Plane Tales

This is the concluding part of my interview with Mike Wildman, an amputee pilot who has had a fascinating career in aviation. The first part covered Mike’s life in the Royal Air Force flying, the second concerned his life changing decision to have part of his left leg removed and his fight to lead the world’s first disabled formation display team. In this final section Mike tells us about creating Team Phoenix Air and flying the stunning Yak 50. Mike leading the Bader Bus Company team   The Ultimate High Flying Experience   The interview with Mike, filmed by Nevil Bounds   Team Phoenix Air formation display   Sherill from Team Phoenix   The Yaks   The Yaks   The proposed 2022 air show highlights   The Yakovlevs in the air   The home of the Yakovlevs   How to get in touch with Mike Wildman   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Mike Wildman, Nevil Bounds, The Bader Bus Company, Ultimate High, Team Phoenix Air and the Yakovlevs.

This is the second part of my interview with Mike Wildman, an amputee pilot who has had a fascinating career in aviation. The first part covered Mike’s life in the Royal Air Force flying, amongst other aircraft, the C130 Hercules. In this part we hear about his life changing decision to have part of his left leg removed and his fight, not only to get back into the cockpit of an aircraft but to lead the world’s first disabled formation display team.   Recording the interview with Mike in front of a Yak 52   Mike, a Captain with Virgin Atlantic Airways   Mike after his life changing decision to have part of his left leg removed   Aerobility, the organisation that got Mike back into the air as an amputee pilot   Sir Douglas Bader, a double amputee WWII Battle of Britain fighter pilot   The pilots of the world's first amputee formation team   The Bader Bus Company Still Running formation team   Mike climbing out of his Yakovlevs Yak 52     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, Aerobility, the Yakovlevs, the Bader Bus Company and Mike Wildman.

Mike Wildman is an amputee pilot who has had a fascinating career in aviation. This tale is about his time in the Royal Air Force flying the C130 Hercules in some very challenging theatres. His story will both amaze and inspire, particularly in the later parts when we will cover his work as the leader of the world's only fully aerobatic amputee formation team... TeamPhoenixAir.com   Mike, learning to fly   Mike during his RAF basic flying training     Mike was posted to fly the C130 Hercules   Low flying over the desert   Mike, the captain of a Belgium Air Force C130 during his exchange tour   The EPTS Andover that Mike flew   The Boscome Down Comet 4 named Canopus that Mike flew to the North Pole   The day at RIAT when a Mig 29 crashed onto Mike's aircraft nearly killing him and the others who were watching the show from the top of the fuselage!   Contact details for Mike and Team Phoenix, the world's only disabled aerobatic formation team     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Mike Freer, RuthAS and the RAF.

The Old Pilot ventures back to the little airport where his career in aviation began nearly half a century previously, meets the young lady now doing his old job and recalls some adventures from his early days.   Many thanks to Nev of Plane Talking UK for providing the audio visual equipment   Grace talks about Synergy Flight Training   The Old Pilot does his thing!     Thanks to those who came

White's is the oldest and most exclusive Gentleman’s club in London its members have included more Earls, Dukes, Lords, Barrons, Princes, Knights, Viscounts. Marquesses, heads of industry and notable politicians than you could shake a stick at. The name we’re interested in, though, is that of Lord Edward Grosvenor, the youngest son of the 1st Duke of Westminster. It was in White's that Grosvenor had the idea to form an RAF Squadron of wealthy aristocratic young aviators all of whom were already amateur pilots and members of the club... this is the story of that Squadron.   Hot Chocolate, the drink that started it all   Chocolate and Coffee Houses were known for anarchy, licentiousness, gambling, hobnobbing, and politicking.   White's, the oldest and most exclusive Gentleman’s club in London   The French Foreign Legion   The Gordon Bennett Balloon Race trophy   An officer and a gentleman   The Avro 504   No 601 Squadron the County of London   Swapping cockpits   Billy Fisk III driving the 1932 US Olympic bobsled team   The Hawker Hurricane   Canadian Sir John William Maxwell Aitken   The Millionaire's Hurricanes over England     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Library of Congress, Afro Bighair, Anthony O'Neil, the National Archives, Deutsche Fotothek and the RAF.

