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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Monday, April 26, 2010 @ 09:07 PM
Hi guys,
To see when and where the RedHawks will be displaying, take a peek at our web site.
www.redhawksduo.co.uk
Yours, Bob
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jb92563
Second Lieutenant
Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583
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Posted Tuesday, April 27, 2010 @ 10:25 AM
Wow, you guys have a busy schedule already.
I guess you are just starting out with your website but there are some awesome pictures and movies that
should definitely be loaded on your site.
-------------------- Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Tuesday, April 27, 2010 @ 10:17 PM
Hi Ray,
Yes, we're just starting, but I'm interested to know what awesome pictures & movies you mean?
Yours, Bob
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jb92563
Second Lieutenant
Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583
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Posted Wednesday, April 28, 2010 @ 10:26 AM
These are some of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/v/BnTPTKgipxI
-------------------- Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Wednesday, April 28, 2010 @ 09:31 PM
Thanks Ray,
We'll get on to using whatver pics we can get the copyright for.
Yours, Bob
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Tuesday, August 24, 2010 @ 10:09 AM
Hi Guys & Gals,
At last Matt and I have flown a couple of public displays (as opposed to the two private ones we flew earlier this summer).
It is always difficult getting somebody to film us, but John Tempest very kindly came along to our Rougham debut a week or so ago and captured our whole routine.
Much of it is opposition stuff, but I've edited the formation bits into a short, two-minute clip on my YouTube site for anybody who's interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixCLOr0CyPo
Have fun emulating us. It's the most challenging flying I've ever done (and that includes hovering several different types of helicopters).
Imagine flying aerobatics sitting sideways in your seat, staring out past your left wing-tip. Then imagine trying to stay in place next to another Fournier in our little airplanes with now power to catch up and no drag to slow down! And then imagine trying to do all that while keeping your wings exactly parallel to and alongside the leader's.
The Hamster loop (in which we stay on oposite sides of the loops to each other) is courtesy of Austrian fellow Fournier enthusiast and aerobatic display pilot, Christian Zok (you can see him on the CFIAmerica web site).
I hope you all enjoy this, and we'll try to get some sunnier footage as summer progresses.
Yours, Bob
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Thursday, March 31, 2011 @ 04:02 AM]
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Jorgen
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 833
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Posted Tuesday, August 24, 2010 @ 04:59 PM
Bob and Matthew,
thanks for "pulling yourself together" (if you pardon the pun), very nice flying. The "Hamster Loop" (I haven´t seen anything like it before) looks both beautiful and playful, honors all around to Christian whom I thoroughly enjoyed meeting in Gap. That maneuver must look even more spectacular in sunlight highliting the wingtip smokes. Sofi was extatic watching the video, so keep it up and keep them coming!
May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen
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jb92563
Second Lieutenant
Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583
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Posted Thursday, August 26, 2010 @ 04:10 PM
Wow, loved the Hamster Loop....very cool and unique.
I'll bet that gets lots of attention as it looks spectacular.
I was thinking that as your looping energy dwindled you could bottom out the loop into a thermal style turn with the two of you on opposite sides.
I figure that one of you will be at the other side of a thermal turn when the 2nd arrives at the bottom of the loop and rolls in to follow.
That is unique to the glider heritage and seems appropriate and interesting as you don't see that at airshows either.
Of course having not done any aerobatics yet I don't know whether you can physically handle it as your rotation is changing planes and may test your equilibrium pretty hard.
Now about the insufficient DRAG, wouldn't the spoilers come in extremely useful or am I missing something?
I know you don't want to bleed energy if you don't have to but a teeny bit of spoiler to stay in position might be a worthy cause.
I can't even imagine if the cockpit workload would allow for another input from the spoilers, you look pretty busy as is when not flying formation.
-------------------- Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Friday, August 27, 2010 @ 06:39 PM
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the suggestion, but right now we have our four-minute routine sorted, so we won't change it.
Yes, I occasionally grab for the spoilers, mostly when I am rushing to get back into position and catching up fast, but there is a jump in pitch, so I wouldn't want to do it when we're close. Also, of course, we are mostly flying above the spoiler limiting speed. No, I just have to lean to fly formation without.
Here are a couple more clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAwWoVlMOQ4
and: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixCLOr0CyPo
and, not quite so goog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhc16fY6Sbk
also some photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/diverkeith/4924504944/in/photostream/
Yours, Bob
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 05:16 AM]
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 06:32 AM]
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Saturday, September 4, 2010 @ 08:25 AM
Hi Guys,
Here are some photos of us that have popped up on various sites.
