May 3 2014 – Fooyah

I have been lucky in my life to experience the company of two very gorgeous girls. I can remember seeing the Lockheed SR-71 fly at an airshow at USAF Mildenhall in the late 80s. The aircraft is just a wonderfully beautiful design and amazing technologically. It is a lovely aircraft.

Here’s the one on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford:

Here’s the one on display at the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles in Washington DC.

Here’s my other favourite bird, the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird. Named after the aircraft and I am proud to have owned one of these for about six years and covered around 70,000 miles on it.

Just so you know, this bike was FAST. Top speed by Honda was 186mph. I never went that fast, because the took the wing mirrors off to make that speed. I might have managed somewhere more like 71.53 metres per second.

If I could I would own another Honda Blackbird. I really like the matt black with gold wheels version they issued. It’s a shame that the ‘bird is no longer in production.

Yesterday I should have accompanied some students on a flying experience trip as part of the cadets at work. We were driven to the base and had our safety briefing before we were told that the unit had just been told to ground their aircraft because of a pre-flight check list issue. We had to leave! No flying.

So, the next best thing is to go and look at a load of gorgeous aircraft. Fortunately, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford was on the way home. It is seriously worth a visit. I love it. My one criticism would be that there are so many aircraft in the display hangers that a good look or photo angle is quite rare!

Here are my best shots: