Painless

~S~ Capt sir, Excellent !! TY for sharing m8. ~S~ P.

~S~ American cousins, Hope you made the most of the day.............or at least can remember some of it !! It's always worth saying, thanks again to the American armed forces (especially from 1941 to 1945) with a big man hug !! : ) ~S~ Painless.

~S~ Colin sir , "The only way is UP........ baby ".................. (eventually). ~S~ Painless.

Thanks Kelly ~S~ Kelly m8, You don't write, you don't call, you just toyed with my "emoticons" then threw me into the trash like so many old socks.......... the least you can do is arrange my accommodations !!!! AND DON'T WEAR THOSE PANTS AGAIN !!! Cheers, Mick. PS : Siobhan says "Hi".

~S~ Chaps, What's a "spin" ? ~S~ P.

Glenn P. you freakin bastage !!! How the hell are you m8 ? How is fatherhood affecting your hairline ? LOL Great to see you around again, welcome back. Please give my regards to Mr Schilling. Cheers, Mick.

~S~ Kev, I'm up for any adventure as long as I'm with a pack of Dogz ~S~ Mick.

~S~ Chaps, I know we haven't come up with a plan for the days following Duxford 2012 yet but how about a little B&B tour visiting a few places in England like Hendon (WWII Aircraft), , Shuttleworth (WWI Aircraft), Bovington (Tank museum), Bentley Priory (HQ Fighter Command 1940) and anywhere else you guys can think of...... Cheers, Mick.

~S~ PropNut sir, Just one word.............awesome ! ~S~ Gell-less

Hey Chris, Excellent, I happen to have leave already booked for that weekend , Huzzahh !! My youngest sons birthday is on Tuesday 3rd July as luck would have it. A room with a view please. Cheers, Mick

Hey Squawk m8, WOW! I Its enough to make a man turn to drink !! LOL Take care fellow survivor Mick.

Hey boys , have you seen this youtube clip ? : Mick.

~S~ BluBear m8, What a fantastic performance ! That piece of music is burnt into my brain from when I first saw the film as an 8 year old (1969) in Singapore city with my step dad. Always makes my upper lip go all stiff ! LOL Thanks for sharing Chris. ~S~ Painless

~S~ Colin m8, It's all good stuff, I've always wanted to meet a nun with "balls" PS : I thought you had given up correction fluid sniffing ?? ~S~ P.

~S~ Chaps, You all really are completely barking !!! ~S~ Shameless.

~S~ BluBear m8, If I am not working on the 16th Oct and if finances allow I will be there. Looks like a great line up. Do you mind if we watch it from inside the American hanger ? That roof looked Mustang proof LOL. Will confirm asap M8. ~S~ Painless.

~S~ Kev M8, Glad you enjoyed the flight , Dave said you were a relaxed passenger ! LOL Made good time getting back as the headwind was only around 10knts. Very bumpy at times, had trouble staying within 100ft of my required height.. Guess I'm just a shit pilot ! LOL ~S~ Mick.

~S~ Bongo, BluBear, Believe me we toasted and thanked DD_Blairgowrie, DD_Klinger and every known deity several times with JD and Bacardi !! LOL If it had gone through the stands where we were or into the "midway" (the merchandise stall area), then I would imagine 100's could have died ~S~ P.

~S~ Good friends, Glad to still be here. I think it's fair to say that Sid, Artie, Squawk and myself now have a very special bond that goes way beyond a mutual interest in sheep ! We will be posting all the photos soon including three incredible shots which Squawk took of "Galloping Ghost" at around 300ft full throttle heading straight for us !! Bongo is right about what happened. From what the four of us have been able to put together speaking to various people after the incident (including other race team members), the elevator trim tab broke off (it has now been recovered), which caused a 460-500mph snap pull up generating around 15G. This would have been enough to black out or even kill Jimmy Leeward possibly breaking his seat mounts. The side on photo, shows nothing in the canopy as the plane was diving. This means that the P51 flew itself from the moment he pulled up off the racing line. It climbed up to around 400 - 500ft banking right over our heads and to the rear of the grand stand and continued over the top of a kind of loop and then came down full throttle 75 to 80 deg to the vertical. That's why when we looked up over our left shoulders it was nose on. There was no time to react at all, not even time to stand up, it just whizzed over our heads and slammed into the VIP enclosure right in front of us. There was no fire, no smoke,no explosion, just a loud thud and millions of pieces and dust. The plane just disappeared ! They estimate that it was doing around 400mph on impact. We saw chairs tables and people scattered around but it was a miracle to see folks get up who were really close. We think the impact point was somewhere between 75yards to 100yards from our seats as the crow flies. Being elevated in the grand stand meant that there was nothing but fresh air between us and the impact crater but not one piece of debris came our way. It all went up, away, left and right.. I think I can speak for Sid Artie and Squawk when I say that we are.......... four lucky sons of bitches !!! My heart goes out to the poor families who have lost loved ones and to the many people still fighting to survive or cope with appalling injuries !!S!! Thanks for all the kind words chaps. ~S~ Pain......less.

~S~ Nick, I think I might need to buy your 9800GTX asap m8. I started my game computer just now and the monitor cannot find a signal at all. It flicks from anolog to digital trying tyo find a signal for about 30 seconds then gives up and goes to standby. I have checked the connection lead to the graphics card and all is fine. Have restarted several times, no joy. I don't even see the windows start up screens. The monitor is a Samsung 226BW. I'm thinking the graphics card has gone tits up ? Any advise or help appreciated. Will be away in Reno all next week but can check out the forum tomorrow in the day before I go up to Heathrow to meet Skidders. Cheers, Mick.

~S~ BluBear m8, Say ....."short block Griffon" for me one more time ~S~ Shameless.

~S~ Chaps, I have to say Colin that I'm not keen on the changes at the Red Lion but I suppose nothing is forever.........not even Tom's beard !! Great Pictures Nick, wish I could have stood beside you when you were taking them m8 ! Thanks for sharing. ~S~ P.

~S~ You lucky Dogz, Have a great day boyz, I will think of you all as I'm running up and down bloody ladders at work ~S~ Planeless.

~S~ PropNut , Looks like a very professional job M8. ~S~ Painless.

~S~ FT M8, Looking very nice so far, I can see what you were saying on TS about not liking models to look too "clean". Great detail in the cockpit framework. Brush work only so far then, you old traditionalist LOL Will you be spraying any varnish on her eventually ? Cheers, Mick.