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Was down at Deepcut the other day, stood having a ciggie in one of the smoking areas when WHUUMPH!
..The second time in my life that the Avro Vulcan sneaked up on me..
Bloody thing! Came out of nowhere and promptly tried to burst my eardrums
Saw it twice that day and what a wonderful sight it was. Gutted because i didnt have my camera on me

http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1T4c1b79ec1ab19358.cde

Above is the link to the Farnborough Airshow e-magazine, for those remotely interested.

Oh! And I saw the Red Arrows too, but theyseemed to pale into insignificance as the Vulcan was flying with them!!

They both flew over Newbury together in formation at low level yesterday, very impressive. And loud.

I don't mean this to sound like a boast, honestly, as I know how crass this sort of anecdote can be, but when I was a wee lad, 10 or 11, I was lucky enough (as dad was in the RAF) to lie at the end of a forces runway, well approx 300 yards from the end, with my mate, whilst we watched a Vulcan come into land. I felt like I was in close encounters (or would have, if the film had existed). A truly awesome plane.
Don't think I appreciated just how lucky I was until years after.

Wow - that is a great story - and it doesn't sound like a boast at all

When I was a similar age, I was taken to a show at RAF Finningley. Still remember the spectacle of a Vulcan doing a low level fly-by, and the literally earth-shaking roar as it climbed away at the end. Very glad there's still one flying.

On a similar note, have you heard the preserved Lancaster flying? That's a pretty memorable sound - 4 Merlins together.

Aye, a fine sound it is too.

The film on here: http://rationyourenthusiasm.blogspot.com/ about the canadian Lancaster out of Waterbeach (where im based) is quite interesting to watch. A mix of factual images and film, with some scenes that are poached from old films. Very interesting.

I was also lucky enough to get close to a Vulcan as a small boy... My dad worked at woodford for AVRoe hawker siddley and that meant I got to go see things.
One thing my dad did try to get for me was one of the scale models used in the wind tunnel - he was stopped going out of the gate with it on his back - security were quite keen on the official secrets act I seems...

Aladinsaneuk wrote:I was also lucky enough to get close to a Vulcan as a small boy... My dad worked at woodford for AVRoe hawker siddley and that meant I got to go see things.
One thing my dad did try to get for me was one of the scale models used in the wind tunnel - he was stopped going out of the gate with it on his back - security were quite keen on the official secrets act I seems...

Strange how many of us have connections to the aero industry - my Dad worked for Handley Page so another of the 3 V-Bombers, the Victor, was the one we were to support.
Beautiful flying machines .... shame about their purpose

I too was taken in to see things on occasion.

Connection on my side as well...............

My dad taught me how to make paper dart gliders when I was very young.
He also helped with my very first Airfix Spitfire, even did the hook in the ceiling for me to hang it off !!!

HowardQ wrote:even did the hook in the ceiling for me to hang it off !!!

Nice one.....bet your Mum was pleased

One of the advantages of living where I do (which is about 15 miles from Farnborough) is that may of the displays come over the top of us, so I too saw the Vulcan, the 787, the new Airbus M400 plus many others from the comfort of my lounge and whilst they were still at low level

Connections to the aero industry? I grew up in Weybridge where the VC10 was built, (Vickers) and every few days a new one would take off on its way to being delivered, would go straight over the top of our house and I was always convinced it was going to clip the pine tree at the bottom of our garden.

The original full size mock up of Concorde was also built there and my father (also a traffic cop in Surrey) had the job of escorting all the sections in to Vickers and we got to see the full scale mock up before anyone else (perks of the job even back then)

Barnes Wallis also worked at Vickers and became quite good friends with my Father, so as a youngster I got the oportunity to spend many a pleasant hour in his office playing with his models of the bouncing bomb, the tall boy and Wellington Bomber which he designed.

Makes me miss the old days

Yup, ties to the aero industry here too. Grandad ex-RAF and i seem to recall my cousin I think it is, working with Brit Aerospace.