What were your defining moments in becoming an enthusiast?

[Mr Creosote]

Not neccesarily your best-ever memory (that's well covered in another thread), but the moment when you first fell in love with aviation. For me, I reckon it was probably a Dutch Navy Neptune warming up at an airshow (probably Waddo) when I was about eight. Something about those strobes flashing in the afternoon murk, and the way the colours and KON MARINE titles all seemed so intriguing and exciting compared to the more familiar RAF stuff nearby. Such an overwhelming sense of controlled power as the big noisy radials steadily ran up and those huge props sent the grass into a frenzy: and yet something about the almost bored look of the pilot up in that domed canopy made me think it was only the tip of the iceberg. Only other contender for my "defining moment" would be my first Vulcan 4-ship scramble, ribcage rattling, and then goosebumps as one after another those huge white shapes suddenly leapt into the air from the far end of the runway. Oh dear, time for me lie-down...

[Newforest]

Summer Camp 1955, Lee-on-Solent, those 22 Sqn. helicopters were the spark that ignited the fire

[laviticus]

First fell in love with aviation,i think following dad to far flung airfields set the seeds.But the most defining moment, was being tucked up in bed as a child and hearing the lone Vulcan rumble over head ,same time every night ,rain or shine,better than any bed time story.

[Rlangham]

Hmm... as an early child a good diet of aviation museums and aviation museums including my old favourites Battle of Britain and Memphis Belle

[BlackWolf3945]

... ... ...

[STORMBIRD262]

Awesome stuff Wolf Mate!!!

And Thank YOU for the link's mate!

I will have to have a BIG think about this ONE, got a few flash's in the memory, but will try to think of one that sealed my fate for ever more .

Been Planecrazy and Dinosaurusmad, neck and neck, since I was about 6 year's

The Sunday school bible basher's, NEVER ever had a hope in Hell (LoL), of selling and brainwashing me with all that THE GOD'S And Son's of Cr*p!!

I'm just a VERY naughty boy!

[wessex boy]

some early aspects to my interest in planes:
1. Living near Luton Airport and able to kneel on a chair in the kitchen and watch the Monarch Britannias and pretty Courtline 111s & Tristars. My parents finally could afford a fridge when I was 4 and put it where the chair was....

2. Pulling up in my parents car outside the main Channel Airways Hangar at Southend, and seeing my Grandad, coveralls over his suit, working on a 111 engine on a trolley, then taking us into his office where he had a row of Comet seats as his visitor's chairs!

3. After Channel Airways went bust, my Grandad was the last employee kept on by the administrators to dispose of the aircraft, I spent a memorable afternoon in a hangar in a 111, while they ran up the APU and did a system check, making both sets of stairs go up and down, a great playground for a 4 year old!

Jeremy Atkins

[Steve Bond]

Being taken to London Airport (not called Heathrow then) for a trip round the BOAC and BEA maintenance bases and getting onboard a BOAC Connie, BEA Pionair and Panam Stratocruiser.

[dcollins103]

Living next to North Weald airfield in the 70's/80's. 80's Fightermeet airshows. Trips to Duxford. Grandads bomber command experiences, Great Grandads RFC stories. ATC summer camp @ Wyton - Canberra Flight Line Maintenance experience.

Happy days.

[DocStirling]

My father's cousin married an American airforce office after the war, and he eventually got *very* high up in the NATO chain of command. His family used to play host to us when we went to the Mildenhall airshows in the 70's. My defining moment was being taken into his office, surrounded by pictues on the walls, models on the desks, and then being allowed to sit in his bosses chair.

The Boss.

Big red button on the desk!

Well, maybe not that....but I was told he was somebody very important, and it was a BIG desk, US flags behind it, the works! . Then we went for a walk down a C5 Galaxy.

DS

[Mark12]

My bedroom looked out on to 'finals' for Northolt airport, probably about 500 yards from the centre line, the South Harrow gas works as the outer marker to my right as countless Vikings, Dakotas, Dragon Rapides and the odd Anson made their approach down Eastcote lane and dropped over the visible housing horizon to my left. Northolt had at that time reverted to 'civil'.

All pretty average to a circa ten year old, and then came the the 1953 Coronation Review. Over a period of days, wave after wave of mass formations as far as the eye could see making a crescendo of noise - I now know all practising for the main event.

I was hooked.

Mark

[stringbag]

These babies...

[TEXANTOMCAT]

Ahh thats easy, notwithstanding my first Airfix Auster, one day at Bruntingthorpe in the 1980s....

My first ever flight in anything was an ex Air Cadets T.21 bought at auction for £200 by a friend of my Dads, lobbed the wings on it and towed it to about 1000ft behind an ex US army Chevy V8 pick up truck....i remember a tractor ploughing a field below and the patterns the new earth created....AND

on the same day helped the late Nick Grace push ML407 out of the hangar, from memory he was giving the owners of BMW dealerships who had met their sales targets 'reward' flights, really threw the spit around, shame i didnt have a camera for the 'how low can you go thread'. The TV documentary 'Perfect Lady was around at the time so he was a bit of a hero of mine, let me sit in the cockpit and everything (hence soft spot for OU-V)

Oh and I was 7 years old!

