Airshows. A plea to the commentators, please be quiet when the planes arrive!

When its all said and done, Air Shows are entertainment for the masses (bread and circuses), the commentary is part of the package.

Sure for the purist, its a lot more and I do like the sound of some aeroplane engines, but when I do go to an airshow, its about getting sunburnt, walking miles and looking at a wide range of aeroplanes and other interesting things.

Having the echo of music and comentary is just part of the experience as is squinting looking into the sun at some aeroplane up in the blue.

cheers

The postion of the tannoy system at Kemble wasn’t entirely helpful either – mounted on poles a few feet from the crowdline fence – between the viewer and the aircraft.

Great when you are trying to photograph the arriving and taxying aircraft – having a massive pole in the way. 😮

I don’t like criticising the organisers – they did a magnificent job putting on the display – but couldn’t some thought be given to placing the poles and speakers BEHIND the crowdline???

Ken

PS In praise of commentators – the Turkish Stars commentator at RIAT a few years ago certainly made my day.:D

I remember quite some years ago attending a number of air shows where the speakers were situated on the grass in front of the crowd line, literally on the grass, no poles, although can’t remember how well the sound travelled.

As regards commentators, I agree with Moggy C and Lord Roxeth, John Blake was the best – does he still commentate?

Music to our ears…Merlins & PW’s

The commentators should tell interesting stories for the “public” during the non flying periods before and after the air display period.
But during the flying part they should restrict their talk to “Spitfires coming from the left or right, etc,” and no more.
For the enthusiast I believe the sounds of the engines are “music to our ears” and the non-informed public will also learn to love that music like we do!
But only if we can hear them.
My friends and I now always look for a place away from the loudsperakers which is sometimes not easy!

Old Warden is pretty good – one of the best there used to be Roger Hoefling (spelling) – then he started doing the Hall and something went awry IMO

Oliver Stewart at Farnborough ca. 1960 when Scimitars were displaying:
“Commander Ford tells me that he only has to hiccup when carrying out this manoeuvre and he’s through the sound barrier” (PAUSE followed by loud bang)
“Er, Commander Ford appears to have just hiccuped!”
Jim

At Old Warden I seldom bother to walk to the flightline fence, preferring a picnic with aircraft in the background to an air display with sarnies.

At the season opener this year we ended up with the car parked against the fence (bar a couple of feet) and directly in front of a speaker pole.

Boy was it loud.

Horrid.

Moggy

Dunsfold last year, old Brendon whatsisname totally ruind it for me, to loud, not funny and overly smutty, im not an old prude but i have kids and found his so called “humour” totally unsuitable. His commentary quite literally left me in a total stinker of a mood.

I certainly agree…I’m a sound engineer and always carry a small location sound recorder. A wonderful little thing (Zoom H2) that can record in 4 channel ‘surround’. Wonderful for capturing those ‘classic aircraft’ that we know longer hear regularly.
I’d have loved to have captured some of the planes at the vintage show at Kemble as they taxied in or out but instead I was being told ‘flying stories’ by the commentary team.
David Taylor.

The postion of the tannoy system at Kemble wasn’t entirely helpful either – mounted on poles a few feet from the crowdline fence – between the viewer and the aircraft.

Great when you are trying to photograph the arriving and taxying aircraft – having a massive pole in the way. 😮

I don’t like criticising the organisers – they did a magnificent job putting on the display – but couldn’t some thought be given to placing the poles and speakers BEHIND the crowdline???

Which reminds me of RIAT in 2007 – the USAF Thunderbirds circus arrived and started erecting a massive sound system – right in front of the FRIAT enclosure.

Long poles with huge speakers on top started to go up – but were promptly taken down again following some strong words from the no-nonsense crowd of enthusiasts :diablo:

Ken

PS In praise of commentators – the Turkish Stars commentator at RIAT a few years ago certainly made my day.:D

Anyone know of any good recordings of a merlin engine from a flying display available??

Lot’s of good stuff here: http://www.aircraftrecords.com/

The Gustav Black 6 recordings are excellent. There are also plenty of radials and inlines available on different recordings.

I certainly agree…I’m a sound engineer and always carry a small location sound recorder. A wonderful little thing (Zoom H2) that can record in 4 channel ‘surround’. Wonderful for capturing those ‘classic aircraft’ that we know longer hear regularly.
I’d have loved to have captured some of the planes at the vintage show at Kemble as they taxied in or out but instead I was being told ‘flying stories’ by the commentary team.
David Taylor.

Commentators

Yeah I’d have to agree ,I never disliked John Blake or Jerry Mead, and to be honest I’d rather listen to Bernard Chabbert than that Sean Maffett that used to commentate at legends and on the legends DVD’s .
I reckon the late Raymond Baxter was by far the best in my book.

As for Murray Walker ,commentating at an airshow would certainly make it exciting lol,not sure i could stand it though ,but in my opinion we certainly need a slice of his excitement and enthusiasm back in motorsport ,i’ve never been so bored with British Touring cars or F1,commentary and the racing ,

Steve

Maybe we should hold up big signs that say “FFS STFU!” 😉

:D:D lol

Maybe we should hold up big signs that say “FFS STFU!” 😉

Anyone know of any good recordings of a merlin engine from a flying display available??

No because as we’ve already agreed just about all of them are drowned by music or the commentator.:mad:

Ive never had a problem with the commentry team at Old Warden. As for other airshows they vary massively. Ive not been into Duxford for a few years now so i cant comment on the guy at Legends.

An example of the great sounding planes……sorry, commentators can be heard in the top link, truly wonderful the way the engines are found to be get in the way of the commentators, so they must have decided to talk over anything they found competitive.
Listen at about 5-minutes, as they get into their stride and destroy the multiple plane take-off.

Maybe the anecdotes could be done before the planes arrive, in the dead spot before the flying starts?

I am in agreement here and it’s a sore point. The commentators cannot be quiet sometimes and the music is often too loud. I try to wander away from the speakers and as close to the flight line as possible, usually behind the speakers. Nothing is more magical than a flyby without distractions. I also remember a show with a group of reenactors who had a propane machine gun on a truck. They fired at anything that moved–modern, warbird or whatever. It was stupid and annoying and I haven’t been to that airshow since.

On a similar note, I am quite bothered when the display timing is so tight that every aircraft is either warming up or taking off while others are in the air. It becomes one big drone of noise. I remember a Corsair owner who watched over his shoulder and waited for another aircraft to complete the takeoff roll before he started up. I was impressed with this.

And jets are just awful. For me, nothing is more irritating than a modern fighter warming up on the ramp during the warbird displays because all you can hear is the whine of turbines. It’s impossible to get away from such noise. There should be a distinct separation between jets and piston displays.

As much as I admire BC’s efforts in historical aviation, he almost sends me to sleep during Legends…
The same could not be said of the (in?)famous Jerry Mead ! :diablo:

I have to agree with Moggy C.

John Blake’s commentaries are a delight. The Brian Johnston (Test Match Special) of Airshow commentary. I remember him entertaining the crowd for hours (with virtually no flying to speak of) at an almost totally washed out Biggin Hill circa 1979… Hope you are doing well John!

I must also mention Roger Hoefling (from the early days at Old Warden) and (as someone else mentioned) David Ogilvy.

At a recent Shuttleworth Flying Evening, the commentary was shared by two of the pilots, Trevor Roche and George Ellis. Excellent they were too!

Out… Roxeth.

Quick show of hands of anybody who has heard the commentary about the “smooth purr of the Rolls Royce Merlin” just as a Spitfire PR-19 goes belting past, regretably not quite loud enough to drown out the affore mentioned commentary…..