Yeovilton Air Day – Takes a grilling?

I got in for free but was only interested in seeing the Hunter, Sea Hawk & Sea Fury. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. I didn’t think the weather was bad enough for Flapjack to display Miss Demeanour so was a bit peeved off at that but i don’t think it’s a show worth £20, £15 at a push for that one.

Exactly my feelings too dees01, well apart from the south dispersal bit 🙂
The Skyraider, Vampire, and Moth also mention.

I paid £16 for the ticket, which is a bit steep considering the price for Culdrose.

I spent the day on South Dispersal, and I have to say that bar a couple of highlights which were the Sea Fury and Sea Hawk, first time I’ve seen that fly since it went to Dunsfold) and the Harrier 4 ship (possibly the last time you will see a massed Sea Harrier flyby), the rest of the display was pretty tame. Yes, the weather didn’t help, that was why Miss Demeanour didn’t display, but then Jonathon was refused a revised slot. Apparently there was no room in the display for him during the afternoon show,which given the amount of gaps in the flypro was a bit poor. Also, why did a number of the aircraft taking off start from the intersection, rather than right in front of most of the crowd??

So, all in all I was glad I didn’t have to pay to get in. I may have been a bit miffed if I had!

I enjoyed it too. I used to attend every Yeovilton show in the 1960s and 1970s, and this was the first one I had been to for around 20 years.

Yes, there were gaps in both static and flying, but given the weather I thought they did remarkably well. As has already been said, it was worth the long drive just to see the Sea Fury and Sea Hawk flying, but other highlights for me were the Lynx pair (as always), the Vampire and the Sea Harrier 4-ship.

I also think Yeovilton should have a pat on the back for deciding to drag out of the hangars every aeroplane capable of being moved to bolster the static display. This meant there were over 20 Lynxes outside and 9 or 10 Sea Harriers to poke your camera at.

Well done Royal Navy!

I was there and enjoyed it inspite of the weather.

I have read the thread on pprune, and can kind of see where the complaints are coming from, however I have never been before so do not have anything to compare against. One of the main complaits seems to have been about the Harrier display, which was slightly uninteresting, but the weather was terrible, and I would rather have seen stuff fly, rather than just sit on the tarmac.

As I understood it there were over 20 aircraft expected for the static park, but due to the weather very few managed to make it.

The two people I was with also enjoyed it. The mock battle at the end was very well done and seemed to catch the attention of the whole crowd around me! The Red Arrows crew were also very good and walked the flight line talking to kids and signing autographs.

Cheers

Jonathan

Well, there was an awful lot of empty concrete in the static park – I remember that being a critisism of last year’s events as well. I thought it was a good display which could have been excellent but for the weather. Some nice touches – the Avenger pilot made a point of taxiing to the crowd side of the runway before take-off so that we could get a good view of his aircraft. Little things like that do make a difference. No BBMF and no Hunter – but that was again due to the weather and I think the organisers coped well. The Sea Hawk and Sea Fury made the day – as far as I was concerned it was well worth the 250 mile round trip. I’m not sure what else was missed out as I never buy a programme there (very little information unless you want to join up) but it was an enjoyable show.

Maarvin