RAF Kenley – 75th Battle of Britain Remembrance Airshow (Sept 2015)

A great shame as i was looking forward to this.

The airfield would revert to the Corporation of London if no longer required as an aerodrome in the public service under the terms of the Air Ministry (Kenley Common Acquisition) Act 1922.

Hi “Bump”,

Yes, Kenley is a great airfield but it is very difficult as a site to manage (quite a few adjoining ownership interests) plus you have all the usual necessary H&S issues to resolve (traffic management & emergency services access) etc. We initially did well to progress these, with plenty of enthusiasm – but the issues just kept coming. We very nearly went for the 2013 “Empire” show but with the remaining issues still unresolved we would have left ourselves very open to potential legal issues should an accident or incident occur during the event and we just didn’t fancy the odd’s.

Also the site is split between Croydon and Tandridge Councils, so you’ve got additional complications there when trying to arrange certain permissions. It just went on and on! I can’t see that Kenley will be allowed to be used in future for any airshows and if the defence cuts keep coming, the MoD may even decide to sell off the site? If this were to happen, it would only benefit Joe Public though, as it would probably end up being used as public open space due to its proximity to the rest of Kenley Common.

Anyway, all the best.

Will there be an event at Biggin Hill?
Seems a logical place to hold an airshow if only the owners would permit.

The Biggin Hill Festival of Flight is being staged with the BoB 75th anniversary featuring on Saturday 13th June .
Hopefully with vastly improved traffic flow.
I’m very sad to hear about the Kenley news, it is a lovely airfield with a lovely atmosphere.

Kenley Airshow 2015

Has anyone spoken to HQ Air Cadets at RAF Cranwell as they command 2FTS now

Hi Tempest414,

Thanks for your comment.

Well, after we got the refusal from 2FTS (as members of BADA), we asked them to intercede on our behalf as they obviously work very closely with the MAA. They did enquire as to the “how & why” of the decision and their response to us was effectively “its not worth pushing for this event, as the decision is not going to be over turned”.

As BADA have more contacts than us and we had enough on our hands with trying to run the event, this was just one more thing that we had neither the resources or time to donate to try and fix. From our prospective, the permission granted by the RAF and MoD land agent in 2012/13 was still good, so we thought – lets go!

Ho Hum – At least we tried. And there are plenty of 75th anniversary events on up and down the country next year (incl Biggin Hill in June), so we should all be spoilt for choice. Tally Ho!

Yep, we did. We had local permission from the RAF Sq Leader who ran the Cadets Gliding School during 2012-13, plus permission from the MoD land agents who run all military airfields. This post was changed in late 2013 and the gliding school was run now by a Ft Lt (but he was also supportive of the event), so we continued with the planning. At this point we had no negetive feedback but were just dealing with the usual issues of corporate sponsorship, site & traffic management etc. All aircraft bookings had also been made.

The issue was that during 2014, the CO of all RAF gliding schools changed and the new postholder adopted a negetive attitude towards the event (risk management) and it was he who pulled the plug on us in October. As Corporate Members of BADA (British Air Display Association), we even asked them to intercede on our behalf but, alas, even they could not over-turn the decision. Evidently we are just one of several civilan run airshows at UK military airfields that have been similarily affected by this new risk-adverse viewpoint.

As we were trying to raise funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund, we had to inform them of the decision and they also thought it reflected poorly on the “RAF family” – plus they’re now out maybe £10K in funds?

Has anyone spoken to HQ Air Cadets at RAF Cranwell as they command 2FTS now

Will there be an event at Biggin Hill?
Seems a logical place to hold an airshow if only the owners would permit.

The RAF Duty Holder for Air Cadet gliding is SO risk averse that all Air Cadet gliding has been ‘paused’ since April and is not likely to restart until well into next year.

Goodwood Revival has NEVER been an airshow. It is a celebration of everything pre 1969. Motorsport, fashion, lifestyle & aviation. It is by far the best atmosphere at any event I have ever been to & for what is available to see & hear, well worth the ticket price. Dunsfold this year was my 1st time, found it to be very good apart from Miss Demeanour being replaced by the Midair mob, it is a good day altogether. The only other airshow I bother with is Old Warden. At least you can still see the aircraft when they’re in the air there I haven’t been to a Duxford airshow since 2003, l think it has just become too commercial & is the least atmospheric place to go now.

