red arrows at paignton

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devonwoody

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11 Apr 2004
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Location
Paignton Devon
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I used to live in Torquay and there was always a red arrows display over Tor Abbey every summer. and some mega fireworks displays in the evening is it Regatta week.
 
We were holidaying down Devon about 6 years ago when the RAs were their then.Decided to take the kids to Dartmouth to see them.
It was a beautiful day,clear blue skies,hottish.
Spent the day walking round Dartmouth,had a meal,really nice day.
Went down to the harbour to get a good position about 2 hours before they started,seemed like there was thousands their,people in the boats on the hills in the train,all up the harbour.when in no time at all it went cloudy,thick fog came down,and it absolutely poured down.
Needless to say they had to cancel :(
Saw them then later in the week flying round Paignton just like your photos.
Paul.J.
 
Back in about 1975 when I was at Cranwell there was an annual family's day and the Red Arrows used to do a display over the playing fields. Being a private display for RAF families, and before the H&S guys got the upper hand, they used to be pretty impressive!

In the 2nd picture you will see from the smoke trail that each aircraft has climbed to the position that they cross over.

If you look at the 3rd picture (not a Red Arrow but an identical aircraft) you will see a UHF stub aerial under the fuselage which was about a foot long. One of these got knocked off on the fence on the edge of the airfield!

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A few summers ago, my darling wife persuaded me to let her have a glider flight- one of her ambitions. We were holidaying in northumberland near wooler. She enjoyed he flight and we got chatting with one of the regulars and asked whether they had any problems with the RAF (who use the Cheviots as a practise ground), no because they fly during the week and gliders really only fly at weekends, and anyway the most important thing as a glider pilot is to keep a very good look out for what is around you..... but........

One wekend a glider was circling the field the next thing he knew was the Red Arrows had just done a split around him, they were transiting between displays following the road.... The poor guy came down in a bit of a state :eek:
 
If I had been in the glider I would have stuck out my thumb and tried to get a pull.

I can guess the feeling tho, the raf dive bomb motorists on Dartmoor and that can cause a missed beat.
 
newbieblyth":3d1th5xv said:
...... gliders really only fly at weekends, and anyway the most important thing as a glider pilot is to keep a very good look out for what is around you..... but........

One wekend a glider was circling the field the next thing he knew was the Red Arrows had just done a split around him, they were transiting between displays following the road.... The poor guy came down in a bit of a state :eek:

Not uncommon. In my youth I used to compete in hang gliding at national level. On one occasion I was with a group of about 17 other hang gliders flying at about 1500 ft above a ridge near Newtown in the Welsh borders when the entire RAs in V formation flew beneath us. For all practical purposes a hang glider is a stationary object to a fast jet and very difficult to see, and the best tactic if you see something coming towards you is to crank on a load of bank to present the biggest visual object you can so that he can avoid you. It was certainly a view of the RAs that few are privileged to see!
 

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