Most people know that the last 4 Airshows at Woodford from 1997-2000 were all affected by Rain, however which shows from the period 1968(first airshow)-1989 were also affected by bad weather, Woodfords reputation for bad weather can’t just be from the last 4 shows I remember reading in Flypast that the biggin hill air fair suffered from bad weather from 1985-1987 any help would be appreciated:)
By: Thunderbird167 - 28th March 2007 at 07:54
Woodford was not the only place to suffer bad weather during the 1980’s and early nineties.
I can remember St Athan being so wet on two years in a row that the opinion of those attending was that only flying boats or amphibians would be attending the next show.
Also in the early 1990’s I attended a particularly wet airshow at Leeming. With my fellow enthusiasts we gave up at about 3 pm when the Nimrod was being displayed as it appeared to be looking for survivors in what was left of the crowd. I think that there were only about six displays all day due to the low cloud and rain.
By: Bruggen 130 - 27th March 2007 at 20:43
Well I can’t claim to be expert on Woodford’s weather before the 1990s, but having looked back at many photos from the old events and hearing anecdotes I think it’s fair to say Woodford’s weather was largely mixed down the years to the 1990s. There were some excellent years, some poor years -but I think most were somewhere in between.
Wet wins about 5-1 against I think.:D
By: EGCD - 27th March 2007 at 20:17
Well I can’t claim to be expert on Woodford’s weather before the 1990s, but having looked back at many photos from the old events and hearing anecdotes I think it’s fair to say Woodford’s weather was largely mixed down the years to the 1990s. There were some excellent years, some poor years -but I think most were somewhere in between.
By: Camlobe - 27th March 2007 at 19:25
Wettt Woodford
Can’t comment on the airshows hosted at Woodford prior to the nineties, but…do remember going into Woodford on WL756, the tail-end-charlie of a five-ship Shacklebomber fleet ‘coming home’ for the 40th aniversary of the Shack in March 1989.
There had been rain. And WIND. The CO, Wg Cdr D*** H***** led from the front and put the first one down, followed nervously and cautiously by the rest…
with a 25 knot crosswind.
M***** H***** was Captain on ’56…and we were the only ones to aquaplane! It did look good on the local news while we quaffed many beers afterwards.
Attended Woodford in the early nineties in ZA947. Weather was great, and so was the welcome. And the mighty Nimrod almost blew the Cri-Cri into the next county. And I was able to show Lt Cdr David Lord RN (Swordfish pilot) around the Dak, painted as the aircraft of Flt Lt David Lord VC. Oh, did I mention that the Lt Cdr was the nephew of…(some months later, at very short notice, we managed to arrange for David Lord the younger, accompanied by his wife, to fly the Dak on a trip over DL senior’s grave in Wrexham. An emotional one, that. Some times, the little bit of effort is worth more than words can ever express. Apologies for rampant thread drift).
camlobe
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March 27, 2007 at 5:52 pm