The world of a pilot is different to any other. They see things from a different perspective and view the world from places that even the mightiest birds cannot reach. All their faculties of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing experience sensations unique to their position whether they are manoeuvring a mighty airliner or sliding through the air on sheets of silk in a slippery sailplane. When they get a chance, even the most professional and conscientious pilots will take a moment to marvel at their world. These are treasured moments that they will lock in their hearts and only bring out in quiet moments of contemplation, perhaps when they look back and realise what a life of wonder they have led. The gear   The brain   Cordite   Passengers   Switches   Gloves   Goon suit Size   Saraha   Ice rivers   Ice bergs   Streets of cumuli   Skyscrapers   Noctilucent   Glory   Trails   Moon   Sunset   Steph   Rick   Atlantic   Touchdown

We all have our favourite flying movies, whether it’s a black and white classic with biplanes wheeling around the sky flown by actual World War One flying aces, comedy cult movies from which we can quote our favourite lines (Shirley you don’t mean that) or modern thrillers which employ state of the art computer generated imagery. This is a story of a much loved actor who didn't just act in an aircraft crash, he became an unwilling participant.   Favourite movies   Ancestor William Bradford   Army swimming training   Going AWOL, a black mark for the squad   The Douglas AD-1Q Skyraider   A ditched Skyraider   A single seat dingy   The coast off Point Reyes   The RCA station that took him in   Clint Eastwood     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Glasshouse, coolvalley, Impawards, MGM, the US Army, US Navy, the Produzioni Europee Associati and the NPS GOV.

The work the Young Tiger crews performed during the Vietnam War was monumental. With an average fleet of 88 tankers over a 7 year period they performed nearly 180 thousand missions offloading 8.2 billion lbs, thats over 3,700 million tons, of fuel. A staggering achievement only surpassed by the hundreds of aircraft saves they achieved, preventing many of their fellow aircrew from falling into enemy hands.   The Lockheed L193 tanker proposal   A B52 of SAC refuelling from a Boeing KC135   The KC135 Flying Boom   The Flying Tigers in Vietnam   The F105     A KC135 refuelling F105s   Navy Whales   The Daisy Chain   An F111 tanking   The Flying Tigers at work     Images shown under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Lockheed, the USAF, NAID, the US Government and the US Navy.

Forty years ago, four RAF pilots graduated from Central Flying School and became fast jet Qualified Flying Instructors. They hadn't been together at the same time since then. When they did, they shared some more stories. Four QFIs then   Dave   A typical course photo   How Dave's Hawk might have looked!   The Hawk canopy showing the lines of Miniature Detonating Cord MDC   Dave after receiving his Green Endorsement   Dave's Green Endorsement   Nij   An F4   Barry   An RAF Canberra   Four QFIs now     Images shown under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Airwolfhound, the RAF and JohnnyOneSpeed.

Sadly there are also many who think that ‘Boy Scout’ honesty is something that should be left behind in childhood but luckily not many that do take on the responsibility of becoming a career pilot. When I discovered recently that there is a name for this capacity to openly admit guilt for one’s mistakes, it didn’t come as a surprise that it was named after a pilot. Captain Asoh. Tokyo airport   A DC8 on approach       A JAL Captain's hat   The DC8 cockpit   The miraculous accidental landing of Shiga   The ditched JAL DC8, repaired and flying again for Okada Air     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to SAS, Felix Goetting, Werner Friedli and Pentti Koskinen.

Forty years ago, four RAF pilots graduated from Central Flying School and became fast jet Qualified Flying Instructors. They hadn't been together at the same time since then. When they did, they shared a few stories.   Four QFIs back then   The Hawk in close formation   The English Electric Lightning   The Lightning F3   Loch Ness   Four QFIs now!   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Mike Freer, Bob Adams, RuthAS and the Director General of the Ordnance Survey.        

