stuart gowansA nice insight into what goes on behind the scenes, prior to an event like Legends, thank you.
However I have to ask, wouldn’t some of those highly trained engineering type people be better off helping to keep the crowd line clear of wind-breaks, ladders and hi viz jackets. Admittedly the number of participating aircraft would be significantly reduced, but at least everyone would have an uncluttered view. 😉
All very humorous, but all it would take ,is a directive from IWM and a few notices to that effect, but then why let fact get in the way of the discussion.
stuart gowansIf your estimated quote was correct a couple of years ago it would need to be updated and indexed to the cost of displaying an aircraft in 2006 then you need to double that figure as 30 odd aircraft go up in the balbo at the end, a second display, then you need to add on infinite other costs. Best look here http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59969 to understand the magnitude of the the project you are trying to budget on the back of a cigarette packet!
I’m a non smoker .. It’s quite alright if you know more than me on the subject, I don’t need to “know it all”; I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know what “legends” does cost to put on, although I appreciate it may cost more than hiring a marquee for a village fete, however I don’t think patronising me is going to help me to understand the maginitude of the event , perhaps you can lend me your copy of the accounts for the event.
stuart gowansJDK, my perspective, is that regrettable as they were, the accidents that you refer to along with other more recent ones, have nothing to do with my “complaints” , which are, that the flight line walk should be part of the ticket price (I didn’t see any concessions for children etc), the windbreak shanty town thing is antisocial ,and should not be allowed by the site owners (IWM) and that if IWM wanted to put up a new “my hangar is bigger than your hanger ” complex ,they should have made sure that they had ther funds in place to do so (as my bank would say) ,rather than to send out hit squads of people who sadly know very little about that which they are selling, you but are undeterred all the same; “aeroplanes and stuff”. I read elsewhere on this forum about the trials and tribulations in getting A/C ready for the event, I have no argument with that, but what I will say is that “legends” is big business, quoting from a “legends” video, from a couple of years ago,the fee for a single engined plane for a fifteen minute slot was £3000- I saw at least thirty planes displaying on saturday, those figures at face value would add up to nearly £100k, now you could argue that the figures cancel out any argument that the show was over priced, and as I don’t have the total gate numbers, I can only estimate the attendance, but I think that they did alright. The IWM in my opinion has become totally obsessed with financing Airspace, and I am fed up with them asking me for money, either at events or by the post. It is not in my nature to be rude to someone that I’ve never met before and rather than tell the young girl to p*55 off, I let her extol the virtues of said Airspace , my understanding of which ,was that it is a place for “aeroplanes and stuff” a marginal improvement on hangar 1, perhaps, but just like a double glazing salesman/ woman , she was unhappy to let it go ,when I said that I would give the matter some consideration, and asked me for a £2- donation on the spot!.
stuart gowansI didn’t realise that the flightline walk was specifically for photography, for me just being up close to some of these A/C wolud have been enough, but you have to consider the possibility that as people are paying good money for the priviledge, their expectations rise pro rata with the expense. As for windbreaks its always windy at DX, something to do with its location, and yes windbreaks are only waist height (to some one 6ft tall) but its the area of crowd rail that is put into private” ownership” thus denying others the chance of standing at the front, that is the issue. And yes we are probably whinging t*55ers, but nothing was ever improved without negative customer feed back, and the fact that other countries are in the dark ages r.e airshows ,doesn’t mean that over here we need sit on our collective laurels.
stuart gowansIt looks like the blind flying layout incorporates the war time direction indicator, and also a couple of oval gauges that were comon late war/ early fifties, the cutout for the turn and slip is smaller than the ones used commonly during the war ,but still I haven’t got a clue what its from
stuart gowansI did not like the way the sun moved from an easterly direction to a more westerly location as the afternoon progressed. The IWM clearly has little regard for the needs of photographers. Or loonies.
Next year I shall watch it all from the roof of the Royston ‘Burger-rama’.
I know what you mean about the sun, the wind was blowing in the wrong direction too
stuart gowansThe reoccuring theme is entry price, flightline walk fee, and windbreaks/stepladders; these in my view are genuine issues. Other things like litter bins, self important vests,less so. I’ll be the first to admit I have trouble seperating what DX plc organises and what the fighter collection does (rather than the obvious) if the money for the flight line walk goes to the fighter collection ,then fair enough; I can only imagine the fuel bill for this event, with most A/C using an average of 2 gals a minute, and I echo the sentiments that we are lucky to have what “we’ve got”. Duxford is still the IWM, and as tax payers we fund this, I have let my “friends of DX ” membership lapse, as its now £70- ish, but as I told the young lady (imploring me to give more money to the Airspace project) I still “give generously” , and support amongst others Sally B,(which in my opinion is a far worthier cause than Airspace) to me the final insult would be paying another £12 for me and the wife and child no.1 to do the flight line walk. To my mind the whole thing has been engineered, in such a way that the flight line is so far back from the crowd line that it forces you to “take a walk on the live side” . No doubt safety issues will be sited ,but I still feel that it should be inclusive with the entry price. The wind break thing is far less complicated both in terms of concept and resolution, its selfish people that want to reserve a bit of public space, without having to endure hours and hours of standing there (when nothing is happening), and it should be banned.
