The Leading Edge
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2012
- A documentary telling the story of the formation and operation of the Marlboro Aerobatic Team. Pilots Philip Meeson, Nigel Lamb, Ian Peacocke and Dick Manning show us their aerobatic expertise in the unrivalled Pitts Special and Extra 230 aerobatic planes. The programme includes interviews with the pilots, giving an in-depth view of these extreme machines and the dedication required to fly them. Narrated by Barry Foster, recorded in 1986.
I once had the privilege of being taken for a demonstration flight in the S-2 (2-seater) version of this plane, and of being handed control by Philip Meeson himself. An UNforgettable experience! Thank you Philip. (Rob Hermans) - Спорт
![Why is the Pitts Special so incredible? [Stats, Creation, History, Records, Famous Pilots]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/C8dpE4HzY7M/mqdefault.jpg)
![Why is the Pitts Special so incredible? [Stats, Creation, History, Records, Famous Pilots]](/img/tr.png)
So nice to see a LOT of actual cockpit footage, not a mock-up on the ground with film running in the background. And very cool to open the film with a thorough pre-flight of the airplane. A real flyer's film.
Les Izmor Thanks very much for your comment, glad you like it as much as I do!
Absolutely love the Pitts! I'm a pilot, but also fly RC aerobatics. I have 5 Pitts of varying sizes that I love to fly, especially when I do the the Lommy! Michael
Fantastic! Thanks for your comment, Michael.
My father was a manager at Phillip Morris back in the ‘80s and he was friends with Phillip Meeson, who was aerobatic champion and lead pilot of this team. I was lucky enough to be invited to experience some flying with him in the S2… an unforgettable experience, of course. Back in the days where tobacco advertising was still allowed!
Would love to see your RC Pitts, do you have any video footage?
In 1947 my family moved back to Gainesville, Florida and lived in UFl provided housing at the runway start side of
Stengel airfield ,where Mr. Pitt built, by himself ,the Pitt special airplanes. I was in the seventh grade and into gas
models (Olsen Rice 29 with coil and condenser, before GloPlugs ) and could walk over and watch Mr. Pitt work. My
friend, Eddy Bault went with me, and we both watched, but our hands were in our pockets,and we never said a word.
This continued until I graduated from GHS in 1952. I was there when Betty Skelton came to try out her Pitts Special
(for an alleged $50,000), and bought it. My memories of Mr. Pitt are that he was very work focused, and didn't talk to
kids, but did not drive us away. Those were gracious times.
Malcolm MacLeod
Aw, that's a great story, thanks for sharing your memories. This video brings back memories from the late '70s when Philip Meeson took me for a flight in the S2 and let me take the controls for a while...great times indeed!
Thanks for the comment. Betty Skelton donated her Pitts Special to the Smithsonian,
and it is hanging in the aeronautics museum.
Whilst having never met the team personally, I have fond memories of seeing them from afar in the late70’s/early 80’s as they used Maypole Strip, near Herne Bay as a maintenance base, so I saw them often. I lived in the thatched house a few hundred yards from the southern end of the strip. G-BBOH, BGSE, ROLL, WREN are the Pitts Specials I remember, plus what I think was Philip Meeson’s personal plane, a Piper Commanche G-ARYV.
WOW! Amazing documentary of such an iconic aerobatic team! Thank you very much from a Pitts lover
Thank you for your comment, Richard. As I replied to the previous poster, I'd love to catch up with Philip and talk about aerobatics, even more so since the death of my father. I imagine YOU would have a lot more to talk about than I would, though! :)
Great film, I was fortunate to work for Philip Meeson in the early/mid70's and recently with Jet2.com. It was a real pleasure on both occasions
Thank YOU for commenting! I'd love to catch up with Philip Meeson; since my father passed away I seem to be thinking about those times more and more...of course, being the boss of Jet2.com, he wouldn't have much time to spare! :D
Handy. I've got this on VHS, just found it at the back of a cupboard and was wondering where my old VHS recorder might be. Then thought, "Maybe it's on YT"
This film had me buying an Extra 230 (Brian Lecomber's old plane after it was rebuilt by Hawker Restorations), and later an S2B...and then an Extra 200...followed by a Giles G202. So it cost me a bloody fortune. But it was all a lot of fun.
