One of the problems that air show organisers have is doing something different each year. It’s difficult keeping flying displays new and fresh.
I hope you’ll forgive the shameless self-promotion - but at Airsound we feel we’ve hit on something new for Cosford this year. It goes like this.
The one thing that aviation enthusiasts share, be they pilots, air show punters, mechanics or whatever, is the thing that we never seem to talk about: our love of aircraft and what they do. We just don’t articulate those feelings - and that’s a shame.
Because the reasons we love aircraft are both practical and poetic. They are reasons to be proud of.
Aircraft are beautiful pieces of design. They are miracles of engineering. They express one of mankind's oldest dreams. They are flown by men and women to whom fate has often given the chance to become heroes.
So we’re going to wear our hearts on our sleeves for 20 minutes at Cosford 2009. We’ve called this idea Into The Wild Blue Yonder.
It has two elements: In the Air and On-The-Air (broadcast over the PA). Each bit supports the other.
In the Air. The air show running order places three aircraft together, mixing piston with jet, vintage and contemporary, quiet and not so quiet. The three pilots are a mix of men and women, chosen not just for their superlative flying skills, but also for their ability to express their feelings.
On-The-Air. We’re going to be unashamedly poetic and romantic about flying, but at the same time we’re not going to forget the nuts and bolts that keep it going. So we’ll swing from dancing the skies on laughter-silvered wings to cross-threading a 6BA nut and bolt. We'll hear specially recorded stuff from the pilots we’re watching, and also from mechanics at Heathrow, children at Hendon, Guinea Pigs, air show punters, holidaymakers, AVM's and erks.
Anyone, in fact, who can express for us that huge internal shout we feel when our favourite aircraft pitches up.
We'll accompany this with specially composed music, and deft script that brings it all together.
We realise that not everyone who reads and contributes to UKAR is necessarily particularly interested in what comes out of the loudspeakers - but we do hope that this new idea will offer you something that you haven't come across before.
I'm sure you'll let us know!
See you on Sunday.....
sean
airsound
. I am sure most of us have had the proverbial ripped out of us by someone who can't understand the interest/hobby.
Certainly the consesnus around me was the same - seemed to make little sense with what was going on at the time...
