Duxford, May 5th

RE: Duxford, May 5th

I suppose it is harmless says he (quickly donning a flak jacket and helmet in preparation for the flying handbags!!)

8o)))

RE: Duxford, May 5th

what i found particularly funny(having been on the other side of the wire, is the sally b/memphis belle crew all wearing regulation american issue nomex flying suit and flying jacket- not even like they were flying in the bloody thing…..i hate pretenders, I have the raf flying gloves and the issue flying jacket- but i wear it for flying lol not ‘looking cool’ cause they dont even look that!

coanda

RE: Duxford, May 5th

Oooo, Tony, you’re a braver man than I!!!
I was going to mention them but thought better of it.
Actually, it’s quite good fun figuring out who actually will be flying from those ‘car park pilots’.

This reminds me of a trip to the BMF Rally at Peterborough one year. Whilst parking up I spied two guys climbing out of their car and proceeding to get changed into full motorcycle leathers!!!
They then trundled off clutching helmets.
How sad is that?

RE: Duxford, May 5th

Lots of the comments about inconsiderate people are too common place nowadays!

I have one question though if you’ll oblige me? Why when I get my photos back is there always an oik with a bright reddy orange shock of frizzy hair in all my photos?! Invariably the oik has an aeroplane imbedded in his head!

The ladder brigade seriously annoy me, as do those people with their chairs up against the railings who stand up to take a shot even though they have a clear view when sat.

What about those wannabes who drive to the shows, get out the car and swap their everyday clothes for flying suits to look ‘cool’ and like pilots!!!

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

This is just downright offensive!

What exactly is wrong with farting at an airshow?

And as for complaining about stepladders, what about us Painters and Decorators?

Regards,

Bob The Builder.

p.s. There was a Yak, Auster and Me108 in the visiting aircraft, why not put them in the static park. I’m sure the owners wouldn’t mind being parked next to a Spitfire or two?

RE: Duxford, May 5th

Full review now on-line at Air-Scene UK http://www.f4aviation.co.uk

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

There is nothing stopping you removing the windbreakers. chairs or whatever else is there.
It’s the same as when people put cones and other blockades in the road, i had one down my street and they called the police after i had removed it only to be told it is illegle to place these barracades in the road.
So if you want to move these pains then move because nothing can be done about.

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

Hmm, yes, I can understand your point about first come first served, and to a point I sympathise with it.

The problem comes though when you get the inconsiderate b*gg*rs who seem to think they’re pitching a base camp at the foot of Everest. There were a couple of these at Duxford on Sunday, each of which had one person in when I saw them, yet were sitting in purpose built shelters which were a good 8 – 10 feet wide. Now the average person’s width is about two feet (three feet if your name’s Mr Creosote), so what the hell posesses them to take up such a disproportionate space? Sheer selfishness, if you ask me… x(

That said, they’re not as bad as the stepladder brigade. Makes you want to start walking around swinging a scythe around at 7 feet above ground level, that’d soon stop ’em… 😉

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

>At least last year there was some attempt by the Flypast
>staff to control ‘standers’.

This year most people in the FlyPast enclosure, except the tw*t with the Ducati woolly hat (A sort of living oxymoron) stayed seated other than when taking that ‘special’ picture.

I can live with that.

Moggy

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

And an interesting result so far.
Windbreaks are not as bad as stepladders.
Now there is a thing that pees me right off – photographers balancing precariously on top of their steps just to get that shot of a ABC-123F taxi-ing past sans spectators heads. It creates a vicious circle – they stand on their steps, other folk then have to stand on their chairs, then even more have to stand just to see a glimpse…..who suffers? The elderly, well behaved children(!!)etc.
At least last year there was some attempt by the Flypast staff to control ‘standers’. Perhaps Airshows should follow football and become all seating events!!! (tongue firmly in cheek)

One other point – people use these windbreaks (and camping chairs tied to the barriers) to reserve their place on the crowdline. They then wander off to enjoy the other aspects of Duxford. How would you stand if you took their windbreak down, put it to one side and ‘occupied’ the empty space? I feel the good services of the local constabulary would be called upon to rectify the resulting argument!

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

Bearing in mind some of the comments made so far on this thread, there’s an interesting little poll being run on Ben’s Duxford site. 😉

www.duxford.org

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

I thought the green and blue camo on the Westland Wasp was interesting.

Don’t forget the harrier.

Now I know the Breitling are excellent however slightly scary?

