Definitions

speedbird591 · Post by **speedbird591** » 29 Sep 2006, 13:35

My requirements for an aircraft to qualify as Classic British would be:

Innovative, functional design.
Uncompromising.
Beautiful aesthetic lines.
Admired by everybody.
Commercially uncompetitive.
Incredibly noisy.
At least four RR Conways.

Hope this helps

Ian

AndyG · Post by **AndyG** » 29 Sep 2006, 13:38

speedbird591 wrote:My requirements for an aircraft to qualify as Classic British would be:

Innovative, functional design.
Uncompromising.
Beautiful aesthetic lines.
Admired by everybody.
Commercially uncompetitive.
Incredibly noisy.
At least four RR Conways.

Hope this helps

Ian

Victor Mk 2?

AndyG

Post by **Garry Russell** » 29 Sep 2006, 14:08

Got 'im there Andy

panty · Post by **panty** » 29 Sep 2006, 15:07

Classic British is a car where the same equipment (i.e. ABS controller) is placed in different places even if the model and the series are the sames.

Panty

His human counterpart owned British cars for a while even if Italian.
His last one, a Range Rover, was a nightmare for electronic parts because nothing was where he supposed to be, at least following the workshop manual for that model.
Classic is a 1972 Land Rover that refuse to start if the morning is sunny!
I believe that she prefers a real English weather and not the Italian one, because when rains there are no problems.

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 29 Sep 2006, 16:37

Going by what some members on here discount as classic (aircraft that are still in service or only recently out of production), I get the feeling the majority do just determine itby age... it is probably the simplest way. And, as has been said, as with the Austin with the sqaure steering wheel, some people have some bizarre ideas of what is nice and classic... theres a disturbing number of people on here who think that ugly and ungainly Beverlies and Belslows are classics!

For me, it has to be any one or combination of the following:

Successful (in terms of sales and number of operations)
Aesthetically beautiful (easily achieved by most British aircraft

Reliable or sucessful in achieving the technological goals set out in its design
Be notable for some reason (e.g. Harrier - VTOL, Trident - Autoland, Concorde - Mach 2 airliner, Lightning - vertical climb and first Mach 2 interceptor, 146 - STOL and super-quiet)

So if I were to run this as a test:

Sea Harrier:
Aesthetically striking
Sold to two nations, served for over 25 years, sucessful in Falklands and Balkans conflicts
Succeeded in providing a weapons platform from a very much cheaper carrier
Notable for vertical takeoff, landing capabilities and excellent radar and air-2-air weaponry

Shorts Belfast
Fat and ugly
Sold 10 or was it 11? Served for about 10 years with the RAF and 1 or 2 made it to commercial operators
Rather slow and outperformed by the Lockheed Hercules
Notable for being large, ugly and slow

I rest my case.

Post by **Garry Russell** » 29 Sep 2006, 17:05

Hi Toby

The Belfast could lift far bigger loads than the Hercules so the performance thing doesn't come into it really althouygh it didn't met it's own critearia.

....oh and the Beverlys a beautiful classic , you migh think different if you had seen them flying. :tuttut:

Garry

speedbird591 · Post by **speedbird591** » 29 Sep 2006, 20:25

AndyG wrote:Victor Mk 2?

Garry Russell wrote:Got 'im there Andy

Yep. Got me good and proper

- Mind you - The Victor does fit my parameters nicely.

How about these definitions from the Concise Oxford Dictionary to settle the argument?

Classic: of the first class; of acknowledged excellence; remarkably typical; outstandingly important.

British: of or relating to Great Britain or the United Kingdom, or to its people and language; of the British Commonwealth or (formerly) the British Empire.

Remind me. Is America still in the Empire? Or is it just us, Pitcairn and the Falklands?

Ian

Post by **TSR2** » 29 Sep 2006, 23:54

AndyG wrote:
speedbird591 wrote:My requirements for an aircraft to qualify as Classic British would be:

Innovative, functional design.
Uncompromising.
Beautiful aesthetic lines.
Admired by everybody.
Commercially uncompetitive.
Incredibly noisy.
At least four RR Conways.

Hope this helps

Ian
Victor Mk 2?

AndyG

And smoke... It must smoke ... better than Clarkson!

And you are a cheeky sh1te Toby

... the Belfast is not ugly. :yipeee: Now DG... how is that one going.....

VEGAS · Post by **VEGAS** » 30 Sep 2006, 02:02

We all know TV hates the Belfast. Or Belslow as he calls it!

I personally think its an object of desire. I was in awe of the machine during a recent visit to Cosford.

In its day - Capable and beautiful! - nuff said!

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 30 Sep 2006, 10:12

Ben Watson wrote:And you are a cheeky sh1te Toby

:nahnah: