Manky Monkey Motors

I was at the 50th Woodcote steam rally, near Reading in Berkshire today.
32 degree heat & blazing sunshine. All manner of traction engines, lorries, tractors etc. The highlight for me though was a fly-past by the Lancaster bomber & Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Truly awesome machines. They really did send a shiver down your spine as they thundered overhead. Glorious.

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Later in the day we were treated to an aerobatic display from a Hurricane & a second Spitfire.

The Spitfire had "clipped" wings, for increased maneuverability at low altitude, while the Hurricane's white stripes show it's in D Day paint, intended to avoid "friendly fire" accidents during the Normandy landings.

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Nature's own beautiful flying machines. One of half a dozen huge Red Kites that were wheeling & soaring over the showfield all day.

Always a treat to see the memorial flight. They thundered low over Oakley yesterday.
As for the Kites it's amazing how they and Buzzards have made such a comeback after being virtually absent from the area.

Yeah, weren't they reintroduced into Wales about 10 years ago? Suddenly they seem to be everywhere. Stunning looking creatures. They circle over Loony's workshop, which is out in the countryside, but I regularly see them flying at streetlight height over the residential streets I deliver the Mail to.
There was a flying display in the arena at the steam show today. Various owls & hawks flying around -while the Kites circled overhead.

the ,spit, with the clipped wings is living at a lincolnshire airbase  ;) ;) i,v seen it over home a few times recently .

looks like the same planes that flew over hollowell steam fair near northampton where i was last week,very impressive.

Is it a real Spitfire or a replica?  Seems an awful shame to change that fantastic outline if it's a real one.........

Real as far as I know Bobbi -are there replicas? Spitfires were built in a huge number of variations so I imagine that's the way this particular one was first commissioned. Does look odd though doesn't it.

They were about on Saturday over and around Hook, RAF Odihams family day. One guy said to me "oh that's an old army aircraft" as the Lancaster flew over at a couple of hundred feet   ::)

Longer than that Andy.

There is a lovely place near Aberystwyth called the Bwlch Nant yr Arian Forest Visitor Centre, where hundreds of Red Kites gather to be fed. It is stunning watching them all come in to feed. It is brilliant the way their numbers have increased.

From their website:

"There were more red kites than any other bird of prey in the UK in Shakespeare’s time. Red kites were a very common sight over towns and cities, scavenging on streets and waste tips. They were, at this time protected by law.
Around the reign of King Henry VIII, attitudes changed towards red kites and their large numbers were seen as a nuisance. Sadly this led to their downfall and they soon became extinct in England, Scotland and Ireland.
It was only in the valleys of Mid Wales that a few kites managed to survive with just 1 breeding pair left alive. Fortunately local landowners decided to set up a protection programme to make sure they survived.
Over about 100 years organisations such as the Welsh Kite Trust (WKT), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Forestry Commission Wales (FCW) made great efforts to keep them safe. Today, there are more than 1000 breeding pairs in Wales and it is now Wales’ National Bird of Prey."

More info can be found at:

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-8FARZC (http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-8FARZC)

JJ  :)

A lot of Mk V Spits were built with the "clipped wings" to increase the roll rate in a dog fight. I assume it came from the factory this way.
High altitude planes had extended, pointed wing tips that also looked odd.

hi BG no it is a real one , they made different versions , the clipped wing was designed to increase the roll rate and airspeed at lower altitudes.
there was also a version that had longer wings for high altitude

there is a company that has started to manufacture "kits"  they are said to be very good but i would imagine plenty of money to buy , and i dont know what power plant they use,

someone needs to re manufacture the Merlin engine cause it just sounds lovely . send shivers down my spine when i hear one 

There are flying replicas of several WWII planes apparently, including spits - I got all excited seeing one flying once, disappointed to hear it was a replica!

Well there's a use for all those Reliant engines that are lying around then! A Spit' kit.

Somehow I don't think that was the sound Blair was thinking of.........

various mks of spits had various changes some had clipped wings and a few had the wings extended. the hurricane is done in seac colours normandy invasion aircraft had black and white stripes

http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/spits.htm

hurricane seac
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=zJM&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=933&tbm=isch&tbnid=7biE0HYOsBuufM:&imgrefurl=http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/79/99/0&docid=Jx4OBOvWluhVJM&imgurl=http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/79/pics/99_1.jpg&w=928&h=269&ei=cHntUaGpGuGR7Aak-YHoCw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:16,s:0,i:130&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=97&tbnw=334&start=0&ndsp=18&tx=190&ty=64

typhoon normandy
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=9k1&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=933&tbm=isch&tbnid=J31sH_bcTgbyuM:&imgrefurl=http://www.gf9.com/Default.aspx%3Ftabid%3D295%26art_id%3D607&docid=4nGVaoApxhgwKM&imgurl=http://www.gf9.com/Portals/0/all_images/Aircraft/AC005f.jpg&w=500&h=170&ei=BnvtUd3wMqnG7AaY5IDoAg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:24,s:0,i:163&iact=rc&page=2&tbnh=110&tbnw=322&start=20&ndsp=26&tx=120&ty=61

didn't find any of a hurricane with invasion stripes

Hmm, interesting stuff Dave.  :)

me dad was in the raf in ww2 based in kuala lumpar. must be where i get my interest in ww2 things

slightly drifiting away from the pics when the battle of britain is mentioned and peeps are asked what british aircraft fought in the bob they'll say either the spit or hurri (which record more kills than the spit). other aircraft that took part were gloster gladiator, bristol blenheim and beaufighter and bolton paul defiant of which they now have one at hendon in the bob hall http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/boulton-paul-defiant-mk-1/ . must get up there to see it.

more info http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/aircraft.cfm

Planes are a bit like trains in that if you have an original part, say an altimeter (not for a train before anyone comments!!), you can legitimately rebuild the plane around it..........

i think its just the serial number painted on the fuselage that counts it as original. seems crazy if true. don't seem to be hearing much more of all those in crates buried in burma or where ever

last i heard was they dug looking for the crates and found nowt ,, its a project that was organised by a wealthy farmer /buissiness man that lives near to me in lincolnshire .

I heard that story too Spanners, im not from your neck of the woods but ive got friends living in Barton (I come up to bike night every year ;D) and they were telling me about that apparently it cost a fortune was a major headache and all for nowt :-\

nice piccys mm, love watching them old aircraft flyby

ANORAK MODE

The spit is one of the later marks. It looks different because it changed so much from the ones in the battle of Britain, with bigger engine, wings and bubble canopy. Its like comparing a Ford Capri, and this years Mondeo.

we,ve had a flypast from the vulcan this afternoon

that would have been a sight to see spanners , i have a good story about the RAF over in the states doing war game exercises ,

to cut a long story short the Americans in F3 demons had located a Vulcan bomber flying at low level and had planned to engage the enemy as it had no fighter escort , as they got lower down and tried to lock onto the Vulcan , 2 buccaneers peeled out from under its wings  , the American pilots were apparently gobsmacked at this , dont know who won the war game but its a good story eh

my dad worked on lightnings , Vulcans , Canberra's

here though is a spitfire at Dyce (Aberdeen Airport) this would not be an everday event and i'm guessing it was on a sunday when the choppers wernt flying,

http://youtu.be/qqiyCiUNLfg

we get quite a lot of odd stuff up here and Nimrods used to be an everyday fly by event , lots of tornados and now typhoons do the odd land and run