Fascinating aviation stories / talks

[ric p]

Now WfH again, I can’t help but get distracted.

So YouTube is my friend. So I’ve been having aviation presentations running in the background. And found this incredible story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7hYlHNyUuU

There are may others from the Western Museum of Flight, all of which are worth watching. Aircrew telling their story.

However definitely a home-alone pleasure, wifey rolled her eyes and sighed when I put on on in the evening.

[Eric Mc]

I posted a link to these talks on PH a few years ago. They are very worthwhile. I've listened to dozens of them.

[The Hofff]

Enjoyed that, thanks for sharing!

[Yertis]

I mentioned in some other thread Ward Carroll's YT channel, all good stuff around Tomcats.

[LukeBrown66]

There is a guy on youtube who interviews aircrew, some of it is good stuff, hut a lot of it is blokes being holier than thou typical RAF types sadly, but you expect that in certain ways. Some of the stuff they talk about is quite interesting though, the American and foreign pilots generally to me come across far better, as do some of the guys flying less elite stuff from the UK,

[Siko]

LukeBrown66 said:

There is a guy on youtube who interviews aircrew, some of it is good stuff, hut a lot of it is blokes being holier than thou typical RAF types sadly, but you expect that in certain ways. Some of the stuff they talk about is quite interesting though, the American and foreign pilots generally to me come across far better, as do some of the guys flying less elite stuff from the UK,

Yeah love that channel too....and I may be one of those holier than thou RAF types you mention having done an interview a few months back

[Eric Mc]

Aircrew Interviews?

I find it very interesting.

[surveyor]

These are always worth a listen...

http://airlinepilotguy.com/planetales/

[dodgepot]

I always enjoy watching Brian Shul's story about the SR

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hFJMs15sVSY&t=6s

[LukeBrown66]

I guess you call it being in the RAF and not being, but there is a certain way of talking and acting that is fairly laughable to the outside world, but has to be there in those jobs to make them work! that is what I mean, but I hasten to add not all people interviewed are like that, only some.

[littlebasher]

There's an interesting video i came across on Youtube, of a RAF engineering fixing a Lightning and accidentally taking off - with no canopy or radio!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzlnMRwnzdw

[munroman]

One of our neighbours is ex RAF, a Shackleton and Nimrod pilot, as well as spells working in the US.

He started in the early 50's, lived in Singapore in the days of Empire, and even ended up ashore in Vietnam during the War.

He's full of tales of drunken flying and driving, pool aircraft which were available for personal use, and for me, because it was one of his last achievements, his best story.

He is a qualified Harpoon missile instructor, he and a colleague were the first 2 RAF guys trained on it.

The training lasted 1 day, which included a long lunch, all in a classroom, and with 1 A4 sheet of instructions.

The American trainer then issued them with a certificate, and a pin badge.....

He was in 5 crashes, and now, at the age of almost 90, walks with a stick due to the amount of hardware in his spine....

[Richie Slow]

dodgepot said:

I always enjoy watching Brian Shul's story about the SR

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hFJMs15sVSY&t=6s

Very entertaining but a lot of it isnt true, sadly.


Edit: If you want to know about the SR there are lots of clips on youtube from Stormy Boudreaux ( U2, SR, then U2 again pilot) and Rich Graham (SR pilot and later sqdn commander).

Edited by Richie Slow on Saturday 18th December 10:44

[Chuck328]

Over on Pprune ( buried somewhere in the bowls now I imagine) there was a thread about Concorde. Ended up with two Concorde guys ( Mach 2 Dude and Christian J) coming on and giving an amazing insight intro that incredible machine. It's years ago but I'm sure it will still be there - somewhere.

Anyway, thoroughly fascinating but quite technical if that's your thing.

[Scaleybrat]

munroman said:

One of our neighbours is ex RAF, a Shackleton and Nimrod pilot, as well as spells working in the US.

He started in the early 50's, lived in Singapore in the days of Empire, and even ended up ashore in Vietnam during the War.

He's full of tales of drunken flying and driving, pool aircraft which were available for personal use, and for me, because it was one of his last achievements, his best story.

He is a qualified Harpoon missile instructor, he and a colleague were the first 2 RAF guys trained on it.

The training lasted 1 day, which included a long lunch, all in a classroom, and with 1 A4 sheet of instructions.

The American trainer then issued them with a certificate, and a pin badge.....

He was in 5 crashes, and now, at the age of almost 90, walks with a stick due to the amount of hardware in his spine....

I’m guessing if he was in 5 ‘crashes’ they weren’t all (if any) on Shacks or Nimrods, unless he was very unlucky. I’m intrigued to know how he managed to survive 5 crashes, he was either not very good or very lucky. Give me a clue to his surname, I might know somebody who knows him.

[Tempest_5]

This is a Youtube channel dedicated to the Fleet Air Arm mainly in WW2. Nice to see the FAA getting some visibility especially the Far East work which tends to get left out.

From an aircraft POV the best videos I feel are the "User Experience" flying stories of particular aircraft told by those who flew them.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ArmouredCarriers/videos