Top Landing Gear

Air Vice Marshall Simon Edwards - Assistant Chief of The Air Staff.

Top Landing Gear

Show Notes

Welcome to TLG and to our series of interviews from the 2021 Bournemouth Air Festival. We were extremely honoured to be invited to the Festival’s opening ceremony which was attended not only by some of the show’s participants but also some top brass, among whom was Air Vice Marshal Simon Edwards, Assistant Chief of The Air Staff. A former Hercules and C17 pilot, he’s now responsible for ASTRA, the RAF’s future strategy. Yet despite being such an incredibly important and impressive figure, he was happy to talk to Top Landing Gear. We’d had a rather early start that morning having set off from our homes at the crack of dawn and so may not have been at our sharpest. Still, we hoped that having a former RAF pilot in our ranks in the impressive shape of James Cartner, might have stood us in good stead in such elevated and illustrious company. You be the judge.

More from Top Landing Gear

Mar 25, 2024

Welcome to Top Landing Gear and our bonus edition of Full Flaps from Dunsfold Aerodrome. In our previous episode we spoke with Aviation Filming's owner Mike Woodley. In this episode we make our way out onto the apron and get guided tour around the three BA Boeing 747s with Aviation Filming Aerial Coordinator and Pilot Jamie Chalkley.

Mar 18, 2024

Welcome to Top Landing Gear Full Flaps and our full length interview with Mike Woodley, owner of Aviation Filming Ltd based at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey. The company specialises in aviation content for film and TV, including a huge number of the Bond films. Among Aviation Filming's fleet are three former BA Boeing 747s which are regularly used as film props and a very famous Douglas Dakota. We met up with Mike in his office beneath the control tower of Dunsfold in May 2023 to hear some of his incredible stories about the film and aviation industry. Enjoy!

Mar 12, 2024

Welcome to Top Landing Gear as we turn our attention to an airfield that is close to all of us, both emotionally and geographically: Dunsfold Aerodrome, home of the Hunter and the Harrier. It was also used as the studio and test track for BBC Top Gear (a poor man's version of Top Landing Gear - wheels instead of wings!), home to the sadly defunct annual Wings and Wheels airshow, and the base for Aviation Filming, which provides aircraft and facilities for the film and television industry, including most of the Bond films. It's run by our splendid guest, Mike Woodley.

Feb 13, 2024

Join the Top Landing Gear team as they are given a tour of Croydon Airport by A380 Captain Ian Walker, former chairman of the Croydon Airport Trust.

Feb 5, 2024

Top Landing Gear returns as we continue series 5 by going further back in aviation history than we've ever gone before, to the earliest days of commercial air travel with our visit to the historic Croydon Aerodrome.

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