A World Record That Has Never Been Beaten.

Mods if this is in the incorrect forum then please move.

In 1958 at The Farnborough Airshow, 22 Hawker Hunter Aircraft of The RAF " Black Arrows " Acrobatic Team carried out a 22 aircraft loop. 62 years later this record has still not been beaten.

There is limited footage of this achievement. The enclosed You Tube video shows the loop at the 8.50 mark.



This video is a recreation on how it was achieved.

Each day of the Farnborough show, the Black Arrows would start their display with the enormous formation of 22 Hawker Hunter F6's completing two consecutive loops; A world record which has never been equalled. After the loops, six outer aircraft would break off from the formation and the Black Arrows would return for a 16 aircraft roll, another unprecedented feat which, though subsequently equalled by other teams, remains unsurpassed

en.wikipedia.org...

Is it time for a acrobatic team to break this record?

Why tell the mods they can move something? They are going to do what is needed with or without your permission.

originally posted by: Metallicus
Why tell the mods they can move something? They are going to do what is needed with or without your permission.

Because i am polite

originally posted by: alldaylong

originally posted by: Metallicus
Why tell the mods they can move something? They are going to do what is needed with or without your permission.

Because i am polite

Actually it's pretty standard forum practice not to do it. It's just a waste of time and space. I seem to recall even seeing somewhere that it was requested you don't do it.

Cool history I didn't know about though!

a reply to: alldaylong

It's going to be difficult at best to break this record. Modern teams carry just as many aircraft as they need, and 22 aircraft, in the US at least, is more aircraft than many squadrons carry anymore.

a reply to: alldaylong

I have trained the twenty six flies that buzz around me to do this. They can also do a syncronised barrel roll and make the word "sorry".

I call them the black darts.

I doubt the record will be broken in the UK, restrictions as to what sort of displays can be done are getting tighter. 22 aircraft I think that’s the whole number of flying aircraft in the RAF (joking of course)

I tell you what that footage makes me wish I were born earlier, airshows looked amazing back then people literally standing on the runaway, screaming low passes .. wow great footage

originally posted by: nerbot
a reply to: alldaylong

I have trained the twenty six flies that buzz around me to do this. They can also do a syncronised barrel roll and make the word "sorry".

I call them the black darts.

Time for a shower, stinky

Its a shame that we have so much red tape these days, this stuff used to be way more fun,

Here's a couple of shots of local displays from before I was born, 70's/80's, (Born 83')







The world looks like it was much more fun back then,

Thank you for sharing this, fantastic footage!

Not to change the subject but what was the airplane at the very beginning of the video ? I was just very surprised to hear that it was able to do twice the speed of sound given that the video was made in 1958.

a reply to: HarryJoy

what was the airplane at the very beginning of the video ? I was just very surprised to hear that it was able to do twice the speed of sound given that the video was made in 1958

The aircraft in question was the " English Electric Lightning " What an aircraft that was.

On the enclosed You Tube Video you can see it's vertical take-off capability at the 6.42 mark.

The Lightning’s highly swept wing (60 degrees) combined with 2 x Rolls-Royce Avon engines (initial flights of the P1 utilised un-reheated Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engines), configured in a unique stack-staggered arrangement within the fuselage, provided the aircraft with a speed of Mach 2 and an unrivalled rate of climb which was often described as being 'a pilot sitting on two rockets'

www.baesystems.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

yea but back then aircraft weren't multi million dollar secret aircraft, imagine if you had 10-20 F-22's doing these close air maneuvers and something tragic happen and 5 maybe even half the jets were lost and thats not even getting into crew


i think we might see some pretty neat stuff with drone swarms however

a reply to: penroc3

With a few exceptions, they were still multimillion dollar frontline aircraft though.

Here’s a Lightning flying chase to the TSR2...apparently the TSR2 lit one burner and left the Lightning (with both burners in) behind...!!! a reply to: alldaylong

Some pics taken of the red’s working up their display in the mid 70’s at RAF Valley...!!! a reply to: MerkabaTribeEntity

I remember an old pilot making the quip that the only reason that the Lightning had wings was to keep the navigation lights apart,....

That thing was a true monster,

a reply to: Silentvulcan

Sorry for the short reply, all I have to say is,...

...Sick,.......

a reply to: Silentvulcan

crazy pics

a reply to: Silentvulcan

Another fantastic aircraft from that era was The Fairey Delta 2.

It used the " Droop Snoot " technology which was later incorporated on Concorde. It also at one time held the air speed record.