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

I was not implying that you were a Wayne or Waynetta!!!
As Futurshox (?) said you always come away saying “There’s always one”.
If it’s not kids it’s some loud mouthed know-it-all who is trying to outdo the PA system and invariably sits down right next to you.
They are everywhere, pubs, restaurants, cinemas, in the most remote places.
They always seem to gravitate towards us…..
Nice to know others suffer from the same problems!!!

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

Futurshox…I remember that little boy…he and his sister were the two who really really needed to be taught some discipline…and I don’t mean a good hiding, but they need to be taught to behave nicely…

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

I’d agree to a point – there ARE a lot of nasty little oiks out there, but they’re usually the offspring of the “Wayne and Waynetta” brigade, and quite frankly their parents probably just relish the chance of losing the ankle-biters amongst the crowd for a few hours.

Please rest assured that not all parents (or their kids!) are like that. 🙂

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

Ahhhh, children at airshows……………..
I propose that the powers that be establish a pen, oops sorry, a creche, for parents to leave their kiddywinks in when the flying starts.
For the last couple of years my feet have been stomped on, legs tripped over, chair back been kicked, ears assailed by wailing babies, attempts at video/photos spoilt by kids running around – need I go on??
Why, oh why, do they insist on bringing the kids???
The kids run around with their model planes, plastic guns, playing war, whilst their parents sit blissfully unaware of the slowly increasing feelings of sensible folk nearby to scream at them.
Then the parents stand up and block your view of a formation coming in low and fast, or stand their offspring on chairs so they can see everything – speak incessantly on the mobile phone “We’re at the airshow…WE’RE AT THE AIRSHOW!…I SAID WE’RE AT THE AIRSHOW!!!!”
Perhaps they see the enclosures as some sort playground area for the kids? It’s even worse in the Gold Pass enclosure – you pay £50 for the relative comfort of this only to find Joe Public has brought his whole tribe with him. AAARRRGGGHHHHH……………….

I will say this – last year there was a young lad, 8 or 9 yrs old, who was an absolute gent. He was with his dad, and grandad, and spent a good part of the afternoon bringing his grandad drinks and food. And he sat quietly watching the displays, talking with his GD. A better behaved, polite youngster I have rarely seen.

So in closing, I’m not opposed to parents bringing their children to airshows, after all how do you encourage interest otherwise, but to abandon them to their own devices is irresponsible, and selfish, to the other people who have paid good money to spend an afternoon enjoying living breathing history.

A little parental control is needed………..

control the parents!! 🙂

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

First of all, thank you to everyone for your comments, I almost feel as if I were there….
although it seems I may have been better off at home with the central heating on, a cup of tea and an afternoon of the Dambusters followed by Twelve o’clock High and then Aces High!

David, I remember a couple of shows at West Malling in the mid eighties. I remember one of their balbo’s when virtually everything that could fly took part in an amazing flypast which meant I didn’t even start walking back to the car until 6-30. Those were the days…

Regards,

kev35

Arctic Airshow – Steve (and Haydn’s) report

I am obviously a very bad parent. No caring father should ever subject his four year old son to those kind of weather conditions. Especially not through choice. I am still thawing out, 48 hours after the event. 🙁

That said, Haydn had a whale of a time, especially as he got to meet the Lancaster in Hangar 1 (Ashley, Many thanks for that – you made his day!) He was a bit disappointed that the BBMF Lancaster didn’t show, but to be honest, by the time the Lanc had been due to appear, we were too busy fighting off the first stages of hypothermia to worry about such trivia.

I did wonder if the horrendous weather might have had anything to do with one of the Wasps wearing an ‘HMS Endurance’ scheme, and therefore having to be in freezing conditions just to make the paint job that little bit more authentic. Coincidence? You be the judge… 😉

As for the flying displays, I’d tend to agree with some of the comments already made; I had seen most of them before, but the RAF Merlin was a notable exception to that rule. Unfortunately we missed the Breitling Fighters, as a certain little chap had become very tired and cold, so we called it a day at about 4pm.

Overall, I’d agree that it was a disappointing display, but what would have made the display better? More sun, warmer temperatures, less wind, less rain, and appearances by the BBMF and the RNHF Firefly would certainly have helped. But could the Duxford organisers have influenced any of those factors? Of course not.

