Clophill Village Fete Displays

When I was assigned to Bentwaters in the late 80s, we filled many requests for A-10s for Fete’s.

We also sent MH-53 Super Jolly/Pave Lows” out on request.
The jets are nice, but there’s nothing like having an aircraft people can touch and walk through.

Really impressive!

Just shows what somebody with real leadership and vision can achieve.

He surely deserves a name-check?

A ruddy knighthood!:cool:

Really impressive!

Just shows what somebody with real leadership and vision can achieve.

He surely deserves a name-check?

A bit of a thread revival but,

It was my father who thought up and organised the Clophill village airshow 🙂

It all began in 1981 when a Royal Air Force Jaguar from Coltishall just happened to fly over Clophill at just the right moment.

I have vivid memories of the dining room table covered with maps with flight paths. Also in the garage where he was painting the “low aircraft” signs, that we would go and put up along the A6 on the morning of the fete.

The Clophill display was a glorious example of what could be done before the health & safety restrictions we have today. No body got hurt, and only the horses in the field next door were scared.

He tells me that there is a load of video that was shot over the years. I am going to see if it can be edited and put up on YouTube.

There is a old website about the fete (2001), that does list a little bit about the display.

http://homepages.dircon.co.uk/~pinter75

BTW, he also organised and put up all the fireworks for the village fireworks display at the primary school. Again the garage was full of fireworks in massive boxes. I remember the freezing cold misty mornings putting them up, then picking them up the next morning.

I can honestly say I had the coolest dad in the village 😉

Here is the definitive list of what flew and when.

1981
Jaguar

1982
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Pitts Special aerobatic aircraft (Luton Airport)

1983
RF4C Phantom (USAF)

1985
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
RF4E Phantom (USAF)

1986
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
F-16 Fighting Falcon (USAF)
A-10 Thunderbolt (USAF)

1987
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
RF4J Phantom
2 A-10s (USAF)
Mosquito (British Aerospace)

1988
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Vulcan
Chinook helicopter
Gazelle helicopter
F-111 (USAF)
3 A-10s (USAF), Airfield attack

1989
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Fairey Firefly (Royal Navy Historic Flight)
Nimrod
Tornado GR1
Harrier GR3
2 Jet Provost
Bulldog
Gazelle helicopter
F-111 (USAF)

1990
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Jaguar
Tornado F3
Hawk
2 Jet Provost
Bulldog
Vulcan
2 Tucano

1991
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
Vulcan
Bulldog
Tucano
Crunchie Flying Circus (Cadburys)
2 Wessex helicopter
Nimrod
Hawk
Tornado GR1
Shackleton
2 Jet Provost
Jetstream

1992
Vulcan
Pitts Special aerobatic aircraft (Aviation Metals)
2 Tucano
2 Jet Provost
Tornado GR1
Chinook helicopter
Harrier GR5
2 Hawk
Tiger Moth & wingwalker (Flying Tigers)
Nimrod
Hercules
2 Spitfire (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight)
Jaguar
2 Wessex helicopters
4 Tornado GR1, Airfield attack

1993
Spitfire & Hurricane (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight)
Tornado GR1
Tornado F3
Nimrod
2 Tucano
Bulldog
2 Wessex Helicopters
Hawk
Sea King (Royal Navy)
2 Harriers GR5
Red Arrows

1994
Lancaster & Spitfire (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight)
Tornado GR1
Tornado F3
Nimrod
2 Tucano
C130 Super Talon II Hercules (USAF)
HC130P Hercules (USAF)
2 Hawk
4 F18 Hornets (Canadian Air Force)
2 Harrier GR7
Red Arrows
Jaguar
3 Tornado GR1 (RAF, Luftwaffe, Italian)
Sukhoi SU-31 (Richard Goode)

1995
DC3 Dakota
Tornado GR1
Tornado F3
Nimrod
Hercules
Hawk
2 Harrier GR7
Red Arrows
Jaguar
F-111 (USAF – Cannon AFB, New Mexico)
B-52 (USAF – Barksdale AFB, New Mexico)
F-27 (Royal Netherlands Air Force)
F-16 (Royal Netherlands Air Force)

Weather casualties
Red Arrows
3 Tornado GR1 (RAF, Luftwaffe, Italian)
Tucano
F-4E Phantom (German Air Force)
2 Bulldogs

1996
Tristar plus VC10 (2) formation
EC3D Sentry
C-130 (x5) formation
Tornado GR1
Harrier GR7 (x2)
Jaguar
B-1B Lancer (x2) (USAF, Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota)
B-52 Stratofortress (USAF, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana)

1997
Tornado GR1
Harrier GR7
C-130P Hercules (USAFE, Mildenhall)
KC135 Stratotanker (USAFE, Mildenhall)
B-1B Lancer (USAF, Dyess AFB, Texas)
1998 Weather casualties
Tornado F3 (x2)
Harrier GR7 (x2)
Jaguar
C-130P Hercules (USAFE, Mildenhall)
KC135 Stratotanker (USAFE, Mildenhall)
B-1B Lancer (USAF, Dyess AFB, Texas)
1999 Spitfire (Battle of Britain Memorial Flight)
Jaguar

World conflict casualties
Tornado F3 (x2)
Harrier GR7 (x2)
C-130 Hercules
C-130P Hercules (USAFE, Mildenhall)
KC135 (USAFE, Mildenhall)
B-1B Lancer (USAF, Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota)
B-52 Stratofortress (USAF, Minot AFB, North Dakota)

I seem to remember one year hearing on the grapevine that Old Warden got a B1 B flypast, totally by accident, was this true? As for chicksands, i only went to one event there, can any one remeber which year clues are….
Clear blue skies, Red Arrows display, Tucano display, Tornado GR1 fly-bys, F-15x 2 fly-bys and nimrod fly-bys, i would think maybe early 90’s but cant remember the exact year.

I certainly remember being overflown by aircraft for both Clophill and Chicksands.

Did a Tiger Moth SOW display there one year, oppreated out of Old Warden, same day that the RR spit crashed at Woodford:(

Don’t forget the yearly Chicksands Air Fete which was held every July (only a couple of miles from Clophill). C-5 overhead at 2000ft en route Mildenhall, Heyford F-111’s etc etc…….

Who can forget the pair of B-1’s with callsigns Boom & Doom that appeared at Clophill!

I count myself lucky to have been able to go to the Clophill fete once, what a great event, heard a B52 cruising about above the low cloud and had the living daylights scared out of me by the Dutch airforce display team.

Sounds like June 17th 1995 when we were treated to the following…..

RAF Nimrod MR2P
RAF Tornado F3
RAF Hawk
RNTHAF F-16 (solo twice)
RAF Tornado GR1
USAF F-111
RAF Harrier GR7 x 2
RAF Hercules
RNTHAF F-27 Troopship
BBMF DC-3 Dakota
RAF Jaguar

I count myself lucky to have been able to go to the Clophill fete once, what a great event, heard a B52 cruising about above the low cloud and had the living daylights scared out of me by the Dutch airforce display team.

Ah, good old Clophill. Used to get all sorts of stuff through down the years.

Most of the RAF’s solo display aircraft and teams appeared at the event, and as mentioned above the US military were pretty good supporters of the show too.

Bl**** Hell, what a small world! I grew up in Clophill man & boy, moved to the village when I was 9 and lived there from 1969 to 1996. I remember the displays very well. Also remember as a boy, playing around the Old Church and seeing the results of desecration caused by some ‘would be’ Satanists. Idiots more like!!!

OMG. I know this thread has timed out (well over 3 years now). I live in Clophill and found this by googling the village hall there.

I went to the fete last year, and unfortunately things have worsened.

Obviously no air show, and a lot of the classic stalls have been replaced with “fair ground” stalls. Needless to say it can no longer be called a village fete.

With regards to the air shows, my dad used to be on the commitee at Clophill. A guy in the village used to be in with the RAF and he was soley in charge of the orginisation. And as you say, used to be the envy of the county. All the surrounding villages used to hold their fete on the same day to get a fly past.

The evening before the fete a lot of the pilots used to go down the Green Man and do autographs etc. They used to stay in the local b&b’s in the village.

The best memory I have of the shows was GR7 Tornado & Sepecat together.

Not expecting replys to this post, but thought I’d put in my 10 pence worth.

PS. and yes, Clophill old church (in ruins) is notoriously known for its Haloween activities.

I know the church in the village was connected with some sort of ‘cult’ but i did not think it was started by the USAF.:D 😀

Wheeling and dealing by the person organising the air display. It became a bit of a ‘cult’ thing, particularly amongst the US participants, that they were flying at the ‘Clophill Village Fete and Dog Show.’

So how were they able to get such unique planes for the event?

I use to provide the ‘ATC’ at Clophill but only in the 90s. I claim to be the only person to have worked a B52 on UHF from a village hall roof!! 😀 😀 😀

I vaguely remember Concorde doing a display overhead Clophill some years ago. I’d guess it would have been around the early to mid eighties. Can’t quite see how a village fete were able to secure one for a display when it was such a high cost aeroplane though….