Quess what. I booked a flight, 4 months ago, from Holland to Stansted so I could visit the FlyPast Fly-in. This morning, I woke up at 05.00 , drove to the airfield 120 miles away, checked in, had a terrible securitycheck with my cameragear, finaly arrived at the gate, and then, the ******* company cancelled the flight! And that was the last I heard of them. They just let everybody standing in total chaos, nobody of the company was there, rebooking was not possible. I tried to get in the evening flight, but that was only possible if we (we were with 2) paid again for this flight, as their policy is that they don’t book passengers from a cancelled flight to another flight. To get my money back, I now have to telephone to Dublin. Total loss of today, most probably the price of the tickets, for sure the rental car in Stansted and for shure the already paid hotel. Apart from that, a totaly destroyed weekend. What a mess:mad: 😡 😡 😡 😡
BW Roger
By: Ashley - 11th August 2003 at 14:41
Originally posted by AlexisLambert
Yak 11, as you obviously recognised me i wish you had made yourself known to me as the bloke i thought was you wasn’t and i wasn’t sure of 2 other guys being you, sorry that may sound bad but i’m ****e at remembering faces i don’t see on a regular basis.
Oh good…it’s not just me who does that at airshows and things…”hi, are you so and so?” “no” “aah..sorry…my mistake” and then scuttle off…
A
By: YakRider - 11th August 2003 at 13:56
There was much huffing and puffing to get everything into position, and it’s actually a very large Jeep!
By: Mark V - 11th August 2003 at 13:50
Nice pics Yakrider! B****y clever the way they got that big model of Big Beautiful Doll on top of the Jeep.
By: YakRider - 11th August 2003 at 12:42
The floodlit line up
By: YakRider - 11th August 2003 at 12:42
Miss Helen at Moonrise
By: YakRider - 11th August 2003 at 12:41
The elusive Janie
By: YakRider - 11th August 2003 at 12:40
here are a few P51 pics for those who missed out..
Big Beautiful Doll and the Squadron Jeep
By: Yak 11 Fan - 11th August 2003 at 10:42
We would probably have been in the Chelmsford area at that time so I guess thats how we missed her. Shame but I suppose I did get to see the Yak at Woodchurch the weekend before and it’s not as though I hadn’t seen it on many occasions in the past (every week for 10 years or so).
By: AlexisLambert - 11th August 2003 at 10:37
She passed over my head as i was just about to get on the M11, i’m surprised you missed her.
By: Yak 11 Fan - 11th August 2003 at 10:13
What time did Angie Soper come in with the Yak?
By: YakRider - 11th August 2003 at 10:02
I think the weather had a lot to do with the small numbers flying in. The visibility on Saturday was atrocious in the morning – about 5km, but got better late afternoon when it was too late for people to come. I took the Bulldog out for about 40 minutes mid afternoon and only saw a couple of other aircraft out towards Bovingdon.
Sunday there were a lot of thunderstorms across the Midlands, which must also have put people off. The Aero-Troika AN-2 couldn’t get back to Wellesbourne because of this , and will be at NW until Wednesday.
However, the high point was the Saturday night Mustang spectacular, which was great. All four P51s floodlit and running up their Merlins with strobes highlighting the props and the sound bouncing back off the Sguadron buildings – spine chilling stuff.
Sunday, we had a formation flypast by the P51s when they went off for a photo sortie, plus Rob Davies’ Yak 11 and T6, Maurice’s T6, Angie Soper’s Yak 11 and another immaculate AN-2 from Little Gransden. The Hunter also returned from Belgium, so there was a bit more to see.
I wonder what they’ll come up with for next year, as the whole thing is done on a shoestring and they can’t afford to pay huge sums to get warbirds to attend.
By: Manonthefence - 11th August 2003 at 09:27
Though the weather yesterday can’t have helped – waaaaay too hot
My humble apologies MrB that the weather was not to your liking yesterday. I have made arrangements through my contacts to have it a little cooler today and for the rest of the week.
I do hope you find this satisfactory.:D 😀
By: AlexisLambert - 10th August 2003 at 23:45
Yak 11, as you obviously recognised me i wish you had made yourself known to me as the bloke i thought was you wasn’t and i wasn’t sure of 2 other guys being you, sorry that may sound bad but i’m ****e at remembering faces i don’t see on a regular basis.
And yes to all i did see the immaculate Janie and thought she sounded rock solid, and i thought that the lovely Big Beautiful Doll sounded like she had a loose tool box rattling around inside the cowling.
Very disappointed overall with today, i feel that it is getting worse every year. It would have been nice to have had at least the Kennet doors open let alone just 2 hangers.
I think it would be better to put it back to the original time in september and give it a lot more advertisement.
By: DIGBY - 10th August 2003 at 23:16
Yep I also missed North Weald on Saturday and I like going round the market looking at non aircraft related stalls, but there I can go to an airshow at Duxford and look round the stalls to make up for it, ( tounge in cheek and old thread etc)
By: Snapper - 10th August 2003 at 22:31
You know, I went for two weeks in Greece with 9 kgs including film, batteries, and spare lenses. When you backpack, you don’t want a lot.
By: Snapper - 10th August 2003 at 22:29
It’s a day out mate.
Yeah, they weighed our stuff coming back from France, and my wife brought 2 months worth of baby clothes. I brought a pair of jeans and 7 pairs of socks. Cost us £35. But I travel light anyway. For a weekend in Belgium I figure I need:
T-shirt, jeans, 2 pairs of socks. Blazer, tie, trousers and 2 shirts. Camera/flash/lens/cards (Luggage, hand luggage, and one camera is, I believe, the standard allowance on flights). Beer tokens. Porn. Cigars and lighter.
I ahve to bring two 1:48 scale Typhoons, some display boards, and a piece of mahogany as well, but 15kgs shouldn’t be a problem. Anyway, at 35 pence, I can pay a surcharge if I must.
By: Yak 11 Fan - 10th August 2003 at 21:17
Yes :p
I believe the originator of the question spotted the missing machine today 😀
By: bentwingbomber - 10th August 2003 at 20:43
I saw janie on the saturday,but saw she had left on sunday,talked to Rob davies,can anyone tell me what…..
You know the rest
By: Yak 11 Fan - 10th August 2003 at 18:54
Sorry to hear that Roger, not a huge amount more came in today either, most noteable was Maurice Hammond’s Harvard, Rob Davies Harvard and Yak 11 (the Mustangs already being there from yesterday) and a Chipmunk. 3 P51’s and a Harvard went up for photo sortie, and some JP’s were buzzing about. We left just after Kennet’s Hunter landed so I’m not sure what happened afterwards.
By: EHVB - 10th August 2003 at 14:21
Snapper, the next flight was at 18.30 or so, from Maastricht, which is another 100 miles to the south. What’s the use of taking that, paying a small fortune for it, and missing the entire day at North Weald and arriving there at 20.30 in the evening. Apart from that, I was totally fed up with the entire situation.
Good luck with your flight to Belgium. And be warned for 2 things. At first they weight everything, luggage and hand/camerabags, and you pay around 4 P.St for every kilo too much ( I in my wisdom brought my 300 F2.8 with me, aswell as 3 bodies and 4 other lenses), and the security has a great interest in cameragear, especiallly the lenses. They want to look through it, which is fine, but then they dropped the big one instead of my warnings that it was heavy. I catched it just before it hit the ground. I wonder if they are insured for cases like that. Guess not!
BW Roger
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August 9, 2003 at 10:44 pm