The only thing which is within Duxfords powers to change for next time is the standard of commentary. Here’s a thought – get some real enthusiasts to do it. In fact, Haydn’s available; imagine the Flying Legends balbo; “Look everyone! Lots of good ones with round things and stars! That ones a Spitfire, and that ones a Hurricane, and that ones a Mustang. There’s no naughty ones, because the Lancaster’s shot them all!”. Just a thought. He couldn’t do any worse than those two on Sunday… 😉

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 07-05-02 AT 10:17 AM (GMT)]I must say it was nice to see the merlin and wokka and puma all winding up together, and it was, I think unique to see a scout and a wasp in the air- for me anyway. needless to say I was up the other end to lots of you guys, however getting there at 0830 gave me plenty of time to do the hangars and I was impressed sort of……..
There was much more in the background that would have been absolutely great to see if the had opened the hangar doors……like two seat hunter, L39 some much better foto’s of a far east harvard, a by the looks of it beautiful T33, a seahawk, you know all those things that were marred by a tatty hind, a tatty GR3 as part of the falklands display, and just moving things about to make more space…. thats a shame and maybe I should go there when there isnt an airshow on- but would it really be any better??? I think it was made up for with the hurricane, and a couple of spitfires without their panels on, and the corsair and thud. nice progress on the beaufighter by the way….also noticed a mosquito wing in one hangar……………..looks good for the p51c and the sea fury too. as for the flying display- it wasnt worth the money in amount but prob was in content. yes I also noticed the av504 making a wonderful attempt at getting back to the field- did you see it just after take off?? it was JUST ABOUT hovering in the air, so a definite well played to those pilots I didnt know it was a called a falling leaf, but the linked side slips were done very well in my opinion, couldnt really miss it to be honest! considering what the jet provost display pilot had in terms of notice I think he excelled himself there(even tho as was said it was last years RNHF sea fury display). the tigercat and the bearcat performed a great display- years since I’ve seen those! in the conditions the breitling display was expertly performed, noticing the amount of work being needed by the P51 to keep up,because of the whiplash effect. those other helicopters that flew with the wokka and the puma were a scout and a wasp two versions of the same family, and again, unique display to me. All in all weather aside, it prob wasnt worth £16 a head to be honest- with only three model stands and few other stands compared to what there has been in the past and at other shows, and the layout of the hangared aircraft………….nevermind duxford. only thing that stopped me from saying I should have gone to bruntingthorpe was the merlin display. I noticed that the aircraft also displayed allot higher and a fair amount further away than at other shows- apart from the blenheims last pass- I have a photo of that pass with the sally b covering most of the foreground, and the blenheim in the middle of the pic- it was certainly the lowest flying of the day. bet he got bollocked for it. I suppose it was good to see the aircraft taxying past after their display on the taxiway in front of me. I’ve been to soo many airshows I’ve managed to filter the commentator out…I think thats a good skill to have.

coanda

]

RE: Ashley’s Airshow Report

Well, cold it certainly was but I enjoyed it 🙂

Sheltering in the lee of the Flypast/FOD tent definately helped though…

>Then it was the Tigercat and Bearcat’s turn to wow the
>crowds…and I was certainly impressed…

They flew a beautiful display, very controlled and tight formation. Lovely.

>
>As a tribute to RAF Bomber Command, Sally B and the Blenheim
>took to the skies…again great displays from both
>aircraft…sadly, I felt my enthusiasim for the Blenheim was
>not shared by a considerable number of the crowd who seemed
>to ignore it completely…never mind “my” Blenheim…I was
>watching you girl 😉

I watched her too! 😉

>
>Then a Tornado GR4 from XV Squadron from Lossiemouth
>displayed…a good display, but perhaps not the best display
>from a Tornado I’ve ever seen…

They seemed to have dropped the way they flew last year, in that you could see the wings change shape, but I didn’t notice that this time.

>
>Next the Dragon Rapide entertained the crowds…although I
>think all eyes in the Flypast/Friends of Duxford Enclosure
>were on the attempts to start the Shuttleworth Collection’s
>Tutor…when the engine finally roared into life, it was
>matched with an equally appreciative roar from the
>Enclosure!

They did well to get that started, for sure, it just didn’t want to know!

>Likewise, the Olympus Tiger Moth Team also battled the high
>winds admirably…by this time I had given up trying to
>listen to the appalling commentary…can anyone tell me, are
>these Tiger Moths former Diamond Nine performers?

Far as I know, yes, they are the team members that didn’t want to quit.

>Unfortunately, the show itself was marred for me by some
>badly behaved children in the Flypast Enclosure, and from
>comments made by other members, I was not the only
>one…

No indeed- I heard a chap bring to the attention of the FOD staffers, news of a young lad being encouraged to throw his toys airside and then being dangled over the fence to pick them up. Why do I always come away from airshows saying “There’s always one!!”?

Still, it was a good start to the season, weather aside. I saw some types that I haven’t seen before and nothing was bent or broken, so it was a good day!