OT: the world's largest plane just flew over my house

[billb]

...I heard on the news that the Antonov A225 was at my local airport and was scheduled to depart at midnight tonight. As I was sitting here a few minutes ago, I heard a rumble like I've never heard, and walked outside. It's raining, and I couldn't see it, but I could definitely tell it was there. There's a website I've used, www.aeroseek.com, that gives great real-time flight tracking. Looked up RDU, and sure enough, the plane was almost right over my town.

Cool.

[genphreak]

...I heard on the news that the Antonov A225 was at my local airport and was scheduled to depart at midnight tonight. As I was sitting here a few minutes ago, I heard a rumble like I've never heard, and walked outside. It's raining, and I couldn't see it, but I could definitely tell it was there. There's a website I've used, www.aeroseek.com, that gives great real-time flight tracking. Looked up RDU, and sure enough, the plane was almost right over my town. Cool.

She came in from Africa....? Or was headed there... I can't wuite work it out from the mapping...

I know what you mean though, would have been great to see it. Where I went to school in the UK there was an RAF airbase (East Kirkby) across the estuary from us in Lincolnshire. They maintained the world's last flying Lancaster bomber at the time,... the sound of 4 Rolls-Royce Merlins from 100' up is something I'll never forget (they always had fun buzzing our boarding school by flying across the water and banking up the shore at an altitude that allowed them to just clear our rugby field's goal posts.

The noise always stirred extraordinarily strange emotions of long-past wartime noises I thankfully never had to hear personally but would have chilled my parents to the bone.

Pity the clouds stopped you seeing that Antonov. Still maybe we'll all get to see an A380 before too long... they can carry quite a few tanks too...

[BimmerMeUp]

It landed at RDU to pick up a powerplant and is on it's way to Africa with it. Went out to see the landing, but got there 5 min too late (Came early.) Did see it on the runway and it dwarfed everything there. Heck you can fit a 747 fuselage in it's cargo bay.

[DueyT]

She came in from Africa....? Or was headed there... I can't wuite work it out from the mapping...

I know what you mean though, would have been great to see it. Where I went to school in the UK there was an RAF airbase (East Kirkby) across the estuary from us in Lincolnshire. They maintained the world's last flying Lancaster bomber at the time,... the sound of 4 Rolls-Royce Merlins from 100' up is something I'll never forget (they always had fun buzzing our boarding school by flying across the water and banking up the shore at an altitude that allowed them to just clear our rugby field's goal posts.

The noise always stirred extraordinarily strange emotions of long-past wartime noises I thankfully never had to hear personally but would have chilled my parents to the bone.

Pity the clouds stopped you seeing that Antonov. Still maybe we'll all get to see an A380 before too long... they can carry quite a few tanks too...

Just to clarify, there are actually two flying Lancasters...I've sat in FM213, the "Mynarksi Lancaster", it is maintained and operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario, just around the lake from Toronto. I have seen it fly on numerous occasions and I must say, for as much as I love the sound of my M60B40 winding up through the gears...the sound of 4 Rolls-Royce Merline engines is ABSOLUTELY DEVINE!

Cheers,
Duey

[Paul in NZ]

slightly OT but i went to an air show and there were several spitfires and mustangs there....i cant describe or explain the emotion i felt when the first spitfire flew overhead.My father was a radar technician in WW2 (his eyesight wasnt good enough for flying) and he had told us some stories.....

[genphreak]

Just to clarify, there are actually two flying Lancasters...I've sat in FM213, the "Mynarksi Lancaster", it is maintained and operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario, just around the lake from Toronto. I have seen it fly on numerous occasions and I must say, for as much as I love the sound of my M60B40 winding up through the gears...the sound of 4 Rolls-Royce Merline engines is ABSOLUTELY DEVINE!

Cheers,
Duey

Heh, thanks for setting that straight. I think at the time I was at school the subject was a bone of contention: The Brits were proud as hell of these machines (a pity they let it all goto pot after the war and let Germany supplant most of the UK's engineering capabilities) and I think the Canadian one was undergoing a restoration, so ours was deemed to be (very clearly in our superior colonial wisdoms) the last flying one left... then!

Somehow us forelock-pulling Aussies have got 2 or 3 of them here, not that we made any like our Great and friendly allies the Canadians did. There were thousands of them made so it'd be interesting to know where they all ended up...

Yes that sound is incredible. But imagine putting one in your car- with an output spline like this to mate your drivetrain to...

An english fella called John Dodd got in a lot of trouble with a Merlin once, he must have been mad;

This guy in Melbourne stuck one in a '55 Chevy Bel-Air, but my favourite is the dodgey old Rover in the previous link- the driver can barely fit in beside the superb 27,000cc engine... this'd be one drive:

But you have to see this... there's a t-bucket with one in it... Nick

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Heh, thanks for setting that straight. I think at the time I was at school the subject was a bone of contention: The Brits were proud as hell of these machines (a pity they let it all goto pot after the war and let Germany supplant most of the UK's engineering capabilities) and I think the Canadian one was undergoing a restoration, so ours was deemed to be (very clearly in our superior colonial wisdoms) the last flying one left... then!

Somehow us forelock-pulling Aussies have got 2 or 3 of them here, not that we made any like our Great and friendly allies the Canadians did. There were thousands of them made so it'd be interesting to know where they all ended up...

Good info here, including a list of surviving lancs:
http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/
They've got one of the engines rebuilt and running now. Just south of the city...

[genphreak]

Good info here, including a list of surviving lancs:
http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/
They've got one of the engines rebuilt and running now. Just south of the city...

Heh,good link that Anthony, I particularly like the quote....

"The new bomber was immediately regarded as a success and large production orders were placed. Avro's production facilities were soon overwhelmed, and numerous other companies and contractors joined the effort to produce Lancasters. Consisting of 55 000 separate parts, it has been estimated that half a million different manufacturingoperations were involved to produce just one aircraft. Peak production was achieved during August 1944 when 293 aircraft were produced" No wonder we had the Canadians pitching in...

"Of the total of 7377 Lancasters built (430 of them in Canada), 3932 were lost in action. During the war Lancasters flew a total of 156 308 sorties and dropped 608,612 tons of bombs, and placed over 12,000 mines in enemy waters."

[E34-520iSE]

slightly OT but i went to an air show and there were several spitfires and mustangs there....i cant describe or explain the emotion i felt when the first spitfire flew overhead.My father was a radar technician in WW2 (his eyesight wasnt good enough for flying) and he had told us some stories.....

I could listen to wartime stories all day, it's amazing to hear first hand accounts of bombing raids etc. Sadly there's fewer and fewer people around to tell us. I hope our history has been recorded well, or future generations won't learn anything.
Oh, that Rover SD1 with the Merlin engine in looks incredible in those pics. Who needs a bonnet (hood) covering that machinery?

Cheers,

Shaun

[Paul in NZ]

I will repeat one story quickly.
Was the middle of the war,the Luftwaffe had the FW190 ruling the skys,but they came into Britain very low very fast made their rais and took of before the radar could tell the spitfires where they were,My father was at that ime stationed on the cliffs of Dover and was up in the aerials of the station when heard a FW190 coming.However the guy was so low and pulled up so hard to get over the cliffs he couldnt bring his guns to bear on the station,he didnt have time for another run cos some spitfires were already in the area.A good reason to cherish the sound of supercharged V12s dontcha think!