FullCarrot wrote: I even witnessed one guy driving out after someone had smashed their back window in, there were some extremely vile people around which was a shame.
The lack of decorum among the crowd is another reason why the larger shows don't interest me any more. Shuttleworth rarely attracts such specimens, being a civilised venue for civilised people. Last time I went to a Cosford show, 2007, was very much similar in terms of the gammon-faced types spoiling for fights in the car park just because they had to wait a few minutes. No thank you.
FullCarrot wrote: I even witnessed one guy driving out after someone had smashed their back window in, there were some extremely vile people around which was a shame.
The lack of decorum among the crowd is another reason why the larger shows don't interest me any more.
I thought it was because you were barred and they wouldn't sell you a ticket?
Apart from the traffic problems,it was a great show.There were some moans from J public about the slow boring start with all the early prop stuff but I daresay most of us enthusiasts enjoyed it.The Rafale was superb eclipsing the RAF Typhoon like it always does.Other highlights for me were the BBMF,Flying Bulls and Boeing 757.Hats off to Peter and the team and hopefully another great lineup next year.
You would struggle to find a previous Cosford show (or any show in 2018) better than the one we witnessed on Sunday. Simply outstanding; a huge amount of work had clearly gone in to the sourcing of the ground exhibits, before I even mention the quite remarkable flying display - if you told me a few years ago I would be there to see a MiG-29 strut its stuff over Cosford one day, I would have been very dubious. As it was, that was one of several outstanding international contributions to salute RAF100.
The new commentary team was a breath of fresh air (mixing casual and enthusiast brilliantly) and much improved over previous years efforts - by no-means perfect, but the delivery and information was excellent. In addition, there is no finer commentator to set the scene for a special flypast, or display we're about to witness than Ben Dunnell; truly one of the great airshow commentators of our time.
My only criticism would be everything we saw before the final hour set the bar so high; the RAF contribution did not hit my expectations as I would have hoped. But in the bigger picture, a very minor criticism that doesn't take away from a memorable show.
I've been to more Cosford shows than I can remember and certainly think this years show was the best in at least the last 20 years.
So many highlights. Thoroughly enjoyed the Hawker Hind. Great to see the Blenheim again. Hurricane with Fulcrum was very poignant.
BBMF was superb. I still cant believe how tight the Lanc flew to the Dakota.
Sycamore and BO-105 displays could not have been more different. But were both very memorable.
Of the fast Jets the Fulcrum for flying over my head and the Rafale were superb. 757 was somewhere between sensational and scary
I thought the Reds display was very decent this year after last years display was over Bridgnorth rather than the airfield.
I was a bit underwhelmed by the lack of battle display from the GWDT. I thought the Chinook lacked the energy of last years display and the Typhoon was at times a long way off. Rafale was certainly more dynamic than it too. My most bittersweet moment though was the Tornado flypasts. I really hope that wasn't the send off for the RAFs workhorse. It deserves a proper farewell.
The only other minus for me was the lack of flying fast jets from the cold war era. Hardly much Cosford could do about this I know but it is such a shame that not one of those Jaguars couldn't be permitted to fly. Politics eh..
All I will say about the getting in & out was I left home early and left the base late and had very little issue.
Already looking forward to Cosford 2019. If its half as good as this years it will be very decent indeed.
Overall a great day, but wanted to add a few points about the day haven’t really been mentioned yet.
Whilst the excellent amount of static items was very nice to see, the lack of signage for some of the aircraft (especially the older aircraft out of the museum) was apparent when members of the public were heard wondering what the aircraft were. Fair play to GJD Services for all the airframes they provided for the event (GJD's museum should be worth a visit). Along with GJD, the Museum and Engineering squadron aircraft, the Gulf War painted trio and Meteor to Tornado line ups made for some great images. Foreign air crews were also very friendly – made it feel much more like RIAT in that aspect, with the Dutch NH90 crew happy for us to take some pics after a pedantic press photographer got his shots
I know the Pakistani Hercules cancelled, but there was a definite lack of an interactive ‘heavy’ aircraft within the static park, especially considering how well the static A400M went down in 2017. There also felt like a general lack of current RAF aircraft on static – a Tucano, Prefect, Viking and the two DHFS being the only RAF airframes? (I’m not including the Chinook/Tucano etc. parked on the flightline as static items). Will certainly make me appreciate the 23 currently serving aircraft the RAF are due to send to RIAT for their static line-up.