Hope this sets the record straight?

That is clear thank you. I am not surprised by this news. A colleague of mine was until recently involved with the air cadet gliding organization. Apart from annual proficiency checks from the central gliding school the RAF were happy to leave them alone for years. But since the RAF has got so much smaller they have been brought under a new management structure – including the creation of a new FTS (?) – which sounds like jobs for the boys to me. Even worse, if this decision has come direct from the officer I am thinking of (even though we were in different air forces I still found him detestable) then you guys can be added to the long list of people who he has p*$$ed off. Sad.

Sorry to sound negative PBY but as Kenley airfield is still owned by the MOD why did you not ask them first before going through all that planning effort?

I was involved with the original planning of the event that was at first scheduled as the 2013 ‘Empire Air Day’ tribute show, with a 1930s theme. At that stage the MOD were playing ball, to an extent, and the flying field was being made available for that event. Then, during that planning process, the MOD changed their minds and decided that the runway(s) were not in sufficiently good condition to allow their usage for the show. However, it was decided to proceed on the basis that there would be a flying display at the field but with no landing-on allowed. The MOD were (then) content with that. There would also have been extensive ground displays, including static aircraft etc. This had all met MOD approval and there had been extensive consultations with the CAA (including appointment of Rod Dean as Display Director) local authorities, Police, residents associations and other interested parties etc.

When time ran out to get the 2013 show organised it was decided to re-group and instead run a 75th anniversary Battle of Britain show in 2015. It was at that point that the MOD made further restrictions which, unfortunately, meant the plans had to abandoned.

Please be assured that it wasn’t a case of going through all of the pain and effort of the planning process without first having asked the MOD.

Whilst I was involved with this project I withdrew on appointment as an Editor at Key Publishing.

Hope this sets the record straight?

Depressing reading! “Risk management” – the bane of our lives – so often!:(

RAF Kenley airshow

Sorry to sound negative PBY but as Kenley airfield is still owned by the MOD why did you not ask them first before going through all that planning effort?

Yep, we did. We had local permission from the RAF Sq Leader who ran the Cadets Gliding School during 2012-13, plus permission from the MoD land agents who run all military airfields. This post was changed in late 2013 and the gliding school was run now by a Ft Lt (but he was also supportive of the event), so we continued with the planning. At this point we had no negetive feedback but were just dealing with the usual issues of corporate sponsorship, site & traffic management etc. All aircraft bookings had also been made.

The issue was that during 2014, the CO of all RAF gliding schools changed and the new postholder adopted a negetive attitude towards the event (risk management) and it was he who pulled the plug on us in October. As Corporate Members of BADA (British Air Display Association), we even asked them to intercede on our behalf but, alas, even they could not over-turn the decision. Evidently we are just one of several civilan run airshows at UK military airfields that have been similarily affected by this new risk-adverse viewpoint.

As we were trying to raise funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund, we had to inform them of the decision and they also thought it reflected poorly on the “RAF family” – plus they’re now out maybe £10K in funds?

And displace the market? Very costly, very impractical.

Take it to North Weald?

Thanks – I’ll stick to Dunsfold!

Around 50 minutes, including the ‘dawn patrol’ slot when many visitors are still queuing for the car parks

http://cdn.gwsrv.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/timetable-FINAL.pdf

Mike – I had the impression it was a lot more than an hour….and the right ticket price is what people will pay so I have to assume Goodwood has got it right.

I must say £20 for Dunsfold for its mixture of wings and wheels is damn good value for me!!;)

Sorry to sound negative PBY but as Kenley airfield is still owned by the MOD why did you not ask them first before going through all that planning effort?

RAF Waddington’s Traditional First weekend in July is up for grabs

RAF Waddington’s Traditional slot First weekend in July must be a prime date ?

You have to admit, a minumum ticket price of seventy quid a day is a lot for an hour’s flying in total though!

And Southend was supposed to be ‘revived’ last year too and then fell through, so we’ll have to wait and see on that one.