I also flew out of South Cerney as a staff cadet when I was a nipper. Trying to rip the wings off Slingsby Venture powered gliders. God only knows how I survived that. Good to see the old control tower that we used to sleep in. And that I once found my moped on top of. Bastards.
Thanks for your comment, I'm happy I saved you the pain of finding the old VHS player. Cool stories, thanks for sharing!
Excellent. Thank you very much for posting.
Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Great, I'm happy to make some contribution. You're welcome. :)
Philip Meeson is very quick witted guy, I am part of the engineering and maintenance communication team for jet2.com so we have quarterly meetings, one being today. He is a very down to earth person with a huge passion for aviation.
Ah, thanks for your comment. If you ever have a non work related conversation with Mr. Meeson, please tell him Rob Hermans (Jr.) said hello. I will never forget the time he took me up in the Pitts S2, ca. 1980! :)
JackFeelsNerves I will be sure to pass on your regards as I need to have a chat with him again. He's a great guy, had us in stitches today..
Thanks very much, I appreciate it. :D
I worked for Philip from 1983 when I left school until November 2002...I have fond memories of nigel who visited our offices a few times....he was very funny, I've got a photo of me leaning on Philips pitts outside in the lorry yard! I remember him asking me to join him for a quick radio check in his piper commanche....always wanted to go up I'm the pitts though, never got the chance, far too busy typing up airwaybills! 😅
That is pics of the Pitts planes.
Thank's
I have a question, what is the name of that stunt of flying straight up and turning off the engines and falling?
I’m no expert on aerobatics, but from what I remember it’s called a “stall turn”. Also, I’m pretty sure I remember Philip Meeson throttling down, not switching off completely!
I posted before I finished watching the full video. Yes there is enough there to pull pics to replicate it. Thank's.
Hey, did you ever build that model? Here’s one I built from paper...1/24 scale, not a lot out there! The Pitt’s is a beauty, ua-cam.com/video/cd1WNIybL60/v-deo.html
Thanks for your comment, Brian. I've never met Dick Manning, I only knew Philip Meeson. What was your contact with Dick in Oman? It would be interesting to catch up with their lives now...I'll contact you if I get any info :)
WOW!! I had seen one pic on Airliners-DOT-net of a Marlboro plane and would have loved to build a model of it. There just was not enough view to do so though. If any of you guys would have any photos of any one on the Marlboro planes I would love to get a copy. I am an R/C airplane modeler. I build scale builds but need just a bit of detail.
Thank's
Aeromodeller, I believe it was, had four or five pages of text, pictures and drawings some years ago - like 35 - 40 years ago.
4:48 is that a stall roll?
I only ever heard Philip describe it as a "stall turn" or "hammerhead turn", the roll would be a separate element, I imagine. The manoeuvre at that point in the video does feature the vertical climb, but the pilot doesn't quite go into a stall. Perhaps there's a different name for that exact manoeuvre, but I'm afraid I don't know it.
the altimete bit made me laugh, must have moved that plane a few miles down in elevation for it to be that far off ahahah
Haha! I hadn't noticed that until you pointed it out! Thanks for your comment.
Actually was pretty good video. I think skipping to the 3:15 mark was a good suggestion.
I'm not sure what you mean. Did you read the description before watching the video and decide that it's not your cup of tea? Or do you mean that there was too much of the pre-flight check before the engine got started? Or something else?
to much preflight... at a minute and a half i tuned out... Not saying its a bad video, I didn't get that far...
@@VicariousAir Ah, I see, thank you for explaining. Yeah, being 35 years old, the composition is not exactly modern! It's really a personal thing for me though, I copied this from an old VHS so that it wouldn't deteriorate any further. And having experienced those aircraft and met the pilots, I don't mind all the drawn-out preliminaries! Skip to 3:15 for the start of the "real" content ;)
I gotcha... I have been scouring aviation videos for about a year and a half looking at every design, every option available, etc. so I get impatient with anything that drags on. The flip side is that it's not hate... I love aviation. I'm wanting to design a plane that more people could afford... Right now it's unreasonably over priced in general.
@@VicariousAir Wow! That sounds exciting. Check out this article about electric airplanes, maybe it will be of interest to you:
thedriven.io/2018/11/12/this-cheap-clean-electric-airplane-could-reshape-australian-regional-air-plane-travel/
The cancer's team ! Great !