I travel through Birmingham New Street Station a lot these days. It is a connection for a bunch of my journeys and sometimes a destination in its own right. The station had a major rebuild a few years ago and one of the features in there now is Ozzie. Ozzie is a huge mechanical bull. It is such an imposing device and I do find it cheers me up. If you are ever heading that way, do find the time to check it out.
RIAT was visited by a number of AW159 Wildcats for the show. The Navy and Army brought examples with the Navy showing theirs as part of the Black Cats team. Midway through the show, another Navy example showed up. Unlike the others, this one was carrying external stores. The original Lynx looked heavily loaded if it was carrying four Sea Skuas, but this one really did look like it was ready for anything. I’m not sure if this is the Martlet missile installation or something else but, whatever it is, there was no shortage of capability on display.
As part of my prep for the long charity bike ride I undertook in September, I was doing some longer rides from home to get some miles in. On one of these rides, I headed from home to the coast. To be honest, I had planned the route on the computer, and I didn’t really know many of the places I was going through. A lot of it was countryside but I did come through some towns. As I was heading out of one of them, I passed a bunch of people and cars parked in a car park.
I stopped and went back to see what sort of vehicles these folks had brought along. There was quite a selection of old vehicles and some that weren’t so old. However, I guess it is a question of perspective because some of the cars that were there seemed recent to me until I thought of when they were registered. Then it was obvious that they were now rather old – just like me! Yes, we had some more familiar “vintage” vehicles but in the background of one of the shots you might spot an Austin Metro! I didn’t hang around too long because I was on a mission, but it was a fun break and rather amusing!
I posted recently with some shots of the Dassault Atlantique that was at RIAT. However, that got me thinking of the history of the Atlantique. It was actually an update to a previous generation plane. This was the Atlantic. Operated by France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Pakistan, the Atlantic design was updated to create the Atlantique and the Atlantics were retired. I knew I had seen some of them for real and that was likely to be at Mildenhall when the Air Fete was able to attract a wide variety of operators and types. Turns out it was the French and German versions I got to see. Here are some shots of them.
I had to make a trip to Lyon for work earlier this year. It wasn’t exactly an in and out trip but there wasn’t a ton of spare time while there. However, my hotel was on the opposite side of the park from the central part of the city where we were going to be dining. Since I had the time, I chose to walk across the park to meet up with everyone. There was an old house near the top of the park and, in front of it, there was a rose garden. Since it was a pretty hot day, I was in no hurry to rush across the park and taking the chance to stop and look at the roses on the trellises gave me an excuse to avoid getting too hot and bothered.
The early 90s had both the RAF and the French Air Force buying new airborne early warning aircraft in the form of the E-3. Unlike the USAF and NATO jets, these included the upgrade to the CFM56 engines which improved endurance and performance. I saw the RAF’s jets on many occasions but never encountered a French jet until this year – after the RAF jets have been retired and not long before the French ones follow suit. I’m not sure how much longer they have but seeing one arriving and departing the show was a nice result. I was pretty happy that I happened to be at the arrival end when it came in which was a bonus.
My visit to Brize Norton to have a trip with 101 Sqn wrapped up when we landed back at Brize. As we exited the aircraft and waited on the ramp to get some group photos, we were surrounded by other aircraft. More Voyagers were lined up but there were plenty of A400M Atlas transports ready for their next mission. It was a pleasant afternoon with nice light on the planes so I grabbed a few shots of the planes before we gathered for our group photo.
Anyone who follows the details of Formula One is familiar with the endless efforts that go into the design of the aerodynamics of the car. Anyone that knows me knows that I love the aero side of things. The designs will be updated throughout a season to try and maximise the downforce on the car whilst minimising the drag penalty from that downforce. Taking a look at a Williams F1 car at Beaulieu gave a bit of a hint of the tiny details that are included in the design. There is a good chance that this car was not even an operational example and the aero features might not be representative of an actual racing set up, but they are a good approximation of what is involved, and the reality is that it is quite amazing.
The Westland Lynx was a popular type and it sold well around the world. However, time has moved on and many operators have replaced their examples. The AW159 Wildcat has been the successor in some operators but other types have replaced them for most countries. Having an original Lynx still in use is a nice treat and the German Navy has not yet replaced all of theirs. They brought one to RIAT this year and the smooth lines of the original design are relatively untouched on their versions. They will soon be gone so this was a good opportunity to see one again.
The visit to Imber that I recently posted about was facilitated by a fleet of buses. Many of these were quite old. Some were very modern. We had old Routemasters from London, open top double deckers and fully electric buses. For us they were a means to get onto Salisbury Plain, but this was clearly a great day for bus spotters. Now, I have be known to take a passing interest in aircraft and there is nothing wrong with that. Is bus spotting okay? That’s a different thing entirely!!
There was a lot to keep the enthusiasts happy. I have no idea whether any of these buses was more special than the next. They did seem to be maintained in immaculate condition. The ride was definitely not as comfortable as a modern vehicle and the rough roads across the Plain showed that up. It was quite interesting to see a small convoy of buses making there way in to and out of Imber. I did see some guys getting quite animated as they tried to photograph a bus while one of the volunteers was marshalling it into place. I think his need was greater than theirs.
