Interesting morning.

[Guest]

Where i live, we are on one of the holding areas for Manchester Ringway. The area is known as ROSEN for Rossendale ., which is 15 or so miles North of Manchester. I live on the East side of a hill and our house rear faces west. I went to feed the rabbit and looked across and up to see a trail ,about 15.000 feet heading east .Grabbed the bins and saw it was a USAF KC-135R .20 mins later a C17A , same height same direction. Half an hour later a C5 again same height direction. We are on one of the main crossing points and get lots of interesting overfligts .Yesterday a Typhoon screamed over at low level probably going back to Coningsby . We have had Chinooks Seakings Pumas TornadosJaguars , a lot coming and going to RAF Valley. Of course i didnt get any photos because you dont expect them.Get a lot of big stuff going into manchester though . PIA 777 -200 orbiting this morning.

[Guest]

just have a waterproof camera constantly recording the skys!!!

lol, all i get is planes going in and out for stansted ariport ( i live about 2-3 miles away from it) so the most exciting thing of the day i get to see is the orange tail of an easyjet 737

[Guest]

Lucky you . That last plane i flew on was the Catalina G.BLSC back in 95. I sent for tickets for my mate and i for the Fighter Meet .3 weeks later i got the tickets and a letter saying i had won a flight . It was brill. I must get them posted .I didnt take many inside but a lot outside .

[Guest]

My odd fly-past today was a biz-jet style with t-tail ,white top dark bottom half,twin engine. came from north did big circle ,low n`slow about 600ft, went towards ski area circled and then headed off towards N.E. (RAF Lossiemouth ?) Suppose there will be a bus load of raff-guys down for winter sport R&R tomorrow. Couldnt see the markings. Maybe it was the CIA ! Pogo , we`ve got to see the Cat. pics, please.

[Guest]

Will dig them out and put them on .Remenberi didnt take many inside though i do have a pic taken by my friend with a grin on my face you could handg christmas decorations from.

[Guest]

The Catalina Flight pics

These are the photos i took during the Catalina flight in 95.From North Weald at the Fighter Meet. I wish i had a video camera with me . It was fantastic.

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[wonwinglo]

Colin what a great flight in such a famous machine,you must be a member of the Catalina club I would imagine ? thanks for this batch of excellent air to ground pictures.

[Guest]

Thanks.No im not a member, but we did buy a badge later from their stand. Of course the last time i took a photo of the cat , 2 days later it had its accident off southampton. I have that affect on aircraft. My mate wouldnt let me touch the connie when it came over in 98 in case i killed it.i did anyway.

[Guest]

wow, must have been good!!!

never been in one of these, got a flight in a little sesna once (i was about 6) at duxfor, whent up about 200ft then back down.

i got to fly a grob 115E (aircraft no. 6-BYU1 if anyones interested) for half an hour with cadets once, i had another opertunity but it was called off due to rain!

i will scan in my log book and get the pic up later. it was a brillinant experience though!!

although i do find gliding more peacefull...well, apart from the 5G winch pull!!

[Guest]

Family had a whip round for my 40th and got me flying lesson from Barton.Cessna 150 G.BORI .Should have lasted an hour but managed to get another 20 mins out of it .Got photos of that as well.

[Guest]

i work on top of st leonards hill looking down over windsor castle, heathrow and in the distance the wembley arch and towerblocks of canary wharf....

but our location means we have civil aircraft every 2 or 3 minutes, depending upon which runway aircraft are landing on at heathrow, usually we are the point at which undercarraige goes down !

see alsorts of stuff, the usual stuff but some of the cargo aircraft first thing or late in the day are quite a sight with garish livery and sometimes unusual markings.....

makes the day interesting !

[wonwinglo]

Colin,a terrible accident witnessed by many people,much controversy why they insisted afterewards on calling the restored aircraft 'Killer Cat' a silly thing to do.

[Guest]

It is the knee jerk reaction of people who, if they took the time to research these things would know that during WW2 the Catalina were known as The Killer Cats, due to their success against the U-Boats and the Japanese subs , not counting the anti shipping patrols they used to carry out.It was tragic but it was an accident. Worse happened in wartime.

[Guest]

Watch out for that blue ice Colin !

[Guest]

i used to live in reading up untill the age of 3. i can still remember concorde flying past my window at 7:30 every morning...im guessing to heathrow. used to be my alarm clock!