Machines and engines

Anything with a Rolls Royce Merlin in it 

I was at The Shuttleworth Collection last week and they've got a great display board showing the combinations & permutations of basic Merlin block and accessories versions that go into all of the different aircraft. You can see that most of them are logical progressions and others are put together from a mixture of earlier models. I'd like a poster of that to go on the wall.

Sounds very cool - I should pay a visit!

Hi @windscale the museum is near St Albans well worth a visit

Light? The eagles are about 10lbs - same weight as a gallon of water - try having that on your arm for any time! 

Nice, we did a bird of prey thing at Centre Parks a few years ago which was really interesting.  Especially how light the birds were compared to what you'd think.  And the owl was almost all feathers!  We also saw a Harris Hawk recently when we went to see one of the Blue John mines in Castleton, Derbyshire.  The owner's daughter had here's there and I think she does similar to your daughter.

Checking clear before starting.....

Totally understand the emotion - I was tearful when a Spitfire flew overhead when we were at a regatta then waggled its wings to say goodbye.

And I'll never forget a Lancaster appearing out of nowhere at an air show and roaring overhead (oh joy, I've just found a YouTube called Merlin engine sounds!)

Amazing! I'm fascinated by birds of prey - did a screen print of a Peregrine Falcon for A level art and have recently enjoyed reading books like H is for Hawk. 

I get to do lots of bird of prey things - my daughter does displays for the public.

This is her latest little boy.

We've not done Monkey World, but we did do Bird World!

We did Bovington recently too - also, Monkey World is just around the corner.

Visiting Belvoir Castle a few months ago their cellar had silly speakers making distressingly irritating sounds so I abandoned my friends and waited outside.

30 seconds after I reached the gardens I heard that sound, that unmistakeable awesome sound. Through the trees I saw a shadow crossing the sky. It reached a gap in the trees and there, flying over the plain below the castle, barely higher than me, four Merlin engines singing in joy.

I burst into tears. My friends emerged from the cellars, looked at me and laughed.

Until you get moving - then you need lots of power to get off the ground. I have an ex-pilot friend who has his own tail-dragger private plane - he says it's always fun when in contact with the ground.

I heard you had to be careful with the throttles in a Spitfire/Hurricane when on the ground - too much beans and you risked flipping the thing!

Cool.  Must go there at some point.  Recently we've done the REME museum, the Royal Engineers museum and the Bovingdon tank museum.

It's just up the road to me - been there many times. Rolls Royce still service Merlins - if you have the money.

I taxied 'Just Jane' (the Lancaster bomber) a few years ago - all those engines on full power  - it almost wants to jump into the air.

There's a De Haviland museum just off the M25 somewhere on the northern section that I keep meaning to go to.  I'm really interested in how they made the Mosquito and it would be nice to poke around one.  With the collapse of the UK furniture industry etc. I suspect we would struggle to mass produce something like that now.

Maybe Rolls Royce could still produce Merlin engines.  Might be a bit of a head change for them though since pretty much everything they do now is some form of gas turbine rather than internal combustion as far as I'm aware?

There's a De Haviland museum just off the M25 somewhere on the northern section that I keep meaning to go to.  I'm really interested in how they made the Mosquito and it would be nice to poke around one.  With the collapse of the UK furniture industry etc. I suspect we would struggle to mass produce something like that now.

Maybe Rolls Royce could still produce Merlin engines.  Might be a bit of a head change for them though since pretty much everything they do now is some form of gas turbine rather than internal combustion as far as I'm aware?

Hi @windscale the museum is near St Albans well worth a visit

Light? The eagles are about 10lbs - same weight as a gallon of water - try having that on your arm for any time! 

Nice, we did a bird of prey thing at Centre Parks a few years ago which was really interesting.  Especially how light the birds were compared to what you'd think.  And the owl was almost all feathers!  We also saw a Harris Hawk recently when we went to see one of the Blue John mines in Castleton, Derbyshire.  The owner's daughter had here's there and I think she does similar to your daughter.

Checking clear before starting.....

Totally understand the emotion - I was tearful when a Spitfire flew overhead when we were at a regatta then waggled its wings to say goodbye.

And I'll never forget a Lancaster appearing out of nowhere at an air show and roaring overhead (oh joy, I've just found a YouTube called Merlin engine sounds!)

Amazing! I'm fascinated by birds of prey - did a screen print of a Peregrine Falcon for A level art and have recently enjoyed reading books like H is for Hawk. 

I get to do lots of bird of prey things - my daughter does displays for the public.

This is her latest little boy.

We've not done Monkey World, but we did do Bird World!

We did Bovington recently too - also, Monkey World is just around the corner.

Visiting Belvoir Castle a few months ago their cellar had silly speakers making distressingly irritating sounds so I abandoned my friends and waited outside.

30 seconds after I reached the gardens I heard that sound, that unmistakeable awesome sound. Through the trees I saw a shadow crossing the sky. It reached a gap in the trees and there, flying over the plain below the castle, barely higher than me, four Merlin engines singing in joy.

I burst into tears. My friends emerged from the cellars, looked at me and laughed.

Until you get moving - then you need lots of power to get off the ground. I have an ex-pilot friend who has his own tail-dragger private plane - he says it's always fun when in contact with the ground.

I heard you had to be careful with the throttles in a Spitfire/Hurricane when on the ground - too much beans and you risked flipping the thing!

Cool.  Must go there at some point.  Recently we've done the REME museum, the Royal Engineers museum and the Bovingdon tank museum.

It's just up the road to me - been there many times. Rolls Royce still service Merlins - if you have the money.

I taxied 'Just Jane' (the Lancaster bomber) a few years ago - all those engines on full power  - it almost wants to jump into the air.