stuart gowansThere must be some sort of bizarre sect for old people that involves fancydress, carrier bags, dogs and tricycles; there is a chap who used to live off Pound lane (between Basildon and South Benfleet) who used to have a bicycle with a side car on it and invariably a dog in that; he was in fact banned from keeping dogs ,for reasons I won’t go into ,suffice to say he liked dogs !! His house was derelict with all the rooms full up with old vintage motorcycle parts, and he used to go up to the “Kentucky” in South Benfleet for his sunday dinner (bear in mind this was in the days when they didn’t open sunday lunchtimes!, he was in fact bin diving!!) One Sunday someone ,(neigbour) couldn’t stand it any more, and they bulldozed his house !! he didn’t leave though . Is this off topic? oh alright, best display on saturday was Stephen Grey in the Bearcat, I thought that I’d enjoy the Spitfires the most , but probably there was too many of them (how’s that possible I hear you ask) ;every year there’s one A/C that steals the show ,last year it was the Thunderbolt, the year before a lone Hurricane.
stuart gowansFor the first time at an air show at Dx ,yesterday my son (who is nine) could actually see the A/c on thr ground , that was only because we were lucky enough to get a bit of “hand rail” and clung onto it for four and a half hours, I turned around literally for a second to speak to my wife , and some bloke darted in to “my space” where my son was still standing, with a puzzled expression on his face. Not everyone wants to be right at the front, but children at 5′ height and under can see b*gger all if they aren’t.
stuart gowansThe Merlins in the mustangs sound louder ,because all Americans are loud (er) ! btw stood next to a very nice chap from Tampla bay in the states , he said that if they charged admission for airshows in the states, that no one would go; I thought that insult to injury was £4- a head to do the fightline walk, I’d just forked out £70- just to get in, and another £12- was taking the p***, is that why they park the A/C so far away from the crowdline? And yes I will be voicing my opinions to DX along with the almost continuous onslaught of “fund raising” activities on behalf of Airspace (the new name for IWM Duxford)
stuart gowansMy “top tip” for legends is to watch the merlin engine runs display, put on by merlin pete and co; if that wasn’t good enough, at the end of the last run of the day, everyone mooches off, and you find yourself with an unobstructed view of the flying!!
stuart gowansI’d say about 11.5” longer ; the drawing for the mkVII says the front part of the cowling is 5′ 10” ,( they appear to have just lengthened the mkV cowlings) and the total length of the mk IX is 6′ 9.5” (nominally) ;the extra length was mainly for the 2 stage blower although the 2 speed unit was a few inches longer than the single. The spinner is longer too
stuart gowansBen ,looks like the asterisk fairy has been at your post! still I’m s*re y*u kn*w wh*t y*u me*n…
stuart gowansSorry, totally disagree! I think they are extremely professional and exciting to watch and they just don’t do enough shows! Seeing a team of Yaks in the air together is not something you see every day!
We see them all the time, they’re known affectionally as the “vulture squadron”,; they practice endlessly over the farm, but their missing man display is always a bit of a worry ,as we never really know whether they are missing on purpose or not!
Saturday it is then ; didn’t TT swap his ticket for sunday?
stuart gowansBruce ,what in effect I am saying is tha certain A/C that have benchmark status ,or else are held up as “definative restorations” ,should be just that; to be either of the former they should have all systems fitted and restored, exhaust stacks nailed to a piece of wood and the prop hung on a piece of tube attached to the fire wall, will not, in my opinion do; is this (in the case of the big nationals) a questiion of money or availability, or as much to do with the fact that no one will ever see inside , therefore it doesn’t matter whats in there. There are many A/C around the country / world that are either stripped out in the cockpit or engine dept, you do the best you can with time and money available, but you don’t try and pull the wool over the eyes of the visitors. Its when these restorations are held up to be the very pinnicle of their type by their owners or else other interested parties, that the problems arise. Take the Supermarine s6 as an example, the exploits and achievements of this legendary A/C are equally atributable to the airframe and the engine; when you see the airframe with a big empty hole where the engine sat, you cannot believe what a disappointment that was to me ,to be face to face with a real legend, and yet not; I always thought that museums should be time capsules preserving exhibits in a way that would capture the imagination, the thought that they are almost ready to go ; how would you feel if the steam train Mallard was just the steamlining cladding with no boiler or motion (other than that which could be seen) held together with angle iron? and then you would read about what a labour intensive restoration had been carried out…
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