Worst Airshow

[paulb1973]

Checking my notes,was Upper Heyford 6th May 1990,very hot,traffic was awful ( Bank Holiday ) and nowhere near enough flying !

Having said that quite a few Biggin Hill shows have been dire,usually due to weather !

I went to the last few Sky Pageants at Upper Heyford (1987 onwards) and they did tend to finish the flying rather early - perhaps it was just 1990, but I seem to recall the last one in 1992 finishing around 4pm. In that period most of the flying display schedules were a modest affair time-wise, even if the quality and rarity of machinery flying was high.

[GertrudetheMerciless]

The last Culdrose show springs to mind. Cloud so thick and so low that we couldn't see the static aircraft, let alone the runway.

1993? Heard the Red Arrows though.

[boff180]

It all depends how you define “worst”.

For me, it was Shoreham 2008, I still have nightmares about Brian Browns Hurricane disappearing behind the hill, the black mushroom cloud that followed, the immediate missing man formation performed by the other airborne warbirds, and the commentator being completely overcome with emotion that he couldn’t continue.

[maffie]

For display - Last 2 Farnborough. Reduction in airspace hasn't helped. Attending aircraft has reduced to beyond abysmal.

For traffic - Waddington. Stuck on the main A road to get in. Aimed to arrive around 8am, traffic delays meant we arrived around 11am.

Matt

[Chrisse]

Any airshow that ends in tragedy qualifies as worst. I've seen my share and hope to never have to see it again

[PeteM]

The last Culdrose show springs to mind. Cloud so thick and so low that we couldn't see the static aircraft, let alone the runway.

1993? Heard the Red Arrows though.

Chivenor 93 was the same day and it was rather nice.
Glad I made the right decision for once.

[st24]

Checking my notes,was Upper Heyford 6th May 1990,very hot,traffic was awful ( Bank Holiday ) and nowhere near enough flying !

Having said that quite a few Biggin Hill shows have been dire,usually due to weather !

I went to the last few Sky Pageants at Upper Heyford (1987 onwards) and they did tend to finish the flying rather early - perhaps it was just 1990, but I seem to recall the last one in 1992 finishing around 4pm. In that period most of the flying display schedules were a modest affair time-wise, even if the quality and rarity of machinery flying was high.

Can't really believe that we're having a pop at Upper Heyford open houses here as the worst airshows!! held in decent weather, multiple vark action, a smattering on NATO types, short but accident free flying, sun behind you all day, natural "military" back drop, bud n burgers, genuine welcoming US hospitality... Whatever turned up I always thought Heyford was a delight, oh to have it back.

[skidd40]

I believe the very last Middle Wallop ,rain so dense could only see about 15 feet in any direction heard a tornado fly by it cleared enough for the harrier but no hover or bounce to save the grass

[aceyone]

Checking my notes,was Upper Heyford 6th May 1990,very hot,traffic was awful ( Bank Holiday ) and nowhere near enough flying !

Having said that quite a few Biggin Hill shows have been dire,usually due to weather !

I went to the last few Sky Pageants at Upper Heyford (1987 onwards) and they did tend to finish the flying rather early - perhaps it was just 1990, but I seem to recall the last one in 1992 finishing around 4pm. In that period most of the flying display schedules were a modest affair time-wise, even if the quality and rarity of machinery flying was high.

Can't really believe that we're having a pop at Upper Heyford open houses here as the worst airshows!! held in decent weather, multiple vark action, a smattering on NATO types, short but accident free flying, sun behind you all day, natural "military" back drop, bud n burgers, genuine welcoming US hospitality... Whatever turned up I always thought Heyford was a delight, oh to have it back.

Not having a pop at Upper Heyford per se ,just this particular show,having never been to any other shows there I can't comment but as a lover of heavy metal I rued the lack of jets on that day,my notes record that on that particular day the flying basically consisted of
F1 11 display
F1 11 airfield attack
Red Arrows
and a single F4 and F16 flyby only ! not bad you may say but in the era of Mildenhall /Abingdon/and many other superb displays it was lacking in my opinion ,which is what the thread is about after all !

