Every Picture Tells A Story.

[ChipShop]

This idea for a new thread may have been tried before, but anyway, here goes;

If you have a photograph of a specific aircraft or type of aircraft, or maybe you know of a location where an aircraft related incident happened and have a true story to tell about it; see if you can:-

1/ Fly over the location in FSX.
2/ Use the same aircraft or at least the same type of aircraft.
3/ Capture a screenshot and post it.
4/ Write a brief caption underneath describing what happened and where it is.

Like the idea

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[ChipShop]

Hunter Crash

Here's one from me to start you off:-

An RAF Hawker Hunter crashed on Tuesday 27th March 1973; when on a low flying exercise over the Westcountry UK. It collided with one of the support wires for the Caradon Hill, Television Transmitter Mast ,near Pensilva in Cornwall. The Pilot ejected with minor injuries.
(I wonder if anyone has details of the actual aircraft or any photographs?)
[Pics show location and Aircraft type from FSX]
Now over to YOU!

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[ian elliot]

A great idea, hope you get some taker's, i'll have a look through my hanger and see if i can get some inspiration

cheers ian

 

[ChipShop]

Thank you for the encouragement Ian!
Hopefully more of our Sim Pilots will search for and post some really interesting pics and stories!

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[ian elliot]

Well here's mine, 28th March 1967, one of two 8OOsq HMS Eagle, take's off from Brawdy armed with 4 1000ld bombs, on a mission to break up and set light to the crude oil from the stricken oil tanker, SS Torrey Canyon, that ran aground between Lands end and the Scilly islands on the 18th, a mission that was'nt particularly successful. Further raid were carried out by RAF Hunters armed with cans of aviation fuel in a hope to get the oil to burn, follow'd by more raids by Sea Vixen's and Buccaneers, and finally more Hunters armed with liquefied petroleum jelly, but not Napalm, as we were not supposed to have it in our armory back then.
Sadly, these efforts couldn't halt the spread of oil around the west coast and as far as Brittany, and to this day is still one of the worst pollution accidents witnessed in the UK

Only last weekend, i purchased the Flying stations Buccaneer S2, and have been putting it through its pace's, fabulous payware, pretty close to the actual aircraft used in the mission, mine is coded 107, 104 was the actual Bucc used

 

[ian elliot]

Here's some footage, no sound im afraid, im sure ive seen better footage than this, but this is all i could find---give you an idea anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2in6E3OKYDY

cheers ian

 

[ChipShop]

Well here's mine, 28th March 1967, one of two 8OOsq HMS Eagle, take's off from Brawdy armed with 4 1000ld bombs, on a mission to break up and set light to the crude oil from the stricken oil tanker, SS Torrey Canyon, that ran aground between Lands end and the Scilly islands on the 18th, a mission that was'nt particularly successful. Further raid were carried out by RAF Hunters armed with cans of aviation fuel in a hope to get the oil to burn, follow'd by more raids by Sea Vixen's and Buccaneers, and finally more Hunters armed with liquefied petroleum jelly, but not Napalm, as we were not supposed to have it in our armory back then.
Sadly, these efforts couldn't halt the spread of oil around the west coast and as far as Brittany, and to this day is still one of the worst pollution accidents witnessed in the UK

Only last weekend, i purchased the Flying stations Buccaneer S2, and have been putting it through its pace's, fabulous payware, pretty close to the actual aircraft used in the mission, mine is coded 107, 104 was the actual Bucc used

Nice one Ian, well and truly in the spirit of this thread! I can remember the incident very well, and a typical 1960s response to such a problem! No ozone layer was considered back then!

That S2 is a thumping great beast isn't it mate?

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[ChipShop]

A Sight No More!

On the 31st of December 2015 the 771 Squadron, Royal Navy based at Culdrose in Cornwall; handed over it's commitment to providing Search and Rescue cover, bringing to an end Military SAR cover in the Westcountry!
Thank You! 771, you will be sadly missed!
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[FAC257]

Quite a few years ago a great little freeware version of the Vin Fiz Flyer showed up in one of the libraries.
It just seemed natural to try to recreate the historic flight of the first aircraft to ever cross the US coast to coast.

