Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

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Gt5500
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Gt5500 »

Already in, so much for 10... No general public allowed on the fence today.

itfcscott
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by itfcscott »

There were different messages from the car park stewards too, some saying to stay in the car until half 9 others saying to go and queue straight away when we got in the car park just after 9.
Gt5500 wrote:
Sat 26 Sep 2020, 8:40 am
Already in, so much for 10... No general public allowed on the fence today.
How are they policing that? Have they got stewards there moving people on?

Gt5500
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Gt5500 »

itfcscott wrote:
Sat 26 Sep 2020, 8:51 am
There were different messages from the car park stewards too, some saying to stay in the car until half 9 others saying to go and queue straight away when we got in the car park just after 9.
I got told half 9, people were already queuing and not being told to go back to their cars so I joined them.
itfcscott wrote:
Sat 26 Sep 2020, 8:51 am
How are they policing that? Have they got stewards there moving people on?
Yes they seem to be moving people immediately.
Just to reinforce what was said yesterday, the toilet situation is a joke by normal standards, forget covid secure standards. A steward told me with a straight face that the nearest toilet was back out the entrance (there's no exit gate) so I had to go against the tide to get there. There are no toilets behind the crowd enclosures at all.

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Rick
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Rick »

Have the BBMF arrived ?
Slackers of the World unite !
Tomorrow.

itfcscott
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by itfcscott »

No, they haven't. They haven't been mentioned on the list for today on the commentary so guessing they aren't coming. So far we've had a CAP232 and Stampe team about to go up after a shower has passed.

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Aquarious
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Aquarious »

Yes they seem to be moving people immediately.
Just to reinforce what was said yesterday, the toilet situation is a joke by normal standards, forget covid secure standards. A steward told me with a straight face that the nearest toilet was back out the entrance (there's no exit gate) so I had to go against the tide to get there. There are no toilets behind the crowd enclosures at all.
There are three toilets approximately midway down the flight line behind a very bright green tent but over by the tree line. They are not easy to spot. There are also some more toilets at the West end, again at the tree line near the showers. There is hand sanitizer in the first mentioned group of toilets but not in the second. These have soap and water and despite best efforts, you will get splashed as the water pressure is far too high. Personally, I would prefer hand sanitizer these days.

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Aquarious
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Aquarious »

I should have added above that there are no toilets in the car park which is not very helpful if you have travelled a long distance.

Ant.H
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Ant.H »

We've just returned from a very cold, windy and sometimes wet show. Full marks to the pilots for putting up such a good display in such challenging conditions, the Stampe team in particular had some very strong gusts and rain to contend with. Hadn't seen any warbirds all year, so the BofB tailchase and Dakota sequence were especially enjoyable.

As for COVID secure, I have to agree the crowd flow directions and toilets were a bit of a weak spot. I had expected lots of single cubicle types, but instead many of the loos nearest the crowds were the portacabin type with multiple "facilities", meaning that lots of blokes were in the one cabin at the same time. Slightly ironic to hear the commentator talking about fighting the new enemy of covid while you're elbow to elbow with strangers in the loos!

Some members of the public also didn't seem to understand the distancing concept in general anyway, but the organisers can't be blamed for that.

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ted633
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by ted633 »

How much of the advertised display managed to take part? Weather is looking similar (wind wise) tomorrow so interested to know how much of a display was managed.

Gt5500
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Gt5500 »

ted633 wrote:
Sat 26 Sep 2020, 4:22 pm
How much of the advertised display managed to take part? Weather is looking similar (wind wise) tomorrow so interested to know how much of a display was managed.
Amazingly given the weather conditions pretty much everything apart from the aforementioned BBMF. I still can't believe the stampes were able to put on a formation display and then land in what was at times almost a strong crosswind. Top marks to the flying team.
The organisers were another matter, the previously mentioned toilet shortage (in response to aquarious I was at the entrance end of the flight line, there are no toilets there only the ones by the entrance).
The other thing was the adhoc manner in which distancing was enforced. General admission are given a 2m wide box, it is not made clear anywhere that you can only use alternate boxes, so you spend the whole afternoon with late chancers trying to sit in the empty boxes. This was then made worse when some stewards started telling people all the boxes are full so just use any, only to then be told to move by a different steward resulting in arguments.
The flight line as previously mentioned was out of bounds but after an hour or so of the display starting they gave up telling people to move so the late arrivers all got front row seats whilst I had an enclosure in front.

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Alpha Delta 210
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Alpha Delta 210 »

I went to Headcorn yesterday and it was showery at times with gusts of up to 25mph, so credit to all that the show proceeded pretty much as planned.

