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ATC gave us the go ahead to begin and I realized
I had no idea of where the hell we actually were.
It’s weird, if I am flying in groups with Trener
aircraft (a Czech designed and built trainer/
aerobatic type) or Harvards, I sort of know where
I am all the time without having to look anywhere
but at the flight leader. I don’t know if I was just
busier, or if things were happening faster, but in
short, the spatial orientation was worse at times.
But Mira informed me that we were going into
the flypast, so I can reset my vestibular system
and mentally set a position for the final approach
to 04. The Mustangs revved up and I could see
the ground passing by below us, and I am not
even fully aware of how fast we were flying. Four
hundred? Five? God knows! We turned slightly
to the right, returning to the airport. A three-
sixty followed, and Mira tightened up as per our
previous planning, and I could feel the increase
in g’s, and the Mustangs made a whistling sound,
which is produced at greater angles of attack
by air flowing through the gun ports. But during
the turn, I began losing some distance from the
outside. I couldn’t increase throttle, I had to start
to tighten the inside of the corner, but even that
wasn’t enough to compensate anymore... ‘Mira...
take it down a notch’, I requested, and the distance
began to shorten, allowing me to get back into
position. ‘And now bring her back up’. We leveled
off after the turn, followed by a short flight from
the airport, a right turn, we throttled up and got
ready for a break. Flying low over the runway,
I could peripherally see the aircraft stand behind
Excalibur and the spectators, transformed into
one long blur. ‘For so many years I flew at dizzying
speeds so that the world was a blur to me. The
landscape was a blur, and a man just a dot’, as
Werich said in the fairy tale ‘The King Had Three
Sons’. I waited for Mira’s command. He needed
speed and inertia to go into a vertical and his solo
performance. ‘Break…..now!’ Excalibur pulled into
a cuban eight in front of me and I broke away into
a turn with a sharp bank and only a slight climb.
I cut the throttle back to reduce a speed, dropped
the flaps to twenty, speed 160 mph, and extended
the gear, and lined up with Runway 22. Full flaps,
speed 115, I then passed the runway threshold,
set the throttle to idle, and the engine went from
a deep growl to an idle ‘mole fart’. I sat her down
in a three point landing, maintained direction,
and lightly applied the brakes. Mira whizzed past
me to the left at high speed and continued his
display. I left the runway, retracted the flaps, went
through the standard of procedures, continued
taxiing and was quite happy, back on the ground.
Only slightly sweaty…
In about an hour and a half, we took off again,
this time for the final passes as a foursome.
The first pair to take off was a Spitfire Mk.XIV and
a P-47D Thunderbolt, with the P-51s following
closely behind. I started in a position on the
right, I kind of preferred that, and shortly after
take-off I shifted to the left, as per plan, because
that was my designated place in the formation.
We then caught up with the aircraft ahead of
us, and I was on the inside of the turn, making
my task a little easier than it was for Mira.
It didn’t take long for me to get into position and
slowly, I got in line. The Thunderbolt led the way
and I noted the silhouette of the Spitfire Mk.XIV
flying behind him. We got a peek at the Mk.XVI
with a Merlin, and it had a sort of a subtlety to
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INFO Eduard18
July 2024