIs now
Images shown under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Airwolfhound, the RAF and JohnnyOneSpeed.
by Nick Anderson | Aug 6, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
Sadly there are also many who think that ‘Boy Scout’ honesty is something that should be left behind in childhood but luckily not many that do take on the responsibility of becoming a career pilot. When I discovered recently that there is a name for this capacity to openly admit guilt for one’s mistakes, it didn’t come as a surprise that it was named after a pilot. Captain Asoh.
Tokyo airport
A DC8 on approach
A JAL Captain’s hat
The DC8 cockpit
The miraculous accidental landing of Shiga
The ditched JAL DC8, repaired and flying again for Okada Air
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to SAS, Felix Goetting, Werner Friedli and Pentti Koskinen.