[Spiny Norman]

Difficult to pick a 'worst' as there's always something to look at. Leuchars 1992 could have been a contender as the claggy weather kept most aircraft on the ground, save for the Sea Harrier, RAF Phantom and Su-27. So it was pretty memorable in the end.

However, East Fortune 2017 would be the pick. A total wash-out, except for one participant.

[The Baron]

The last Culdrose show springs to mind. Cloud so thick and so low that we couldn't see the static aircraft, let alone the runway.

1993? Heard the Red Arrows though.

2016.

[GertrudetheMerciless]

Still not cleared then?

[Unknown74]

Any shows I have been to when the Weather has misbehaved - Leuchars 2008, A Leeming Airshow I was at in the Mid 1990s. The Sunday of Mildenhall Air Fete 2000 - Rain, Gales - Gales, Rain.

Another show I was rather disappointed in was International Air Tattoo 1993, The que in the car took ages, the weather on the Saturday Morning was not good, Oh and there was the crash between the Russian MiG 29 Fulcrums,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[paulb1973]

Checking my notes,was Upper Heyford 6th May 1990,very hot,traffic was awful ( Bank Holiday ) and nowhere near enough flying !

Having said that quite a few Biggin Hill shows have been dire,usually due to weather !

I went to the last few Sky Pageants at Upper Heyford (1987 onwards) and they did tend to finish the flying rather early - perhaps it was just 1990, but I seem to recall the last one in 1992 finishing around 4pm. In that period most of the flying display schedules were a modest affair time-wise, even if the quality and rarity of machinery flying was high.

Can't really believe that we're having a pop at Upper Heyford open houses here as the worst airshows!! held in decent weather, multiple vark action, a smattering on NATO types, short but accident free flying, sun behind you all day, natural "military" back drop, bud n burgers, genuine welcoming US hospitality... Whatever turned up I always thought Heyford was a delight, oh to have it back.

Not having a pop at Upper Heyford per se ,just this particular show,having never been to any other shows there I can't comment but as a lover of heavy metal I rued the lack of jets on that day,my notes record that on that particular day the flying basically consisted of
F1 11 display
F1 11 airfield attack
Red Arrows
and a single F4 and F16 flyby only ! not bad you may say but in the era of Mildenhall /Abingdon/and many other superb displays it was lacking in my opinion ,which is what the thread is about after all !

Same here - Upper Heyford was a great day out, I am still sad at its closure in 1993/4. Those shows only seem like yesterday!

Picking up on IAT 1993 - that was a magnificent event even with the dodgy Saturday morning weather - the organisers did their very best to keep the show flowing. But the traffic jams were huge on Saturday - I recall hitting queues as far back as Burford on the A361 at 8am-ish in the morning, that's some distance from Fairford!

[SCARECROW 451]

iainpeden on Sun 31 Mar 2019, 7:28 pm
RAF Finningley in the early 1980s. The fog was so bad that the top of the Galaxy tail couldn't be seen. The only things to fly were the Tornado ADV - all you could see was the afterburner on take off - and a Shackleton which droned by, totally invisible to anybody on the ground.

Iain I remember that one, jeez it was bad !

[FGR2]

Can't remember exactly which year it was now but a St Mawgan show (1985 I think)where upon entering the airfield about 9am or thereabouts the cloud was so low it was nearly touching the top of the Nimrod hangars.

The DC 3 that was doing pleasure flights that day took off and the clouds dropped again preventing it from landing so had to divert to Exeter and sit there for a few hours with it's passengers.A number of display items blew out because of the cloud base scraping the deck (from memory French Etendards and a Mirage 5 were amongst their number.The weather started to lift mid to late afternoon and very late in the day a four ship of Buccaneers arrived.

There were some reasonable static items but the flying was a write off.

I was there too, I would have been 10 at the time. Remember the DC3 diverting to Exeter, the tops of the lighting towers disappearing in the mist, and a jet flying through and the commentator saying it was a Phantom!

