May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

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Roughcutter
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Roughcutter »

Mooshie1956 wrote:
st24 wrote:Forecast has gone silly good now with full sun pretty much all day. Bring it on! :clap:


Don't forget the sun cream. I'm off to buy some now. :biggrin:

Don't forget yer hat :smile:

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Talldan76
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Talldan76 »

Still a very long queue to get in - don’t think I’ve ever seen it like that!

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st24
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by st24 »

Typhoon display, same old same old....
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by boff180 »

So BBMF topsides anyone including the Lanc round the bend twice?

Oh and Avro 19 formating with both the Lanc and Blenheim for separate displays?

Cracking day so far.

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Talldan76
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Talldan76 »

Those Lanc topsides...

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by 5944 »

That Lancaster arrival around the corner... :yahoo:

I saw the first car leave five minutes afterwards!

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st24
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by st24 »

5944 wrote:That Lancaster arrival around the corner... :yahoo:

I saw the first car leave five minutes afterwards!

Straight up the A1 toLincs no doubt. Pics will already be on twitter.. :grin:
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by AlexC »

Talldan76 wrote:Those Lanc topsides...


Looking forward to seeing the photos!
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Tom105 »

Very good show today, Lancaster did a brilliant display. Nice to see the camel fly for the first time and to top it off with 3 Edwardian aircraft what more can be wanted!! :clap:
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by rdchawk »

Cracking display from shuttleworth today!! Highlights were Lancaster and the blenheim hurricane formation
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Blackbird »

rdchawk wrote:Cracking display from shuttleworth today!! Highlights were Lancaster and the blenheim hurricane formation


It certainly was :clap: , but the traffic management was appalling :mad: , and as always the catering facilities were completely overwhelmed which is disgraceful.
They knew:

a: it was a sellout - they told us that!
b: the weather forecast was better than good!...so that as the excuse for the 45-50 minute delay to get in was pathetic.

I didn't see many, if any, people leaving after the Typhoon and Lanc.

Andy :smile:

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by boff180 »

If I had a criticism today it was the catering.

They pleaded with people to stay and enjoy the afternoon sunshine rather than cause chaos as the last Edwardian landed.

I’d ran out of water so went off to find fluids and an ice cream to have enjoying the evening to find every single catering stand closed the second that the last aircraft landed.

If you’re going to ask people to stay then the facilities need to remain open to allow that.

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Pen Pusher »

The Lancaster had an engine problem and flew back to Coningsby on three engines.

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Nige321 »

Blackbird wrote:
rdchawk wrote:Cracking display from shuttleworth today!! Highlights were Lancaster and the blenheim hurricane formation


It certainly was :clap: , but the traffic management was appalling :mad: , and as always the catering facilities were completely overwhelmed which is disgraceful.
They knew:

a: it was a sellout - they told us that!
b: the weather forecast was better than good!...so that as the excuse for the 45-50 minute delay to get in was pathetic.

I didn't see many, if any, people leaving after the Typhoon and Lanc.

Andy :smile:


Came in through Cardington at 11:00 and drove stright in, zero hold up!!
And yes, catering was lacking...

But what a show!

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by PirateTrickster »

Utterly brilliant day day, so many highlights. Not sure I can go back to a Shuttleworth airshow now as I don't think that can be topped. The banner being dragged behind the plane took me back to my youth where we'd have one flying around the N Devon coast advertising Watermouth Castle.

Didn't realise one of the BBMF Spits was going to put in an appearance, so that was one of several unexpected surprises.

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by alisdairanderson »

Fantastic show, and the weather forecast was right!
(I wasn't expecting to take 1 hour to get from Biggleswade, but no issues on getting out).

The Lancaster was superb, and great to see the Camel, but overall what an action-packed display!

One from me:
ImageAvro Lancaster 20180506 OldWarden by steam60163, on Flickr

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by paullangford »

st24 wrote:Typhoon display, same old same old....


I don't know whether it was due to Old Warden restrictions or something................but it was a bit tame.
Nice to see after a long winter though.

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

paullangford wrote:
st24 wrote:Typhoon display, same old same old....


I don't know whether it was due to Old Warden restrictions or something................but it was a bit tame.
Nice to see after a long winter though.

I put the camera down after the first pass. Zero interest in it, and it was too high and too distant.

BBMF were unusually sprightly - several topsides, and that opening pass from the Lancaster was superb. Shame the topside in the other direction with the nose art showing was so distant, but I actually got decent topside shots of the Lancaster from inside an airshow venue. This is a revelation.

The Blenheim was as good as I've ever seen - absolutely sublime. Four or five stunning topsides, and all the passes were nice and close.

Spitfires and Hurricanes had their moments, but didn't quite hit the highs the Hurricane displays managed last summer IMO.

I was kind of hoping for a big warbird finale, like we get at Fly Navy - the format was looking familiar, even down to the visit of a helicopter, and my hopes were raised when the Blenheim lowered the gear after its solo but it wasn't to be. If anything, I felt the display petered out a bit towards the end. I'd have had the gliders up earlier and the warbirds left to close the main show.

Special mentions to Stu Goldspink for that fly through on departure in MH434 (and for an excellent pilot talk), and also to the Puma crew for their exit.

Overall, a tremendous start to the season. I couldn't help but think back to the season opener we had in 2016 whilst watching today's show. Just amazing work from everyone at Shuttleworth to get us back to this position. :worship:

If they top that show this year, we're in for something really special.
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Orion
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Orion »

It took an hour from the A1 to parking the car and the place was packed, I've never seen Old Warden like that before. It suggests to me that too many tickets were sold. The accommodation for loos was dreadful, that needs to be looked at again. I take my own catering, so I don't have a comment there, but I can well imagine it being overwhelmed by the numbers. If the Shuttleworth want its shows to be this big, it has to start investing in some infrastructure projects.