Most are from our new buddy, Keith Park.
I hope they're of interest.
Yours, Bob
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Thursday, March 31, 2011 @ 04:04 AM]
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Jorgen
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 833
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Posted Saturday, September 4, 2010 @ 06:16 PM
Holy smoke, Bob!
Great pictures and congratulations on the Ressurection of G-AWEK. I look forward to all your future adventures and displays and hope you will share it with all of your captive fans at the forum.
May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen
P.S. The local pro-hockey team here is called "Malmö Red Hawks", but I think you Guys look a lot cooler. D.S.
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Tuesday, February 1, 2011 @ 03:40 AM
Hi Guys,
I'm sorry, I've been very lax at keeping this updated.
Here are a couple of video clips of our last display of the 2010 season, in absolutely perfect conditions at Duxford in October.
First, Steve Lindon's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lEqB2s2ToE
Then John Tempest's, shot from a similar viewpoint, but zooming in more on Matt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxag2opZMR0&
There's a whole back-story to this show for us.
I'll try to keep it brief (yeah, like I can keep anything brief).
Duxford is 90nm north-east of our base, as the Fournier flies.
We had arranged for a dozen or more of our family, friends and supporters to get VIP seats, so we could spend the day with them.
When I pulled out WGN that morning, the left outrigger dropped off.
Not the leg, but the fitting had snapped (see my earlier post re Rygge airshow).
It took me most of the day to effect a temporary repair.
Then we took off with minimum fuel for a practice overhead a nearby airfield, as previously planned.
During this, we realised:
a) There was as strong north-easterly wind.
b) Matt's radio battery light was blinking low-voltage (radios are mandatory at Duxford displays) so to conserve it I would have to do all the radio work for us both until we got there.
Bear in mind that we have very specifically delineated roles. Matt's the leader and he does all planning, navigation, decision-making and radio. I just try to keep up.
En-route to White Waltham for fuel it became obvious we would have to make a VERY fast turn-around to get to Duxford in time for our slot.
We turned tight right base and landed long for a short, fast taxi.
Matt filled our tanks to a pre-detemined fuel level.
I ran to the office, paid for landing fee and fuel and bought two bottles of water, threw one to Matt.
Short taxi back-track over very rough ground.
Three airplanes turning final, no time to waste, we took off.
Heading north-east in a straight line took us right through the middle of London (Luton) airport's zone.
I requested, and to my surprise received, a straight-line clearance direct overhead their landing threshold.
High-power, high-speed, low-level transit.
We got there (behind the crowd) with four minutes to spare, enough time for us to fly one last practice loop, Matt to take a good, long look at the crowd & display area, and both of us the take a few slow, deep breaths and calm down.
Under the circumstances, we were fairly pleased with the result!
We'll be more professional next year (and poor old 3,700-hour WGN will be more serviceable).
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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jb92563
Second Lieutenant
Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583
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Posted Tuesday, February 1, 2011 @ 04:37 PM
Love your display movies. Truly art in the sky.
You guys are doing fantastic together in your formations, very nicely coordinated.
All your hard work and practice is obviously paying off, and it shows.
-------------------- Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Tuesday, February 1, 2011 @ 07:56 PM
Thank you very much Ray.
It is far more difficult than I had expected, but of course that makes it so much more satisfying when it does all come together.
We hope to fly more of our sequence in proper formation this year, but of course that all depends on how much training and practice we'll be able to get in before the season starts.
As usual, I'll try to keep everybody updated.
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
|
Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 @ 00:26 AM
Hi Guys,
Mark Broadbent has very kindly written an on-line article about us...
http://www.globalaviationresource.com/reports/2011/redhawks.php
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
|
Posted Thursday, March 31, 2011 @ 04:19 AM
Some more snaps of your very own display team, the RedHawks!
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Thursday, March 31, 2011 @ 04:23 AM]
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 @ 01:01 PM
Hi Guys,
Here's an unusual viewpoint on one of our hamster loops last summer.
It was taken by Dave Streatfield, who kindly sent me the file.
Enjoy!
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Jorgen
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 833
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Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 @ 03:20 PM
That´s a spectacular picture Bob,
and again I haven´t seen anything like the Hamster Loop before, be very proud of yourselves!
Is that the shadow of Matt´s wing interupting the smoke trails just behind your port wing, Bob? Cool angle and a great shot, thanks to Mr Streatfield and thanks for sharing!