Whilst it was a hot day, quite a few of the RAF personnel behind the cones seemed to enjoy setting up their chairs/WI Meetings right under the wings of the aircraft, and in some cases royally taking the mick (who knew the Qinetiq Harrier made such a good sunshade in the evening light?)
Flying display was the best at Cosford in my memory – makes a change to be complaining about too much sun at Cosford after recent years. It definitely felt very slickly put together, other than the long gap before the Anson where the commentary was just dead air, which didn’t help. When the commentary was working, Ben Dunnell was a breath of fresh air for Cosford – showing his clear enthusiasm and proper research, particularly during the foreign fast jet acts, although being further back in the huge crowd meant that the commentary was only just audible at times.
Organising the MiG-29/Hurricane has to take some plaudits – not going to get that view again in the foreseeable future. Shame the Dutch KDC-10 cancelled, but it’s almost to be expected when one of their two aircraft are announced for an airshow appearances. Personally, the foreign participants blew the RAF displays out of the park – maybe it was due to the RAF segment being pushed to the end of a very hot and long day, but the Typhoon / Chinook just didn’t meet the excitement levels as other acts did on the day. Tornado flypast was certainly a highlight, although it does just make you realise how the type is slowly but surely being retired without any sort of major celebration. The hawk flypast seemed to bank of rather prematurely too, but was nice to see. The Sycamore, Anson & Pembroke were personal highlights from the civilian displays – however there did seem to be a gap in the form of some cold war jets in the flying display (say what you want about regulations etc. blah blah blah), but was nice to see a good chronology.
Whilst Cosford may not always be blessed with the best weather, a series of RIAT-style water bowsers would have been ideal on Sunday – and would have meant the hundreds of plastic bottles of water wouldn’t have been needed to be given out at the end of the show and thrown about the site after most stalls sold out.
Not going to go too in-depth about the entry/exit situation, but we were parked up and walking the static by 8am, having narrowly avoided being in the lane for the dreaded off-site parking – a definite lack of signage and communication about that turn off meant a few people I spoke to on the day had no idea they were being directed to park so far from the flight line.
A very enjoyable day overall, but it certainly felt that it could have been an effective two-day event.
What a great show. Congratulations to the organisers. The static was well laid out and the variety on show was very good. A highlight for me was the F3, Phantom and Lightning lined up together. The flying display was excellent. I thought the chronological order for RAF-linked types worked really well, broken up nicely by the foreign fast jets. The Mig 29 was superb. Shame about the direction of the sun when the F16 displayed, I couldn't make out the stunning paint job. The Rafale was, as usual, an excellent display, graceful yet agressive. The Typhoon display was very good, yet, unlike the Rafale, seemed to be a lot further from the crowd. It was nice to see the vertical climb at the end, not obscured by cloud for a change. Personal favourites were the Blenheim and 757. Added bonus of seeing the Red Arrows pilots get off their shuttle bus right in front of us, who said 'hello' and asked us how our day was going. We didn't experience any traffic problems, but we were on base quite early and, as usual, stayed until around 7pm. It was slightly busier than usual getting out at this time, perhaps because the advice was to wait on base a bit longer as there had been a traffic incident on one of the main roads. I didn't witness any unsavoury behaviour. Certainly, the people near us were very courteous. All in all a great day.
It was a very good show, for which Peter and the team deserve huge congratulation. The static was a true once in a lifetime opportunity for many of us not quite old enough to remember the real good old days (though Woodford 92 with XP693 marked up in 56/74Sq mks and flanked by an F4 either side was a good second best)! The thought and effort that went into bringing that static together must have been quite something.
I'll be honest, at my age and with the flying seemingly getting tamer and further away than ever, I am seldom surprised by flying displays but Cosford as a venue does feel more inimate than the bigger shows. The RNZAF 757 was a highlight, flown with real skill and panache by a crew that came a heck of a long way to be there. I hope we are good enough to return the favour some day
Not sure where the Shropshire star got the word "shouted" from in their article, presumably mis-understanding the use of "called" in the Airprox report.
Does anyone know whether the painting of the event that circulated on their Facebook page became available to purchase, as was suggested before Christmas?
Flare Path wrote:Does anyone know whether the painting of the event that circulated on their Facebook page became available to purchase, as was suggested before Christmas?
If anyone could help that would be great.
Yes, prints are available. Have a look on the RAF Cosford Airshow twitter page, you may need to scroll down for a while, it was some time ago.