I tried to stay as close as possible to what the Vin Fiz had to go through.

Since the original Brooklyn take-off site no longer existed, I went with JFK for a departure. All flights were made using real world weather.
This proved comical at times, as on some days I actually flew backwards making not much progress towards California.




All flights were also made using no navigational aids other than the sun, dead reckoning, and compass. I would follow the sun towards sunset each day.
The only time I was allowed to check for actual location was when I landed, where ever that happened to be.
I figured at the very least I would have been able to walk over to the nearest farmer or town folk and ask where the heck I was.



I did finally end up in Long Beach California, which was the intended final destination of the Vin Fiz Flyer, although it didn't quite get there.



Forest

 

[ChipShop]

Fantastic stuff Forest! Certainly a test of endurance, you deserve a medal for sitting on that flying machine for so long!

Did the instruction manual read: requires a very firm grip, and reinforced pants! By any chance?

A very interesting story indeed, how often did you have to refuel?

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[ian elliot]

90 hrs across the US in a Wright flyer, actually, thats pretty good going

cheers ian

 

[ian elliot]

Hi Chipshop, whats the scenery in the background of your Sea King shots.

cheers ian

 

[FAC257]

Fantastic stuff Forest! Certainly a test of endurance, you deserve a medal for sitting on that flying machine for so long!

Did the instruction manual read: requires a very firm grip, and reinforced pants! By any chance?

A very interesting story indeed, how often did you have to refuel?

ChipShop

It's been a long time, but I think I was getting around 3-4 hours, more or less out of a single fuel load.

The roughest flights were where the weather wasn't fun. I seem to remember flying in the Ohio, Penn, Indiana area for hours. When I landed and confirmed my location on the ground, I was actually farther away from California than when I started out that day.

FAC

 

[ChipShop]

Hi Chipshop, whats the scenery in the background of your Sea King shots.

cheers ian

Hi Ian,

Good Old UK2000 VFR Airfields, on quite a high setting; helped by some of Kosta's tweaks!

ChipShop

 

[ChipShop]

It's been a long time, but I think I was getting around 3-4 hours, more or less out of a single fuel load.

The roughest flights were where the weather wasn't fun. I seem to remember flying in the Ohio, Penn, Indiana area for hours. When I landed and confirmed my location on the ground, I was actually farther away from California than when I started out that day.

FAC

Well hats off to you Forest; a feat of endurance for sure!
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[PRB]

Cool thread idea. Here's mine, featuring Aerosoft's DHC-6.

On May 12, 1981 this plane, DHC-6 N386EX, took off from Waterville, Maine (KWVL) on a short flight to Boston, it suffered an elevator mechanical linkage failure, resulting in a successful landing in a field outside the town of Unity Maine. It made the papers, as you can see from this scanned in image of the story that my sister sent me when it happened. This is interesting now because on that Air Disasters show on the Smithsonian Channel, one event covered was the fatal crash of a Twin Otter due to a broken elevator control cable, due to a combination of design flaw and improper maintenance. I think these folks in Maine were very lucky that day...

But... As Paul Harvey used to say, "The Rest of the Story..." In 1982 this plane was sold to Grand Canyon Airlines, and outfit that flew tourists over the Big Ditch, and re-registered as N76GC. On June 18 1986, while flying one of these tours, her luck ran out, as she collided with a helicopter and was lost with all hands.

 

[Willy]

December 6, 1931 Detroit Michigan

In an attempt on the Official World Speed Record Pilot Lowell Bayles in the Gee Bee Z crashed at 300ish mph at what is now Detroit Metropolitan Airport. As near as I can figure, he crashed alongside the railroad tracks in the screenshot below. Bayles had a few months before won the 1931 Thompson Trophy in the yellow Gee Bee. Since then, it had had the Wasp Jr engine replaced with a full size Wasp for the Speed Record attempt. There's much debate on the cause of the crash, but the consensus today is aerilon flutter overstressing the right wing which had been weakened in a landing incident a few days previously although at the time it was believed the gas cap had come off and went into the canopy, incapacitating Bayles. This crash resulted in the Granville brothers on their follow on R-1, R-2 & R-6 having the gas cap moved to inside the fuselage and sheathing the wings with aviation grade plywood for extra strength.

Alabeo Gee Bee Z at Detroit Metro Airport. (I was only going about 240 kts in the screenshot)

As it was a previously announced World Speed Record attempt, the newsreel folks were there filming.

 

[SSI01]

At about this time there was an airfield outside Detroit at what is now the location of the Middlebelt Road overpass over the Jeffries Freeway (I-696). For many years it was the site of the Detroit Race Course (horses) and, as far as I know, is now the location of a Meijer's Thrifty Acres megastore. This crash may have happened at that now non-existent airfield. Using Detroit Metro (old "Wayne Major") Airport is a pretty good substitute, though, since it's not more than a few miles away. My father was maybe 11 years old when in 1927 or 1928 Lindbergh made an aerial tour of the US with the Spirit of St Louis, for various reasons. He was accompanied by aircraft from the Army Air Service during this tour. While the tour was in Detroit, an Army pilot fatally crashed at that same airfield as the GeeBee. My father was there to see it. I vividly remember him telling me about seeing Lindbergh later descend to a very low altitude over the train bearing the flyer's coffin, and seeing Lindbergh toss a wreath out the Spirit's window onto the top of the train.

 

[ChipShop]

Geoffrey Wellum, The Youngest Spitfire Pilot.

Three shots, showing the types of aircraft flown by Geoffrey Wellum, in his quest to become the youngest fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain.

'Ab Initio' training; Tiger Moth at Little Rissington.

Basic Training; T-6 Harvard at Kiddlington.

Fighter Pilot; Mk1a Spitfire; 92 Sqn., at Biggin Hill.

I would urge anyone to read his book 'First Light', a truly gripping and informative publication!

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[ChipShop]

Yacht SINE SEORRA

This fantastic repaint by DaveB, of the Virtavia HU Mk5 Sea King ZA166 cab.16; prompted me to revive this thread.....

She was involved in the dramatic rescue from the stricken yacht Sine Seorra on 30th August 1992.

The following is from the London Gazette............
Whitehall, London SW1A 2KB
23rd March 1993
The QUEEN has been graciously pleased to approve the following
award:
Air Force Medal
Leading Aircrewman Ian CHAMBERS, D191429X.
Leading Aircrewman CHAMBERS was the Diver of the 771
Squadron Duty SAR crew which was scrambled shortly after 1 a.m.
on 30th August 1992 to respond to a Mayday transmitted by the
SINE SEORRA, a 52 foot yacht in difficulties in a Force 9 gale, 20
miles off the coast of Guernsey.
On arrival at the scene the priority for the helicopter crew was to
evacuate the two lifeboatmen who were injured when the mizzen
mast collapsed on top of the yacht's wheelhouse. Despite the severity
of lifeboat motion and obvious personal risk, Leading Aircrewman
CHAMBERS volunteered to be lowered to the corkscrewing deck. He
quickly assessed the situation, asked for the stretcher to be lowered
and then attended to the securing of the casualty. Due to difficulties
in moving the second casualty from below deck it was over an hour
later that Leading Aircrewman CHAMBERS was recovered to the
helicopter — having personally supervised the transfers in extremely
violent and dangerous conditions.
On return to the yacht having delivered the casualties to hospital
in Guernsey and despite obvious fatigue, Leading Aircrewman
CHAMBERS produced stoic reserves of physical and mental energy to
be lowered three times into the tumultous seas and be trawled
through the water to rescue the remaining crew members.
Throughout this exhausting five hour night rescue, Leading
Aircrewman CHAMBERS placed his own life at risk, displaying
exceptional courage, great stamina and the highest standards of
professionalism to rescue casualties in atrocious conditions. This
outstanding performance was in the highest traditions of the Service.
Whitehall, London SW1A 2MB
23rd March 1993
The QUEEN has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the
Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air to the
undermentioned:
Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air
Lieutenant Commander Paul CRUDGINGTON, A.F.C., Royal
Navy.
Lieutenant Philip Edward SMITH, Royal Navy.
For their valuable service in the air on 30th August 1992 in the
Search and Rescue operation of the crew members from the yacht
SINE SEORRA.

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