Watching the skies ...

David Williams

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Apr 16, 2022, 10:39:55 AM4/16/22

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The fine weather and holiday weekend has brought out some
watchable aircraft.

I saw a WWII fighter with D-Day/invasion stripes (I think)
passing east to west over northern Cambridge around
14:30. Nothing was quite enough to identify it further. Also,
both Dragon Rapides have been flying over Cambridge (from
Duxford).

Flight tracking software shows Hurricane G-HUPW has just returned
to Duxford after a period just south-west of Huntingdon.

Also, there's been an Extra 300, GXXHP, between Newmarket and
Haverhill. It's hard to say if it was doing any aerobatics of
note. Another Extra, G-GEJS, is definitely having a play over
Waterbeach right now.

I need to do more homework on G-OSIS and G-CLMC, respectively a
Pitts Special and an Isaacs Spitfire, both of which came close
while travelling from Skegness to near Sudbury. AFAICS so far,
the Isaacs Spitfire is a home-build design for a scaled down
Spitfire.

And a few hours of daylight left. :-)

--
David

Tim Ward

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Apr 16, 2022, 12:06:32 PM4/16/22

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On 16/04/2022 15:39, David Williams wrote:
> The fine weather and holiday weekend has brought out some
> watchable aircraft.

Couple of stories about going flying during (different) Duxford air show
weekends.

(1) Sitting on the tarmac, had just refuelled or something, when I
wondered WTF was happening to the engine, as the noise was getting
louder and louder. Then I looked up and saw a Concorde passing really
not-very-high overhead.

(2) Forget what the lesson was, but for whatever reason the instructor
had taken us above the cloud layer, maybe we were doing stalling or
something. Then a couple of miles away or so a delta wing military
aircraft popped up out of the cloud layer, apparently nearly vertically,
then turned round and dived back in again. This was all uncontrolled
airspace, of course, and nobody was watching us, it was before Cambridge
had radar. The lack of a collision was basically down to the Big Sky
Theory ... or, perhaps, the instructor having chosen our exercise area
with some understanding of where the air show aircraft were likely to
be. (Yeah there was a NOTAM but I don't recall how much detail it had,
and even with a NOTAM it's still uncontrolled airspace.)

(3) When I got back from flying I happened to notice on the ops
whiteboard that the Reds were due into Cambridge that afternoon. So I
went back to the airport after lunch and stood with the (small) airside
crowd watching them land.

--
Tim Ward - 07801 703 600
www.brettward.co.uk

Vir Campestris

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Apr 18, 2022, 4:43:10 PM4/18/22

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On 16/04/2022 15:39, David Williams wrote:

> I saw a WWII fighter with D-Day/invasion stripes (I think)
> passing east to west over northern Cambridge around
> 14:30. Nothing was quite enough to identify it further. Also,
> both Dragon Rapides have been flying over Cambridge (from
> Duxford).

At least one of the Duxford Spits has D-Day stripes. We get to see them
quite often.

The unusual one I saw today was a couple of autogyros off in the
distance - somewhere near Newmarket I think.

And deltas...

When I was a kid I was out playing with my cousin in my grandfather's
yard. A Vulcan came over with its bomb doors open at what must have been
a fair bit under a thousand feet. Scared the **** out of me.

I only flew Concorde once. Stupid amount of money and I don't regret a
penny. It also allows me to say that I only went to New York so I could
leave :)

Andy

The Natural Philosopher

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Apr 19, 2022, 7:07:50 AM4/19/22

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On 18/04/2022 21:43, Vir Campestris wrote:
> The unusual one I saw today was a couple of autogyros off in the
> distance - somewhere near Newmarket I think.

Not an osprey, perchance?

--
"Women actually are capable of being far more than the feminists will
let them."

Vir Campestris

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Apr 19, 2022, 4:53:07 PM4/19/22

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On 19/04/2022 12:07, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 18/04/2022 21:43, Vir Campestris wrote:
>> The unusual one I saw today was a couple of autogyros off in the
>> distance - somewhere near Newmarket I think.
>
> Not an osprey, perchance?
>
>

No, something small, like a Wallis - the one they used in the Bond movie.

Andy

David Williams

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Apr 30, 2022, 6:04:22 AM4/30/22

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It might be another busy couple of days, given the bank holiday
and current good weather (and a Newmarket race meeting).

So far this morning, there have been an Extra and a Grob over
Cambourne, and lots of gliders nearby. Also G-OSIS and G-CLMC
(Isaac Spitfire, mentioned upthread) have left Sudury/Clare
heading NW.

-

And in feathered spotting, no osprey but I saw a Ring Ouzel near
Burwell during the week. Off to find some bluebells now ...

--
David

David Williams

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May 21, 2022, 6:41:05 AM5/21/22

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Could it have been a Rotorsport UK Calidus? There's one heasding
from Balsham towards Babraham right now - it's G-MAKE.

--
David

The Natural Philosopher

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May 21, 2022, 7:00:59 AM5/21/22

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https://www.shuttleworth.org/product/auto-gyro-fly-in/
Not to late to jump in a car and go....

--
“Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of
other ideas but to the massive onslaught of circumstance"

- John K Galbraith

David Williams

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May 21, 2022, 7:23:09 AM5/21/22

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Sorry, fired from the hip and missed the big target.

There's an autogyro fly-in day at Old Warden today. They are
hoping for nearly 100 visiting craft! It looks like you can still
book on the web for today (and so get free multiple admissions
for the next 30 days).

I can't make it, but I'll be watching for fly-overs as they go
home.

--
David

Vir Campestris

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May 22, 2022, 4:21:00 PM5/22/22

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On 21/05/2022 11:41, David Williams wrote:

> Could it have been a Rotorsport UK Calidus? There's one heasding
> from Balsham towards Babraham right now - it's G-MAKE.

Could have been.
Another flew past yesterday AM about 10, but I saw that even less well.
Andy

David Williams

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Jun 11, 2022, 5:19:35 AM6/11/22

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David Williams <davi...@yahoo.co.uk> writes:

> The fine weather and holiday weekend has brought out some
> watchable aircraft.

That was a few weeks ago. Here's a prediction for today if you
can get to, or near, Waterbeach this lunchtime.

There should be a BBMF flypast between 13:00 and 13:30. There's
no promise of which aircraft it will involve. It's likely to come
from a preceding flypast at Peterborough. I expect a single
aircraft given that the main BBMF displays this weekend are at
Teesside and Cosford. Still, one Merlin is better than none!

It's the day of Waterbeach Feast, with a parade of floats from
14:00 so it may be slow going inside the village.

--
David

David Williams

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Aug 12, 2022, 8:31:51 AM8/12/22

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David Williams <davi...@yahoo.co.uk> writes:

> The fine weather and holiday weekend has brought out some
> watchable aircraft.

<SNIP April's report>

No holiday, but still fine weather. Too fine, you might say.

Hurricane! G-HRLI has been up from Duxford the last few days, and
is currently just back from a trip or two to Barrington and
Shingay. The Hawker Restorations web site says that 25% of this
aircraft is for sale so it's tempting to speculate that potential
buyers are viewing the goods. Form a queue here. ;-)

It's probably less interesting N and E of Cambridge. Apart from
general aviation and leisure traffic, there have been US tankers
and F15s visible around Ely and Newmarket. There is a possible UK
Apache track well south of Newmarket but they often fly low
enough to pop in and out of tracking.

On other flight levels...

Everybody should get the benefit of the diminishing super moon
and the Perseids for a day or so. Also, the planets trail runs
from Midsummer Common to Waterbeach for most of this month.

--
David