May the 4´s be with you/ Jörgen
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
|
Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2011 @ 03:59 PM
Yes, it's a speccy piccy isn't it?
...and yes, that's Matt's wing shadow on my smoke trail (or is it mine on his?)
In the bigger original there's even an airliner contrail crossing above us, but it distracts from the composition, so I cropped it off.
I don't think we will be doing hamster loops this year.
They're easy enough, but we had some raised heart-rates on the rejoins, and my reactions times, never great, are not what they were, so this year we're sticking to straight formation flying, followed by a few opposition manoeuvres.
When I get a chance to draw a breath I will upload some more clips of our practice flying.
There are a couple up already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecRjHaXHI8I
Yours, Bob
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Monday, July 25, 2011 @ 10:32 AM]
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Donald
Command Sergeant Major
Gender: Male
Location: Scotland
Registered: Jan 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 489
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Posted Friday, July 22, 2011 @ 10:01 AM
Hi Bob,
It's a pity the weather at the CFI meet at Husbands Bosworth was so grotty that the Redhawks didn't come, but on the other hand, thanks for the room. After the Friday night rain I got your room in the bunkhouse. I even left the 'Post-It' with your name on the tag in case someone would mistake me for you and buy me a drink, but life's full of disappointments, I find.
Donald
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
|
Posted Monday, July 25, 2011 @ 10:31 AM
Hi Donald,
I'm really disappointed not to have met you, but I'm sure you realise it just was not possible to fly from our south coast base through the grotty weather to Hus Bos.
We lost three displays that weekend, we've already diverted twice and had to overnight once, and then we had to divert again due to weather last Friday on our way up to Lake Windermere. Luckily the weather for the actual displays was perfect!
I guess I now owe you a drink in lieu of the one nobody bought you, but I'm glad you were able to make use of the room.
See you sometime, somewhere.
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
|
Posted Monday, July 25, 2011 @ 10:51 AM
Hi Guys,
At last the weather turned out good for our Windermere displays.
The Sunday's weather was actually near-perfect, so I've posted an on-board clip for anybody who's interested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0E4j3VUUV4
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Donald
Command Sergeant Major
Gender: Male
Location: Scotland
Registered: Jan 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 489
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Posted Monday, July 25, 2011 @ 04:39 PM
Bob,
Had the Redhawks arrived at Husbands Bosworth and tried to fly a display all you could have done was fly in circles. As it was none of the long distance visitors, the Italians and the Scots, got out until Tuesday and the Scots got stuck for 2 more nights at Sutton Bank. Man was I glad to get home and into some fresh clothes!
The Windermere clip is good and the weather looks wonderful but the best bit is when you're tucked right in tight under Matthew's tail.
Donald
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
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Posted Tuesday, July 26, 2011 @ 03:11 PM
Wow!
I had been disappointed not to come Donald, and we were very disappointed not to display, but now you've set my mind at rest.
If it is not possible, it's impossible, and that's that!
As to the GoPro footage, that's the problem of a fixed camera with such a wide-angle lens.
You only see Matt when he's dead ahead and very close, but you do get to admire the scenery a little.
If anybody comes up with some ground-to-air footage I'll post a link, but I doubt that will happen.
Shame, because it was our best effort so far.
I am writing up my impressions of the day for 'What have you done with 39 horsepower', but it will take a while.
Enjoy the Scottish summer and your new (short) destination.
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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Jorgen
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Apr 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 833
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Posted Saturday, November 26, 2011 @ 03:05 PM
Hi Bob,
I found this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FournierBob#p/u/3/r-UmdFtiI00
Nice pass, does this replace the "waving run"?
May the 4's be with you/ Jörgen
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Bob Grimstead
Captain
Gender: Male
Location: Perth, Western Australia or West Sussex, England
Registered: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Posts: 2028
|
Posted Monday, November 28, 2011 @ 00:04 AM
http://www.youtube.com/user/FournierBob#p/u/3/r-UmdFtiI00?session=l29yADPeY8WELnToQcvVp6FvtG
Hi Jorgen, Yes, we fly this wing-rocking run when we cannot come down to our usual 50 feet for a normal waving run. Since we are above 50 feet, the spectators cannot see us waving in the cockpits, so we do this instead.
It is surprisingly difficult!
Yours, Bob
-------------------- Flying and displaying Fournier RF4Ds VH-HDO and G-AWGN, building replica RF6B G-RFGB and custodian of RF6B prototype F-BPXV
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