Defenceless, it relied on its unmatched performance to provide vital data for the USA and NATO on some of the most sensitive parts of the globe. One of the regular missions flown by the SR71 Blackbird out of a base in the United Kingdom, RAF Mildenhall, was East across the North and Baltic Seas towards the territories of the Soviet Union; these flights were known as the Baltic Express. All went until one day... The SR71 at Mildenhall   The original A12   The Baltic Express track   The Saab 29, nicknamed the Tunnan   The Draken   The Saab AJS 37 Viggen   The Vig was also capable of operating from unusual locations   Shockwave formation during an unstart.   An SR71 pilot in his pressure suit   The Mig 25 Foxbat   Three of the 4 Viggen pilots involved receive their Air Medals     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Digital Public Library of America, USAF, John5199, Blockhaj, Alan Wilson, Guenter KONZ-BEYER Bad Erlach, NASA, Alex Beltyukov, Defence Imagery and the US Gov.

The crew come clean on some of their layover hotel experiences. After Part 1, the Good, comes Part 2, the Bad and the Ugly!   Capt Nick's hotel in Mong Kok, the epicentre of the SARS pandemic.   The New York hotel nicknamed the Transylvania!   The Kentucky Derby.   ACME B-727 Flight Engineer Jeff.   His room resembled a monk's cell.   Stouffers in its heyday.   Steph's famous A sign!   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Chong Fat, Maximilian Dörrbecker, Dr Fred Murphy, ArnoldReinhold, PandamicPhoto.com, Carol M. Highsmith, Zarateman and Oliver Pitzke.

Over their careers, airline pilots, and doctors come to that, will have stayed in a myriad of loggings during their overnight stays and the vast majority will have merged into a conglomeration of memories but every now and then one or two will stand out from the rest. In this tale, the crew have kindly shared some of their experiences starting with the Good… the Bad and the Ugly will follow on next week so be sure to tune in!   Capt Nick landing in Hong Kong   The Langham Place hotel   The amazing vertical mall.     The original Tim Ho Wan dim sum resturant     The Bird Market     The C141   American Samoa   The Rainmaker Hotel   The Boeing 767   The Intercontinental Tahiti Resort   The Leeward Island of Montserrat   Olveston house   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Langham Place hotel, the USAF, NOAA, Jerry & Roy Klotz MD, Intercontinental Hotels and Olveston house.

It was the 19th of January 1915 and the people of the English towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn were woken by an eerie throbbing sound from above them. No-one there had ever heard it before, this deep rumble of powerful engines in the sky, slowly approaching in the darkness. People left their homes and looked into the inky black sky but nothing could be seen. The noise grew and, now alarmed at this strange roaring, they began to run but nobody was sure which way would be safe… they didn’t know if they were running towards danger or away! Then the blackness was cracked wide open by a bright flash, soon followed by the thunder of an explosion as bombs dropped on the defenceless people below. The full horror of aerial warfare had been unleashed on the people of England and when the smoke cleared, the first deaths revealed. The bombing of Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth.   A British recruitment poster.   A commemorative wall plaque.   Newspaper headlines of the day.   The Buckingham bullet.   Lt Warneford's downing of the first Zeppelin by a fighter aircraft.   The L23 capturing the Norwegian bark, Royal.   Using Zeppelins in support of the German Navy was a primary mission and crashes became commonplace.   The world's first deck landing on an aircraft carrier, the converted Battlecruiser HMS Furious.   Sopwith Camels onboard HMS Furious prior to the Tondern raid.   The aftermath of the Tondern raid on the Toska hangar.   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to The Library of Congress, Christopher Braun, Geni, Crosby F Gordon, The War Illustrated, the Imperial War Museum, Marshall Everett, the Ministry of Defence and for images in the Public Domain.