Ahh formation flying
DOUGHNUT

Kenneth (et al)

Does anybody know if the French proposing any ‘100th Anniversary of Flight’ type show this year ? Not much seems to have been said about this years Le Bourget show.

DOUGHNUT

This thread started ‘What makes an aircraft important?’

The Sheppards Swift has been mentioned and its connection with Mike Lithgow, great but what makes an aircraft important it the fact that that actual airfarme was involved, so although it is lacking wings the NEAM Swift has got to be considered more important because Lithgow actually flew that aircraft on the day that he broke the world airspeed record. That is why it has a place in history.

DOUGHNUT

Oberschleissheim air show

Hi Kenneth,

I shall give my final verdict on the quality of the show when my slides are returned. Unlike RogerS I attended the show on the Saturday, unfortunately the weather started grey and overcast and got worst, by 11.00am it was raining and at 12.30 we departed as any flying display would have surely have been limited. The museum was inspected and contained some nice exhibits, unfortunately some of the promised items failed to show in particular the Fw190, the Swiss Morane 3801 and as mentioned earlier the Me 109. The whole show appeared to take on a small style of a PFA type fly-in with aircraft arriving for most of the morning, their number was presumably limited by the poor weather. Overall not worth the long trip south, but visits to Hermeskeil, Sinsheim and Speyer museums certainly compensated for that.

DOUGHNUT

What makes an aircraft REALLY important is if it is THE original airframe that achieved a particlar record or attended a certain event. Although great care must be exercised before attributing to much to a restored airframe, remember Washington’s axe with two new heads and three new shafts. Aviation wise I believe the real gems are those on display in the Sceince Museum in London because most of these aircraft were offered for preservation shortly after their historic flights. Alcock and Browne’s Vimy, Amy Johnson’s DH60, the Supermarine S6, the Whittle Jet. Prototypes such as the Mosquito and Harrier/P1128. Cosfords record breakers Meteor, Hunter and Fairly Delta.
This is off course a British perspective what do our European and USA members think.

DOUGHNUT

Have got to echo what markp451 has said the MAM they have done great work over the last thirty old years, obtaining the Voodoo and F-4×2 from the USAF was a great new, as was there F-104 from Denmark. If their disasembled F-4 is complete I would like it to go on display at another location, would MAM consider a swop or long term loan to another museum, may be Newark would be a good place. Congulations to all MAM and lets hope they can fund a hangar extension in the near future

DOUGHNUT

Hi Kenneth, exactly where is the museum located ?

The Me 108 marked as D-1010 and an unmarked Me109G where both on static display at the Deutsches Museum airshow at Oberscheisshein on Saturday, I will post some more details later.

DOUGHNUT

The whole subject of what we expect from an airshow is a minefield. The organisers will never be able to please all of the people, so they must decide who is most valuable to them in order to make their airshow a successs. Unfortunatley the enthusiasts that use this forum will only account for a small proportion of the total crowd. The airshow organiser MUST make a profit out of the event in order to provide funding for next years show, I think the North Weald Fighter Meet fell foul of this problem and a great event was lost forever. The organiser must also look at what sponorship can be generated for the show, so it is to be expected that the local radio station and Ford/Vauxhall car dealer will be present. The clever bit is to make sure that the car show and bric-a-brak sale are kept seperate from the airshow, in this way the non aviation members of a family group will have something to enjoy. All is this leads me to Duxford and their ‘family friendly’ approach, the airfield is a big place so why not have a Sunday market on the grass outside the TFC hangar and the aviation traders can use the space between and outside the hangars 3,4 & 5. As someone who goes to the airshows solo I do object to paying fullprice to enter when the family usually has free entry for their children, other events such as theme parks and cinemas do not give this benefit. The event is called an air show so the public should not be surprized to find traders selling books, prints and models of aeroplanes and should not then complain that their children are freightened by the noise that the aircraft make.

DOUGHNUT

one final point that air organisers should never forget, the family will only visit an airshow once they have seen a weather forcast, the enthustist will be their in the wind and the rain so please dont forget about us.