Filbert_Wang

Assume most will know of this news by now, of an aircraft carrying Wagner boss Prigozhin crashing near Moscow https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66596127 Without straying into Politics, does anyone know what has happened to the aircraft? I have read that the Embraer he was onboard has an almost perfect safety record, and no known fatal mechanical failures. Reading some rumours that it was shot down, but if that was the case would it not have shown more severe damage while falling?

Thanks for posting that, what an interesting (and very sad) story. I wonder if they will be able to find out what happened, whether the pilot just fell asleep, weather, or something more drastic?

That is fascinating to know, thank you

I went on Monday morning and I think was fortunate probably had the best weather of the weekend, parked at the end of the runway (Eastern end) and got to see a good amount of the aircraft leaving, including a few of the display teams (Red Arrows), the Sukhoi Fitter and Phantom. The Phantom took off, disappeared for about 10 minutes, and then came back in to land (so not sure what happened there). The Rafales put on a bit of a show, using the afterburners for a good few moments, before going almost completely verticle and heading off up into the clouds. And quite funny seeing a line of Eurofighters queuing behind a departing civilian Cesna, then having to wait about 5 minutes for that aircraft to get a sufficient distance from the runway. I was very lucky to get parking (in a tiny car!) so the parking spaces are very limited, unless you are willing to walk a little bit or come in on a bicycle or motorbike, which can then park just off road.

I would love to see a modern tool (that was readily available) for the Avro Arrow, ideally in 1/72 My great uncle was one of the design team for the aircraft, he passed away some years ago now but I've always wanted to get hold of a kit.

Does anyone know if any sort of display will be taking place today or tomorrow? Difficult to obtain any news updates, I assume they will leave until as late as possible to decide?

Nothing extra to add in terms of advice really - I don't think you can re-iterate enough about arriving early. Once you get to 9-10, all of the families are queueing and if you are that late expect to see the first few displays from your car seat! It's also a wonderful sight with the early morning as you approach the airfield, the great tail fins of Galaxies and the like rising out of the morning mist like dinosaurs. Wear good walking shoes as even the walk to the runway is a bit of a distance. If you want to view all of the statics too (which are definitely worthwhile) you can add at least a couple of miles to that*. I would take water and food as prices and queues on site can be excessive, but this is the same with any open door sporting event. Ear plugs not a bad idea too, some of the stuff (I see there are Harriers there this year, which are particularly noisy) can get tiring after a while. I wouldn't be too worried about rushing to a spot to view as after all the runway is a tremendous length and the planes are up in the air, you will have no trouble finding somewhere to sit and view. Unless of course you want to go to the far right (as you look at it) of the runway for take-offs etc. I generally get a program as you go in, if you are early enough see a bit of the static display before it gets too busy, and then find a place to sit and watch as the display gets going. It's a fantastic day and wonderful air show, hope you enjoy it! I have been a few years in a row now so giving this year a miss with general entry, although if the weather permits I may take my bike down on Monday morning and park up at the end of the runway. A cheap way to see the planes heading home after the event, and you get to see a few of the static display aircraft leaving too. * I just checked back to my fitness watch and it was about 5 miles walking over the course of the day for 2022, to give some indication.

Sorry to wake up an old thread, hopefully this is OK. I'm lining up starting work on this Hasegawa F14 (I believe known as the E14 release) https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-00544-f-14a-tomcat-atlantic-fleet-squadrons--120633 I've just had my fingers burnt (quite literally, from so much filing and sanding) on an old Fujimi AV-8a harrier from about the same era. I think a very old mould and poor fit and got through about half a pot of Mr Hobby surface filler trying to fill the gaps. Am I likely to have a similar experience with the Hasegawa kit, and if so am I better off going for one of the later Academy releases or similar? With many thanks in advance from my fingers to anyone who can help!

It's amazing what modifications can be made when there is a necessity. Remember watching a video where the Iranian F14 Tomcats had run out of anti-aircraft missiles during the Iraq-Iran war, and were modified to fire surface to air missiles. The things were huge, and fishtailing (almost hitting the F14) when they were fired, but apparently they were used to some success.

There was a mention of this in Chuck Yeager's biography (which is well worth getting hold of if you haven't read it, a quite incredible life and career), he and some other pilots got hold of some of the German planes towards the end of the war as part of the US fighter development program. I can't remember the exact comments, but from memory he thought the Mustang was the superior aircraft. On a separate note, Yeager quite remarkably became an 'ace' without firing a shot. He surprised a wing of BF-109 (I think), one of the pilots panicked and tipped straight into their next-door aircraft, resulting in them both crashing. Finally on this topic, I remember seeing at Fairford Air Tattoo a group of RAF pilots looking in (and one actually sitting in) the cockpit of the Ukranian Flanker that was on display (this was 2019 I believe) and the Ukranian pilot obviously pointing out various things. So I would say there is definitely more than a passing interest in what could potentially be adversarial aircraft.

Was listening to a podcast (I think Dan Snow's History Hits?) on the Manhattan project. I hadn't appreciated the sheer scale of industry and manpower required just to build Fat Man and Little Boy, tens of thousands of individuals and absolutely huge industrial complexes working towards that one goal. Due to the shortage of manpower they apparently enrolled thousands of highschool students (mostly girls) who carried out the Uranium separation with giant magnets manually controlled. Obviously the process was refined significantly over time, but while the science was still taking massive strides forward it was extremely cost and labour intensive.

Part 2!

Hey folks - Some photos from the weekend (Friday and Saturday). Great to see some of the arrivals on Friday (the Saab historicals especially) and even some 'joy riding' flying (the Hungarian Hind pilot that was practising by spinning along the runway) Nice to not be melted into the tarmac as I was on the Saturday (good luck to anyone there today!) Here are a few photos with the link for the full album of about 60 https://slickpic.us/23820204MNJ

Some latest sad news from Ukraine, with the loss of Ukranian pilot Colonel Oleksandr “Grey Wolf” Oksanchenko, reportedly in combat over Kyiv. He had come out of retirement to take up his role back in the Ukranian air force. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/colonel-oleksandr-grey-wolf-oksanchenko-the-ukrainian-air-force-su-27-flanker-display-pilot-between-2013-2018-killed-in-an-air-battle-on-friday-night/ He will have been well known to anyone who attended air displays around Europe, flying the Ukranian SU27 Flanker, where he wowed the crowds and won awards for his display flying. This news has left a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. His flights were some of the most powerful and evocative displays I have ever seen. I hope no-one minds but I have shared a couple of photos below from RIAT 17 and 18 below, where Oksanchenko was piloting, and would love to see any others that people have taken over the years

Very, very difficult to discuss anything of this nature without having a link to politics. Because, well, politics links to everything. And many of us are making model representations of things which are involved in war, which is by its nature a political act. In an effort to not have a trigger-happy mod close the thread, it will be very interesting to see if changes to NATO and EU expenditure are likely to increase (I would say almost certainly so) and countries which have so far contributed little to this (perhaps due to their size, or being 'out of harms way') and if they are now expected to have an increased air arm, such as the one that Ireland is discussing, and then put that force into rotation with other NATO or EU deployments.