Spitfire Mk XIV when it changed colour

Whilst we were looking for the P-47 stuff we found some video of our Spitfire Mk XIV changing colour.......

Something for the week end -Spitfires

We realised we hadn't fully rewound the tape where we found the Merlin Engine rebuild material, when we had a second look we discovered it had a bit of video of Spitfires including TFC mkXIV in a different guise and our old mk IX from a show at Duxford in May 1998.



Alternative version on Vimeo click HERE

Final Merlin and Goings on

The final part of our trip back in time to 1999 and the end of the Merlin Rebuild Saga. Next week and we will have a bit of 1998 - Memories with Spitfires galore....

Make sure to look in tomorrow for an update from the Hangar Floor.

Merlin part 2

In our visit to the video vaults of TFC we left Beaufighter VI in optimistic mood having commenced the breakdown of the Merlin engine - lets see what happened next. (Part 3 later this week).

Another from the Archives

OK, an old video fell out of a box in the office the other day so we had to play it and see what was on it! We thought you might like to share the adventure. If you have ever wondered how you go about restoring a Merlin engine this one is for you. Today we have part 1 (of three) the others will be added over the next few days.
Just a little add on, we got this engine into ground running condition for our friends in Darwin, Australia in exchange for some Beaufighter parts.
Back to 1998 and vhs tape......

Gladiator in the Air at Legends video

Steve has supplied us with a link to a video clip of the TFC Gladiator airtesting at Legends, I am assured it will be included in the DVD!

Flying Legends 08 - TFC Gladiator Air Test

and if you were at Duxford you would have seen the Glad out on the line having further engine tests today.

Pre Legends Video

OK, I haven't even seen the finished article - this really is cut and shut but time of the essence.

aargh, rendered by the blog in 4:3, shot in 16:9 taken 2 hours to upload and process grrrrr

Gladiator - The Movie

Short , sweet and a little fuzzy around the edges but you'll get the idea. Thanks to Kevin we have the movie!

More Belle: Over Parham (Framlingham)

Many thanks to Chris Abrey who happened to be in the chase plane over Parham (as you do) at the same time as Liberty Belle. The reason for it all:

and just a note the directors cut of Bentwaters now uploaded here:

http://www.vimeo.com/1316282

Liberty Belle Completes Her Mission

Today Liberty Belle and her crew completed the journey they set out on from Maine in June. They overflew Framlingham Airfield and then landed at Bentwaters and met with the local guardians of the Control Tower at Framlingham and a number of other enthusiasts who helped make the completion of the mission possible. Finally she flew a second sortie over Framlingham escorted by Little Friends P-51D “Janie” and Carolyn Grace in her Spitfire Tr9. Liberty Belle then landed again before preparing for her return flight to Duxford. Below is a short video of this mornings arrival. A longer version is now available Click HERE

Another Friends 'exclusive'

Thanks to Steve Connor for some great video of Liberty Belle and Miss Velma - air to air. Just click on the above title link.

Liberty Belle -the movie!

Fairly quick cut and shut of todays action at Duxford. We will look at ways of uploading a higher quality version when I have tweaked the edit a bit. I just thought those who had to work today might like to get a taste of the day. Oh yes - It is the arrival, the landing, take off for Biggin Hill (including King Air for Freddo) and fast pass - enjoy.

Something for the Weekend then.

Well, Pete isn't the only one to have disasters! We have had a counter monitoring where in the world all our visitors had come from - Japan, South America, Hawaii, Israel, Egypt, France, Denmark, US, Canada, New Zealand Australia - you get the idea. Anyway - and maybe with 20,000 hits in two weeks it is our fault. The server that this information was being collected on crashed. So it is a case of starting again and seeing where you all come from.

Next a couple of video clips. First the Spit MkVb with a quick walk around, start up and taxi out. This probably helps show why we don't get too much of a chance to bring you a chat with the pilots as they are generally fairly absorbed in checking the aircraft out, preparing for their flight and the display routine. Second video is theYak 3 practice. Fairly brief, a bit grainy and what you will notice is extremely nippy, it was here, there and back again. - more video next week.

"Never volunteer!"

Those of you that have served in the military will know the old saying, "Never volunteer". I am glad to say we have a bunch of lads and lasses who do not know the saying or ignore it. Dave has been with the Collection for twenty five years, so it cannot all be bad. Maybe he is waiting for his gold watch?

TFC volunteers help out in every area and some go on to be full time employees. Without volunteers life would be very difficult.

Just as an example we show in the attached video a volunteer in action. Jim is an instrument technician with a local company. We wanted to obtain parameters for the cooling system in the P-39, Jim helped out by providing the thermocouples,test equipment and expertise.

Another volunteer, Chris the "Blog Master" shot the video and put it on line. Chris tells me you need your volume turned up to "Warp Factor Nine" to get the full flavour of the Allison!

No, Steve is not asleep in the cockpit. He tells me he was watching the temperature gauge!

Dragonfly shows its colours

De Havilland Dragonfly - DH90A G-AEDU flew in to Duxford at 15:00 hours today. The aircraft is owned by Sir Torquil Norman whose generosity has allowed it to appear at Flying Legends 2008. The aircraft is a personal favourite of Sir Torquil, standing close to it you can see why. For todays flight from Rendcombe the pilot was Lee Proudfoot. The Dragonfly is one of only two originals airworthy at present in the world. The other being ZK-AYR in New Zealand.

Spitfire MK XVIII in HD!

Another exclusive for the Friends of TFC site, and on a Saturday too.

Hot off Steve Connor of Flying Machines.tv hard drive comes this footage from the upcoming Legends 2008 DVD. Steve has kindly let us have a preview of some of the material as it is shot - we hope more to follow over the coming weeks.

There are two links: first to the HD version on Vimeo (this one is a bit fussy about which machines it will play on).

Here: Vimeo clip of MkXVIII

If that doesn't work try this: The You Tube Clip

Enjoy, and thanks Steve for the clip.