Header Challenge 19th January 2011 - Missing

 

Hi all and welcome to another Header challenge Wednesday.

Today’s choice has been chosen by Lanny and is `Missing’.

Now my first thought was just to put up a blank header and say the picture is `missing’ but I thought you might think that was a bit of a cop out.

So I’ve put my thinking cap on and come up with a few ideas and hopefully a good header.

I could use the bird feeder shot in which I missed the bird…

Or the eggs that had been `missing` all week…

we had begun to think our chickens had slowed down their egg production when we found these behind a fence panel in the garden (28 in total).

Or how about the synchro pair of the red arrows, when `missing` each other on their high speed cross-over's is vitally important.

I’ve decided to stay with the Red Arrows for this weeks header, but a shot of one of their displays last year when they were `missing` one of their team due to illness. They still managed to put on a great show though. Can you spot where the missing arrow should be in the formation?

Oh well one thing more I am missing tonight is another 800 words for my University essay that is due in tomorrow, so I will leave you all for the moment. Hopefully I won’t be `missing` for too long.

Have a wonder over to the other headbangers blogs in the mean time and check what they are `missing` this week in their headers.

The Red Arrows Display Team at RAF Waddington's International Airshow 2010.

 The Red Arrows are the Royal Air Force's premium display team. They are renowned throughout the world as ambassadors for both Britain and the RAF.

Founded in 1965 they have taken part in over 4,000 displays in 53 countries. 

The pilots are all fully trained RAF combat pilots with a minimum of 1,500 flying hours and have to have completed at least one front line tour.

The aeroplanes they use for their displays are the BAE Systems Hawk T1. This dual controlled trainer aircraft has been the aeroplane of choice for the Red Arrows since 1979. The high manoeuvrability of this aircraft allow the team to do the fantastic coordinated display flying they are world famous for.

On the day of the display one of the pilots had been taken ill with chronic food poisoning which meant the display had to be done with only eight planes.

 They use white, blue and red smoke which trails behind the aircraft adding an extra dimension to their display.

The planes screaming by at 400+ mph are only feet apart. The pilots don't use computers to keep the tight formations, instead they line up simple reference points using trigonometry to line up nose to wing, or wing to tail, thus keeping the planes a safe distance apart throughout the manoeuvres.

Sweeping in towards the crowd line.

Roaring past the crowd smoke trailing.

T-formation.

The bright red of the planes makes sure you can see them for the whole display.

You can't even notice one plane is missing as they have tweaked their positioning to compensate. Not an easy thing to do when you are flying so close together at high speeds.

Precision flying!

Red and Blue smoke trailing as they loop around one another whilst flying straight for the crowd line.

Climbing straight up!

Followed by one of the big fan breaks of the display high overhead on the way down.

The display by the Red Arrows at RAF Waddington was fantastic even with one plane missing. If you want to find out more details about this team then you can visit their web site at:

 http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/

Waddington Air Show.

I went to the Waddington International Airshow today in Lincolnshire.

The Airshow the largest one held by the Royal Air Force has been running every year since 1995.

It features a full 7 hours of flying displays showing off the skills of British and foreign aviators alike.

One of the highlights of the day was a flying display by the Red Arrows team.The Red Arrows are the premium flying display team of the Royal Air Force. Their precision flying display is renowned the world over for the quality and expertise of its pilots.

I will leave you today with a teasing taster of the Red Arrows display.

I will bring you a more in depth review of the Airshow over the next few days.