Cosford 2012 - Your Feedback

[DaveBlu]

Although Sean made a few errors, I think overall he did a great job with the tools he had, it seemed that the scheduled events didn't quite go according to plan and had to hoof it several times, what really mattered was the craft themselves, I'm sure some of you seasoned officianados found countless faults with his P.A, but overall the show was worthy of some credit, it's easy to find a scapegoat and apportion criticism, I'm more than 100% sure those involved with organising next years show will take heed of the bad bits, but I am over a 1000% sure that you'll have different things to gripe about next year.

[airsound]

Thanks for the comments about the commentary, st24 and others.

First, I have to put up a rather embarrassed hand and cough to cocking up the Nieuport and SE5. Shouldn’t have happened. All I can say is, I hadn’t been told the Nieuport wasn’t there, and I was too far away easily to see the difference. I should have checked with my bins and didn’t! Sorry.

JP colour scheme. It’s not noted in any of the documentation, including the website, which is out of date about sponsorship as well. I’ve had to talk to Neil McCarthy today to ascertain that, as you suggest, it is now in the colours of a solo display aircraft - Andy Offer’s, actually - still from Linton, though.

Vulcan. I wouldn’t have mentioned her, except that the volunteers had brought a medium-sized stand to the show to try and continue getting money to get her back into the air as soon as possible. I did not suggest that she would have been at the show had she been serviceable - merely that she wasn’t available anyway, and that people might want to support her return to the skies by visiting the stand. Not apologising for that one!

Anyway - all comment welcome - seriously! (But thanks DaveBlu!)

Btw, as I said at the end of the day, I thought the new management did a really good job, bearing in mind that it was the first time at Cosford for the whole team, excluding the flying display folks and us.

sean
airsound

[CH2]

First time to Cosford in 12 years; genuinely thought it was excellent.

Likes
1.How the Helos and props are parked right in front of the crowd line to allow people to get up close to the action, but positioned in such a way they did not obscure the display.
2. The Hangar displays, for example Jag on the jacks demonstrating undercarriage and flying control surfaces
3. Traffic Management was good (straight in, straight out)
4. Air display was good (would have been nice to see an F16 but something as simple as Shaft and Jeffs JP's worked really well)
5. The Jaguars....more
6. Perhaps try to attract more warbirds, Cosford looks the perfect location.

Comments
1 Move the show to September, turn it back into a Battle of Britain at Home day, you might also get some decent weather, June is always awful!

[PeterR]

My feedback from the show. Firstly, a well done to the organisers for what was in my eyes the best Cosford for years. Plenty of positives including the Jaguar taxy run, VC10 flypast, plenty of classic jets etc but I'll focus on the couple of points I think improvements can still be made...

Jaguar Flightline
A brilliant idea, and it was brilliant to see four Jaguars out together in different colours. But I think the final realisation wasn't as good as it could have been. Top marks to 238 Squadron for getting them out, but there wasn't really any suggestion of it being a "active flightline". I was expecting bomb trucks, aircraft armed signs, ground power units, ladders on the aircraft and some of the tags/bags removed too. If the aircraft were spaced out a little more too, and the barriers positioned further back from the aircraft even just by half a metre or so would have made all the difference and made what was a nice display into an excellent display.

Static Barriers
Next year I'd like to see if Cosford could switch to ropes/cones rather than metal barriers for the static displays, and with the involvement of RAFCTE in the running of the show I'd sure all those cones that live at Fairford could be used rather than hiring the costly metal barriers. Then the ropes/barriers/whatever can be positioned a little further away from the aircraft making photography that little bit easier. Whilst I appreciate the ideology of letting people get as close to the aircraft as possible, surely this can be done with the aircraft in the hangars and those positioned outside can be given a little more room to breathe. But it was good to see more instructional airframes outside this year.

Foreign Participation
Whilst I know the team do try, I think that Cosford does have the potential to attract some more military statics from Europe. Think how nice a German CH-53, French Tiger or Dutch Chinook would look in the static park.

Museum Aircraft
Unfortunately the Gnat move didn't happen for the show, but hopefully a relationship and repeat performance can be built up in the future. Maybe one day pulling out the Bristol 188, TSR2 or other rare items that would be a huge attraction for the show.

On the idea of the 'Friends of Cosford' scheme, I think I southside enclosure for a very limited number of photographers would be welcome so we wouldn't be shooting into the sun. I believe Leuchars do something similar? If you start letting your imagination go, I'd sure there would be photographers willing to pay decent amounts for an exclusive enclosure ontop on hangar 6 or 7 on the southside.
Also possibly access onto the airfield near the runway from arrivals on the Saturday and a night photoshoot of the airshow statics and flying aircraft on the Saturday night would make the package very attracting to many.


But thank-you for 2012, and we all look forward to what 2013 has on offer for us!

[st24]

Thanks for the comments about the commentary, st24 and others.

First, I have to put up a rather embarrassed hand and cough to cocking up the Nieuport and SE5. Shouldn’t have happened. All I can say is, I hadn’t been told the Nieuport wasn’t there, and I was too far away easily to see the difference. I should have checked with my bins and didn’t! Sorry.

JP colour scheme. It’s not noted in any of the documentation, including the website, which is out of date about sponsorship as well. I’ve had to talk to Neil McCarthy today to ascertain that, as you suggest, it is now in the colours of a solo display aircraft - Andy Offer’s, actually - still from Linton, though.

Vulcan. I wouldn’t have mentioned her, except that the volunteers had brought a medium-sized stand to the show to try and continue getting money to get her back into the air as soon as possible. I did not suggest that she would have been at the show had she been serviceable - merely that she wasn’t available anyway, and that people might want to support her return to the skies by visiting the stand. Not apologising for that one!

Anyway - all comment welcome - seriously! (But thanks DaveBlu!)

Btw, as I said at the end of the day, I thought the new management did a really good job, bearing in mind that it was the first time at Cosford for the whole team, excluding the flying display folks and us.

sean
airsound

That's a very honest reply Sean and is much appreciated. The distance from you to flight line is noted, at that range a biplane is a biplane is a biplane....
Terrific to see show team members getting involved on these forums, it makes a massive difference to it all...

[Arthur Tee]

I didn't attend this year - but it's good to see so many positive comments for a change!

I feel compelled to make a suggestion in response to Peter's comprehensive feedback - especially that of his very realistic suggestion of possible Foreign Participation.

Two or three years ago when attending Cosford Air Show meetings - I was in occasional contact with a Lt Col of the Irish Air Corps at Baldonnel.

I suggested to the Cosford committee then that a simple invite could easily attract an AW139, EC135 or even a Cessna 172 (and not even RIAT has attracted one of them yet)! Whilst the Irish are not regular 'airshow attendees' - I was informed by my contact that the chance of a 'half price' land away just across the Irish Sea would almost certainly appeal!

Besides none of these would come even close expense-wise when considering fuel costs and crew accommodation etc. when compared to say a C-160.

Unfortunately - despite doing the hard work of providing the contact details - they couldn't be bothered!

Whilst I am no-longer in a position to provide details of a contact - surely a simple call to Northolt (whose Photo Calls they have attended) would provide a starting point....

Go get e'm Chas!

Arthur

[D200]

An invitation was sent as suggested and despite being passed up the chain, came to nothing. We live in austere times and several nations have tightened the belt. Dont know if this was why in this particular case, as no response was received. Nothing ventured nothing gained and you would be very surprised if you knew what staffwork went on in the background. For 2013, it has already began!

In summary 'easily attract' was not the case at all.

[Arthur Tee]

In summary 'easily attract' was not the case at all.

Bugger! If at first you don't succeed try, try again!

PM on it's way shortly!

Arthur

[st24]

I didn't attend this year - but it's good to see so many positive comments for a change!

I feel compelled to make a suggestion in response to Peter's comprehensive feedback - especially that of his very realistic suggestion of possible Foreign Participation.

Two or three years ago when attending Cosford Air Show meetings - I was in occasional contact with a Lt Col of the Irish Air Corps at Baldonnel.

I suggested to the Cosford committee then that a simple invite could easily attract an AW139, EC135 or even a Cessna 172 (and not even RIAT has attracted one of them yet)! Whilst the Irish are not regular 'airshow attendees' - I was informed by my contact that the chance of a 'half price' land away just across the Irish Sea would almost certainly appeal!

Besides none of these would come even close expense-wise when considering fuel costs and crew accommodation etc. when compared to say a C-160.

Unfortunately - despite doing the hard work of providing the contact details - they couldn't be bothered!

Whilst I am no-longer in a position to provide details of a contact - surely a simple call to Northolt (whose Photo Calls they have attended) would provide a starting point....

Go get e'm Chas!

Arthur

But the IAC have been to Cosford before, with an SF260...

[Canon Fodder]

But the IAC have been to Cosford before, with an SF260...

I think he means the C-172.

Best regards,

Jim

[Canon Fodder]

D200,

Very good work this year, much better than the last few years. I certainly appreciated the effort gone in to add different things, even when they might only appeal to the enthusiasts.

Very happy to see a live Jag, even if it cannot go very quickly. Yes please to having that again next year! While I understand that practicalities can get in the way, I am sure many enthusiasts would appreciate if a differrent serial was used next year when possible. This is very nice for those of us wanting to catch images of different machines in a live state. I noticed this year that I saw several Jaguar GR1 examples int he hangars that I had not seen before so some shuffling must go on from time to time. This is very nice for photography and keeps alive the interest - which keeps people coming back, well amongst the enthusiasts anyway. I seriously hadn't expected to see any different frames from those I had seen in previous years, but seeing these was a really nice bonus. They may all be identical Jag's under the skin but they all have different markings and that is what you see on the photographs!

The static was much better this year, with a nice layout for the training aircraft especially - plenty of space for photography. The helicopters were well hemmed in as always, but I guess it lets the non-enthusiast public get up close and personal - the Merlin is always popular for example.

Looking forward to next year more than ever now - I guess that is a sign of a job well done.

Best regards,

Jim

[D200]

Thank you.

We have already embarked on a few surprises for next year which if they reach fruition will provide even more to both families and enthusiasts alike. Clearly it is too early to go public but I can reassure everyone that not one person in the office is standing idle and we all share a common goal to optimise the event, achieve our objectives, and provide value for money.

[hunterxf382]

That sounds really positive and refreshing to hear
I've always hankered for the TSR2 being outside somewhere that really stand out to the crowd (general public wondering what on earth it is etc)..... There again I've also wondered what the chances are of it ever running again in the same manner as the Jag... now that would bring out the hard core show-goers whatever the weather

[D200]

There is not enough of a car park if we were able to negotiate with the RAFM to do that, after all, the people who every year contribute nothing to the event by parking in Albrighton and watching from outside the event would probably want to come inside! Which is a strong incentive to give those that do contribute to the event something to see, and hopefully get some hands on

[hunterxf382]

That's fair enough - it was only a dream of mine after all.... looking forward to hearing of any update 'teasers' that I'm sure you'll be putting out as next year draws closer (and I'll be making every effort to ensure my work shifts are planned around the event not suring next time - as it is my local show