The Wing Walk Company at Headcorn, Kent

 

A few months ago I spent a day watching the activities of Aero Legends and the 'Wing-Walk Company' at Headcorn airfield in Kent. And no, I wasn't tempted at all - although a steady stream of intrepid 'wing-walkers' were! The day started dark and drizzly but by 10:30 the cloud base had lifted sufficiently for a whole queue of 'wing-walkers' to start getting ready for their flights. Senior pilot Richard (over 5,000 wing-walking flights experience..) and his colleague 27-year old Callum Collins (flying since age 15) then spent the next 4-5 hours taking up a succession of clients - old and young - for what must have been the experience of a lifetime (..it says here).

 I met Haiden (photo top, alongside the tail of  G-WGWK) and his mum and dad. Haiden was first up. Mum and Dad both looked frankly terrified at the prospect of young Haiden going up on the upper wing of a venerable Stearman biplane. Obviously he'd be strapped in - but the 'wing-walkers' are not attached directly to the aircraft but rather belted into a seat that is attached to a short pole bolted onto the top of the wing directly behind the prop. Haiden himself had just recently completed his first sky dive and had been 'inspired' to go wing-walking at Headcorn after watching the latest Tom Cruise film - if you've not already seen it just check out the stupid crazy Stearman flying sequences! Why hasn't that film won a gong for the flying ? 

 But the groups of people around The Wing Walk Company caravan on the airfield all appeared ultra-keen to have a go at wing-walking! The first flight lasts about 10 minutes and is always sans aerobatics - health and safety gone mad I say! But the steeply banked turns right over the airfield and roller-coaster 'bumps' would have been enough to get the punters screaming I reckon. And all of this going on while the parachutists of 'Go Skydive!' and the Spitfire twin-seater of 'Aero Legends' and the Stampe aerobatic team were doing their things. Check out the wing walk company website and click once on the red square to watch the short  2-minute video below.. Only £450 for a 10-minute flight. Thanks to TWWC senior pilot Richard for the Tom Cruise stories ..

Finnish Buffaloes - B-239 in the Continuation War (part 1)

 

Brewster 239 coded BW-354 flown by SSgt Heimo Lampi of 2/LeLv 24 seen during April 1942 in Tiiksjarvi.

Some Finnish pilots actually preferred the Buffalo - or the 239-  over their later 109 Gustavs received from Germany. SSgt Heimo 'Hemmi' Lampi later recounted his attachment to the Brewster to historian Dan Ford;

 

“The old friend Messerschmitt, who was a real hard fighter, was my next plane after the Brewster, but it totally lacked in humaneness.. [..]... “I could not love it the way I loved my friend Brewster. Nor any other plane for that matter.” 

Having scored during the Winter War, Lampi became an ace on day 1 of the Continuation War - 25 June 1941 - then later became an ace on the Brewster 239 and added eight more victories in the 109. 

 Warrant Officer Juutilainen (with 34, second-highest scoring ace on the Brewster Model 239) referred to the 239s as “fat hustlers, just like bees. They had speed, agility and good weaponry, too.…We were happy to take them anywhere to take on any opponent.” The top three Buffalo pilots - Lt. Hans Wind (with 39 victories in a Brewster), and 1st Lt. Jorma Karhunen (26.5)—claimed 23 Polikarpov I-16 monoplane fighters, 18 Polikarpov I-153 biplanes and 11 Hawker Hurricanes. Encounters with more modern Russian fighters—Yaks, MiGs and LaGGs—were rare until the Finns began the conversion to Messerschmitts in early 1943.

Lampi poses alongside the tail of his BW-354 '6' after downing two Soviet Hurricanes on 30 March 1942.

Lt. Jorma Savanto of 2/LeLv 24 in Selänpää during June 1941 at the start of the Continuation War.

BW-374 was one of a handful of ski-equipped B-239s seen in Nurmoila, March 1942

Malmi, May 1943 - Bf 109 G-2 and Ms 406 alongside B-239

2/ LeLv 24 pilots Jorma Savanto (second left) and Veikko Rimminen (second right) in front of Rimminen's BW- 367 in Selänpää. 

These images selected from the Finnish Aviation Museum archive @ https://ilmailumuseo.finna.fi/

Pepsi blue Concorde F-BTSD

 

An Air France machine, the 'blue' Pepsi Concorde was unveiled during April 1996 at London Gatwick airport. Ironically Air France had already closed down their LGW operations several years previously - I was one of those staff members (ground crew/dispatch) made redundant. ( Staff members were given the option of transferring to LHR but I chose to leave). We had seen AF (and British Airways) Concordes on several occasions during the late 1980s at LGW. The spectacular 'blue' repaint was part of a $500m re-branding project by Pepsi Cola but in the end it lasted barely a fortnight. 2,000 hours of painting work were needed at Paris Orly for the surprise unveiling at Gatwick in the presence of a number of show business and sports stars. A promotional tour of 10 cities across Europe and the Middle East followed. Supersonic flight above M1.70 over 20 mins in the blue paintwork was not allowed due to heat concerns. (Vandervord via Wiki commons)