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The second part of the interview with Adam Spink, the Heathrow tower Supervisor and Birthday Boy on the day that Speedbird 38 crashed on the threshold of Runway 27L at Heathrow. In this final part we talk about the aftermath of the accident.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Maarten Visser, Alchetron, the AAIB and UK Gov.
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Observing a large wide body airliner crash is, mercifully, a rare occurrence but to have one crash onto your airfield when working as the Air Traffic Supervisor in the control tower puts it in a completely different category of amazing! This is Adams story of the day it happened to him at London’s Heathrow airport.
G-YMMM, the accident airframe a few years before.
Speedbird 38 after the crash.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Marc-Antony Payne, Aero Icarus.
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Widow Maker is an epitaph attached to aircraft that present a particular risk to the life of the pilot. Many times this name is inappropriately used but in some cases, sadly, it is all too valid. This is the story of two such aircraft.
The Martin B-26B Marauder.
A USAF recruitment poster featuring the Marauder.
Chuck Yeager in the NF104, an aircraft that would nearly kill him after he lost control and ejected. His helmet was punctured and the oxygen within caught fire badly burning him.
The F104A.
The F104 was the first fighter to be fitted with the M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon.
Images under the Creative Commons licence, with thanks to National Museum of the USAF, Michael Wolf, Charles E Brown and the US Gov.
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There are some sleek and elegant aircraft out there and some pretty ugly ones too! Despite gaining nicknames such as the Flying Bathtub and the Flying Potato, many of these amazing flying machines did a great job in furthering our understanding of spaceflight. This is the story of the Lifting Body aircraft.
Three of the NASA experimental lifting body aircraft.
The Mig105 Spiral, nicknamed the Flying Shoe.
Images shown under creative commons licence with thanks to NASA and Bernhard Gröhl.
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Not every Plane Tale recording goes according to plan…oops!
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Aeronauts, ducks, aviatrices, anhedral, terminals, slips and skids all have their place in aviation but where do these strange terms come from… particularly that old phrase, “He’s flown West.”
