Three things you probably don't know and wouldn't guess about me:
- I love military aircraft, more particularly fighters.
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| General Dynamics F-16 |
Duxford air show is a particular delight and I generally go to a couple each year. I always take one or both of our children and occasionally one or two of their friends. This gives it a sort of educational aspect and earns huge parenting brownie points. And this isn't even mentioning the envious and knowing smiles I get from the mums of other families, who I guess are sometimes there under sufferance!
The truth is that I'm following my dad's example who took me and my brother to motor cycle races and air shows. To this day I don't know whether my passion for bikes and planes is just because I loved our days out together with our fantastic dad .
- I love racing motor cycles, especially Italian and Japanese multi cylinder machines.
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| 250cc 6 cylinder 1967 Honda |
Similar reasons for liking bikes and planes I suppose: both very pared down engineering where speed, weight, ergonomics and aerodynamics determine the form.
In the twenties, a French Swiss architect, Le Corbusier, wrote an influential treatise about architecture illustrated with pictures of cars, ships, civil engineering projects and farm and industrial developments. His premiss was that houses should be "machines for living" and their form should follow their function and not be a series of boxes with bolted on historical references. This approach to design resulted in some fabulous (to my eyes) minimalist architecture that still looks modern after over 80 years. The International Style was a movement that produced the Bauhaus with all its astonishing output, and was fuelled by a philosophy and aesthetic similar to my beloved bikes and planes.
In the twenties, a French Swiss architect, Le Corbusier, wrote an influential treatise about architecture illustrated with pictures of cars, ships, civil engineering projects and farm and industrial developments. His premiss was that houses should be "machines for living" and their form should follow their function and not be a series of boxes with bolted on historical references. This approach to design resulted in some fabulous (to my eyes) minimalist architecture that still looks modern after over 80 years. The International Style was a movement that produced the Bauhaus with all its astonishing output, and was fuelled by a philosophy and aesthetic similar to my beloved bikes and planes.
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| La Ville Savoye 1929 |
- I failed an Architecture degree course at Aston University (First year).
Perhaps I should have studied engineering!
Anyway, I was particularly looking forward to Sunday's display as the F-16 was flying. This is arguably one of the most ubiquitous planes ever made, flying in over 25 Air Forces from Norway to Thailand. I had followed its development since the early seventies and loved its sinuous, taut rather than voluptuous, shape. So there I stood ( chairs at air shows are for oldies! Besides, you can't use a camera properly from a chair) and at about 1 o'clock a blue grey shape came from the east and quickly defined itself as the Belgian Air Force F-16.
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| I took rather a lot of pictures of the F-16! |
I'm used to Spitfires, Hunters, Sabres, and all the usual Duxford fair of easy, low stressed, manoeuvres with lovingly rebuilt and maintained machines and I just wasn't prepared for the sheer power and chutzpah of this plane. It didn't so much float on the air as rip it apart and I loved the power of the engine which growled and thundered like a demented animal. I was entranced. I wasn't just entranced: I was genuinely awe struck and in tears. What astonishing power and beauty the human race is capable of! Not only to design and build such a thing of beauty but to train to subject yourself to over 6g to fly it.
Then the unease set in: The WW11 planes are a historical statement and a primary source ( eduspeak),
but the modern stuff, especially hardware in service and fighting, seems a bit near to glorification of conflict. I have problems with guns too. I'm not a bad shot for a pacifist* and the feel of a wooden stock against your cheek and shoulder, the blue of the steel and the craftsmanship is a delight. We don't let our son buy guns with his pocket money but he makes them from lego or carves them from sticks. AAARRGGHHH! Well at least he's engaged in a real craft and not playing "Call of Duty"like many of his eight year old class mates claim to be! And I actively encourage his archery skills as well as improving my own.
So where does that leave me? I'll still take my children to the air shows because thats what good dads do. I'll still enjoy the sound and sight of military aircraft. I'll still shoot rifles when I can and I'll make and shoot longbows at Kentwell. And I'll accept the unease and share it, and I'll carry on teaching pacifism and conflict resolution and try to keep alive that vaguely hippie ideal of peace and love.
* Target shooting of course!
Then the unease set in: The WW11 planes are a historical statement and a primary source ( eduspeak),
but the modern stuff, especially hardware in service and fighting, seems a bit near to glorification of conflict. I have problems with guns too. I'm not a bad shot for a pacifist* and the feel of a wooden stock against your cheek and shoulder, the blue of the steel and the craftsmanship is a delight. We don't let our son buy guns with his pocket money but he makes them from lego or carves them from sticks. AAARRGGHHH! Well at least he's engaged in a real craft and not playing "Call of Duty"like many of his eight year old class mates claim to be! And I actively encourage his archery skills as well as improving my own.
So where does that leave me? I'll still take my children to the air shows because thats what good dads do. I'll still enjoy the sound and sight of military aircraft. I'll still shoot rifles when I can and I'll make and shoot longbows at Kentwell. And I'll accept the unease and share it, and I'll carry on teaching pacifism and conflict resolution and try to keep alive that vaguely hippie ideal of peace and love.
* Target shooting of course!
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