Top Landing Gear

Welcome to Top Landing Gear Full Flaps and our full length interview with Mike Woodley, owner of Aviation Filming Ltd based at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey. The company specialises in aviation content for film and TV, including a huge number of the Bond films. Among Aviation Filming's fleet are three former BA Boeing 747s which are regularly used as film props and a very famous Douglas Dakota. We met up with Mike in his office beneath the control tower of Dunsfold in May 2023 to hear some of his incredible stories about the film and aviation industry. Enjoy!

Join the Top Landing Gear team as they are given a tour of Croydon Airport by A380 Captain Ian Walker, former chairman of the Croydon Airport Trust. Opening in the 1920s, Croydon was London's, indeed the UK's main international airport. Arguably the birthplace of commercial air travel, it was also the starting point for many of aviation's historic records, including those set by Amy Johnson. Visit https://www.historiccroydonairport.org.uk/ to find out more, book your own visit and discover how you can support or volunteer for the Trust.

We delivered our last podcast - as in most recent -back in May 2023 - when we were in the middle of series 5. We were literally on our way to Roy's studio to record our next editions when he told us not to bother - because his house was being razed to the ground after a tumble direr caught fire. Because of that and Roy's constant touring with his band Scouting For Girls, this is the first time we've been able to get back together. So here's a quick catch-up with the 4 of us with all our latest news and some of the aviation headlines that have caught our eyes in recent months. Thank you for sticking with us, or if you're new to TLG - welcome - have you any idea what you're letting yourself in for?!

Welcome to Top Landing Gear Full Flaps, where we bring you the most thrilling stories and captivating interviews from the world of aviation. Today, we are thrilled to present our full-length interview with none other than Bizjet pilot extraordinaire, Mark Blois-Brooke. Our hosts, Rob and Roy, had the privilege of meeting Mark in his operating base at Farnborough Airport, the largest and most prestigious business aviation airport in the UK. With his extensive experience and expertise, Mark regaled us with his fascinating tales of life in corporate aviation, leaving us on the edge of our seats. And if that wasn't enough, you can now dive deeper into Mark's fascinating life with his book "Life in a Tin" available now for aviation enthusiasts and adventurers alike. So buckle up, and get ready to take off on an unforgettable journey with Mark Blois-Brooke and Top Landing Gear Full Flaps! Buy Mark's book HERE

Welcome to Top Landing Gear Full Flaps and the second part of our interview with Tony Hoskins who is restoring a rare photo reconnaissance Spitfire PR4 to full flight. Back in 2018 Tony and his team recovered the wreckage of Spitfire AA810 from a mountainside in Norway where it had laid undisturbed for 76 years having been shot down on a mission to photograph the battleship Tirpitz. The pilot Sandy Gunn bailed out but was later captured and sent to Stalug Luft III to become one of those immortalised in The Great Escape. Tony's aim is that 810 should become a flying memorial to the men and woman of the Photograph Reconnaissance Unit during World War Two. And as well as restoring the aircraft is campaigning to have a permanent monument to the PRU erected in London. We visited Tony at Airframe Assemblies on the Isle of Wight where 810 is being painstakingly restored. In this episode we take you around the workshop where you can hear how the restoration is taking shape. If you missed last weeks episode, please listen back to part one as Tony talks us through his ambitions for the project and the fascinating story of a very rare Spitfire and it's pilot. Please visit to https://www.spitfireaa810.co.uk to find out more and how you can support this incredible project. You can also purchase Tony’s wonderful book ‘Sandys Spitfire’, order signed prints of the aircraft or even have your name engraved forever on the engine cowling HERE

Welcome to Top Landing Gear and the first episode proper of Series Five. Along with our usual catch up and 'Ask James' feature we talk aerial reconnaissance and hear the remarkable story of a very special Spitfire. We speak to engineer and aerial restoration specialist Tony Hoskins who shares the incredible story of Spitfire AA810, a photo reconnaissance PR4 which was lost over occupied Europe whilst on the hunt for the German battleship Turpitz. He recalls the story of its remarkable pilot Sandy Gunn, who would be later immortalised in the mass escape from Stalag Luft III, and tells us about the aircraft's recent discovery in Norway and its painstaking relocation and planned restoration to flight. Please visit the Spitfire AA810 project page, a project dedicated to the memory of all the men of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit who risked, and gave, their lives during the second world war.

