Well. To be honest, Spitfire is still pretty easy to understand plane. Wanna see rocket science? Check out Mig-21/23/25

No pilots today will willing push priceless aircraft hard. They want them to last, which also includes the engine. During the War, when fighters returned from sorties the first thing the ground crew checked was the wire stop on the throttle. If it was broken, the engine was changed immediately because the broken wire meant that the pilot had been in trouble and had pushed the throttle through the wire for emergency power. I read somewhere that at emergency power the Merlin was good for about another seventeen minutes. No pilot today will risk his vintage aircraft by pushing it hard.

@@MarsFKA Bubby

@@jwcupps8532 What does that mean?

@Rosida Andriyana Yes, it is. The shape of that wing is one of the most evocative sights in aviation - in the opinion of some enthusiasts. Add to that the sound of the Merlin and we have the perfect combination. I go to the Classic Fighter Omaka air shows, where the fans are allowed to get up close and personal with the aircraft parked in the hangar, before they are wheeled out for the day's activities. Walking around the Spitfires, and touching them, is worth the price of the admission on its own.

I'd have to dig through my records, but probably around 58°S 82°W

Thanks.

Ah - of course. Makes perfect sense now, thanks! Alas, I've never gotten any time in single-seat Spitfires (not for lack of trying) and it never occurred to me that the mechanicals would be different.

Definitely felt like it! I would love to see what a real scramble start looked like.

Darry _ Ground crew would already have the engine running by the time the pilot strapped in.

Heh. You wintering over? That's much sterner stuff than I'm made of!

+Stewart Nicol as BILLY CONNOLLY - Many thanks for your kind words! And yes, that auto(de)focus drove me mad. Now shooting all my video with a GoPro, and much happier with how everything turns out. How fortunate you are to get to see/hear Spits and Mustangs overhead on a daily basis- this video was from my probably only opportunity to fly the Spitfire, and understandably, it left quite a lasting impression.

+Jean Rayleigh Wow - I'd forgotten about this! Alice and I wrote it while waiting for the post-workshop NIPS banquet dinner to start. The tradition back then (no idea what it is nowadays) was that workshop leaders gave short summaries of their workshop conclusions at the end of the banquet. Alice and I snuck into the queue, pulled out a guitar and sang this, even though we hadn't actually run a workshop. Thanks so much for transcribing. Almost spot on, with a few minor corrections: Well I've got a midnight deadline / And it's already six I've got to write this paper / And send it into NIPS I've got to get some numbers / From my experiments Been sampling for hours / And they still don't make no sense Well...I implemented back-prop / I loaded it up I plugged in all my data / And had another cup I tweaked all the constants / When I had the urge I had another look / and thought my brain had diverged Chorus: Cause it's going round in circles / And there's nothing I can do I'm just looking for a fixed point / I've got the non convergence blues They said I should try kernels / They said it would be fun they said it would converge / With probability one I looked in all the data / and still came up short I couldn't find a region / of compact support [chorus] So I tried Doctor Gauss / but despite good intentions He was locally embedded / in some other dimension I called Reverend Bayes / He said we'd be fine If I didn't require / Polynomial time [chorus] So if you're in Vancouver / And you plan to go to NIPS It really would behoove you / To follow these tips If you've got no numbers / The best advice yet Is to get another / Data set Else you go around in circles / With your non convergence blues

Man this was fun! We should record it and release it on iTunes. Still as relevant today as it ever was. :D

Did I hear someone say "reunion tour"?

Hey, now that you're in the PNW, it's only natural, right?

Plenty of practice? Many squadrons had the ground crews start the engines as soon as "Scramble!" was shouted, so the pilots had less things to do after they were strapped in. Keith Park, in command of 11 Group in the southeast, told his squadrons that he wanted them in the air no more than two minutes after "Scramble!".

On a Scramble the ground crew had the engine running when the pilot jumped in. The crew helped him strap in then he was off.

Excellent! The world needs more shanty bands...

Indeed, if you ever end up going through Melbourne let me know.

Heh. Ahyup - did that, too! (davidpablocohn.com/2013/05/26/yeeeehaaaaa/). Yes, I'm too freakin' lucky for my own good. But seriously - I hope you get the chance to fly one of these remarkable birds, it really is breathtaking.

David Pablo Cohn

That´s a silly comment from AKTC1999 .

ah yes, but some of those yankee planes (P51 for starters) wernt much chop till they got that British donk up front...

@@heftosprod Sorry old man, we don't understand your banter.