Bring on the Vulcan!

Paris, because she likes her V Bombers big and noisy..

Reg readers must be aware of the controversies over claimed 'first flights'. The Americans push the Wrights, as opposed to Santos-Dumont with their definition of 'heavier than air, man carrying powered, controlled (but not able to take off completely on it's own)'. They monopolise aviation claims so much that most people think that Lindburgh was the 'first to fly the Atlantic', rather than the 'first to fly the Atlantic solo'.

Britain has a host of home-grown and local achievements in this field, but we spend our time pretending they do not exist. Farnborough could celebrate:

The 159th aniversary of the world's first heavier-than-air man carrying machine (Sir George Cayley, Brompton Dale, 1849)

The 114th aniversary of the world's first heavier than air man carrying powered machine (Hiram Maxim, Bexley, 1894)

Stringfellow and Henson are a few of the others worth celebrating...

... of the Lady parachutists and the Escape Capsule this Friday!

(And am disappointed that Lewis is not currently beavering away on this very topic, as we speak.)

They monopolize everything, including languages (see!), I have started to notice an alarming number of sites displaying US English as the only option or worse English with the US flag!

But thats not for here!

No black helicopter pictures?

No, no, I was quite happy with the photographic subjects, thanks!

Oh, my glasses seem to have steamed up.

Sitting in nice aircon office next to Farnborough Airfield, what a spectacular few squillion dollars of flying, spinning, truly OTT hardware... couldn't hear a world on the phone... (what an excuse)... If octane and noise are your thing, get there.

(Paris... Flaps Down now Captain, I'm coming in the Cockpit!)

"Britain has a host of home-grown and local achievements in this field ... [including that by] Sir George Cayley."

A replica of his heavier than air 'glider', the world's first airborne man carrier, was flown in 2003 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its initial flight. Why isn't the replica on display at Farnborough?

Here's hoping they don't suffer the same fate as Fairford RIAT last friday which ended up under a foot of water.

Paris - because she's undoubtedly a member of the Mile High Club.

Not seeing Hamilton would be fine if we could get a hi-res picture of that...

Mr Hambridge has ably described how miserable it is driving in that area during air show week. This is the time of year when I am most glad to no longer be living in that part of the world.

I wouldn't feel too bad about old Blighty's organising. At the 2008 JSOH at Andrews AFB we queued for two hours at a metro station (one of only two 'entrance' points) for security checks. Had a beautiful view of the B-2 flying from about 3 miles away. Would have been better off parking by the beltway. Never had any probs remotely like that Farnborough.

Alexander Graham Bell didn't become an USA citizen until several years after (1882) calling his assistant about an acid spill (1876). Therefore, the Scots are to blame.

No puffin icon?

Drop in air quality? Not if it's the sweet, sweet smell of burnt Jet A1 fuel... ;)

Paris, because she must surely smell nicer than burn Jet A1

... is an adjective.

"Centenary" is the word you're looking for.

"No black helicopter pictures?"

George

Nope - this is geeks history rather than current technology....

"A replica of his heavier than air 'glider', the world's first airborne man carrier, was flown in 2003 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its initial flight. "

Pollard

I think you will find that this was with his coachman as pilot/cargo. He actually flew a 10-year-old in an earlier machine in 1849. That would be the world's first heavier than air human carrying airplane - 1853 was the world's first heavier than air adult human carrying airplane. This is what I mean by geeks... Isn't this fun...

kain preacher - congratulations on your multifarious inventions. I have no problems with the claim that the Wright brothers had the first 'practical' airplane - Santos-Dumont supporters claim that he was the first to leave the ground 'unaided', but this was really just a matter of engine power. The way I see it is that the Brits invented the airplane, and the Yanks made the first practical one. Much like jet airliners, in fact...

It is instructive to consider what effect the Wrights had on American aviation. You would think they gave it a head start. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The Wright's major development was a 3-axis control set-up. Unfortunately, they used wing-warping, which was a bugger to operate, difficult to set up, and couldn't scale. Hinged ailerons/elevator/rudder were the way ahead. Rather than adopting this, which Europe did, the Wrights patented their (poor) control system, and then fought legal cases which stopped anyone in the US using any other control system at all.

The resultant legal cases suppressed ALL aircraft development in the US. So much so, that when WW1 started, the US had to buy French aircraft because they had no aviation industry of their own...

never again! Last time was bad enough and that was 10 years ago!

That is no way a helicopter. Is it? Surely not. What it is though, I couldn't say. Looks to me like a fish of some kind. Like those posh goldfish with the weird eyes. Warning no fish?

"...Next we'll be hearing how Josiah Shagsheep created the first rudimentary microprocessor in 1842 using only tripe, dubbin, and a flushing lav...."

1842? The British were inventing the microprocessor 20 years earlier than that, using paper, brass and steam.... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage