Saw Blackbird flying a couple of times in the 80s. Beast.
Also, had a good chat with Rich Graham, a former Blackbird pilot, at Duxford about ten years ago. Mach 3.0 for one hour, from Japan.
They tended to choose married men with kids for the job, as they’d be less tempted to try something silly with the flying controls at speed and altitude.
Amazing engines too. Worth a read.
I was (I believe) the very last person to mid-air refuel from a Vulcan tanker. Great platform, super-stable basket.
I think the Victor an VC-10 were also known for their very stable baskets?
The Tristar had a different reputation…
Au contraire! The VC-10 was great as it had HDUs (Hose Drum Units) at all three stations (under fuselage & wings), whereas the Victor only had a HDU under the fuselage; the - lighter - wing stations were very much more challenging. The main differences were that HDUs had slightly bigger baskets, and thus a bigger target for our airborne jousting (commonly known as taking a running f**k at a rolling doughnut) but also, critically, HDUs were pre-primed with fuel and thus heavier and more stable, whereas the lighter hoses on the Victor wings were empty until you had pushed the hose in sufficiently far for fuel delivery to commence. To say that they could be quite ‘lively’ was an understatement! I once, due to a basket malfunction, pulled the entire wing hose out of a Victor when tanking back from Akrotiri (Cyprus) to Wattisham when I was on 74(F) Sqn. That was an interesting few seconds…
I don’t recall any particular problems with a Tristar (3 HDUs again) and I tanked across the Atlantic with it a few times. It’s main benefit was that it could carry so much fuel, though that was slightly less welcome if you met one in the middle of the night on exercise when all it wanted to do was give you as much as you could hold so that it could go home, when home & bed was all that you were interested in too! Not uncommon for fuel to pass from tanker to fighter to atmosphere without ever getting near an engine…
I’ve been at Wattisham for nearly 14 years now, as a civilian… it’s a little ‘different’ to how it was, but that runs true for all the armed services I suppose. The F-35 world at Marham sounds totally miserable.
Truly great base, Wattisham
This post is tinged with sadness. The bloke round the corner who has this collection of vintage cars and and motorcycles, has put up a For Sale sign on his house.
It was a great feeling watching him putter by on a variety of motor vehicles. But yesterday I saw his De Dion on the road.
Looks very well cared for, thanks for posting. London to Brighton next Sunday - you could volunteer to go with him!
He probably needs the money to pay for his chiropractor. 
Some friends go racing several weekends a year and last weekend competed in the Birkett 6 Hour relay at Silverstone. An official Wacky Races type event with 70 cars of all shapes and sizes blatting around the track through the afternoon. I went along to take some snaps.
The Type R’s they race are kinda vintage…!
Given that RhB are celebrating nearly two centuries, perhaps there is room for this post on the thread; apologies to the OP @Ian2001 for the slight thread drift?
Train enthusiasts may have heard that Rhaetian railways (RhB) in Switzerland, to celebrate 175 years on 29 October, broke Guinness World record for longest train.
Section used was part of the Albulla line, just north of St. Moritz.
There is a short video on you tube entitled “World’s Longest Passenger Train…”
In summary, speed c 30kmph, 1 hour, train weight 2,990 tonnes, with seven train drivers and 21 technicians. Train was 1,906m-long train made up of 25 four-part Stadler Capricorn railcars.
In the video every train car set, spotlessly clean and no graffiti. Eight months in the planning. Stats from the uk engineer and railway journal websites. Map of the line gives an idea of the spiral tunnels - courtesy google maps.
For anyone not familiar with the RhB, its a 1 metre gauge railway. I travelled on both its Glacier Express (cog in part) and the Bernina Express (highest in Switzerland w/o cog), immediately prior to lockdown, in the middle of winter. Bucket list ticks on an InterRail pass, which also included Belle Epoque/Goldener Pass at Montreux. The three journeys done in each direction.
Again on you tube is a great video of St. Moritz to Tirano, filmed within days of my own trip - snow completely covers the tracks soon after the start. The video is “4kcab ride St.M to Tirano, fresh snow………”, the middle of the video shows the station at Alp Grüm, which can only be reached by rail in winter.
Great viewing for those who like trains and haven’t done the ride. The line construction is vintage, even if the toy sets…whoops, real thing, train sets are recent and very nice they are too!
Apologies for another minor thread drift but I thought this may be of interest to some contributors on this thread.
On UK terrestrial TV station ‘More 4’ tonight at 9.00pm, a brand new series (6 episodes) starts; “Warplane Workshop”. “Skilled engineers and pilots return historic warplanes to the air - 1st episode - The Deadliest Spitfire”.
If you were travelling in the rearmost carriage, what happens when you get to your stop? You’d be potentially 2km away from expectations and have to walk the last bit.
That used to be a feature of the Fenchurch St line back in the 80s, for different reasons 
BOAC VC-10 just before I left Duxford this afternoon
Is Brum still there?
There’s something about a Hurricane’s canopy
P-51B ‘Berlin Express’ canopy cover
Not quite as high but a few years ago I went to the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago. At the time it was the tallest building in the world. From the observation floor you can see the curvature.
