Mars Attacks!

Today we've been to the twice-yearly Cold War Jets taxi day at Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire. These days involve military aircraft enthusiasts running their own jets up the long runway. Most of the planes aren't allowed to fly but they can shoot up the runway with jets roaring - throttles fully open. So no air show but for a couple of plane nuts like us it's manna from Heaven. You can't beat the smell of burnt kerosene in your nostrils and the sound of Rolls Royce jet engines going at full chat.

There's a bit of an air museum at Bruntingthorpe too, one of the strangest exhibits is this aircraft called a Super Guppy. It was used to collect component parts of Airbus airliners from around Europe to be taken to the assembly plant in France. The entire front end is hinged so wings etc. can be loaded on board. And from this angle it looks like one of the Martians in Mars Attacks! Yes? No? Oh, just us then...