Show Notes
We’re continuing with our trip to Lincolnshire, Bomber County, where we’ve been focussing on the Avro Lancaster. But in this episode we move right up to date with our visit to RAF Coningsby, one of the RAF’s Typhoon bases where our host for the day, Flt Lt Nick Callinswood, gave us incredible access as we explored and sat in an operational Typhoon, and gave all four of us instruction in the Typhoon flight simulator. So we’ve divided the full flaps episode into two parts as there’s so much great stuff: the tour around the aircraft will be part one, or the leading edge slat, the flight sim experience part two, the trailing edge. In the studio, James is interesting again when we ask him a question, and tells us that a Typhoon is faster than a Puma. We also talk about personalised aircraft registrations; and Ron Goodwin’s estate benefits nicely from Jez’s Typhoon Quick Facts which were so long, the entire Battle of Britain them tune had to be played twice. The ever popular, ever brilliant but testing quiz turns typically niggly, with more needle than you’d find in your grandmother’s sewing kit, as Jez and James continue to try and stitch each other up. But we think the clip in the Typhoon hangar at RAF Coningsby will make the pain of listening to all that other nonsense worth your while. Please enjoy. We did.
More from Top Landing Gear
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.