Not in my lifetime can I remember a free airshow? Where were these? I clearly missed them.

Er… Finningley every year since I started going in 1967, Binbrook, Coningsby, Lakenheath, St.Mawgan, Alconbury, Scampton, Middleton St.George, Bentwaters, Church Fenton, Abingdon, St.Athan, Leuchars, Valley, Wyton…

If I got to the point where I stopped enjoying watching airshows, I’d find a new hobby

I’m afraid the aeroplane bug has stuck with me all my life, so I don’t think there’s much hope of moving onto something new! I started air shows in 1967 when I was (just) old enough to walk. I was lucky to see most of the great air shows through the late 1970s and into the 1980s but these days they just don’t seem worth the effort. It was the first time I’d visited Fairford in about ten years, and I doubt if I’ll bother going again – it’s not like XH558 will be doing a repeat performance! Like yourself, I’ve gleaned more enjoyment from seeing XH558 away from the air shows. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve popped over to Finningley to see the regular take-offs and landings. I find it very hard to resist! 🙂

now we are into how old the audience is and whether RIAT is the show it used to be.
They call it “mission creep” these days 🙂

The Saturday display didn’t include anything that was inappropriate for a Vulcan. The reason it got so much attention was simply because a Vulcan hasn’t been flown that aggressively since the 1980s when Joe L’Estrange was the RAF display pilot. Consequently, a lot of people simply hadn’t seen a Vulcan being flown like that so it was a surprise. Likewise it was a surprise for the rest of us who were expecting the usual sedate demonstration.

Almost all of XH558’s displays in civilian hands have been flown at a very significant distance from spectators. Saturday was the first time I’ve seen the aircraft actually get to the display line and just this was enough to make the display much more interesting. However Kevin also made some of the turns very tight (something that has also been absent from civilian demonstrations) and even performed a very sporty tight right-hand turn on take-off. This was of course Joe L’Estrange’s speciality which most of us will remember from the days of the Greenham Common shows. The landing was also spectacular as the wind conditions resulted in a couple of bounces, and the tail chute was fully deployed while the wheels were still (just) off the ground. The parachute had to be dropped pretty quickly though as the crosswind component was dragging the aircraft off the runway towards the crowd.

As for the “zoom climb”, Kevin has flown similar manoeuvres at shows in the past, but this was the first time that the aircraft actually got to the vertical before commencing its turn, and the first time that the half-loop off the top resulted in the aircraft being completely inverted. So it wasn’t any huge change from Kevin’s usual display manoeuvres, it was just a little more than we were expecting. As for the safety aspect, it is of course entirely safe as the manoeuvre was a routine part of Vulcan operations during its earliest days when LABS manoeuvres were performed. Farnborough shows often included the very same manoeuvre. from what we’ve seen, it seems to simply be a case of pilot preference. Bill Ramsey flew the Sunday display at RIAT and it was by all accounts much more sedate (I read one Twitter comment from someone who felt thoroughly cheated because he’d driven to the show after seeing all the comments surrounding Saturday’s display!) so it seems to be only Kevin Rumens who is prepared to fly the aircraft with such spirit. I guess the others think it is wiser to be gentle with what is a very old aeroplane. But with just ten weekends or so left to continue flying, I guess there’s no need to be quite so gentle any more.

Incidentally, the kind of inverted manoeuvre we’re talking about here isn’t the kind of thing that could be used to “find FOD” as mentioned above. The aircraft has to be kept under positive-g throughout the manoeuvre. This was why the RAF forbade pilots from trying to roll the aircraft during its early days. Avro’s display pilots had the skills to perform barrel rolls that kept the aircraft in positive-g, whereas some service pilots simply didn’t have the knowledge or ability to get it right. I recall a colleague who used to work on Vulcans at Avro and he often told me that on many test flights the sandwich break would often involve some barrel rolls for no reason other than amusement, and he usually carried-on eating his sandwiches whilst sat on the step below the pilots. With positive-g applied he didn’t even know he was upside-down 🙂

Well sort of… it’s still typically lazy journalism. Basically they’re sitting-back and letting the readers do the work. TV media are just as guilty of the same crime… “email us and send us your views” which is shorthand for “you do the work and contact us, and we’ll broadcast it if we think it’s worth it” 🙂

Think some of that is to do with the pilot – I believe Bill Ramsey was flying today? Like Martin, he seems to prefer a less aggressive approach to Vulcan displaying. If it was the display committee then I’d be surprised. Surely they don’t profess to know more about it than Kevin does? 🙂

All I know is that it brought a real thrill to what would otherwise have been a fairly dull RIAT. True, the flying display was a decent mix of international military hardware but it was hardly exciting. As ever, the majority of the interesting aircraft were sat motionless in the static park surrounded by assorted junk. I don’t think any of the seasoned observers were expecting anything remarkable from the Vulcan display, but it was a welcome surprise right from the start. A very neat right-hand turn on take-off which was reminiscent of Joe L’Estrange’s performances back in the 1980s. Then we were all delighted to see that the various passes were actually close to the display line instead of being a long way away (as has often been the case with XH558’s display in civilian hands). Then to finish the display a stunning climb into the vertical and a neat roll off the top fully inverted. It was like a Farnborough show from the 1950s, as was the landing with the tail ‘chute being popped before touch-down. Thrilling stuff when one considers how tame the Vulcan performances have been. I guess there’s no reason to pamper XH558 now that the flying will soon be over, so congratulations to Kevin for what was a real tear jerker for more than a few people. It’s not often that one hears a whole air show audience applaud a display act. Not often that I’m impressed by any aviation events these days but yesterday’s performance certainly did it for me! 🙂