Classic British Flight Sim

Fantastic, Peter. Absolutely fantastic.

How were the pics taken? I guess the chase plane pilot must be pretty experienced to know where not to go! Or was he part of the formation with an observer?

(BTW - The 4,000 feet altitude I referred to was, of course, the airfield elevation and not the mountain!)

Ian

speedbird591 wrote:Fantastic, Peter. Absolutely fantastic.

How were the pics taken? I guess the chase plane pilot must be pretty experienced to know where not to go! Or was he part of the formation with an observer?

(BTW - The 4,000 feet altitude I referred to was, of course, the airfield elevation and not the mountain!)

Which airfield was that Ian?...The Venom pic was taken by a chap in a Vampire T11...He sat in the right seat and the squadron pilot who was flying him just moved in and out and around about at his direction. The Hunter shot was different because we were actually doing formation aerobatics with the object of getting Kilimanjaro in the background...The photographer was an airman with a keen professional interest in photography and he used at least three cameras on the session (all hanging round his neck). He was being flown by one of our squadron pilots in a Hunter T7 and the pilot just flew in a relaxed position through all the manoeuvres, leaving the airman to fire away with his cameras as he saw fit. It was the second attempt at this flight as the previous day's pictures had too much cloud cover and Kilimanjaro was not really recognisable. About a year later the airman managed to sell one of his pictures from this series to "Illustrated London News" and they published it in their "Unusual Photographs" series.

I have two of the shots, this one and one from the previous day, hanging in my "Flight Deck" computer room...I was flying in the number four position (in the Box) in both the above pictures.

Awesome photographs!

Peter
To me the Hunter shots are what's amazing - I think I remember seeing that shot in a copy of the ILN my father had. (We had great fun as children going through all the "stuff" stored in the box room.) It seems rather a thrill that after all these years I can now show my son - and say "Ive know one of the pilots in that photograph".

Thank you so mmuch for sharing - and sorry I derailed the thread slightly

Leif

petermcleland wrote:Which airfield was that Ian?...

I used Kilimanjaro International HTKJ (which is actually just under 3,000 ft not 4,000 :roll: ). We diverted there a couple of times on VC10s when NBO was fogged in. I'd been to Amboseli game park as well, on the Kenyan side, so I thought the mountain might make a good backdrop for my shots of VB. I can see I wasn't the first to think of that plan! In my case I didn't use those pics because Mount Microsoft doesn't look anywhere as imposing as the real one

Thanks again for the terrific pics and also for the stories behind them. Are you ever going to write an illlustrated autobiography - or even get your website finished? We might have to confiscate your PC for a few months

BTW Leif - don't worry about derailing any of my threads I see them like an opening in a pub conversation and let them go where they will!

Ian

You might take a stroll down this little site:

http://www.vatame.net/downloads.php?category_id=4

SB591 wrote:

In my case I didn't use those pics because Mount Microsoft doesn't look anywhere as imposing as the real one

Ian..

I don't suppose you've tried flying into Gibraltar have you?? You know that great big piece of rock known as 'The Rock of Gibraltar'?? Well.. Mr Gates has it as a flat piece of ground with trees and the odd house on it :shock: I flew down there on a VA flight a few days ago and had to double.. triple check I'd selected the correct airport (using FSNav) as there is no rock.. not even a hill, where Gibraltar actually is

Thankfully.. my payware Gib came to the rescue although FSNav isn't showing any ILS and seems determined to fly me into the 'rock' rather than land on the runway. Good job my piloting skills are up to manual landings

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Here you go ;-)

Rock, and what have we....

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/syb2. ... ar2004.zip

In view of your Gibraltar experience, Dave, perhaps I was being a bit unkind about Mt. Microsoft. Perhaps it's not that bad after all :think:

Perhaps blasting the Rock of Gibraltar out of the way was an easier option than re-programming FSNav?



Dan - you've got a wonderful library of scenery and add-ons. I'm not going to take advantage of them just now; my PC is nearing the end of it's useful life and, barring unforeseen disasters, I'll have a new Vista one in a few months! So that'll be a fresh install of FS anyway. I'll come knocking on your door, then. Don't lose them!

Ian

DanKH wrote:You might take a stroll down this little site:

http://www.vatame.net/downloads.php?category_id=4

Very useful...I have some of it but will gradually install the rest...Thanks :dance: