Sunday 2nd August 20.15
A pleasant day, lots of cumulus clouds but nice and dry. Great, especially for the adventurous who are visiting Wickenby to try wing walking!
Many of the visitors to this ex-RAF Wickenby aerodrome have come to help raise funds for St. Andrew's Hospice in Grimsby. It was sad to see so many with pink tee-shirts with a picture of a lost one, one whose last days were cared for in this hospice.
My amateur videoing of this event starts with a view of the café frontage where my Pat is chatting with a visitor. Then the first to wing walk is a young lady, mid-40s perhaps, who had never before tried this exhilarating mode of travel. She will be attempting some sky-diving next year! Then a few shots of a gallant man who said he was terrified but was going to go up anyway. He had to lose about two stone in weight to qualify for this flight. Perhaps he was the bravest of them all? Who knows. Finally a brief visit to the museum and then off for a coffee before heading home, by car, not on the wings of a vintage American open cockpit bi-plane, the Stearman, a much bigger cousin to the British Tigermoth.
Oh, were I ten years younger and three stone lighter ... Dream on!
18 comments:
It was quite difficult to take a video on my ancient Flip video pocket gadget as I couldn't see anything on the screen, due to the brightness of the day. Had to get rid of a good bit of cloudy skies with no aircraft!
That was cool!
Cheers Dana - Hope you and Doc are in the pink. x
Your wing walkers not only must possess nerves of steel, but knees of steel. I imagine there are moments when an individual's legs would be inclined to simply collapse beneath him while participating in an event like that for the first time. Actually, Philip, I think the young lady probably will discover it an easier task to accomplish when it comes time to make her skydiving début.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching your film. I hope you will make more of them.
I might also suggest you consider making a jump yourself, and if you think age might be an obstacle, there is the tandem jump as accomplished a few times by former President George H.W. Bush, the last time on his ninetieth birthday. Seriously .... something to think about ....
You are perfectly correct Fram, sky-diving is something I have on my bucket list. Only concern is the atrial fibrillation I am cursed with and it would probably rev up as I drop out of the aeroplane.
I loved the American bi-plane, the Stearman, and its WW1 look. Two open cockpits, the rear one housing the pilot in this event with the front one vacant. The pilot in the back seat has a clear view of the 'wing walker' and if he sees the arms waving to the people on the ground he knows all is well. If he sees a 'thumbs down' he will immediately end the flight and touch down quickly.
An enjoyable event and a great way to raise money for a good cause.
Wow!! That was brilliant! You can actually edit your videos as well, so are more talented in that area. But those people stood on the planes....by all the Gods I'd not do that in a billion years, a small stepladder has me reeling. Good on them all say I, and it was good to hear your voice Philip, I'm laughing at the guy who said he was 'scared shitless', if his innards were not empty before hand, they sure will have been after wards. Hahahaha x
Yeah, it was a lovely day, in every way. There was a tinge of sorrow because there were many who had lost a child so early in life, wearing a shirt displaying a picture of their daughter/son. My lovely granddaughter Ellie is in good form despite the colitis and we had a nice Chinese supper with them all yesterday (Pat and I shared King Prawn with mixed veg and some mushroom rice) as it was Pat's birthday. We are so lucky to have them near us now. xx
Nope that is too close to one of the things on my bucket list--Never jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
It's all for a good cause and a bit of fun - but not for everyone. I tend to go a bit barmier as each day flits by. Hope things are OK in dependable Detroit. ;-}
Hello Philip,
As promised, I have arrived to leave one of my um, eagerly anticipated comments.
I was and excellent article and superbly crafted video. Wing-walking is most exhilarating. With the cost of flights for me to go to from Manchester to Vancouver these days, I'm getting rather used to booking a spot on the wing. Yes, of course I jest.
Thank you and a delight to make your acquaintance via Michelle's amazing blog.
Gary
Greetings Klahanie, and welcome aboard. Relax, strap in securely and 'orf we shall jolly-well go'.
Although I wasn't aware on my visit to the airfield, there was a 90 year old veteran bomber pilot doing the wing-walk that Sunday. He also had to shed a stone in weight before he qualified to climb onto the wings. Wonderful stuff.