[timuss]

For Me Shoreham in 2007 with the tragic accident that resulted in the death of Brian Brown and the loss of the Hurricane, and then of course Shoreham 2015 for obvious reasons

[Red Dragon]

I can't decide between Leuchars 2008 where the fog was so thick we could only hear the Vulcan to a taxi! or the very last Woodford show where all I could see of the Austrian Draken display was its afterburner cone in amidst the rain and fog!!

[AlexC]

Just going by getting out, all of the West Malling shows were bad, but one in particular was appalling. There was no marshalling, and with everyone being left to their own devices multiple lines quickly formed. Without much giving way as well it must have taken me an hour at least to get back on the road to Tonbridge.

[aceyone]

Just going by getting out, all of the West Malling shows were bad, but one in particular was appalling. There was no marshalling, and with everyone being left to their own devices multiple lines quickly formed. Without much giving way as well it must have taken me an hour at least to get back on the road to Tonbridge.

An hour ? you had it easy-Bentwaters 16thJuly 1989 -took 2 hours to get out,due to a gas/fuel leak or something

[HeyfordDave111]

2 hours and raise you.......

normally i'd rock up at Mildenhall at 6.30am and waltz straight in, get a good spot for the car and be eating a burger by 7.30 at the latest.

i think it was the last one they did, at 6.30am i was stopped in Mildenhall village, and at 11.00 i was outside the fence in the car right under the display line with aircraft low above my head, with another 50 minutes to go to get in.

freaking nightmare, 1 guy marshalling 2-3 lanes of traffic into 1 lane. simply horrid!

[AlexC]

An hour ?

At least! And I'd have to agree that Mildenhall could be a pain!

[thefixer]

For me the worst airshow due to weather and not fatalities, would be the TVS Airshow South at Bournemouth Airport on Saturday 31st May, 1986. The line-up was brilliant as they often were during the 80s. The weather, on the other hand, was absolutely terrible with low cloud and rain all day. I'd invited two of my school friends with the promise of a spectacular day out. Sadly we got to see a soggy static display and the only flyers that stick in my mind were the RAF Vulcan (XH558's first outing with the Vulcan Display Flight apparently) which managed an approach and go through the murk, a USAF F111 which was heard (but not seen) to pass down the runway and the Vikings who after flying their F104s direct from their home base in Germany only managed to carry out one pass over the field in cloud before returning home. Gutting! After the heatwave (and grass fires) of the 1984 show this was like being on a different planet although to be fair the '84 show was in the late part of a glorious summer. Oh, and very annoyingly the next day of the show in '86 had perfect weather!

[jasonT1981]

In terms of shows that actually had flying.... Portrush 2018. Too much standing around and waiting. Up to an hours gap between displays on more than one occasion and many cancellations including the Huey & Loach, Tutor, Mig 15, BBMF Lancaster, Spitfire & Hurricane, Sea Fury, S92 S&R Demo & RAF Falcons

Line-up on the Saturday was something like this.

Glider, Wildcat aerobatics....1 hour wait....
DC3 and 3 Beech 18 (Which was a brilliant display) ... Autogyro.. Global Stars..... another close to 1 hour wait
Catalina.. Typhoon... finish.

8 hour round trip, for 7 displays over 5 1/2 hours. Nothing against the actual displays but the stop/start got very frustrating and most of the cancellations were not announced until people got there.

[rob68]

I Had forgot about Seawings 2000 traffic at Southampton, heard afterwards it was taking 4 hours to get out car park on to road. I was parked at back of car park and noticed two or three cars driving the wrong way so followed them, a driver got out of one and removed the padllock on a barrier. I had no idea where he was going so followed him, he drove through a Police compound I think and we were on the main road in 20 min. Whoever that was, thank you.

There was also IAT when the heavens opened at the end of the show so bolted for the car, so did everyone else, I got to Worcester services at 11pm, which usually took about an hour and twenty