TT

[Moggy C]

Originally Posted by DocStirling

My father's cousin married an American airforce office after the war
DS

Your relative married a room? Was she really homely?

For me it was the big black T2 hangars at RAF Woodvale that we used to pass when travelling to the beach at Ainsdale from our home in the centre of Liverpool.

Dad would sometimes talk about his war on RAF bases in Canada and the UK and these enormous buildings always conjured up the picture of him sitting in one at Little Staughton carving a model mosquito for my older brothers (The b*st*rds broke it, so I never got to see it )

I didn't know as I pressed my nose up against the window of the Morris Minor that Woodvale housed the THUM Spitfires and Mosquitos.

There was just something about an airbase that struck a chord and led to my lifelong fascination with aircraft, WW2 aviation history and flying.

Turning finals for Little Staughton in the PA22 has always brought me intense pleasure from the thought that my Dad may be looking down and watching.

Moggy

[WebPilot]

Being taken to Duxford, aged 5, to see filming for the the Battle of Britain movie. I still recall the thrill as we stood in the lane on the eastern edge of the airfield (pre-M11 days!) as a Spit came overhead at low level, followed closely by a "Me109". A life defining moment! Thanks Dad!

[Dave Homewood]

I guess the influence was always with me from birth because Dad was a great enthusiast of aviation and a notable R/C aircraft modeller (including twice national president of the New Zealand Model Aircraft Association). So he had lots of books and photos and models.

I recall having a model plane Dad had made hanging above my bed for around the first 15 years of my life. I wonder what became of that... I also remember the first model kitset I ever got - he bought it for me, a 144th scale Bandai Zero. We built it together. I was about five or six.

Dad took me several times over the years to my first aircraft museum too, at Motat. I recall one time we saw the Lancaster run all four engines. Magic. Never again.

He took me to my first airshow when I was young but I don't recall it. The earliest airshow I do remmeber was about 1984 when I'd have been 13. Just Harvards, Isaacs Furies and civil stuff, but rather inspiring. Dad also took me to my first proper Warbirds airshow in 1990 at Ardmore, where he told me a lot of stories he remembered from when he lived there for the first nine years of his life - including when it was an active RNZAF Station.

The big influence came in 1988. I was recruited into the RNZAf that year (joining 9th Jan 1989) and Dad gifted me his collection of New Zealand Wings magazines. I'd never read them before but soon became an avid collector of the magazine. I was totally hooked. I also received some nice books on NZ military and civil aviation in December 88 for my birthday and Christmas, which I still cherish.

In early 1989 I witnessed Stephen Grey display Sir Tim Wallis's Spitfire at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. That was a defining moment. I was totally in love. I wished so much that Dad could have been there. Luckily he got to see it a few days later at Hamilton, before it crashed.

There have been many great moments since then that have extended my passion for military and warbird aviation and its history. One of the greatest moments of my life was finally seeing a Corsair, the plane Dad had told me hundreds of stories about from his Ardmore days. This day was in the summer of 1991, a real hot Decemebr day I think. It was a Friday afternoon. I'd finished work and was in the Airmen's Club having a nice cold beer. There were around 30 people in the bar. Suddenly, the most incredible noise I've ever heard passed directly overhead. Wow. I choked on my beer and said "What the f... was that?" My mate Andy, who worked on teh flighline at PTS, said "Oh, that'll be the Corsair." I didn't even know one was in the country able to fly. Andy said the late crew were told it was flying in. We all rushed out onto the road, in the searing norwester, and stood for some glorious few minutes, watching as the pilot - Keith Skilling I think from memory - really beat the place up. My God, it was magic. I was the last one standing on the road after it was landed. Everyone had returned to their beers. I simply stood, smiling, listening to the rumble of the taxiing beast. I'll never forget it. It was everything Dad had told me, and more.

Dad passed away recently. His wonderful collection of books and models and magazines is being broken up now, though I am ensuring that the best is kept and the rest go to very good homes.Airshows will never be the same for me now without him.

So, I cannot pinpoint a defining moment I'm afraid, there have been so many. But I can certainlu pinpoint a defining influence on my interst, and in many other areas of my life. Mr Gordon Roy Homewood. RIP Dad.

[Pete Truman]

My first airshow at Newton circa 1956, the airfield attack by Vampires with lots of flares, then a pass by Canadian Sabres at supersonic speed that took out a lot of windows and frightened the c**p out of me.
My brother had a lot of a/c recognition books that I used to constantly study to the point that in infants school, if a wierd a/c came over I was rushed outside to identify it and had to make an anouncement to the class.
I clearly remember being confused as to whether what had flown over was a C-112 Boxcar or a Noratlas, had to guess at the former.
One I very clearly remember was a very low flying B-36 Peacemaker, what the hell was that doing over Nottingham in those days.
Just read Daves note, by a coincidence it was my dad who really influenced me and who passed away recently, sorely missed at DX on sunday.

[Moggy C]

Originally Posted by Pete Truman

One I very clearly remember was a very low flying B-36 Peacemaker, what the hell was that doing over Nottingham in those days.

Looking for the Chinese Embassy?

Moggy

[Pete Truman]

Originally Posted by Moggy C

Looking for the Chinese Embassy?

Moggy

It was heading north, probably to test it's spy cameras over Hucknall, don't recall any Chinese restaurants in Notts till the 60's.

[320psi]

Picture the scene...........
Leicester airshow cira 1977/78, nine year old boy (me) who was mad on all thing's aviation stood with is family in the crowd watching all the aircraft with wide eyed wonder ............
The commentator tells the crowd that the 'Lightning is 2 minutes inbound' but from where ??
Then with an almighty bang an F3 from Binbrook swoops in low over the back of the crowd and goes vertical over our heads with both buners blasing, rolling off the top at 20,000ft and coming back down for a L to R pass at about .85mach then disappearing into the clear blue sky !!!!!
With his fuel reserves going down at an alarming rate
OH my god what a memory.

And that's one of the reasons why I and a few other like minded chaps including my father and uncle who were with me at those airshows now own and run the two F6's at Bruntingthorpe.
That sight will stay with me forever

[JetBlast]

IAT Greenham Common 1976, only 5 years old but can still remember seeing and hearing the Lightning F.3's display, from that point I was hooked, also remember seeing a KC-97 on finals to Greenham in 1974? I think.

[Bruce]

Must have been an airshow on at Baginton in about 1975/76. One of the reds came low over our garage, and seemed to turn just above it. Seemed very low to a 7 year old!

Nothing much happened for a while after that, but I picked it up again after I left school.


Bruce

[Jetstream Man]

Living under the flightpath to Woodford, loads of Nimrods(incl AEW),748's in 80's, Vulcans for tanker conversion during Falklands, Buccaneers for refit in late 80's. Not to mention the airshows during one I helped out the Connie crew with a problem (i was on the RJ production line at the time ) so they rewarded me with free stuff!

Also, Ringway isn't far. Loads of Caravelles, 707's, 1-11's,tridents etc during early 80's.

And....the smell of burnt kerosene!

All influenced me as did my Dad.

J man

[Paul F]

My first memory of aircraft dates back to when I lived in Cheshire as a nipper. I was taken to Ringway one afternoon by my Dad. We parked near the end of a runway, and watched the planes coming in to land. I distinctly remember a "British Eagle" (Viscount perhaps ? - I was only 6 or 7 at the time) landing right in front of us. I also remember being fascinated by the "head on view" of a four propellor airliner as it made it's approach. IIRC the road across the end of the runway had traffic lights to stop traffic so that approaching aircraft could land, the idea of cars having to stop to let planes cross in front of them appealed to me.

That Christmas I got a battery powered tinplate and plastic "working" BOAC Boeing 707 which crawled across the floor making a horrifying screaming noise with four flashing engine nacelles. Batteries were consumed at a horrifying rate, and a couple of the engines had to be reattached with Bostik after inflight damage!

I also built an Airfix Bf109 and Auster Antarctic, well, Dad built them and I "helped" (= watched).

We later moved to Woking in Surrey, and from my Junior school window I remember seeing Concorde during her appearance at the Farnborough Airshow (possibly 1969 or 1970?). The school was under the F'boro circuit and on one pass we got a near perfect planform view - the unique shape burnt itself into my memory, I can still recall the moment now, some 35 or so years later. In 1972 my Dad took me to my first Farnborough...from then on the aviation bug just took hold. Thanks Dad (RIP).

Paul F

[Auster Fan]

I can't say there is really one moment above all others. It started in the mid 60's when I was about 4 years old, standing by the road side watching Austers and Bristow Helicopters' Whirlwinds (on floats) at North Denes Airfield, Great Yarmouth and has never gone away. Later it was scrounging trips in Cessna U206A G-ATLT and Cessna 170B G-AWOU (pictures courtesy of Airliners.net and Bristow Helicopters respectively).

[Yak 11 Fan]

Being a DAS Member gave me something to do as a bored teenager and I guess watching Stephen Grey beating the place up with the first Wildcat shortly before it left for America raised my level of interest a little. It's all got a little out of hand now after 21+ years.... Still it's all good fun.

[willy.henderick]

Grew up on the airport as my father worked there. Went for the first time at the age of 3 or 4. Never lost interest in any manmade flying machine.

[laviticus]

It seems to me a lot of our driving memories are from our early years.I now have two sons luke is eight, i can only imagine if my passion will be passed on and what his memories will be ,probably the euro fighter at waddo or sitting in a jp with his brother at aeroventure.As for matthew hes two and likes helicopters but hay he also likes tweenies.

[GASML]

October 1970 (I think). Teesside Air Show, p-ing with rain, clag to the deck, and Ray Hanna does an entire display with MH434, never above 100 feet, always within the airfield perimeter. It would still hugely impress me now, but to a plane-crazy 13 year-old? Awesome!

[Phillip Rhodes]

Airfix - in a word!!!