I wonder what Nicholson would make of the idea of having carriers without any planes to land on them?
RAF Eurofighter gets a Battle of Britain makeover
The RAF is commemorating this year's 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with a fetching makeover for one of its Eurofighter Typhoons, repainted with the markings of 249 Squadron's Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson VC DFC. Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson VC Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicolson VC …
COMMENTS
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 16:26 GMT SkippyBing
'Interesting that the leading edges / nose are left grey... #iwonderwhy'
The nose cone at least needs to have a radar transparent paint on otherwise the returning wigglies might not got back to the antenna. Presumably they don't stock one in an appropriate colour so it stayed grey.
The leading edges may also be coated in some sort of special paint that affects radar wigglies...
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 10:22 GMT Atomic Duetto
Five minutes of internets sleuthing..
... brings up the photographer as Mr Richard Paver, with a higher res version on PinInterest. I don't know how that works having never used it... So try this (all rights remain with copyright owner, your mileage may vary, never operate heavy machinery when drowsy, see a Dr if pain persists)
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8a/1c/e3/8a1ce31be1aed1f6507dbf9a8359c019.jpg
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 10:25 GMT TRT
Re: eh?
It looks to me like the hurricane might have been Photoshopped in - there's a slight fringe and the distortion of the ground due to the exhaust behind the jet aircraft would be hard to fake convincingly. Although having looked at the other image linked to in a comment above, the two pictures must have been taken within a fraction of a second of each other, so... I have to conclude it's genuine. Must have been quite a close one.
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 10:36 GMT AndyS
Re: eh?
> It looks to me like the hurricane might have been Photoshopped in...
I hate it when people jump to that conclusion. It massively devalues what you are looking at, and dismisses any interesting questions raised, or any amazement at the photo, simply because you personally don't know a great deal about photography or the subject matter.
There is no reason to think this isn't a legit photo. It was taken with a telephoto lens, from another plane. Long lenses have the effect of appearing to "compress" subjects together, making it hard to tell how far apart they actually are.
Very likely there's one or two wingspans between the aircraft, and the Eurofighter is also significantly behind the Hurricane.
Note that I'm not saying it is, definitely, a real photo, but just that jumping to the conclusion it isn't, without any evidence, is premature and pointless.
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 10:53 GMT Clive Summerfield
Re: eh?
The Eurofighter Typhoon is 16 metres long, whereas the Hurricane is a bit over 9 metres. In that picture they look to be almost identical in length so I reckon that the Typhoon is almost as far behind the Hurricane as the distance between the photographer and the Hurricane. Probably a huge incorrect assumption there though, which I'm sure someone will pick up...
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 16:04 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: eh?
The ratio of the distances between of 2 objects, that appear to be of the same size, to the photographer is the same as the ratio of the sizes of the objects (15,9m/9.8m). To calculate the actual distance, you have to take into consideration the focal length, which in this case is 85mm if the EXIF data on the image is correct (the one linked by another poster). The object size on sensor / focal length = real size of the object / distance. Plugging in a very rough 20.5mm for the object size (2000 pixels of 3500, assuming only a resize and no cropping here) the respective distances are 40m for the hurricane and 66m for the typhoon (given that both are at a different angle it is not easy to calculate the object size of image, hence the very rough 2000pixels). For instance, The same values plugged into a 500mm lens would result in distances of 239m and 388m respectively (and have no way in hell of getting the background as sharp as it is at f7.1).
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 11:04 GMT Afernie
Re: eh?
"Stall speed of the Eurofighter is around 110 knots, the top speed of the Hurricane is a smidgeon under 300 knots, so they could fly alongside each other, with the prop engined plane slightly in front so as to avoid the wash of the jet."
And indeed I've watched them fly just such a formation at RAF Leuchars with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (including the Lancaster).
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 13:23 GMT james 68
Re: eh?
The slower it flys the higher the angle of attack must be to keep sufficient airflow over the wings as they are low camber/low drag type airfoils which aren't terribly suited to low speed flight so the high angle of attack on the Typhoon is also a giveaway that it is flying much slower than standard cruise, presumably to keep pace with the Hurricane. Something most photoshopers would not take into account.
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 14:01 GMT kazdav
Re: eh?
From following the subject on Twitter there's been quite a bit of formation practice going on for the upcoming airshow season. Mainly this Typhoon and BBMF Spitfires, but they also managed to get a Hurri shot in too.
Just hope they come up to Prestwick in September, didn't look like it last time I checked tho...
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 11:19 GMT Pascal Monett
Re: Secret Technology
I balked at that as well.
A gravity tank ? Why is this included in planes at all ?
Wouldn't the absence of a gravity tank make a plane a lot easier to lift from the ground and propel through the air ?
And could someone please give the name of the genius who managed to put gravity in a tank ?
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 11:53 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Secret Technology
The Hurricane fuel system consists of two main tanks in the wing roots and a "gravity" tank or header tank between the engine and cockpit. The latter was neither armoured nor self-sealing which made it very easy to rupture and ignite. It did have the ability to continue to feed fuel to the engine in the event that the fuel pumps failed i.e. fed by means of gravity.
Many of Archie McIndoe's "guinea pigs" for post-burn plastic surgery were Hurricane pilots, it wasn't an ideal design feature.
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Wednesday 27th May 2015 04:29 GMT fishbone
Re: Secret Technology
And I believe that aircraft had no firewall between engine and cockpit to buffer flames from reaching the pilot. And hoping not to be a pest as the photos are nice but maybe a few kind words for the gentleman who inspired them, and all the others too. We'll never see their equals.
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Tuesday 26th May 2015 23:54 GMT R Callan
Re: What is so unique about this paint job?
Um no, it was unique to the aircraft, until it was replaced by another aircraft. The first 2 letters in this case GN are the squadron code, and the third letter is the aircraft code. Pilots frequently used different aircraft for different flights.
It is a pity that the replacement for the Hurricane could not have been in the same picture. Are the any Typhoons in existence?
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Tuesday 20th September 2016 15:30 GMT JJKing
Interesting part of the photo is the slight bit of applied left rudder on the jet. Doesn't look like a sideslip but possibly done to give a better view of it for the photo. I have an excellent example of an F-16 in a massive crossed controls so as to make a better view for the photo.
That racist bigot twit Churchill was quite correct when he said, "that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour." However I would hope it will be the whole world that shall remember this very special generation between 1939 and 1945 and in a 1,000 years, This was our finest time and people.
I do not believe we shall ever see a whole generation like that again. Individuals, even many individuals yes but never a whole generation.