Torneyboy Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 ground breaking flight across the channel in 1909. And mathew Webb took 22 hours to swim it for the first time in 1875. Hope he had his passport with him :: Btw the camera man that was to follow him got his legs all entangled and had to cut his glider to pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carew66 Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 Are you on about the fella who freefell/ glided across the English Channel (Okay then Pattaya127: La Manche!) then yep, it looked like a pretty good laugh didn't it? From memory I read somewhere that in 1938 a conventional glider (a Slingsby something or other for all you ex -ATC guys) was winched to 300 feet from a field in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. This is about 40 miles north of London so a bloody great distance from the French coast. Anyway, the guy then used the thermals to drag the thing to a respectable height over southern England and then went over the Channel to land in France. Oooh la la. I think his glide angle was something like 1:20 as opposed to the parachutists 1:4. He jumped from something like 30,000 feet. Quite some bottle that. They should have asked John Noakes to do it - with Shep. But then Shep's dead. A stuffed Shep then. Oh fuck - where did I put the papers...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangkokbutcher Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 Sorry to correct you but it was nearer 36,000 feet, and he was in the air for all of 7 minutes during the 22 miles journey over the channel. As for Shep, well I was sure that Mr Noakes did actually replace him with another breed, not absolutely sure though , but then again who gives a flying f**k. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carew66 Posted August 1, 2003 Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 (Sigh) I don't sit here with a bloody text book y'know? :: I'm surprised my burned out brain remembered what day it was today so I can live with a 6000 foot error (bet that Austrian guy couldn't though). As for Shep and Noaksey. 20th Century icons. Apparently he was a right vicious bugger. Always biting people. Shep was as bad they reckon. I was a Blue Peter kid myself. We used to look down on the Magpie kids. Magpie kids had to send money in - we collected buttons, badges and buckles. Blue Peter was ironically very 'Green' see? Most importantly - did Magpie EVER have anyone with the stature of the truly great Joey Deacon? (Aka lazyphil ) No they did not. They had to make do with Mick Robertson. By the same token - 'Tiswas'? Bag 'o' Shite. 'Multi-coloured Swap Shop' for me. Carew from ***** Offers Mouse Trap with some bits missing. Wants an Action Man Scorpion Tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangkokbutcher Posted August 2, 2003 Report Share Posted August 2, 2003 ROTFLMFAO :grinyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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