Due to a dodgy leg I can’t walk huge distances so the only displays I attend are at Old Warden but in recent years there seems to have been more and more jobsworths appear there who seem intent on throwing their weight around and ruining peoples enjoyment.
During my last visit I wanted to take my other half to the Swiss Garden as she had never seen it and we had about 3 hours before the display started so I could get around the garden and back with a few stops along the way. Shortest route with a dodgy leg was to the entry gate behind the hangars but I was stopped by someone from SVAS who told me that I couldn’t walk down the road behind the hangars as it was being used as an access road for emergency vehicles and service vehicles and I might get run over.
For a start the chances of any vehicle wanting to use the road were minimal and secondly having been a motorcycle marshall, grass track mechanic, paddock / grid marshall for go karts as well as having done the odd bit of aircraft handling I am used to looking out for vehicles around me and I am quite capable of stepping aside if a vehicle comes along. I felt quite insulted that I was obviously being treated as if I had no commonsense whatsoever. I had no problem with a warning that the road may be in use occassionally so I should keep a lookout but to be physically prevented from walking down it just wasn’t acceptable bearing in mind the low risk of any problem. As a result I didn’t go back for the other two or three visits I would normally have made to Old Warden last year.
Airshow admission isn’t cheap now and it is up to the organiser to make the punter feel welcome and give them an enjoyable day without having it ruined or tainted for no good reason.
Old Warden has always been one of those places where spectators are quite happy to hang around after the show but it wasn’t so many years ago that the restaurant and the shop were evicting potential customers as soon as the show finished. I can also remember the catering manageress forcing the outside caterer to close because they weren’t allowed to remain open after the collection restaurant had closed even though there was a queue of people wanting drinks and / or burgers which the collection catering wasn’t prepared to sell to them. I know that the Old Warden staff want to get home but at the end of the day the bulk of their income must come from display days so surely that is when you need maximum effort to take as much money as possible.
Old Warden is a great place with a great atmosphere (when it is allowed to shine through). The atmosphere was built on having respect and consideration for those around you (remember the requests over the tannoy to close tailgates before the display started). It is a shame that sometimes the place is tainted by a lack of consideration for the very people who pay their money at the gate.
As far as display acts go I like to see a good mix. I am not mad about modern jets but still enjoy their displays and gliders and aerobatics (PItts, Extra etc) are great although we don’t seem to see too many indivdual displays from aircraft like the Pitts (or modern equivalent) that we saw in the 70’s and 80’s. I remember Richard Goode was spectacular before his accident and Brian Lecomber and Phillip Meeson amongst others were well worth watching. There was also Brendan O’Brien with the Skyhawks and the truck top landing – both great display acts. Many of the modern acts (with some exceptions) just don’t seem to be quite so exciting.

I had no intention of knocking display organisers in general. It must be difficult with all the modern health and safety regulations to stage any display and pilots must find that modern regulations restrict the content of their display to a far greater extent than they did in the past.
I fully understand the need for regulation as we lost too many great pilots and aircraft to avoidable accidents in the past and that situation could not be allowed to continue. Many of the accidents could potentially have claimed the lives of large numbers of spectators and had that happened then it may well have seen the end of all airshows either because of a ban or because insurance costs would have rocketed to the point where it was financially impossible to stage shows.
When I did attend the larger shows I always felt that the traffic problems on leaving the show tended to take the edge off the day. Maybe it would be possible to have some lower key ground events running after major displays so that there wasn’t such a mad rush to leave as soon as the display ended.
As far as value for money goes I do realise that staging a modern display is very expensive. In general admission charges seem comparable with other similar public events but I do baulk at the cost of attending some of the premier events such as RIAT and Legends. I am not saying that Legends is poor value for money it is just that for me the admission charge is way above what I feel able to afford for any day out.
The only other criticism is that many shows have a fair part of the display line obscured by marquees to house dignitaries and sponsors guest. I appreciate that the sponsors have helped fund the show but ther must be a way of giving the sponsors guests a good view of the show without forcing the paying public to crush up into small areas at the end of the marquee line to get any view at all.
My experience from hospitality at motorsport events is that many sponsors guests are only there for the free food and booze anyway and pay little attention to what is going on outside the marquee. Maybe it would be possible to have some temporary hospitality chalets on raised platforms a little behind the crowd line. That way the mainly disinterested guests could eat and booze to their hearts content and still get a good view of the display when they felt inclined to watch and the public would get better viewing for their gate money as well.
Having said all the above I think we are forunate in the UK to have such a mix of large and comparatively small events to attend and long may it continue.

I operated a shop at Brands Hatch for several years and in my experience the general public have a very limited attention span. I usually found that by the time we got to third or fourth race there were planty of people who had lost interest in what was happening on the circuit and were looking round the shops and any other ground attractions.
As has already been said there is no doubt that the ordinary public massively outnumber the enthusiasts at most displays and my perception is that most of them watch a bit of the airshow, have a wander round some of the ground displays, watch a bit more airshow and the pattern repeats itself during the day. For the most part the public seem happy with the familiar like a Spitfire, BBMF, Red Arrows and other displays which make a bit of noise or have something else that grabs their attention for a short while. Acts like Brendan O’Briens truck top landing were ideal general public fodder as to the average punter the attempted feat looked impossible and when they got home the kids could tell everyone about the mad pilot who landed on a lorry.
If the public continue to show up at the gates to be fed similar fodder every year then it is understandable that display organisers (having invested large amounts of money in putting together the display) are reluctant to change the format and risk alienating the main part of their audience.

We are very lucky to have Flying Legends and smaller events such as the Lancaster taxi runs, taxy runs at Bruntingthorpe and many of the events at North Weald which appeal specifically to the enthusiast. The Old Warden displays could also be regarded as mainly enthusiast events although I have noticed a rise in non enthusiasts in recent years and everyone I have ever taken there has loved the comparative peace and intimacy of the place.

As enthusiasts we sometimes forget that the driving force behind any show is a profit for the organisers. Without the profit motive we would have few if any shows at all so as far as the major displays go I don’t think we can expect to see any major changes in the forseeable future because, understandably, the organisers simply won’t take the risk of trying to ” fix what ain’t broke” and take the chance of losing a lot of punters.

Having some kind of system where each museum or organisation could post bulletins on latest acquisitions and progress on restoration projects seems a great idea. The only problem I can see is that Key may view this as a form of advertising for each museum / organisation but obviously that is something for those who run the forum to decide.

The registrations in your log all look OK for aircraft that would have still been flying in 1969 except for the Fox Moth. G-ACCB ditched in the sea off Southport in 1956 although I am sure substantial parts of it are still aound somewhere.
The most likely candidate for the Fox Moth at Gaydon would be G-ACEJ which I think was still owned by the Tiger Club at that time. I am pretty sure the only other Fox Moth flying in the UK at that time was G-AOJH but OJH was quite distinctive as it had a canopy whereas CEJ had an open cockpit.
Perhaps someone else can confirm this or alternatively blow my theory to bits.

The Science Museum Lockheed is suspended from the ceiling in the ground floor gallery at South Kensington. It looks impressive but I always think the area is a bit overcrowded so it is difficult to really appreciate the Lockheed.

Any one fancy a Sea Harrier. Only needs a few bits and pieces to make it presentable again!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEA-HARRIER-JUMP-JET-AIRCRAFT-RESTORATION-PROJECT_W0QQitemZ300391466152QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CPV_Aviation_SM?hash=item45f0ba04a8

Graham
I would also be interested in the Southend pics. By all means send a PM if you want to. Thanks