Well, I've just got back from a brilliant hour flying 69 year old DeHavilland Tiger Moth G-ANFL out of Felthorpe near Norwich. The weather was perfect with a few clouds in a lovely blue sky and excellent visibility. My host was Ian Robins, an ex-RAF pilot, instructor and airline pilot who I'd met at Marham before Xmas and asked the obvious question when he mentioned his share in the Tiger (if you don't ask, you don't get!).
Meeting late this morning, I was quickly enlisted to help drag FL out of the hangar, Ian steering from the rear with a special dolly under the tail skid. He then sorted me out with a bonedome and showed me round the cockpit. So, wearing too many clothes for comfort in strong sunshine, I was very soon strapped into the front cockpit, gently perspiring and ready for the off. My good friend Geoff Ellis had come along to watch and take some pictures for me, and he very kindly volunteered to swing the prop. As luck would have it FL fired up on the first blade - I wish the Tipsy Nipper was as well behaved!
Ian had briefed me on taxiing, take off and circuit procedure, so once he had us under way, I was soon waggling the nose from side to side for all I was worth to make sure we didn't inadvertently run into anything. At the 24 threshold, Ian spun us round to face the correct way for take off and then handed control over to me.
Gulp! Well, here goes!
I opened the throttle smoothly, the Cirrus engine responding swiftly, then compensated for swing with a dollop of rudder before pushing the stick forward to get the tail up. I checked back and waited for flying speed; at about 55 mph she lifted off all by herself and we climbed gently skywards.
Underneath my mask I was sporting a grin from ear-to-ear. What a lovely flying machine!
With a gentle right turn, I aimed us north, settling at about 1300' and we flew off towards Weybourne and Cromer with an IAS of 70 - 80 mph. I tried a few gentle turns, remembering to lead with the rudder (luckily the Nipper and Shadow both need a bit of rudder in the turn so this wasn't new ground for me) and she was delightful. After a short transit, we arrived at the Muckleburgh Collection near Weybourne and I turned us East, tracking the coast to Cromer. Ian stood FL on her wingtips and I had a go too, very nice! So far, I'd found the Tiger Moth to be a delightfully simple machine to fly - I wish I could afford to have one for those warm sunny days...
Continuing inland now, we routed north of Northrepps airfield (although I'd love to have dropped in if I could) and then I turned us south towards Felthorpe.
We'd agreed to do some circuits and so Ian demonstrated the technique for me, before handing over control on the climbout. I must say, I found circuits fairly straightforward despite power cables and trees which had to be avoided (!) although if I'm being honest, I didn't allow the speed to decay enough before rounding out, which meant we ballooned a little on my first 2 attempts. Number 3 was the charm though and I was very pleased with myself I must say - Ian complimented me on the landing too so it couldn't have been too bad! One more go around and then Ian flew a great short circuit, sideslipping us in for a touchdown right at the threshold. With that, we taxied in, shut down and jumped out. What a great way to spend an hour - I absolutely loved flying the Tiger Moth and it was every bit as much fun as I'd hoped.
Many thanks to Ian Robins and also Geoff for hanging around to take pictures and video. I think it'll be a little while before my feet touch the ground properly though!
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