The Typhoon display was OK I suppose, but I've seen better by the Belgian F-16, but, then again, that was before the current regulations came into force and the Typhoon isn't a particularly charismatic aeroplane. The rest of the show was pure vintage Shuttleworth with very great highs and some dreadful gaps where matters didn't quite go to plan. Par for the course really and it was noticeable that a fair number of visitors took their leave during the period when staff were trying to get rotaries to stay spinning.

As good as the show was, and at times it was truly memorable, the shear volume of visitors ruined that very special atmosphere that Old Warden has, and has always had. For me, that atmosphere is very important and I'm not sure what to do about it. Right now I'm thinking along the lines of not applying for an advanced ticket anymore; it will mean, I'm sure, that I might miss the odd show here and there but I'll feel more comfortable when I'm there, and anyway there's always plenty to do in an English summer. The comfort factor was lacking today, pity.

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Harvo266
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by Harvo266 »

paullangford wrote:
st24 wrote:Typhoon display, same old same old....


I don't know whether it was due to Old Warden restrictions or something................but it was a bit tame.
Nice to see after a long winter though.

Think about the top brass who were watching....doubt they wanted it being thrown around aggressively ;)
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by cg_341 »

Serious, Harvo? Can the Typhoon display do no wrong in your eyes?

There's one good weather display, it doesn't get more or less aggressive depending on who is watching!

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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by st24 »

LN Strike Eagle wrote:
paullangford wrote:
st24 wrote:Typhoon display, same old same old....


I don't know whether it was due to Old Warden restrictions or something................but it was a bit tame.
Nice to see after a long winter though.

I put the camera down after the first pass. Zero interest in it, and it was too high and too distant.

BBMF were unusually sprightly - several topsides, and that opening pass from the Lancaster was superb. Shame the topside in the other direction with the nose art showing was so distant, but I actually got decent topside shots of the Lancaster from inside an airshow venue. This is a revelation.

The Blenheim was as good as I've ever seen - absolutely sublime. Four or five stunning topsides, and all the passes were nice and close.

Spitfires and Hurricanes had their moments, but didn't quite hit the highs the Hurricane displays managed last summer IMO.

I was kind of hoping for a big warbird finale, like we get at Fly Navy - the format was looking familiar, even down to the visit of a helicopter, and my hopes were raised when the Blenheim lowered the gear after its solo but it wasn't to be. If anything, I felt the display petered out a bit towards the end. I'd have had the gliders up earlier and the warbirds left to close the main show.

Special mentions to Stu Goldspink for that fly through on departure in MH434 (and for an excellent pilot talk), and also to the Puma crew for their exit.

Overall, a tremendous start to the season. I couldn't help but think back to the season opener we had in 2016 whilst watching today's show. Just amazing work from everyone at Shuttleworth to get us back to this position. :worship:

If they top that show this year, we're in for something really special.

Yep, gotta agree with pretty much all of that Dan. I too was half expecting a bit of a balbo, what with 2 Spitfires, 2 Hurricanes, Blenheim and Anson available a real set piece was in the offing. Otherwise a damn fine affair with some stand out moments. I had no problems getting in or out but the parking was pretty poor. OW has got acres and acres of lush green stuff to park on but the way the cars were crammed in left a lot to be desired with some having to reverse out and try again to achieve the jaunty angles they were after!!
And also agree re catering. I take my own but really fancied a celebratory ice cream before watching the departures but everywhere was sold out/shut and I have never such queues at lunchtime. As said the forecast and pretty much exact number of souls on site was known from around Wednesday so this should have been better accommodated.
Overall though there was only one aviation event to be at today and this was it.
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st24
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by st24 »

cg_341 wrote:Serious, Harvo? Can the Typhoon display do no wrong in your eyes?

There's one good weather display, it doesn't get more or less aggressive depending on who is watching!

Ironically given the sun and clear blue, that wasn't the good weather display though...
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LN Strike Eagle
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

Orion wrote:As good as the show was, and at times it was truly memorable, the shear volume of visitors ruined that very special atmosphere that Old Warden has, and has always had. For me, that atmosphere is very important and I'm not sure what to do about it. Right now I'm thinking along the lines of not applying for an advanced ticket anymore; it will mean, I'm sure, that I might miss the odd show here and there but I'll feel more comfortable when I'm there, and anyway there's always plenty to do in an English summer. The comfort factor was lacking today, pity.

I've never seen the place so busy, but I think changing your habits as a response to a one-off event is a bit over the top. It was a combination of factors - the anticipated and advertised return of the Spitfire, a strong cast of visitors and an outstanding forecast got people there in droves. Maybe that lump of grey plastic that got the show underway helped sell one or two tickets too, but I'd like to think not. Regardless, there's no reason to think that this will become the norm just yet.

I do agree with your sentiment though - as pleased as I am for Shuttleworth to have had such a brilliant day, it does somewhat ruin the place when traffic jams take hours to clear, there are queues for the facilities and you can't find a spot to view at 9am... it just becomes another airshow venue.

It seems people have been arriving earlier and earlier for a while though - the place is always busy at the advertised gate opening time.
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Re: May 6th - Season Premiere & RAF centenary

Post by st24 »

paullangford wrote:
st24 wrote:Typhoon display, same old same old....


I don't know whether it was due to Old Warden restrictions or something................but it was a bit tame.
Nice to see after a long winter though.

I really thought it would tear OW apart with flames and fury but it really was lacking I feel. Sure there were babies crying and car alarms wailing as expected but it all felt distant, high and slightly lacklustre....
You caaan't trust the system... Maaan!

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