Hello and welcome back to Top Landing Gear. The aviation podcast for everyone. After several months in the wilderness we’re back with a brand new series. Today we catch up on the latest aviation news and look forward to what’s coming up in Season Five of www.toplandinggear.com If you have a topic you would like us to consider or a question for our pilot and aviation expert get in touch via our socials or send us an email via info@toplandinggear.com Thanks for listening

Hello and welcome back to Top Landing Gear after a bit of a hiatus during the summer. But we haven’t been totally idle in that time. Having said that we’re not launching the new series just yet. This episode, to be brutally honest is unashamedly about creating a bit of self-publicity. As you have no doubt seen via our vast social media empire, the Top Landing Gear team recently appeared on the popular channel 5 quiz show Eggheads. How did we do? Well we're not at liberty to divulge that information until after it airs on Friday 14th October (630pm STREAM here Channel 5) So enjoy this summer catch up episode in the meantime... If you discovered us on Eggheads here is a taste of what we do. An aviation podcast for everyone. Think Top Gear with wings, and always with a quiz at the end. Please subscribe and leave us a review if you've enjoyed it. All our previous episodes and interviews are available wherever you found this podcast.

Hello and Welcome to TLG and to the second stage of our Full Flaps interview with Ian Whittle, son of Sir Frank, the man who invented the jet engine. Ian told us so much in part one, you’d hardly believe there’d be more – but there is – and we couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass us by. So here once again is Ian talking to James Cartner and me Rob Curling at his Surrey home, almost 85 years to the day since the first running of Sir Frank Whittle’s revolutionary invention.

The nation came together over 4 days in June to mark the extraordinary milestone of HM The Queen's 70 year reign. One of the highlights of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations was the flypast over London of 70 aircraft from the Royal Navy, the Army and of course the Royal Air Force who flew 15 Typhoons in formation as the number '70'. Among them was Sqn Ldr Zane Sennett, who described to TLG in fascinating detail what it was like to fly in this mass formation, and how the whole operation was devised, planned, rehearsed and eventually executed with the eyes of the world, and of The Queen, upon them.

Join Roy, Jim & Jez in the pub after watching a screening of the new Lancaster movie. It was produced by the same people who gave us 'Spitfire' in 2018 - The film that made Jez cry in the cinema - Would Lancaster have the same effect? Jim also talks about how the airlines dealt with the increased Half-Term holiday demand. (Answer - not very well) and Jez gives us a quick review of Top Gun: Maverick. Rob was supposed to be with us but Roy accidentally bought the tickets for the wrong day - Sorry Rob! Normal service will resume this Friday with our magazine episode dedicated to Frank Whittle and the Jet Engine.

In this edition of Top Landing Gear we continue to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands Conflict, focussing on one of the workhorses of the British Task Force’s airborne operation, the venerable Westland Wessex. Now of course our aviation ‘expert’ James Cartner was an RAF Wessex pilot, so we thought we’d let him compile the quiz, and be the quiz master. This is unlikely ever to happen again. Our guest was a Royal Navy observer on HMS Antrim’s Wessex 3, famously known as Humphrey. The man is Chris Parry, who regales us with some of the most extraordinary stories to have come out of the South Atlantic back in 1982. From firing the first shots of the war, to inserting and rescuing an SAS party in unimaginable conditions from the Fortuna Glacier in South Georgia, Chris’s stories are jaw-dropping. You’ll hear a clip of his interview in this podcast, the full interview will of course be in our Full Flaps edition. 'Down South : A Falklands War Diary by Chris Parry is available to buy and download HERE