Right that's enough airy-planes

and I'm spent! That's me caught up, except that I am actually starting to look for work, and finding ... that there isn't any just now. Gawd elpus, I might have to take just any old job, or even (say it softly) do some voluntary work. Yeah, that's going to happen. Hey ho, 'ere we go again.

Denise standing underneath the Vulcan

I meant to include this earlier

Another nice shot

Just a nice shot of BA's speediest Speedbird

("Speedbird", plus the flight number, is the air-traffic control callsign used by all BA flights)

Flying the flag

and showing the reistration number for the geek squad: this is G-BOAA

That Wing and Those Engines

Concorde is beautiful to look at from any angle.

Concorde's nose

Configured for level flight (i.e., not drooped)

Concorde's flight deck.

Helluva instrument panel! This shot was taken through a rather greasy perspex panel, which is why it's a bit blurry. Not my rubbish photography, no no no.

Inside Concorde's cabin

English Electric Lightning

This was Britain's first supersonic fighter (1960s).

Tornado

I was just a kid again. This thing is BIG.

That nose

This is a mark 9 specially adapted for low level high-speed flight with clipped wings (not visible in any of my photos). It was a spitfire with this configuration in which supersonic flight was first achieved.

Spitfire!

Absolutely gorgeous. It looks more like a racer than a warrior. To be so close to one was quite emotional: I had goosebumps.

Harrier - pure flying genius

Another shot of the MiG

It was actually quite thrilling to be able to actually touch this old war horse - the old enemy. Sort of creepy.

Mikoyan MiG 15 - the iconic Soviet fighter

This one has Czech insignia

Gloucester Meteor

Britain's first operational jet fighter. This one was a test-bed for an electronics package, hence the elongated nose and Ferranti corporate colour scheme.

Nose of the Blackburn Buccaneer

Distinctive under-tail jets of the Phantom.

US Marines Phantom

Blackburn Buccaneer's distinctive split-tail air brake

The Buccaneer was the main ship-bourne fighter-bomber of the cold war era. and was built at Brough, East Yorkshire; not far from our family home when we were kids.

"I had an Airfix model of one of these!"

This was pretty much the refrain that Denise had to endure all around the Military Aircraft hanger. This is a Hawker Sea Hawk, flown by the Fleet Air Arm from aircraft carriers in the 1950s

Close up of nose, showing active mission decals

This particular Vulcan actually saw action in the Falklands war. The two bomb symbols on the nose denote two bombing missions against Argentine positions. The rather faded Brazillian flag is for the occasion when she was damaged by Argentinian fire and had to divert to Brazil (instead of going all the way back to Ascention Island). She was impounded by the Brazillian authorities, and only released on the proviso that she wasn't used again against the Argentinians. Yeah. Right.

Avro Vulcan

My Uncle Mick used to fly one of these. Scary big nuclear bomber.

A very pretty little De Havilland DH104 Dove

This one's in Civil Aviation Authority colours. This aircraft is still in use for pleasure flights. It seats only eight, and is a lot smaller than it looks from the picture

Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer

Too big to fit in the picture ...