Holy guacamole! That's an action packed film. I would not have the nerve to ride on an airplane wing. I'm not even comfortable being inside an airplane! However, it's a wonderful way to raise money for a good cause. Hospice is such a necessity, and deserves as much support as it can get.
Thanks for your visit Sparkling. Agree entirely with your comment, 100%
I'm glad to hear that re Ellie. The one place I can always rely on for food that causes no problems is a Chinese restaurant. And I love the food too *smiles* Xx
You write dates differently, and I went back several times looking at the date on the video in disbelief that your weather would ever once on the best day in history have been that nice in February. Then I noted that your post itself was dated August 2, so the mystery was solved. Here, the military puts the day before the month, but, to my knowledge no one else does. Of course, the military also uses a 24-hour clock, something that is shared with hospitals and no doubt others. Personally, I think we should all go on the 24-hour clock, but as for how dates are given, I see nothing to recommend one way over another.
I rode in a Stearman once when I was becoming a pilot. Here, they were pretty much all used as crop-dusters when their use as military trainers ended. Like you, I would have taken the wing-“walking” ride. Did you mean that your age would have disqualified you from considering it a good idea to do it, or from being allowed to do it?
Michelle: We often have a Chinese takeaway delivered to Clare's house and have a nice family nosh. Pat and I like the king prawn with vegetables and/or cashew nuts together with some mushroom rice. Clare often chooses this too. The rest have a wide choice, sometimes the kids want some chips too!
Snowy: Yes, the date is almost always DD/MM/YYYY in the UK. The 24 hour clock is by far the safest way for time description of course. When I was working as a COBOL programmer in Customs & Excise it was better to use the YYYY/MM/DD format as it was easier to calculate the number of days between two dates etc., but that's not on for general usage.
Two main reasons against my wing-walking: 1 is Pat; she is totally against it. 2 is my weight; 11stone is the limit. I am 14 stone and a bit. There was a 90 year old ex-RAF bomber crew chap at this event and HE went up! See http://mashable.com/2015/08/04/90-year-old-wing-walker/ However, there is a 93 year old chap who performed this recently to claim the 'oldest' chap to do this as recorded here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23867582
Hope your camping trip was enjoyable and the weather was kind to you both.
I didn't know that you worked as a programmer. I should think that would be challenging work. The only programming I ever did was when I took a class in Visual Basic, which I enjoyed.
I saw and enjoyed both films, but took it to prove that you're not too old after all. I was struck by now much the reporter emphasized the calmness of the man in the first film as I would assume that if a 90-year-old decides to sit on the wing of a moving plane, he's probably going to take it very well indeed, or else he wouldn't have done it. I was also struck by how long the flight was in the second film. I think I would have dressed more warmly, but maybe he had chemical or electrical warmers inside his clothes.
Hi Snowy. Yep, I joined HM Customs and Excise in 1972 after getting cheesed off with the bookmaking game. I had to sit Executive Officer entry exams in London as I held no formal education qualifications. I think it was in Admiralty House and there were over one hundred hopefuls attending. The Customs were recruiting more staff to cope with Value Added Tax (VAT) which I was hoping to get into if I got through the exams and the subsequent interview panels.
Got accepted after a few weeks and was offered a post in Adelaide House on London Bridge, in the old Purchase Tax Dept! I was living near Norwich at this time, over 110 miles away from my proposed office. Pleaded for a nearer post but it was a 'take it or leave it' offer. I took it. Four years or so later I wangled a transfer to VAT HQ in Essex as a trainee analyst/programmer for the developing VAT accounting system. Worked on massive mainframe systems in COBOL programming which was language of 90% of all business programming back then. All programming staff were on 24/7 standy in case of any glitches as the system involved accounting for £millions every day and any 'crashes' had to be dealt with immediately, no mater what hour of the night or day. I could have earned huge money prior to the turn of the century by examining and re-writing private commercial systems as disaster was forecast prior to January 1st 2000. Main reason was the almost ALL COBOL programs had the YEAR being TWO digits only, such as 99 for 1999 or 75 for 1975 etc. In the event all catastrophes were avoided by the vast majority of business. But it would have been a costly exercise having billions of lines of code examined like this. Oh will, water under London Bridge.
I too felt the old chap who wing-walked over the Irish Sea would have been pretty chilly. Stoic old man; great guts and no mistake.
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