I witnessed several occasions where staff were having problems with "awkward" visitors refusing to comply with social distancing requests. There were definite inconsistencies with staff moving all visitors away from the fence when the public address system was simply asking people to socially distance when standing at the fence.

I'm afraid that despite layers, gloves and a beanie hat, I baled out after the fighters because I was shivering so much that I could barely operate the camera! Other people had the same idea and there were quite a few cars leaving just after 14.30! I was therefore surprised that the car showed an outside temperature of 13 degrees Celsius. 

I had a ticket for today as well, but as the weather forecast is similar, I have decided to stay at home!
Last edited by Alpha Delta 210 on Sun 27 Sep 2020, 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Blackbird
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Blackbird »

I also went yesterday, and took up itfcscott's suggestion and bought a Premiere Enclosure ticket on Friday night. Getting in was easy and was on the airfield in a matter of minutes at about 10.00.

Although at £50 the Premiere enclosure is a rip-off, it and the other "upgraded" enclosures run the length of the flightline so if you want to see taxiing, take offs and landings there's little choice. For all that, I'm glad I took the advice. Sitting on the grass in the rain, cold and strong wind cannot have been fun.

I left just after 3 for much the same reasons as AD210 above after the Stampes five-ship impromptu display to fill the gap left by the BBMF. I thought the day displayed outstanding airmanship, so a big "well done" to all concerned.

There was also a very poignant "Last Post" and minutes' silence during the morning which was well observed from what I could see which I thought was a very good touch.

I haven't looked yet, but suspect my photos will be pretty rubbish!

Andy

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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by jl151080 »

I was at Headcorn Saturday and Sunday. I was due to go Friday but considering the weather I'm glad I didn't!

Pros: Kudos to the pilots for putting on displays in miserable conditions.

Cons: This is a personal one, but facilities for those with disabilities are poor compared with Duxford. I arrived later on Saturday following a 3 hour drive from Bristol, and was told the disabled parking was full. I stayed locally on Saturday so was able to arrive earlier on Sunday, but at least Duxford have designated disabled parking passes that are pre-allocated.

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ted633
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by ted633 »

Went yesterday, all seemed fairly well organised, most people seemed to understand the box rules, and everyone I saw that had to move on did it without fuss when politely asked to. Hats off to all the pilots, especially the Stampes, for flying in those conditions. Also liked that they just sent all available aircraft up one after the other to get the display done whilst the weather wasn't horrendous and to save everyone sitting around waiting getting cold (Display was all done by 2!)

Only slight negative would be the commentary. On the whole it was good, but there was no thanks / mention of ARCo or any of the others visiting. It made out that every warbird was supplied by Aerolegends.
And the claim that it was Europe's only airshow in 2020!

I'd never been to Headcorn before, but it will be on my radar for visiting again next year.

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Aquarious
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Aquarious »

I agree with the earlier posts, Sunday was well organised and most people behaved in accordance with the guidelines. Groups stayed in their box in chequerboard fashion and kept the gaps between. The exceptions were the woman that passed close by with her hands in her jacket pockets and had the two mightiest sneezes I have seen for some time without even the tiniest thought for anyone else. The second was the guy that walked right up to me without a face mask wanting to know what lens I was using until I had to put my hand up and asked him to back away.

The pilots battled the weather admirably and I for one was happy with the show given the conditions. I think that the organisers did the right thing by moving things along. However, the weather did improve slightly once flying had stopped and there was even some limited sunshine later.

I wasn't paying much attention to the commentary but I do remember hearing that it was the only airshow in Europe this year as ted633 has written. I couldn't believe that. There also appeared to be more toilets that there were on Friday.

Witchcraft24
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Witchcraft24 »

Obviously not the only air show in Europe this year, as Old Warden, Guernsey, Kauhava and Vesivehmaa will testify... indeed, with the OW DH Show on Sunday, it wasn’t even the only air display of the weekend!

But the organisers deserved better luck with the weather having jumped all the hurdles to get this event into the air - respect.

Gt5500
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Re: Aero Legends 80th Anniversary Battle of Britain Airshow

Post by Gt5500 »

Witchcraft24 wrote:
Mon 28 Sep 2020, 1:24 pm
Obviously not the only air show in Europe this year, as Old Warden, Guernsey, Kauhava and Vesivehmaa will testify... indeed, with the OW DH Show on Sunday, it wasn’t even the only air display of the weekend!

But the organisers deserved better luck with the weather having jumped all the hurdles to get this event into the air - respect.
On the Saturday they were describing it as the only show of its type.