Humpty dumptys post below
Reminds me of my all time favourite thing ever, not a song but more of a soundtrack. A soundtrack of summers gone by, blue skies and fluffy white clouds, me rattling around the village on a bike with my mates having egg fights, or plum fights, the soundtrack of sitting on the recreation ground watching the local pub teams playing cricket or reading a book, having a smoke and staring up at the sky to see if I can spot where the soundtrack was.

See I grew up in a little village near Duxford airfield, and lots of old WW2 planes do displays in Duxford. But most importantly they have a fair few Supermarine Spitfires

There is no other sound that can bring a huge smile to my face like the echoing purring burble of a rolls royce merlin engine, housed in these beautiful machines as they dance around the sky, pirouetting through the clouds and swooping overhead as they practice formation flying, its such a wonderful, evocative sound of care, pride and engineering genius that I feel is sadly lacking these days.

I know im eulogising over some old warplane, but by god it’s a thing of perfection
(Halfy By light alone, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 17:38, 6 replies)

I'm with you on this....
Living as I do, just a few miles down the way from (and under the main flightpath of) the Battle of Britain memorial flight. All summer we get the spit and the Hurricanes go past. However nothing really beats hearing the distant growing-thrum, and dashing out into the back garden just as the Avro Lancaster roars over the house at about 100 foot all 4 Merlin engines flat out.
( The magic of chutney Shakes it like an Instagram filter!, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 17:49, closed)

Yep
its usually the lancaster with a couple of spits and hurricanes as wingmen.

The Avro roars, the Spitfire purrs
(Halfy By light alone, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 17:53, closed)

and the pop and crackle
as the pilot pulls the throttle back... mmmm.
(tjn whizzing on the electric fence of life, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 18:35, closed)

Lovely
They are a thing of beauty and I always grin like a loon when I see one
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 20:57, closed)

Boneville
You haven't heard the noise my Triumph Bonneville makes. It;s nearly as good!
(Al987, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 22:30, closed)

Those engines used to be made at Rolls Royce in Crewe
and there was a pub named after them, with a lovely painting of the Merlin engine on the sign.

The pub's still there, but all gastro'd up now, and the new sign is a corny picture of a Disney-type wizard. All that engineering, hard work, bravery, history - out of date, swept away. Grr.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 23:16, closed)