Plane Tales

The next tale from my RAF Logbook, albeit now being filled with civilian flights for Virgin Atlantic Airways…

 

A Virgin A340-300 going round the checkerboard at Kai TAk airport, Hong Kong.

 

The checkerboard approach from the flight deck.

 

The treasured Hong Kong landing authorisation card.

 

The A340 fuel tank layout.

 

The result of the Air France ground fire.

 

Iqaluit Airport

 

The beautiful and historic town of Narita

 

Flight over Russia

 

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the author, the BEA, Airbus, Iqaluit Airport historic society, BruceBlaus and Peterhcharlton.

The second part of an interview with Alan Munro, retired RAF pilot and Cold War warrior, where we talk about his book… Fast Jets on the Front Line.

A 19 Sqn F4 Phantom

 

A 228 OCU F4 Phantom

 

An RAF Chinook helicopter

 

The back seat of a Phantom

 

Berlin’s infamous Checkpoint Charlie

 

The RAF’s Winter Survival Course

 

Images published under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Rob Schleiffert, Gerard van der Schaaf, The RAF/MOD, the US Army,

 

In this tale we listen to part of an interview with author Alan Munro who talks about his recent book, Fast Jets on the Front Line.

 

Interviewing Alan

 

 

The Gloster Javelin

 

A 29 Sqn F4 Phantom

 

The RAF’s Harrier GR1

 

Images are shown under the Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, Alan Munro, Hawker Siddeley and Nick Anderson.

A tale that might have been forgotten but here it is from APG670!

This tale isn’t about me operating into the massive aviation hub of Chicago O’Hare Airport but of how it got its name. For that, I’m going to take you back into Chicago’s seedy past to the days of Prohibition and the notorious gangster, Al Capone.

Enjoying a beer in Chicago!

 

Destroying beer during Prohibition.

 

Al Capone and Easy Eddie

 

Capone’s mug shot

 

The murder of Easy Eddie

 

 

 

VF3

 

The Thatch Weave

 

O’Hare and his Wildcat

 

O’Hare is presented with the Medal of Honor

 

A tribute to Edward O’Hare at the airport that bears his name

 

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Library of Congress, the US Gov, the FBI, the USN, the Cradle of Aviation Museum, the Newberry Library, Raysonho and the National Archives.

Delving into my log book yet again I recall thatI had flown a couple of supernumerary trips to John F Kennedy airport in New York, sitting in the back of the cockpit watching how it was done but now it was my turn to clamber into the hot seat to start my line training with Virgin Atlantic.  I was also flying with the Chief Pilot so absolutely no pressure!

 

Compared with the Airbus A340, the old Boeings were beginning to look a bit like dinosaurs!

 

The confusion of aircraft flying over the Atlantic only really became apparent when they were all leaving contrails!

 

With the early MCDUs it was possible to outpace the processor that was trying to keep pace with your key presses.

 

Despite the plethora of satellites whizzing around the world, the world of aviation still often relied on old fashioned HF radios for communication.

 

The data we used to plot our position on maps came from the same source as that that guided the aircraft!

 

I was surprised to see that this famous airport still regularly used approach aids common in much less developed countries.

 

Images used under a creative commons licence with thanks to Nick Anderson, NATS, Airbus and the UK Gov.