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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 17:43:41 GMT
I am attempting to book a flight on a vintage aircraft tour over London. This is through an organization called Classic Wings, which is located at the air museum complex at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. I have convinced them to open their bookings in June to allow me to book in to a flight over London in one of their vintage de Havilland DH-88 Dragon Rapide (my dragon flight) aircraft.
They have been exceeding kind to this American, but they require that I provide a UK mobile phone number in order to book. I, of course, informed them that I have no such and do not intend (at this point) to have one with me in the UK. They suggested a 'friend with a UK mobile number' so that they "can contact me in the event of 'changes'". I've tried directing them to the desk of my lodgings in Duxford, but we're in limbo.
Anybody here willing to provide me a UK mobile phone number for them?
I mean...what's the worst that could happen? Crank calls from vintage air transport provisioners?
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Post by JoeP on Feb 10, 2017 19:10:31 GMT
I have sent you a PM with my number!
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 19:18:14 GMT
Or if his is not satisfying you can have mine
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 20:40:12 GMT
Colin got to me first. It was his 'backup' phone, reputedly one of Moose's former handsets.
I'm booked!
I'm set to ride the Dragon over London!
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 20:46:42 GMT
I don't care for heights but I could be persuaded to ride a dragon ..
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 21:29:36 GMT
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 21:32:18 GMT
I take it back .. there's no way in the universe you'd get me up in that thing.
How long do you get and what does it set you back ?
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 21:35:15 GMT
Here it is over London, as per my planned flight: LOL...70 minutes and 199 pounds. I could have flown over Cambridge for half that. Hey...Once in a lifetime and I doubt that any flying specimen of these craft are flying in North America. They are classic 1930s 'Deco' aircraft; I love the 'spats' around the wheels. They were designed as passenger aircraft and did military service as a hack during WWII. Oh...and elsewhere, I got the model number wrong. It's not a DH-88, but a de Havilland DH-89. A DH-89a, I believe. The DH-88 was the Comet. The purpose-built twin-engine two-seat monoplane racer built only thrice (one red, one green, one black) to compete in the McRobertson International Air Race from London to Melbourne in 1932.
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 21:39:13 GMT
And you still wouldn't get me up in it
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Post by tangent on Feb 10, 2017 21:55:01 GMT
I would love it
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 21:56:58 GMT
I flew in this one just this past spring: A Ford Tri-motor, an even older airplane.
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 21:59:26 GMT
How much does it cost per hour?
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 22:03:02 GMT
I would love it They have Spitfires, too. One with dual seats. Man, was that waaaaaaaay too rich for my blood. I've still got my eye on some other vintage flights. I want to do a DC-3/C-47, a Lockheed Constellation, any of the de Havilland Canada craft from the Chipmunk to the Bombadier DHC-8 (which may be my craft flying in to Vancouver from Puddle City), but the Beaver, Otter and Twin Otter are all big possibilities. Any seaplane would be a hoot, but I think I'll have to settle for a Twin Otter on floats. My dream flight would be on a Dornier Seastar.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 22:04:10 GMT
How much does it cost per hour? The Ford Tri-Motor was $70 US for a 45-minute ride from take-off to landing.
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 22:08:59 GMT
That's actually quite reasonable ... how many other passengers are there? I was assuming it was probably hundreds of pounds.
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 22:09:51 GMT
Kelly you should get in touch with my friend Chris gurney on facebook ... I think you've spoken before. He's seriously into vintage planes and goes to a lot of local events .. he could probably tell you what there is to see around here. Or I can text his girlfriend and ask her to ask him if you like
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2017 22:51:55 GMT
Sure....Any inside info is to the good.
I'm also sort of interested in Cosford (meaning I'm trying to squeeze it in to my itinerary. I'd like to get to the FAA museum in Yeovilton (a distant obscure corner of Somerset, I think), but it looks out of the question. The flight is a bonus to visiting the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. Farnsborough would be far too much to expect, as its an alternating year event and it was last year, but somebody here sent me info on a London branch of the RAF Museum.
What I would really like to identify is a top-rate museum of Coastal Command stuff. I think that Pembroke Dock has a dredged up Sunderland that they are rebuilding.
The Ford Trimotor carried twelve passengers. I think the Dragon Rapide carries eight passengers. The Dragon does cost 'hundreds of pounds'...two of them. It's 199 pounds for the 70 minute flight over the landmarks of London....so, just under two hundred pounds an hour. Stiff...but, like I noted, a bucket-list thing for me.
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Post by Moose on Feb 10, 2017 23:37:21 GMT
Heh send Chris a friend request and ask him
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 11, 2017 2:43:35 GMT
Hmmm...There are several 'Chris Gurney' posters. I suspect I know which one, but need some kind of confirming fact about the 'Chris Gurney' you are recommending.
I suspect if you have withdrawn from FB, that you know longer show as a 'friend in common'.
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Post by Moose on Feb 11, 2017 3:00:02 GMT
No, i wouldn't. He's in my town though. Got a friend called ally in common.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2017 16:15:13 GMT
No luck. I never figured out who was who.
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Post by tangent on Feb 19, 2017 8:32:12 GMT
I've just realized this thread cloned itself after the second post. There are two "Travel assist needed" threads.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 19, 2017 19:34:34 GMT
NO!
That explains a fair amount....I think.
I'm basically too thick to have figured that out, but I keep posting and wondering where the posts I'd thought I'd posted had gone. Textual dysfunction, y'know? Cognitive textual dysfunction, I believe.
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Post by tangent on Feb 19, 2017 20:42:31 GMT
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Post by raspberrybullets on Feb 19, 2017 22:59:13 GMT
I did notice two threads right away but I assumed others knew and well, it doesn't bother me. Lol, sorry WG!
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