Old Warden 'new format' flying evening 26-09-2009

I have rarely been to an air show where I found myself so distracted by what was happening on the ground around me. Whilst everybody was having a nice relaxing evening, there was a well oiled machine making it all happen. I watched a seemingly endless procession of aircraft being towed out to the live side of the airfield and then back again after a bit of flying.

I watched the Gladiator taxi up to the crash gate with its engine slowly running. Then with the engine switched off, one of the Edwardians was towed closer to the gate from the other side. The gate was opened and the Gladiator was moved a few feet out of the way for the Edwardian to pass by. The tractor was detached from the Edwardian and the Gladiator was towed through the gate and back to where it had once been

At the same time there was a queue of people waiting to take their turn to step up on to the wing of a Hurricane and peer in to the cockpit, some of them barely tall enough to see inside. All through this time the flying continued without interruption.

As darkness fell I wondered what it would be like with nothing but the Moon shining its full beam on a line of silvery craft. Maybe next time I will bring a tripod.

My congratulations to the volunteers, organisers and pilots for putting so much effort in making the evening so good. A great format.

Just a few of those photographs. I will upload the usual type later.