Photo courtesy of the ABC
Last Saturday night we joined the stream of people heading to the Southbank parklands under an overcast and threatening sky. A chill wind curled in off the river swirling the smells of cooking through the crowd. For those that had been camped out since lunch time the relay run to facilities was turning into a battle. It’s been a long time since I found myself in the middle of that sized crowd, but thankfully most people were good humoured about the inconveniences.
For me the highlight was always going to be the swan song of the F111s. I don’t think there’s a more beautiful fighter aircraft. With their elegant swept wing and sleek lines, the F111s always makes me think of a beautiful brunette effortlessly gliding by. Of course, the reality of the pounding assault of their engines is a little different to that…. Even with the apocalyptic blaze of fire as they dump and burn I can’t help but admire their shear beauty.
It was a sad moment as the final run lit up the smokey sky. Easy to forget the F111s are lethal killing machines and not just some special effect platform for the crowds’ entertainment.
Oh, and of course, the fireworks were spectacular 🙂
Try the Bristol Freighter! The Breguet “Deux Ponts” which was a double deck 4 engine radial jobbie would not win any prizes, while the Stratocruiser was not only ugly but unreliable:
For REALLY ugly try the Airbus Beluga (which is used to transport fiuselage assemblies) or the Boeing Dreamlifter. Both look like somebody has taken a prefectly good aircraft, shoved a pump up the APU exhaust and inflated the fuselage!
All very beautiful aircraft, Cathy. I’m sat at Sydney airport as I type waiting for my flight home thinking there aren’t very many aircraft I’d call ugly 🙂
The F-111 is a nice bird, personally I prefer the now retired Tomcat. i If we are talking looks, though, how about the Hwker Fury–possibly the most elegant Biplane fighter ever built, or the Spitfire or Hurricane?
Hi Helene,
The F111 flew very low over our house on route to the airport the day before. Damn that thing is BIG. And I do mean low, he had to pull back to go over the ridge behind us. I could see right into the cockpit!
I agree, I hate seeing good machinery put to rest. It’s like watching a grand ship get sunk. Shame they’d be so expensive to buy and keep – instead of collecting muscle cars I wouldn’t object if Brett wanted to collect muscle planes. 🙂